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McClure Middle School/School News/Welcome to the 2023-24 School Year!

Welcome to the 2023-24 School Year!

Posted on: August 7, 2023

Welcome Back to School Letter

Dear McClure Middle School Families,  

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the 2023-24 school year. Our theme for the year is “Unity Needs U and I”. This was a student-generate theme and I think it speaks volumes about the culture we have here at McClure. Our team is knee deep in planning to bolster our very strong practices that allow us to “live” our McClure mission of creating inclusive, creative, tenacious, and engaged scholars.  

Our team is ready and excited to reconnect with our returning students and welcome our new students to the McClure family. We will continue to intentionally provide spaces to build community.  I am very excited to build on last year’s return (somewhat) to normalcy and keep supporting our kids to be ready for high school and beyond.    

Good news! Our student enrollment numbers continue to grow! We were able to add some staffing back into the master schedule which opens up new opportunities for lowering class sizes and adding different exploratory classes for our kids.

The District also added a new position to secondary schools which will facilitate Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral To Services (SBIRT). This process is used to identify, reduce, and prevent substance use and to support students’ physical, emotional, and social wellbeing. Our very own Mr. J. (2022-23 McClure Security Specialist) will be taking on this role at McClure this year and we are so excited to see what our newly augmented team can do to better support kids!  

New Staff!

McClure has a long-standing reputation of staff retention; educators love to come here and they love to stay here! Our annual staff survey supports these findings! 

That said, every year some of our staff members either choose new paths OR we are granted additional staffing to be able to hire new faculty to the building. Please know that we take staffing extremely seriously so our kids have the very best educators in front of them each and every day! 

Here are the updates on staffing at McClure:

  • Ms. Tessa Burchardt Math
  • Ms. Sara Manley Medically Fragile Program 
  • Mr. Joe Hall Social Studies (McClure 2022-23 intern!!) 
  • Mr. Michael Van Bebber Music 
  • Ms. Kyla McClure Nurse (Yes, her last name is McClure 😊) 
  • Ms. Kendra Hack Instructional Assistant (2022-23 long-term math/science sub @ McClure!)
  • Ms. Yuko Saika Instructional Assistant 

Still to Hire:

  • ELA Teacher
  • Two Instructional Assistants 
  • Security Specialist 

The first day of school is Wednesday, September 6th. This is the week immediately following the Labor Day weekend. We will continue our new tradition of meeting students on the field (see below: Class Schedules and First Day).

Now…here is some important information to help you gear up for the fall. 

Stay informed!!

We will always do our best to give you updated information. Please stay vigilant in reading all communications from Seattle Public Schools AND McClure Middle School.  

McClure Middle School: There’s an App for That!!

If you haven’t already done so, please download the McClure School Info App. It is EASY!  Go to the app store and type in “Seattle Public Schools” and choose “McClure Middle School. The McClure app will keep you informed with Just-In-Time alerts/information and provide you with a handy tool for finding “all-things McClure” including staff Directory, portals for the Source/Schoology, School Nurse and Counseling Department memos/resources, school Library updates, etc.

What’s Our Daily Bell Schedule?

McClure staff and students spent last year weighing the pros and cons of extended blocks of class time. We learned A LOT. The research and our own experience show that having extended time with kids allows for a lot more community in classrooms and time for calm, focused, collaborative class work. That said, we also learned that often the length of the blocks was a bit too much on a daily basis.  So, with the input of students and staff, we have arrived at an alternative for the 2023-24 school year. McClure will have a “hybrid” daily schedule that includes three days of periods 1-6 and two days of extended blocks (Thursday 1, 3, 5 and Friday 2, 4, 6).  We will also start our day with Advisory on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. See below for a color copy of our daily bell schedule.  

Orienting our Kids: The First Weeks of School

We will spend some significant time orienting our students to the building, to the expectations and procedures that keep things positive and orderly, and to what it means to be a student scholar at McClure.  Students will not get lockers on the first day, but we will issue them as soon as is humanly possible!   

6th grade orientation through our Where Everyone Belongs (WEB) program and New Student Orientation for 7th and 8th graders will take place on Thursday, September 1.  All other WEB programming will be embedded in the school year amongst other activities to support our kids in building confidence and connectedness. Our WEB Leaders will co-lead small groups of 6th graders throughout the school year and provide supports, community-building activities and coaching to help our amazing 6th graders feel successful and known as they transition into our great school. 

WEB Leader Training and New Student Orientation Deets:

  • Tuesday, August 22 at 1-4 p.m.
    WEB Training and Orientation Prep (for WEB leaders)
  • Wednesday, August 23 at 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m.
    WEB Training and Orientation Prep (for WEB leaders)
  • Thursday, August 31 at 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
    WEB Leaders set-up, facilitate and clean up (for WEB leaders)
  • Thursday, August 31 at 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
    Orientation for 6th Graders and all New Students

Notes:

  • We do not have the staffing or time to have an alternate New Student Orientation or private tours.  That said, we have TONS of help and support before, during and after school on the first few days of school.  We take care of our kids! 
  • New Student Orientation is an event for students. Please just drop your kid off at the front courtyard and we will take it from there. 
  • If you believe your student needs some extra (adult) support, please let WEB advisor Mr. Burns tbburns@seattleschools.org know and we can work with you on arrangements. 

 Laptops

We are happy to announce that we will be distributing district-issued laptops to all of our students within the first week of school.  Please note, we expect all McClure students to use the district issued laptops for school use.  This helps with our ability to provide technical support and allows students streamlined access to the pre-populated platforms that students use daily (Schoology, One Note, etc.) Also, our wifi network is optimized for our district devices.

The school district is asking for a non-refundable laptop device fee, $25.00, to cover the cost of all repairs needed across the school year. If your family is financially unable to provide this, please let us know and we will reduce or eliminate the fee. We will include information on how to pay this fee in the first week packet…stay tuned!

Note: If your child accidentally kept a laptop from last year or still has one from summer school, we will let you know the time frame in which to return to school.  

We will be cross-referencing our records at the beginning of the school year to ensure we have received all laptops from last year and will be unable to distribute laptops to students who did not return their laptops. For lost computers, please note the following fees:

Student 1:1 Device Repair, Stolen and Lost Guidelines 

  • All Repairs: 
    • $25.00 up-front fee covers all repairs on the laptops 
  • Lost: 
    • Laptop: $350.00 per incident 
    • Charger: $48.00 per incident 
  •  Stolen (with Police Report): 
    •   Laptops: $0 
    •   Charger: $0 

School Supply Fee

We ask that your family contribute $35 per student to the Supply Fund to the extent that you can.   

Please adjust accordingly if your family has the means to provide additional support – or if you can provide a lesser amount – your support is invaluable in any amount!  Thank you. 

The supply fee covers classroom/teacher supply needs that our basic education funding does not support. 

Payments can be made via SchoolPay. 

2023-24 School Supply List

Please note: some courses may request additional material costs   

  • 3-ring or 6-8 pocket binder   
  • Pencil pouch 
  • 6 index dividers 
  • 1 pack loose leaf lined notebook paper  
  • Spiral Notebook & red pen for Spanish Students 
  • 6 composition books
    • 3 per semester ELA, Social Studies and Science, 1 extra for Algebra students 
  • 3” X 3” post-its (4) 
  • Ballpoint pens (blue/black) 
  • #2 pencils 
  • Eraser 
  • Ruler (metric and standard markings) 
  • Glue sticks (1-2) Basic Calculator 
  • Highlighters 
  • Kleenex 
  • Refillable water bottle!    

Sharpies and laser pens are prohibited on campus (McClure/SPS Policy) 

Access to Building

Teachers do not return to the building until the week before school, when we will all be involved in our back-to-school professional development.  Our office staff will return then, as well.   

For obvious safety reasons, our doors are kept locked.  But…we have a doorbell!!  When you come to school, ring our doorbell and someone in the main office will talk with you (we can see you, too!)  You can request your kid or, if you need to come in, we’ll buzz you in! (If you do come in, please do not let people in behind you…thank you!)  

If for some reason the doorbell process does not work, call our custodial staff – number is on our front doors.  During the school year our custodial staff are on campus from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. 

Class Schedules & First Day

Student schedules will be available to view on the Source on Monday, September 4 at 4 p.m. The schedules may not be completely finalized; some changes may be made in the first few weeks of school.

Please make a note of your McClure student’s Advisory teacher as your McClure student will be lining up with their Advisory teacher on the first day of school on the Big Howe field close by the school. Our 7th and 8th graders returning students should double check their advisory teacher on their schedule as we have done a little bit of shifting and balancing of our advisories.

If students are unable to access their Source page before the first day we will have staff available to direct students to their advisory teacher. Teachers will have big signs with their names so students can find them easily. Advisory teachers will hand each student a paper copy of their schedule. Then we will release each Advisory one by one to enter the school and start our first day!  

Exploratories

As educators and parents, we want our middle school students to be exposed to as many new experiences as possible in their middle school years to stretch themselves, “explore” and experiment with new ways of thinking and doing.

In this light, our exploratory classes authentically match up to their title; students will be randomly assigned to them if they are not already choosing one or more of our elective opportunities (band, choir, or Spanish). Some exploratory classes we have offered include opportunities like Art, Science Survey, Psychology, ASB, and Tech Ed.

To be clear, students’ schedules are developed based first on prioritizing their core class and academic support needs (i.e. Language Arts, Special Education, intervention classes, Math levels, etc.) and electives come second (i.e. Advanced Band, Choir, Spanish). Exploratory classes are then assigned randomly.  

Students and families may not change their schedule based on class or teacher preference.   

Until the opening of school, enjoy the rest of your summer. I am greatly looking forward to connecting with our students and families. Let’s gear up, and together, make this year a positive, supportive and engaging year for growth, community, and connection.

District Resources

Articles about Teenage Cell Phone Use

2023 Fortune article “Here’s the right age to give your child a cell phone” – updated information on the negative effects social media are having on our kids, their sleep, their mental health, etc. We STRONGLY encourage you to stay vigilant with your middle schoolers use of social media.  

New York Times article: “This Is Our Chance to Pull Teenagers Out of the Smartphone Trap”, July 31, 2021. – This will give you a little bit of insight into why McClure is a cell-phone-free school and might help your thinking about cell-phone/screen/social media use by your child.

Go Mavs!

Shannon Conner, Principal, McClure Middle School