Official JAMS website and new opportunities to get involved!

There is now an official JAMS website where Principal Montgomery can directly upload materials and information for the JAMS community! You can "join" the Fusion Page to be alerted when new materials are posted.  You do this by logging in with your Source login.  You do not have to join in order to read the page.  Here is the link:

http://jams.www.seattleschools.org/

In addition to the PTA/PTSA Steering Committee opportunity we posted about last Friday, there are two other new ways to get involved.

Apply to join the Parent Core Team

From the new JAMS Fusion website:

Parents, please consider being a leader in your community and be part of the JAMS parent planning team. The core team seeks 1-2 parent representatives from each of our elementary schools as well as Eckstein and Hamilton. This is an exciting time to help create an incredible new school. See the attachment for the application and send or email back to Principal Montgomery.

Principal Montgomery's email address is: p l mont gom ery at seattle schools dot org [remove spaces, replace words with symbols]

 

Join a Teacher Interview Team -- incoming students can do this too!

Principal Paula Montgomery has already posted six Lead Teacher positions in the district's internal hiring process. Interviews are coming up, and both parents and students can be involved. The same kind of interview teams will be formed throughout the spring as general hiring progresses. Broad representation from the different JAMS feeder schools is highly desirable. 

Here are the steps to get involved:

1. Complete the SEA Site-Based Interview Training.
You must have completed the SEA Site-Based Interview Training prior to being put on an interview team. Interested students must also attend the training in order to participate. Here is the schedule and contact info for registering for upcoming trainings; the next one is on January 9. They are held at the John Stanford Center in SoDo.

Ms. Montgomery is also working with HR to have a training take place at JAMS so that parents and students don't have to travel as far.

2.  After completing training, tell Ms. Montgomery about your interest.
Ms. Montgomery wants to bring in as many parent communities as possible. However, a caveat: an interview team must be of a manageable size, so any given team will likely include only one representative from each constituency.  You can reach her at: p l mont gomery at seattle schools dot org. [Remove spaces, replace words with symbols.]

There are two interviews coming up soon, for which Ms. Montgomery is reaching out to PTA organizations to put together interview teams. 
1. Head Counselor: Tuesday, December 17, 3:45-6:00, Jane Addams Middle School
2. Arts Team Leader: Wednesday, December 18, 3:45-6:00, Jane Addams Middle School

Easing the transition for incoming 7th and 8th graders

In response to some questions about whether the upcoming JAMS meetings will be appropriate for incoming students to attend, Paula  Montgomery sent us the following.

I think that it's fine to bring current middle school students to the December meetings; however, I am thinking that the bulk of the time at the meeting will be to answer questions about programming.

Once we (Eckstein principal, Hamilton principal, and I) get a list of students making the transfer, we will have regular meetings with current 6th and 7th graders to include them in the planning in a way designed for student voice. All three of us want to make sure that all students transferring have a high degree of attention prior to the summer. Once we have teachers hired, those new teachers will also be involved in working with students.

It sounds as though the middle school principals have this question of  transitioning students from their current schools very much on their radar.  We've had some discussion in the comments on this blog about ways to help these kids, including meetups well before school starts.

If your child is one who will be re-assigned to JAMS from another middle school, what do you think your child is concerned about?  What worries you?  What would help your child feel more on board with changing schools?  What can the community do to help?