FEBRUARY 2020

Dear Parent(s) and Guardian(s),

Wow! I can’t believe the end of the year is quickly approaching. As you know, it is much harder to keep the students’ focus on academics when the beautiful weather is beckoning our attention. You, too, may be experiencing SPRING FEVER!

However, to whatever extent you can, please continue to encourage your children to be attentive to their school work. The weeks before Spring Break require great effort from students since “the break is in sight!” The great strides students have made this year can be lost if our scholars lose their focus. Therefore, please be reminded that every day counts. If we live our lives and educate our children to understand that everything we do has an effect, I am of the belief that it will change the climate of our homes and schools.

I would like to take the time to salute the staff and students at Booker Middle School for not giving up and always finding solutions to a problem. Tenacity hangs on until the job is finished. As we continue to build our scholars, we are thrilled to maintain our vision of Inspiring Tomorrow’s Leaders and that includes building

Tenacious scholars. If we want our scholars to succeed, we must teach them to keep pushing beyond what we think they can do and help them to discover what they are capable of. How tenacious are you when it comes to partnering with your school community?

Your cooperation and communication with your student(s), teachers, and administrators is the key to great achievement. I encourage your continuous involvement with the school community and welcome your suggestions and comments. Please use the web-site to keep informed about the school and feel free to e-mail to offer suggestions and ideas. By working together, we can provide an effective educational environment for your student(s) and our community at large. This will afford us the opportunity to impact our students by teaching them to work with determination and never quit. Together we can build tenacity within our scholars. Be a Difference Maker! Dr. LaShawn Frost, Principal

STAY INFORMED! Website: www. sarasotacountyschools.net/schools/bookermiddle

Remind VPA: Text @bookerm to 81010

VPA Website: www.BookerMiddleSchoolVPA.weebly.com

VPA Facebook: @BookerMiddleSRQ

VPA Instagram: @BookerMiddle

VPA Twitter: @bookermiddle

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IMPORTANT HIGH SCHOOL DATES

(SPIN is Student/Parent Information Night)

VPA & Arts

DRAGONFLY CAFÉ Thursday, March 5th

6:30 PM @ BMS

THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK Friday, March 6th

1 PM @ Gulf Gate Elementary

SPRNG BAND CONCERT Tuesday, March 10th

7:00 @ BMS

MUSICAL THEATRE LEVEL 2

PERFORMANCE OF CURTAINS

Friday, March 27th 7:00 PM @ BHS

AND

Saturday, March 28th 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM @ BHS

HAPPENING IN FEB/MARCH

BMS GENERAL

BLACK HERITAGE

CELEBRATION

Friday, February 28th 6-8 PM @ BMS

SPRING FLING Friday, February 28th 5:30-8:30 PM @ BMS

SARASOTA COUNTY SCHOOLS

AGENCY FAIR Thursday, March 26th

5:30-7:30 PM @ Suncoast Technical College

SPRING BREAK March 12th-20th

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BOOKER HIGH SCHOOL Magnet Night/SPIN at BHS is Thursday, Jan. 23, at 6 p.m. in the VPA Theatre. Booker High School counselors will visit Booker Middle on March 2 for orientation and return on March 5, 9 for registration.

BHS Visual and Performing Arts’ “Forecast Festival” is Saturday, Feb. 1 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. This event is a showcase or display of the performing arts programs available at Booker High.

February 22 is the deadline for auditions for Theatre, Art, Film & Animation, Music, Production & Design.

Dance auditions during shadow appointments only.

March 6 is the priority deadline for all application materials. Shadows may be arranged by calling the

school. If students need applications to audition for VPA programs, please contact BMS school counselors Mrs. Clark or Mrs. Thomas. Students should also speak to BMS encore or VPA teachers regarding the audition

process. If you’d like to apply for any other special programs, visit the school website.

SARASOTA HIGH SCHOOL Sarasota High School SPIN Night is Wednesday, Jan 29 from 6 to 8 pm in the Auditorium. The evening begins with a presentation. Afterwards, those interested in our AICE and/or MaST programs may stay for a presentation about both of these

programs. All others will be dismissed to visit the cafeteria for information about clubs, athletics and more.

SHS counselors will be visiting Booker Middle School on March 6 for an orientation. Then on March 11 they return to register students for classes. Applications for the AICE program are available at

www. shsaice.com. Visit the school website to apply for other school programs such as MAST. You can also see BMS counselors.

RIVERVIEW HIGH SCHOOL Riverview High School SPIN Night is Wednesday, Feb. 19 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the courtyard. Riverview High School counselors will be visiting Booker Middle School on March 6 for

orientation and on March 11 for follow up registration. All applications for the International Baccalaureate program (advanced/college prep classes) at

Riverview High School should be completed online through an electronic format and can be accessed via the school’s website, www.riverviewib.com. An IB information night is scheduled in the Riverview Performing Arts Center on February 4th at 6:00 pm.

NORTH PORT HIGH SCHOOL North Port High School SPIN Night is Wednesday, Jan.

29 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Starts in the Courtyard

VENICE HIGH SCHOOL Venice High School SPIN Night is Tuesday, Feb. 25 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 or 8 p.m. in the Venice Performing Arts Center

SUNCOAST POLYTECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL SPHS will visit Booker Middle School on Wednesday, January 29 at 9:00 in the cafeteria. Open House: Jan. 28 and Feb. 5 at 6 p.m. Walking tours: Jan. 21, Feb. 4, Feb. 18 and March 24 from 8:45 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. The

application deadline is Friday, February 28th. The application is available online at the school website.

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Congratulations Principal Award Recipients!!

Straight As Samiyah Albritton, Deliyah Brown, Jackson Carney, Elina Carter, Aukan

Coliguante-Rivero, Keira Donovan, Emmanuelle Fandoux, Taltos Fuszfas, Cora Gerdes, Melia Haddock, Ayden Hall, Karaijus Hayes, Gabrielle Huff, Nhi Huynh, Josephine Jorgensen, Hana Knowlton, Cristobal Lugardo-Lopez,

Catherine Luis, Arif Mahe, Hong Nguyen, Emma Ortiz, Audrey Patrick, Aijalon Pegram, Alejandra Peguero, Kyle Ramon, Kyra Rosier, Dante Rutland, Casey Scolardi, Morgan Sims, Micah Stillwagner, Julia Stover, Augustus Toynton,

Annabelle Truong, Gabriel Vaquera-Meija, Jillian Vega, Haily Vu, Logan Warren, Kylee Worth, Naomi Yamada

Academic Excellence Emily Aldridge, Jolissa Allen, Genearia Ash, Kelsey Berroyer, Deliyah Brown, Lila Burgess, Ursula Cook, Lilah Davenport, Anahi Dominguez-Silva, Loudon

Dougherty, Bolero Eastman, Ariyana Enis, Emmanuelle Fandoux, Maria Ferrer, Saidy Flores-Vaquera, Taltos Fuszfas, Cora Gerdes, Lashaurd Gilchrist,

Gabryella Gonzalez, Ayden Hall, Gabriella Huff, Josephine Jorgensen, Nikita Kondratyuk, Charles Lester, Jose Lopez-Ramirez, Cristobal Lugardo-Lopez,

Giselle Martin Del Campo, Brian Mata, Ben McDonald, Angelyn Medina, Javari Mitchell, Sarah Monasterios-Ramirez, Emma Ortiz, Valeria Pacheco-Villeda,

Kamilah Pallares, Karissa Pallares, Aubrey Patrick, Aijalon Pegram, Alejandra Peguero, Connor Peltier, Lotisha Quinn, Jessica Ramirez, Jose Ramirez, Kyle

Ramon, Dante Rutland, Jauzlyn Schwaed, Casey Scolardi, Morgan Sims, Emily Smith, Daniel Stillwagner, Julia Stover, Hailey Torres, Jillian Vega, Emily Villarreal, Logan Warren, Michah Williams, Heidi Wolfe, Kylee Worth

Citizenship Johanna Barrientos, Darius Behn, Richard Carino, Anthony Cerda-Reyes,

Taliyah Durn, Evelyn Garza, McKayla Helton, Caleb Lee, Angelyn Medina, Geneva Pobjoy, Kyle Ramon, Jonathan Vasquez

Most Improved

Damarion Abnar, Judy Alvarado-Acosta, Marcus Allen, Brianna Behn, Juliet Camacho, Carron Chestnut-Ung, Alanis Cruz-Santiago, Miracle Deveaux, Iris Dougherty, Brian Elizarrarez-Hernandez, Antronique Foster, Emma Green, Jazmynne Goddard, Esmeralda Guzman, Oliva Daney Hernandez, Emily

Hernandez, Jaime Irizary, Alondra Lugo, Torin Merritt-Radney, Oswald Munoz-Mendoza, Lilia Pearson, Myla Phelps, Anthony Queved, Kate Rodriguez-Cedillo, Jada Rowe, Edwin Sanchez-Roblero, Amanda Sauceda, Jamiyah

Saunders

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Awards Cont.

Work Ethic

Sofia Alvarado-Navarro, Miracle Deveaux, Giselle Martin Del Campo, Angelyn Medina, Thaliana Ricardo Sanchez, Madison Rivera, Naomi Yamada

Best Class Participation Bolero Eastman, Julian Geers, Khenyon Jones, Ivan Lucio-Vega, Jessica

Ramirez, Dalia Rodriguez-Esparza, La'darien Smith, Emily Smith, Hailey Uffinger

Leadership Cora Gerdes, Hong Nguyen, Matthew O'Hara, Kenya Taylor, Augustus Toynton

Most Engaged Ariadna Aguilera, Katherine Balbo, Victoria Gonzalez, Khenyon Jones, Abigail

Kinsey, Ivan Lucio-Vega, Jazlyn Mathis, Makhalia Pride-Young, Jonathan Vasquez

Most Kind, Courteous, and Generous to All Handy Sandoval

Most Polite Darius Behn, Madeline Holdway, Savannah Kincaid, Gina Masarik, Mario

Sanchez

Never Give Up Award Eligha Lane

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Orchestra Masterclass On Thursday, February 13th the Booker Middle School VPA

orchestra program welcomed the Kila Quartet from New York City!

These fantastic musicians from The Juilliard School led a masterclass

with our orchestra students. Students in the Booker Middle School

orchestra program also had the opportunity to play a piece for the

members of Kila Quartet and receive feedback!

On Wednesday, February 12th, Financial Advisor Dean Dancer

spent the day with our College for Every Student scholars.

Dancer presented about saving vs. investing and had the students

play a game with candy bars which showed them how most

Americans manage their money. Such a great lesson to be

learned by all!

NEWS

Dean Dancer Visits

Joanna Fox receives Appleton Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award

We all remember that one teacher in our lives who inspired us to reach

for the stars and create a love of learning. Through the Appleton

Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award, the Van Wezel Foundation

is shining the spotlight and celebrating teachers excelling in arts

education and integration.

Please help us congratulate Joanna Fox, BMS Creative Writing

Teacher, for receiving this prestigious award!

College and Career Center Spotlight

February is Engineering and Technology month for College and Career

Readiness studies. Special congratulations to our Math Counts

students for their excellent showing at Florida Engineering Society’s

annual competition. Booker Middle School offers great introductions

for this pathway with advanced math courses studying Algebra and

Geometry as well as CTE courses such as Introduction to Business

Technology, Introduction to Manufacturing, Fundamentals of

Manufacturing and Exploring Communications Technology. Explore

these opportunities!

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Thank you to all who joined us for Parent University! This gathering

was focused on the Florida Standards Assessment (FSA). Haley

Shaffer spoke about testing strategies and had families work together

on a practice test to see what the test is like. Go to

https://fsassessments.org/

to take your own practice test and for more resources to use while

helping your child prep!

The Patterson Foundation Brings History to BMS On Wednesday, February 19th, the Patterson Foundation gave Booker

Middle School students the opportunity to see a new one-act play,

Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas, a Walk to Respect—written by

award-winning playwright Beth Duda, with original spoken word

poetry by Cedric Hameed. The production is a celebration of The

Patterson Foundation’s decade of impact through people,

organizations, and communities while continuing to connect, learn,

share, evolve, and strengthen its efforts to realize shared aspirations.

CFES Visits USF Engineering Expo College for Every Student and National Society of Black

Engineers (NSBE) scholars participated in hands-on activities

dedicated to educating students on the importance of math,

science, engineering, and technology within their lives. Hosted by

University of South Florida, the students were able to meet and

talk with Tampa Bay’s local engineers and engineering students at

USF.

Junior Thespians State Festival Booker Middle School students showed amazing skills, maturity, and talent at the Junior Thespians State Festival this past weekend in

Orlando. Every student who participated medaled and BMS students were even awarded with a “Best In Show” accolade for one of our

events (first time ever for BMS at States!).

Parent University

NEWS

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Florida Studio Theatre Visits Florida Studio Theatre presented Historically Speaking, a new

production dedicated to The Suffragist Project. Celebrating the 100-

year anniversary of women earning the right to vote, actors from

FST came and told the stories of the suffragettes with honesty and

heart. A big thank you goes out to the Community Foundation and

to Manatee Educational Television for joining in the momentous

event.

NEWS

Stephanie Murphy Visits

On Tuesday, February 25th, Stephanie Murphy, of the Murphy

Law Group in Sarasota, spent the day with our College for

Every Student scholars. Murphy presented about her career path

to becoming a successful lawyer. Students asked excellent

questions and were excited to learn about what it takes to

practice law!

BMS Celebrates Literacy Week Literacy week was celebrated at Booker and Dr. Frost made sure we

celebrated in the best way possible! Students were encouraged to read

during their AT time, grabbing books the minute they walked in the

door! Focusing on the theme Adventure Awaits all students received a

passport and, if they participated in Literacy Week Activities every day

and had their entire passport stamped, they were entered into a drawing

to choose a BMS staff member they could pie in the face. Dr. Frost was

lucky enough to be chosen!

Musical Theatre Performance

Bravo to Mrs. Mills and her level 1 Musical Theatre students for a

fantastically hilarious performance of The Stinky Cheeseman and Fairly

Other Stupid Tales on February 21st and 22nd.

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Parent University: We know your child’s education and development is important to you and that you would like to encourage them in any way you can. Our monthly Parent University will give you some tools and strategies to best

support their Booker Middle School education. (see dates in the “Calendars” section)

Parent Involvement: Our parents are the lifeblood of our school’s support network. Each

month our parents and faculty meet to discuss the activities associated with our school’s fundraising efforts. (see dates in the “Calendars” section)

SAC (School Advisory Council): A formal monthly meeting where parents and community members meet with our principal and other administrators to collaborate on school issues. (see dates in the “Calendars” section)

Magnet, Club, and Program Fundraising: Our students participate in a number of events and activities both on and away from our campus. Our fundraising programs are designed to help our

parents get involved and support performances, activities, and field trips. Ask how you can get involved.

Donate: Donations come in many forms and we appreciate all of them. Email our arts coordinator (BookerMiddleVPA@gmail.com) for information on BMS Arts Giving. For information regarding donations to our other

programs email Debra Alvis-Greenwald (debra.alvis-greenwald@sarasotacountyschools.net).

Volunteer: BMS can always use a helping hand. If you would like to donate your time to our wonderful school, come to the front office of our school and sign up or contact Debra Alvis-Greenwald.

Attend: There are so many events for our students and it means the world to our students when the attendance and support goes beyond their friends and

family. Attend an arts event, a sports event, or just come out to a Family Night with one of our business partners (see dates in the “Calendars” section).

GET INVOLVED

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CALENDARS

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SAC

6:00PM-7:00PM

Parent

University 5:30PM-6:30PM

Parent

Involvement 5:00PM-6:00PM

August 27th

September 24th

November 19th

October 22nd

December 17th

January 28th

February 18th

March 24th

April 28th

May 26th

August 27th

September 24th

November 19th

October 22nd

December 17th

January 28th

February 18th

March 24th

April 28th

May 26th

SEPTEMBER 17th

November 14th

October 15th

December 18th

January 28th

February 18th

March 18th

April 14th

May 14th

Light supper served

Julie Howie, Miriam Chilton, Corinne Day, Gina Toynton, Kelly and Drew Carney, Roxanne and

Serge Jorgensen, Cameron Parker, Kelly Endress, Tiffany Lawrence, Jennifer Lozzi, Ysbelia

Sanchez, Liliana Pallares, Lyndsey Ashley, Sally Blackheart, Jessica Young, Donna Ortiz, Philip

DuQuesney, Araceli Herrera, Marianna Cruz, Joanna Martinez, Eliabel Ramirez, Heriberto and

Natashie Enriquez, Judith Hall, Maggie Davenport, Rhonda Berroyer

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For more information on Booker Middle School Visual and Performing Arts events or

admissions contact our VPA coordinator at bookermiddlevpa@gmail.com

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Parental Notification Principal Attestation of Qualifications

For Teachers and Paraprofessionals

Booker Middle School

Sarasota County School District

As required by P.L. 107-110, Section 1119(i) of Title I, Part A, I attest to the following for the school year 2019-2020:

• All teachers teaching in core academic subject areas and hired after the first day of 2001-2003 school year and teaching in a program and supported bt Title I, Part A

funds, are highly qualified.

• All instructional paraprofessionals, (except for translations and parental involvement

activities) meet the requirements to be considered highly qualified. Copies of this attestation are available online and at the school and district office and will be

made available to the general public upon request.

Dr. LaShawn Frost

Title I Booklet Distribution

What is “Parent’s-Right-to-Know” Federal law requires that the Sarasota County School District notify parents of all children in Title I schools of their rights to receive timely information on the professional qualifications

of their child’s teacher. Parents may request information about the professional qualifications of the student’s classroom teacher including, at a minimum, the following:

• Whether the teacher has met the state qualifications and certification criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction.

• Whether the teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through

which state qualification or certification criteria has been waived.

• The baccalaureate degree major of the teacher and any other graduate certificate or

degree held by the teacher, and the field of discipline of the certification or degree.

• Whether the child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their

qualifications

If you would like to receive a Title I booklet, please notify Debra Alvis-Greenwald

(941)359-5824 or debra.alvis-greenwald@sarasotacountyschools.net