Taylor Middle School

Thank you or your support and assistance with our recent cyber bullying incident. Please see other letter for update.

Memorial Day is next Monday, May 27 which is a national holiday and therefore no school. In order to honor those who gave their lives to defend our country; we are doing a special segment on KTLR. Please forward photos and stories of loved ones who gave their lives in the service of others. We will be sure to include in a slide show on our daily school broadcast. lmartin@mesd.k12.ca.us

The Limo Ride to In-n-Out Burger (fundraiser prize) will be held on Tuesday, May 29th.

The Millbrae Education Foundation has been very successful in this year’s fundraising efforts. It is important for us all to share our feedback so that we too can be part of the collaborative effort to provide the best education possible for our children. Please take just a few minutes to complete the survey and help the MEF best serve our students by helping our schools to continue forward in 21st Century learning. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L37LVZX

This Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 7 pm are the Spring Music Concerts in the Taylor Auditorium. Tuesday night is the orchestra and music elective concert. Wednesday night is the band and jazz concert. I hope you will attend!

This Thursday night, May 23 at 6:30pm is the 7th grade Sojourn Parent/ Student Orientation to discuss the upcoming DC trip in November, 2013. Please attend this meeting for information, enrollment and trip details. Refer to the Sojourn website and materials sent home with
your child. http://www.sojournproject.com.

The 8th grade class fieldtrip will be this Friday, May 24 to San Francisco’s Fort Point, Crissy Field and Pier 39. Students will depart 8:45 and return approx. 3:45. Please note it may be windy around Crissy field so advise your child wear some warm clothes. The school will provide all the transportation and serve a picnic lunch so no need to bring food. Students should not take backpacks or electronic devices but may want to bring a little bit of extra spending money when they visit Pier 39.

The Talent Show final list was posted this past Friday May 17. A mandatory lunch meeting was held this Monday for all participants. Rehearsal dates are May 30, and June 3, 3:15-5:00 pm. The Taylor Talent show for families will be Tuesday, June 3, 7- 9 pm. The final show for Taylor students only will be the last day of school, June 7 from 10:15- 12:15 .

6th and 7th grade Taylor Elective Request forms must be returned with a parent signature to your student’s core teacher by this Friday May 24.

Music Parents: There will be a special opportunity to have our musicians professionally photographed by Still Light Studios (www.StillLightStudios.com) on Wednesday, May 29th during class from zero period through 5th period. Still Light Studios has offered to photograph each student's individual portrait in their music uniform and with their musical instrument. If parents would like to order photos from their child's session they may do so online, but they are not obligated to buy anything. If you choose to buy photos, part of the proceeds will be donated back to Taylor Middle School.

6th grade parents, (Incoming 7th grade students) Thank you to those parents who have turned in the T-Dap verification of immunization. If you have not turned in the form, please turn in to the school office or at the August Maze Day.

Looking ahead…
May 21            Taylor Spring Music Concert=Strings, Music Elective, 7pm. @ Taylor auditorium
May 22            Taylor Spring Music Concert=Band and Jazz band, 7pm. @ Taylor Auditorium
May 23            7th grade Sojourn Parent /student meeting 6:30-8:00pm
May 24            8th gr Fieldtrip to San Francisco 8:45am -3:30 pm
May 27            Memorial Day, No school
May 28            Limo Ride to In-n-Out Burger (fundraiser prize)
May 29            Music Students photography sessions
June 4              Taylor Talent Show for families 7 pm
8th grade picnic, Millbrae Community Center. 12:30-3:00 pm
June 6              8th grade Promotion Ceremony 4:30 @ Taylor field, 12:15 Dismissal
June 7              Last Day of School, Taylor Talent Show, 12:15 Dismissal
8th Promotion Party/ Dance 6:30-10:00 pm, Millbrae Community Center

Lesley Martin Ed.D.
Principal
Taylor Middle School
850 Taylor Blvd.
Millbrae, CA 94030
650-697-4096
650-697-8435 fax
lmartin@mesd.k12.ca.us

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Dear Taylor Parents,
I want to provide an update on last week’s cyber bullying incident. Our telephone and email communication succeeded in getting the word out, with many parents reviewing and managing their child’s devices. This past Friday, many students expressed concern that cyber bullying is widespread at our school. Students voluntarily came to the school office, met with administrators, shared information and insights for us to follow up upon.

We have learned several things from this incident. Many Taylor students are accessing the site, ask.fm. These harassing posts are made after school hours. Administrators from middle and high schools have similar challenges with this particular website because it is not traceable. This incident is particularly devastating since the posts are mean spirited and open to the public.

The second realization is that no matter how much we attempt to curb (cyber) bullying, it does exist. Many of our students recognize this kind of activity is very wrong and have taken steps to prevent, speak out and have blocked or deleted the sites. This is a tough decision for some who depend of this form of communication with friends. They know that adults (school/ home) will listen and take steps to stop the harassment. The dialogue is much more open and proactive.

We continued to pursue leads, meet with students individually and involve the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department in this investigation. We are broadcasting our concerns and steps for prevention on KTLR. Taylor teachers are discussing these issues in their classrooms.

As parents, please be vigilant and monitor your child’s interactions on their devices. The only way to reduce this activity is for your child to block the website aliases of those individuals who post harassing statements or stay off the site completely.

Once again, the sites are:

Ask.fm is an interest-based social Q&A website, launched in June 2010. Users invite questions from other members of the site. The responses can be received anonymously. Recently the site has been the subject of several media articles regarding cyber-bullying. This was largely in response to widely-reported cases of anonymous offensive messaging and suicides apparently resulting from such bullying. The site has courted controversy by not having workable reporting, tracking or parental control processes which have become the norm on other social media web-sites.

Snapchat is a photo messaging application in which users can take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients. Users set a time limit for how long recipients can view their photos, up to 10 seconds, after which it will be deleted from the recipient's device and the company's servers. This may be seen as an opportunity to send inappropriate content to only be viewed once. The app's main demographic is users between 13 years to 25 years of age, with a growing 40 and over userbase as of October 2012.

Instagram is an online photo-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures, apply digital filters to them, and share them on a variety of social networking services, such as Facebook or Twitter. There are basic Terms of Use that Instagram users must follow, including an age requirement of 13 years or older, restrictions against posting violent, nude, partially nude, or sexually suggestive photographs and responsibility for one's account and all activity conducted with it. Instagram is widely used by all ages.

2013-14 6th grade music class information and registration

San Mateo Sheriffs' Camp Info and Forms

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Friday, May 24 8th grade Fieldtrip to San Francisco
Tuesday, June 4th: 8th grade B-B-Q Picnic - 12:30-3:00 pm, Millbrae Community Center
Thursday, June 6: 8th grade Promotion Ceremony - 4:30-6:00pm, Taylor Field
Friday, June 7, 8th grade Promotion Dinner/Dance - 6:30-10:00pm, Millbrae Community Center

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Just as in our daily lives, technology at Taylor is on the rise. Our staff has been working hard to integrate technological learning tools across the curriculum. So far we have successfully integrated technology into select lessons in each content area, and we are continually expanding our scope. Some lessons include creating online science experiment posters with www.edu.glogster.com, movie making in Spanish class, studying the body in PE through interactive websites, and creating a digital school newspaper with blogger (www.tmstimes.com) just to name a few. One tool we have acquired to assist in our integration of teaching with tech is the Ed1Stop portal (www.ed1stop.net). This portal allows teachers, students and parents access to renowned subscription based learning sites like Discovery Education, Brain Pop, World Book Online, and more. Students and Parents can access this site with the login username psullivan02_stu and the password sully. Another piece of tech based curriculum we now have is www.tenmarks.com for math support. This site provides math assignments and assessments that are based on each student’s individualized math profile. Students complete the work, and, based on the results, they are assigned new work that will help them focus on improving their weaknesses and continuing to excel at their strengths. Along with the ParentVue of Synergy that allows access to see school assignments, we have sought to increase our connectivity for more effective learning. These are just a few examples to show where we are headed, with much more on the horizon. Our goal is to help provide all of our students with equitable skills that will prepare them to engage the ever changing world we live in.

The Taylor Middle School Community will be informed, active, reflective and conscientious citizens in the local and global arenas. All students will have access quality teachers, rigorous curriculum, 21st century technology and instruction that challenges, nurtures and honors the whole child. We will embrace diversity and strive to understand that individuals come to us with a wide variety of learning needs that will be addressed so that all students will be successful.

Taylor Middle School is committed to educating all students regardless of socioeconomic status, race, or gender. Our purpose is to provide information and skills necessary for students to become responsible, healthy, young adults. This development is possible with both parental involvement and dedication of the student. Our expectation is that every student will succeed, and it is our responsibility to provide a safe learning environment with high academic standards.

Taylor Middle School Email List:
Taylor Middle School periodically sends emails to parents, informing them of school events and other important Taylor news. If you would like to subscribe to this list: Send an email to List-TaylorNews@mesd.k12.ca.us and put the word Subscribe in the subject area.