1 Table of Contents Page Jacque’s Note 2 Community News 3-7 MS News 8 HS News 9-12 Senior News 13 December 10, 2014 Wednesday Packet Important Dates/Information *Elective Choices MUST be submitted for 2 nd Semester. Forms are on the Parent Portal. Contact Molly Switzer with any questions. *Toy and Coat Drive Ends This Friday *January After School Program begins immediately after the Winter Holiday. Be sure to submit your payment online or directly to the Business Office. HIGH SCHOOL EXAMS – Noon Dismissal HS Tuesday-Thursday, December 16-18 MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER WORK DAY Thursday, December 18 No School for MS Only WINTER HOLIDAY December 19-January 2 No School TCS Offices Closed December 24-January 1 SECOND SEMESTER BEGINS January 5, 2015 PAC MEETING Thursday, January 8 8:00am In Conf. Room B HOMECOMING Saturday, January 17 in the Cougar Center
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Table of Contents Page
Jacque’s Note 2 Community News 3-7 MS News 8 HS News 9-12 Senior News 13
December 10, 2014
Wednesday Packet
Important Dates/Information *Elective Choices MUST be submitted for 2nd Semester. Forms are on the Parent Portal. Contact Molly Switzer with any questions. *Toy and Coat Drive Ends This Friday *January After School Program begins immediately after the Winter Holiday. Be sure to submit your payment online or directly to the Business Office. HIGH SCHOOL EXAMS – Noon Dismissal HS Tuesday-Thursday, December 16-18 MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER WORK DAY Thursday, December 18 No School for MS Only WINTER HOLIDAY December 19-January 2 No School TCS Offices Closed December 24-January 1 SECOND SEMESTER BEGINS January 5, 2015 PAC MEETING Thursday, January 8 8:00am In Conf. Room B HOMECOMING Saturday, January 17 in the Cougar Center
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Can we talk? As the holidays approach, the opportunities for social interaction with family and friends increase. For those parents with highly gregarious children, this is nothing new and has its own challenges. For those with children who have longed for friends, this comes, initially, as a welcome improvement, but may be a double edged sword. Although the adolescent journey remains the same from generation to generation, our social environment has changed drastically. Adolescence is a time of natural exploration and discovery. Finding the type of friends you enjoy, learning how to relate to the opposite sex, and navigating the “rites of passage” that await all teenagers is the stuff novels and movies are made of. I am sure we (adults) would be amused if several of us exchanged stories of common behavior that occurred in our own high schools. At my recent reunion (where those kinds of stories run rampant!) we reminisced about the foolish situations we had gotten ourselves into. Reality Check. Today, many of those situations could have resulted in criminal charges. The “risky” behavior of the past may now be cause for reports to the police or DFACS. What was “fooling around” can be interpreted as abuse. The age of the teenagers involved and the nature of the behavior defines the seriousness of the situation. There is no gray area anymore. The reality is that even innocent exploration can have dire consequences. Our society has taken broad steps to protect our children and the laws surrounding that goal have exponentially increased. It is critical that every parent and teenager understand the ramifications of social choices. Several years ago we invited J. Tom Morgan, a local prosecutor and author, to speak with our community about the consequences of taking risks with alcohol, drugs and sexual behavior. The title of his book is Ignorance is No Defense: A Teenager’s Guide to Georgia Law. I wish we could have him speak every year to our students, staff and parents, as his message could save lives. For the last few years we have brought in other attorneys for professional in-services to discuss the laws, particularly those related to ”mandated reporting” that apply to teachers and all who work with children. In my youth, many adults either were not aware or did not take notice when children under the age of 18 were involved in any risky/dangerous situations. “Boys will be boys.” Today, we (teachers and counselors) can be arrested if we fail to report any suspected or reported abuse, sexual or physical. We are not allowed to investigate situations; we must notify the authorities within 24 hours of the report. Cases of physical abuse have been taken more seriously for decades. The changes that parents and teens need to be more aware of are those situations involving sexual language, images or behavior. Teenagers are not immune to the temptation to send messages that are provocative or to interact with each other inappropriately. Our society flaunts inappropriate social behavior in every media imaginable and expects our teens to know right from wrong. That makes our job, as the adults, even more difficult.
Please monitor your teen’s social engagements responsibly. Know where they are and who they are with. Supervise the teens that gather in your home. Set and enforce rules that keep your teen safe. Get to know the parents of your teen’s friends. Report inappropriate/suspicious behavior to school authorities before the situation gets out of hand. Cooperate with the school should your teen make a misstep. We really are on the same side and will work to minimize the consequences when we can. Most importantly, be sure your teen understands the expectations for responsible choices and the consequences for not choosing wisely. Together, we can form a wall of protection that allows our teens to navigate these years without incurring consequences that can change the
direction of their lives.
December 10, 2014
Jacque’s Note
Advancement Angle
News you can use to help raise money for The Cottage School
It is still not too late to participate in Georgia Goal! If you have not yet signed up, please do so by December 15th to ensure your
form is submitted to the Georgia Department of Revenue on January 1st.
The Cottage School regularly holds practice drills for various scenarios including not only for severe weather like tornadoes, but we also have practice drills for fire, evacuations, soft and hard lockdowns, and other emergencies. The more that the staff and students practice the drills, the more likely all involved will be able to follow protocol safely if a real emergency were to occur. The Cottage School has embarked on updating several of our procedures to coincide with the changes in the physical layout of our campus. Old buildings gone, new buildings are open, the use of outdoor areas such as an archery range, all keep us on our toes to make sure we are prepared. We wanted to let you know that on Thursday, December 11th, the students and staff will be practicing a hard lockdown drill. On this date, a hard lockdown drill at The Cottage School will be initiated by a scheduled announcement and will include locking all students and staff inside their classrooms. Students are required to remain silent, and to follow instructions closely. Additionally, staff and students may also utilize offices and other safe areas for security until the administration can perform a safety check and then provide an “All Clear” announcement. We realize that although this will typically be a very short drill (less than 15 minutes) it may cause a level of anxiety for some of our students. Please reinforce with your students the importance of practicing these drills as we do in our classrooms. We do plan on having additional scheduled and unscheduled soft and hard lockdown drills before the end of the year providing for other scenarios. We want to make sure that all of our students and staff understand our desire for their safety and school security while on our campus.
Winter weather is on its way…where is your jacket?
Before the winter holiday, make sure your student checks
the lost and found for personal items. Lost and found
bins are located in the ‘I’ building, RCC and the Middle
School front office. Please remind your
student to check and see if their missing
belongings are there. Thanks for your help in this
matter.
And don’t forget to label all personal items.
Roswell Rotary Club Recognition
A TCS teacher and student will be recognized at Thursday’s Roswell
Rotary Club meeting. TCS has had a long partnership with this civic
organization that has served to provide role models and exposure to a
variety of careers. The business leaders who make up the membership
value education and especially celebrate those students who strive to
do their best.
Teacher of the Month is Allen McAdams and TCS Senior Alex Lee is the
Student of the Month. Congratulations to both.
On-line forms must be submitted! The deadline is December 12th. We have
gone paperless with Elective Classes selection. Please go to the Parent Portal on
the TCS website to review the elective classes, their descriptions and then make
selections using the drop down boxes. Please select the classes your student
would like for choices one through four on both the Monday/Wednesday and the
Tuesday/Thursday afternoons. Classes will be assigned on a first-come first-serve
basis. If you have any questions about how to complete these forms, please
contact Molly Switzer.
Last Chance to Donate
Toy and Winter Coat Drive
Through Friday
When: Ends This Friday-December 12
th
Who: To benefit North Fulton Community Charities
What: GENTLY USED or NEW WINTER COATS in all sizes
and NEW, UNWRAPPED TOYS for all ages.
*Each toy and/or coat a student brings puts them into
a drawing for a special prize!! Drawing will be held on
December 12th.
**Sponsored by Interact Club **
LEGO ROBOTICS Is COMING to THE COTTAGE SCHOOL
The Cottage School is proud to offer Elementary Engineering I (LEGO Robotics) to its students beginning on Monday,
January 5, 2015, continuing through the remainder of the school year, May 2015. The instructor will be a staff member
from Youth Technology Learning Center (YTLC), www.youthtechnologylc.com. YTLC is a creative after-school Center
with a core focus on S.T.E.M. Technology Classes. S.T.E.M. education focuses on science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics concepts taught through problem-solving, discovery, exploratory learning, and critical thinking. Students are
active participants as they build, investigate, problem-solve, discuss, and evaluate scientific and design principles in
action. We must have a minimum of six students before we can offer this opportunity. Questions? Contact Nancy,
ATTENTION HS Parents and Students: In an effort to help our teenagers learn the concept of Sick/Personal Leave in the work place, we have a system that tracks their attendance hours as if they were on the job. Each student earns 8 hours (1 day) every 4 weeks and can use or accumulate up to 32 hours (4 days) per semester. If they are absent more than their allotted hours, they make them up. If they save the hours, they can cash them in for days off during exams- like we save days for vacation at work. Please check accumulated/negative attendance hours with your student, and verify with their homeroom teacher during weekly calls. Students who have saved hours are eligible to take early exams and buy-off their exam days for an extended break! Students who are eligible to buy off exam days will bring home an Exam Buy-off Form with their positive hours listed and they will need your signature to be able to take advantage of this privilege. If your student has negative hours, it is imperative that they make-up negative hours prior to Saturday School on December 13. If they fail to do so, they will have to attend Saturday School. Students who owe hours and who do not attend Saturday School will be suspended for the three days following December 13th per our school policy. This means that suspended students will miss several days of exams and will receive a ‘0’ for those exams. For students who owe hours, they may come in early from 7 to 8 A.M. (+1 hour) or stay after school from 3 to 4 P.M. (+1 hour). We strongly encourage them to make up their hours daily, so they can avoid Saturday School all together!
Thank you,
H.S. Exam Schedule Fall Semester 2014
Exam Schedule Thursday 12/11 1:15 - 2:40 7th period exam Monday 12/15 1:15 - 2:40 6th period exam