Dear Coffenberry Families,
I am excited to begin year two in my administrative career here at Coffenberry. After my first year, I have been able to spend some time reflecting on the positives, negatives and all things in between. I hope to continue to work with the staff and students to make positive changes that benefit our students and families in this wonderful community.
One small change that I want to share is the changing of my name. I have decided to go back to my maiden name; Laura Smith. It will be hard to get used to, but I feel that it is time to make this personal change in my life.
This school year, we are again planning an overall focus of academic achievement in literacy. Reading is fundamental to success in all subjects, and being a strong reader is vital to growth in all language skills. We will be placing more emphasis on reading this year by providing our students with a semester reading class called Reading Rocks. In this forty-five minute period, students will be reading a chapter book of their choice at their individual reading level. When finished, students will take a computerized comprehension test on the individual book. We also will continue to provide students that aren’t meeting the English language arts benchmark with a variety of quarter long remedial classes to improve literacy skills. Finally, our district has adopted a new 6-8 ELA curriculum called Code X. We are excited to see many improvements in our English language arts program next year!
We are also planning many incentives to increase student focus and participation. We have developed a “Good Standing” incentive program. All students will start off the school year in “Good Standing” and will be allowed the privilege of carrying cell phones and technology devices during their free time, and other incentives. We will have incentive trips to encourage high academic achievement, and award students with small incentives for regular attendance and positive behavior as well. We will be providing an end-of-year incentive trip called the AAA Trip; Academic Achievement Award Trip. All students that achieve at least one year’s growth in math and language arts, will be invited to attend this exciting trip at the end of the school year. We will also provide an exclusive trip just for our eighth graders. This trip is called the Road Scholars’ trip. All eighth graders that keep a 3.5 GPA and have no discipline referrals will be invited on a three-day trip to 6 Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, CA. It will be both educational and enjoyable. We are hoping that all of our students will work hard to reach their highest potential to be included in “Good Standing” incentives and be a part of our incentive trips.
We have many exciting events to kick off the school year, so be sure to check out our school calendar to come to our home football games and volleyball games. Our school book fair is open from September 24 through the 29. We will have an open house family night on September 26 starting at 5:30. We welcome you to come out and be a part of our school community as much as possible this year! We will continue to communicate through newsletters and other forms of communication throughout the school year. Please don’t hesitate to call or come by if you have any questions, concerns or comments. My door is always open, and I am happy to meet with you.
Sincerely, Laura Smith Principal Coffenberry Middle School