SKAHA LAKE MIDDLE SCHOOL

HOME OF THE SHARKS

110 Green Avenue West, Penticton, BC V2A 3T1
Phone/Fax: (250) 770-7674

March 2017 http://sd67.bc.ca/schools/skaha Vol. 18 No. 3

Principal/Vice-Principals Message:
One of the greatest predictors of student success in school continues to be regular attendance. It is important socially and
academically for students to attend school regularly. Research indicates there is a huge correlation between students who
attend school regularly and with students who do well at school. There is also a huge correlation between students who
struggle at school and with students who do not attend school regularly. Please help us instill in our kids, the importance of
regular attendance. Not only is regular attendance valued in Middle School, it is also valued in High School, Post-Secondary
and in the work force. We do understand that students do get sick. When this occurs, please contact the school at 250-
770-7674 ext 0. We will continue to support and work with students who have missed school due to illness.

Mr. T. Grady, Principal Mr. T. Bond, Vice-Principal

SLMS staff and contact information 2016-17

Name Position Voicemail Email

GRADY, Terry Principal 6363 tgrady@summer.com
BOND, Travis Vice Principal 6639 tbond@summer.com
BELLOMO, David DIV 8-03 6511 dbellomo@summer.com
CARUSO, Kelly Library/ELL 6439 kcaruso@summer.com
DICKSON, Sandy DIV 7-09 6010 sdickson@summer.com
GANTON, Louise Counsellor 6007 lganton@summer.com
JOHNSTON, Angus DIV 8-02 6129 ajohnston@summer.com
HALL, Tanya AB. ED. 6100 thall@summer.com
HATCH, Bonnie Hm.Ec/DIV 8-05 6075 bhatch@summer.com
HAUSER, Leland Learning Assistance 6432 lhauser@summer.com
KEMP, Stacey Psychologist 6065 skemp@summer.com
KOTURBASH, Lynn Drama/DIV 7-11 6001 lkoturbash@summer.com
KROSCHINSKY, Travis Tech. Ed./ DIV 8-04 6176 tkroschinsky@summer.ocm
KUPEC, David DIV 8-06 6331 dkupec@summer.com
LEIDING, Shelly Secretary 6572 sleiding@summer.com
LOVETT, Lorne DIV 7-07 6162 llovett@summer.com
MAJOR, Terry DIV 6-15 6297 tmajor@summer.com
ORIOLI, Tony DIV 7-08 6009 torioli@summer.com
SABOURIN, Myranda DIV 6-14 6538 myrandasabourin@summer.com
SCHLACKL, William Band/DIV 7-10 6169 wschlackl@summer.com
SEELEY, Tamatha DIV 8-01 6054 tseeley@summer.com
SMITH, Kasey ART 6273 ksmith@summer.com
STEPHENS, Melanie DIV 6-13 6181 mstephens@summer.com
WASYLESHKO, Aimee DIV 6-12 6486 awasyleshko@summer.com
WATSON, Jocelyn Special Education 6043 jwatson@summer.com
WIKERD, JP DIV 6-16 6591 jwikerd@summer.com
GOESSMAN, Corrie RTI/English 7-08 6318 cgoessman@summer.com
 REPORT CARDS
Report cards will be handed out to students to take
home on March 10th. We ask that you sign the
envelope and your son/daughter return it to their
homeroom teacher to verify you have received it.
Contact your childs teacher if you have any
questions or concerns. A list of teacher email
addresses is provided in this newsletter and is
available on the school website.
.
CLOSED CAMPUS
As stated in our planners and agreed to by policy,
Skaha Lake Middle School is a closed campus.
Students in grades 6-8 are expected to remain on
campus unless signed out by a parent. Sign in and
sign out procedures are in place to ensure student
safety. Students are not permitted to go off campus
during lunch unless a parent comes into the office to
pick them up. As well, students who take school buses
home at the end of the day should not leave campus
and then return to ride the bus. Thank you for your
cooperation with this. Please use the planner to inform
the teacher and school if your child has an
appointment or other reason to leave the school.
Without parent permission students will not be
dismissed.
OFFICE
Our school population has increased to 419 students
this year. With that in mind our office has also become
a very busy place. We ask that you use the student
planner to communicate with your child about changes
to their schedules or drop off and pick up. We
understand there can be last minute changes and
emergencies that we will be glad to help out with.
Messages are delivered at nutrition break, lunch and
the end of the day for those emergencies that may pop
up. Please remind your child to be listening to
announcements in order to receive the messages that
may arise.
KEV has arrived. This is a new accounting program
that you will hear more about as schools in SD #67
transition. With this new program families will be able
to pay school fees online as well as have more options
to pay for school expenses. With this in mind we will
no longer be carrying change. This will affect students
who bring large bills to use at the vending machine or
purchase hot lunch. Please assist your child by having
the correct change to use for these items.
SHARK BITES
To report an absence please call 250-770-7674 ext.
0. Please call if your child will be late or away from
school, has medical concerns, or to report any
address or phone number changes.
SLMS PAC
The Skaha Lake Parent Advisory Committee or PAC,
has signed Skaha Lake Middle School up for a Dough
Raiser Program with COBS Bread at the Riverside
Village. This allows us to raise money for Skaha Lake
Middle School throughout the year! Be sure to mention
Skaha Lake Middle School each time you make a
purchase at COBS Bread Riverside Village; they will
donate 5% of your purchase back to our school.
Thanks for supporting PAC and Skaha Lake Middle
School.
The next PAC meeting will be on Wednesday, April
12th at 7:00 pm in the SLMS library. We would love to
see you there.
STUDENT PICKUP/DROP OFF
With so many more students attending Skaha Lake
Middle School this year, we have many more adults
driving and dropping off and picking up students at the
school. While doing this we ask that you please obey
all the traffic signage that is posted around the school.
Please do not drop off or pick up students in front of
the school between the orange cones. Ideally we
would like to see students dropped off and picked up
away from the school. By doing this it will help lessen
the traffic congestion. If you are parking, please park
appropriately in designated parking spaces and please
drive slowly and carefully. Kids are not always paying
attention to the traffic.
HOT LUNCH MENU
A variety of hot lunch menu items are sold at the
concession window every day of the week as follows:
Monday: Wraps/Soup/Spaghetti/Paninis
Tuesday: Pizza by the slice
Wed: Fettuccini/Chili/Pizza Buns/Caesar Salad
Thursday: Taco in a Bun
Friday: Announced each week.
SHARK CLOTHING ON SALE
School Clothing items with a variety of printed or
embroidered Shark Logo designs are once again on
sale. Last year Skaha Lake adopted red and black as
their school colors which will be reflected in our athletic
wear. Forms are available in the office.
. BASKETBALL PLAYERS
Lake City Basketball is a local club basketball program
designed to provide competitive opportunities for
young players passionate about the game. ID camps
will occur on March 11 (girls) and March 12 (boys) for
interested players. Teams practice and play from
April-early June. For more information visit
http://lakecitybasketball.weebly.com/ or email
lake.city.hoops@gmail.com.
 BC FRUIT AND VEGGIE PROGRAM
Our School is involved in a province-wide healthy living
initiative (administered by the BC Agriculture in the
Classroom Foundation and supported by Healthy
Families BC). One of the goals is to encourage
healthy eating by providing fresh BC fruits and
vegetables to our students during class time. Our
students will received these healthy treats 12 times
over the school year at no charge! If your child has
an allergy or if you do not want your child to
participate in this program please be sure to let us
know.
LIBRARY NEWS
The library hours for 2016-2017 are Monday Friday
8:30am to 3:00 pm.
SLMS HOCKEY SKILLS ACADEMY
If your child will be attending SLMS next year and is
interested in a hockey skills development program
please register at:
http://okanaganhockey.com/academy/skills-
academy/
Cost for the program will range from $800 to $1100
depending on student participation.
YEARBOOKS ON SALE!
Our 2016-2017 Skaha Lake Middle School Yearbook is
on sale for $35. Yearbooks will be delivered near the
end of June. There are a limited number of yearbooks
available for sale and they will sell out so dont miss
out on this treasured keepsake! Please bring your
cheque or money to the office.
Me to We STUDENT LEADERSHIP
SLMS celebrated PINK shirt day on February 22 with
a student led assembly. Me to We students lead the
assembly, performed and participated in large
numbers. The focus of the assembly was Kindness
and the importance of taking a kind risk! Students
shared kind acts that have happened around SLMS
and highlighted projects like the backpack drive for
Tanzania. A cheque was also presented to Mr. Grady
that SLMS will be forwarding to the Red Cross a
$1000.00 donation. Way to go SLMS!!! Our next
initiative will be an Empowerment Assembly in May!
SMART PHONE SAFETY AND PARENTING
IN THE DIGITAL WORLD.
Students will all have received a pamphlet attached to
their report cards on Smartphone Safety and another
on parenting tweens and teens in the Digital World.
These pamphlets give valuable information on helping
start discussion and education for families on internet
and phone safety. Please take a moment to look and
share those resources with your families.
SEXUAL HEALTH
Sexual Health Curricular content will be taught in each
grade starting after Spring Break. Please see the letter
sent home with the report card. You can also view the
content at www.curriculum.gov.bc.ca select curriculum,
curriculum search and check Physical and Health
Education. If you have questions, please contact Mrs.
Ganton at 250-770-7674.
SPRING VACATION
The last day of classes before Spring Break is Friday,
March 17th. Schools will reopen on Monday, April 3,
2017 and it will be DAY 2. We would like to wish all of
our Shark families a relaxing holiday.
TRANSFER REQUESTS
The window for students requesting transfers from their
catchment / current school to another school in School
District No. 67 for the September 2017 / 2018 school
year is 8:00 am, February 1, 2017 to 4:00 pm, April
15, 2017. Transfer requests received prior to February
1 will be date / time stamped as February 1, 2017,
8:00 am and transfer requests received after April 15
may not be considered until September 2017.
Decisions will likely not be approved until
September 2017 due to the Districts boundaries
review and the potential impact of the Supreme
Court decision.
SLMS GARDEN
Donate Gently-Used Clothing and fill the SLMS
garden
Skaha Lake Middle School is preparing for the
upcoming growing season and your gently-used
clothing and household items can help them get there!
The Donation Drives goal is to raise $500 in funds to
support the SLMS school garden. Funds raised will
purchase seeds, trays, potting soil, plants and trellis
equipment. Acceptable donations include clothing,
shoes, accessories, books, linens, and small
household items (no furniture). Bagged or boxed items
can be dropped off at SLMS in room 129 (Home Ec)
from April 10th 19th. SLMS is holding the drive in
partnership with Value Village. Items collected during
the drive will be sold to local Value Village stores.
I DAYS
Please note we will have a regular scheduled
school day on June 26th. I Days will commence
on June 27th & 28th only for those students who
have incomplete marks on their report card.
SATISFACTION SURVEYS Grade 7 Parents
School District 67 is participating in the 2017 Ministry
of Education Electronic Anonymous Satisfaction
Survey project The Provincial Satisfaction Survey
gathers information from teachers and grade 7 parents
and students on topics related to school environment,
safety, and achievement. The information is used for DATES TO REMEMBER
planning in individual schools and provides a district
and provincial perspective. Mar. 3 Term 2 Ends
Mar. 7 Gr. 7 Okanagan Band Festival
We encourage parents to participate in this survey, as Mar. 8 Gr. 8 Okanagan Band Festival
the results are important in identifying and celebrating Mar. 8 Gr. 6 Kindness study pizza lunch
current strengths, as well as determining where the Mar. 9 Gr. 7 to Apex
school needs to focus improvement. Mar. 10 Term 2 Report Cards Home
Mar. 14 Gr. 7 to Apex
The Survey is taking on a new format this year. More Mar. 15 Gr. 7/8 Kindness study Pizza lunch for
information will follow after Spring Break. Div 7-10
Mar. 17 Last Day of School - Spring Break Begins
Apr. 3 School Reopens
SUMMER SWIM CLUB Apr. 12 PAC Meeting 7:00 pm
Apr. 13 Pro. D. Day No School
Interested in joining a Summer Swim Club? The Apr. 14 Good Friday No School
Penticton Pikes Summer Swim Club is an excellent Apr. 17 Easter Monday No School
opportunity for your child to learn swimming skills in a May 10 PAC Meeting 7:00 pm
fun, encouraging way while promoting personal May 11 Interim Reports sent home
development and team spirit in an atmosphere of May 15 Pro. D. Day No School
family involvement. Opportunities to attend swim meets May 22 Victoria Day No School
are offered to all participants. Our season begins May June 14 PAC Meeting 7:00 pm
1st. Registration is on Sunday, April 9th, from 4:30 to June 27-28 I Days
6:30 pm at Penticton Community Centre. Find out June 29 Awards Assembly/ Final Report Card Home
more at http://www.pentictonpikes.com