The following information was printed on the back of your childs’ report card.

• The safety of our students and staff at White Oak Middle School is our top priority.   White Oak Middle School encourages our students and their families to be involved in the lives of their child, even at lunch.   If you wish to eat lunch with your child, please come by the office and sign in.  White Oak Middle School has installed a computerized check in & check out procedure (Drivers License is required) for volunteers, visitors, students, faculty, staff and substitutes.   The system is identical to the system currently used on other campuses.   You will be issued a visitor’s pass and directed to the cafeteria.   After lunch, please come by, sign out and turn in your pass.   If you are bringing your child lunch and plan on not staying, please follow the same procedures.  For additional information concerning visits to our campus, please refer to the student handbook.
• In emergency situations when a student must ride a different bus or be let off at another stop, parents/guardians must call the Transportation Department (903-291-2149) as early in the day as possible.   When calling, inform the office of the child’s name, caller’s name (parent/guardian only) and phone number, reason for change in ridership for that day, and drop off location.  All changes must originate from the child’s parent or legal guardian and include the above information.  A callback may be initiated.  To ensure the safety of our students, notes will not be accepted for this special arrangement.
• Anytime you need to pick up your child early from school, please call or send a note with them.  They are to bring the note to the office as soon as they get to school.  We will then issue an “Early Dismissal Notice” so they can be in the office at the designated time.   For safety reasons, only individuals on your sign out list can pick up your child and you must come in and sign your child out. 
• Please be reminded that the drive in front of the middle school is designated for “Buses Only” from 3:15 to 4:00 pm.  Also, the drive directly behind the middle school is not an authorize area to pick up your student.   When cars are in these areas, there are potential safety issues.  
• All middle school students (whether in extracurricular activities or not) will be held accountable for their grades and will follow the same eligibility requirements as participants.   Eligibility can be maintained by making grades of 70 or above in all academic classes.  Beginning at the end of the first six weeks, if a student’s average in one or more academic classes is below 70 for a six weeks period, that student will be ineligible to participate in or attend any extracurricular activities for the next three-week period.   Students may continue to practice.   After the three-week period, eligibility will be determined.   Disciplinary action will be taken if the above policy is violated.
• All 8^th grade students will receive with their report card a copy of their progress in math and reading in accord with the state’s Student Success Initiative.  This report provides information about your child’s progress in mathematics and reading as it relates to the state-mandated mathematics and reading curriculum.
• October 11 is a student holiday.  Our staff will be involved in scheduled staff development
• October 12 is the date for Fall School pictures.   Students will receive picture packets Friday.
• White Oak Middle School will be conducting scoliosis screenings this fall on 6th grade students to check for abnormal spinal curves.  This is a simple procedure and parents will be notified only if follow-up is necessary.  If you do not wish to have your child screened for religious reasons, you may request an exemption form from the school nurse (903) 291-2059.
• Mr. Kevin McKay, math teacher at White Oak Middle School, is currently working on his Master of Education in Educational Leadership at UT Tyler.  He has chosen as his Action Research Project the topic, “Standardized Dress”.   To help Mr. McKay collect and analyze data for his research, WOMS would like to ask for volunteers from our school community (student, parents, and staff) to complete an online survey.    This information is strictly for Mr. McKay’s research project and will be used for his coursework through UT Tyler.  There will be a link on our middle school page titled “Standardized Dress Survey”.  When the survey is ready, you will be notified through our automated notification system, SchoolMessenger.   Thank you in advance for assisting Mr. McKay with his research project.
• E-mail is a great communication tool for both parents/guardians and teachers.  If you are interested in receiving e-mail from our child’s teacher, please take time to visit our website. (www.woisd.net) Click on the middle school link and search the Middle School Main Menu for links for our campus, including teacher lesson plans and assignments.
• Net Cetera:  Chatting with Kids about being Online is a booklet with useful information about online safety.  A copy has been give to each child.   Please take time to sit down with your child and discuss this very important topic.

WOW!!!!   What a great pep rally!!!!    The band, cheerleaders, twirlers and flags, football teams and the student body deserve a big congratulations for a job well done.   Chris and Hunter did a fine job introducing the team.   (Standing behind a microphone in front of 340 of your peers is harder than you think.)    The twirlers and flag routine was fantastic.   The band sounded AWESOME!!!  I dare say not many middle school bands have the sound that our band has.    Cheerleaders kept the audience involved and did a great job transitioning from one cheer to another.    Cheerleaders are truly, “leaders of cheers” leading with enthusiasm and excitement!  Thank you to the student body for your support.  Thank you for respecting the performers this afternoon and thank you for supporting your classmates.    Last but not least, thank you to the football guys for respecting your teammates and your school.    Everyone has a job during a pep rally.   

Job well done!!!!

When I was growing up, I remember playing the game, “Hide and Seek”.   One would be chosen to hide their eyes and count and the rest of us would go and hide, hoping not to be found.    When we heard, “Ready or not, here I come” we knew it may be only a matter of time before we were caught.  (yes, we were all eventually caught…you can only hide and remain quiet for so long.) 

“READY or NOT…..”

42 hours and counting.    No time to back out..no time to change our mind..no time for a, “do over”.  42 hours and the hallways at White Oak Middle School will be filled with the sounds of excitement and heartache.   Excitement from seeing your friends for the first time since May, excitement of what the new year will bestow, excitement of getting back into a routine.    The heartache from not knowing where your classroom is located, heartache of not knowing if you are prepared for the day, much less the year, heartache due to not getting enough sleep the night before and feeling a bit sleepy by 9:00 am!   Each summer you strive to be better prepared than the previous year.  Each May you look forward to the long summer away from school and each August you wonder where the summer went. 

41 hours and 55 minutes and counting.    No time to back out..no time to change our mind..no time for a, “do over”.   We are excited about the 2010-2011 school year.  We are looking forward to great things from all individuals that make up White Oak Middle School, which include students, parents, grandparents, staff members, and the community of White Oak.  It has been said numerous times, everyday is a GREAT day in the Valley of the Roughnecks!     

Welcome to White Oak Middle School!!!

As we are preparing for a new school year, I ask you to look at the following suggestions for making your first day at White Oak Middle School a great day!!!

1)   Come to school with a great attitude and a willing heart.  Middle School is vastly different from Intermediate School as High School is vastly different from Middle School.  Research states it takes 30 seconds to make a first impression but it takes approximately 20 additional encounters to undo or change a bad first impression.  (Capturing Kids’ Hearts)  There is always a transition/adjustment period when going from one campus to another and/or from one district to another.   Start this school year on the right track by being prepared, everyday.  

2)   Purpose in your heart to do the right thing.   An old saying, “What’s popular is not always what’s right and what’s right is not always what’s popular” still holds true today.

3)   Michelangelo once said, “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”  Aim High!!!

4)   Practice the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” everyday.

5)   Be a leader.   “Leaders aren’t born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal. “  Vince Lombardi

6)   “If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right. “ Henry Ford

7)   Strive to be successful in all you do.  “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.”    Booker T. Washington

8)    Do not be afraid to try.    “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”  Bill Cosby

9)   Be a blessing to your fellow students.   “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.”  Theodore Roosevelt

10)   “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”  Martin Luther King, Jr.   Enough said!

My quiet time devotional this morning spoke on leaving a mark, how we want to be remembered when we pass from this life and come face to face with God.   Will He say, “Well done thy good and faithful servant” or “depart for me, I never knew you”.     Have  I left a mark or was I too busy?   Was the mark a colorful one, filled with laughter, hope, praise, faith, and love or was it a black mark, with sarcasm, hatred, anger, or criticism.     Many times we may go through life, not slowing down.   As we grow up, we cannot wait to get out of school, to move off to college, to work, join the armed service, or?    We cannot wait to get married and have kids.  We cannot wait until our kids finally get out of the house and the cycle starts again with our grand kids.   We end up 50,60, 70 years old and wonder what happened to “all the years”.   I wonder if I made a difference.    Did I live my life to be an example to others, did I  encourage or discourage, did I lift up or tear down,  did I take time to talk to my daughters, was I the dad and the man God wants me to be.    The devotional reminded of a poem I read a while back entitled, “The Dash” by Linda Ellis.   You may have read this poem, if not take the time today, this very moment,  to read it.   Read it not only with your eyes but read it with the eyes of your heart. 

The Dash Poem – by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend.

He referred to the dates on her tombstone

From the beginning to the end

He noted that first came the date of her birth

And spoke the following date with tears,

But he said what mattered most of all

Was the dash between those years

For that dash represents all the time

That she spent alive on earth.

And now only those who loved her

Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not how much we own;

The cars, the house, the cash,

What matters is how we live and love

And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard.

Are there things you’d like to change?

For you never know how much time is left,

That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough

To consider what’s true and real

And always try to understand

The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,

And show appreciation more

And love the people in our lives

Like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,

And more often wear a smile

Remembering that this special dash

Might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read

With your life’s actions to rehash

Would you be proud of the things they say

About how you spent your dash?

www.thewritetouchinc.com/pdf/DashPoem.pdf

Mr. Jack Hale, White Oak High School Counselor, would like to invite as well as encourage the parent(s) of Eighth Grade Students, to attend a special meeting to discuss your child’s schedule as he/she prepares to enter White Oak High School. There are some significant changes that go into effect for freshmen who enter high school in the 2010 – 2011 schoot year, and I am certain that you not only need to know about these changes, but that you also want to fully understand them. Our meeting will be held on Tuesday evening, March 9, 2010 at 6:30 PM in the White Oak High School Lecture Room. Several other school officials will be present to help answer any questions you might have, and we are looking forward to seeing you at that time.

While visiting with parents at our last parent luncheon, discussion about college and college cost came up.   As was pointed out, it is never too late to plan for your child’s future.   I mentioned a program called Texas Tuition Promise Fund (formally called the Texas Tomorrow Fund)   I am not advocating this program, however we have participated in this program with our children and were very pleased.    According to a handout we received, “The Comptroller’s Texas Tuition Promise Fund is now open for enrollment.  This affordable and flexible prepaid tuition plan allows you to lock in tomorrow’s college tuition costs and required fees at today’s prices.”   To learn more, go to www.tuitionpromise.org or call (800)445-GRAD (option 5) to request an enrollment kit.   Enrollment is open until February 28.

To help our parents/guardians become more familiar with our school and activities throughout the year, luncheons are scheduled on a regular basis.   Our  next parent/guardian luncheon is scheduled for Friday, January 22 from 12:15-12:45 in the middle school library.  This will be an informative luncheon to provide you the opportunity to visit our school and learn of the events and activities taking place.   Guests will include our superintendent, Mr. Michael Gilbert.   Luncheons are provided to our guests at no charge.    Reservations are required for the luncheon; however you are more than welcome to attend if you chose not to have lunch on us.   We would ask that you park across the street in front of the auditorium.    Please contact our secretary, Mrs. Melissa Norris, with your reservation.  We need a number count by Wednesday, January 20.   See you on the 22^nd.

Courtesy  the LONGVIEW NEWS-JOURNAL, Thursday, December 24, 2009

“DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas.