Welcome to my school notes page, and welcome to West Rowan Middle School!! It's going to be a great year!  My name is Mindy Muire, and I am the Intervention Specialist here at West Rowan Middle School. One may wonder what an Intervention Specialist does at a school. Here are a few of my responsibilities: Alcohol, tobacco, and other drug Prevention/Intervention- which includes individual and family counseling and referral to/collaboration with community agencies. Teens Against Tobacco is an active club here at WRM that works to educate students and others about the dangers of cigarette and smokeless tobacco. Character Education, Attendance, Drop-Out Issues, Peer Mediation (coming soon) are all areas that I am involved in here at WRM. I also serve as the "go-to" counselor for 7th grade. I am available to meet with students who need to talk to someone about ANY issue. I welcome parental involvement and look forward to working with parents to alleviate any issues a student is experiencing that may be interfering with his or her academic progress, knowing that mental health is as important as physical health. Do not ever hesitate to contact me with any issues or concerns.

Each week we will be watching two movie clips during morning announcements to get us all thinking about character traits we feel are important here at West Middle.

November 14-18
Trait for the week: Kindness
Quote of the the week: "No act of kindness, however small, is wasted." --Aesop


ATTENDANCE
I want everyone to know the importance of making sure students get to school every day, ready to learn. ATTENDANCE at school is a vital component to a child's success in school. Parents and students need to make sure they understand the Compulsory Attendance Requirements as stated in the RSS Student-Parent Handbook & Code of Conduct.
Parents will be notified at 3 unexcused absences. At 6 unexcused absences, I will contact the parent or guardian to discuss the absences and see what needs to be done, if anything, to make sure the student gets to school every day. At 10 unexcused absences, a conference will be requested with the principal to determine what action, if any, needs to be taken.
Once a student has 10 unexcused absences, court involvement can occur and petitions can be filed against the parent, guardian, and/or student, depending on the circumstances. Court involvement is a last resort. My goal is to resolve issues that are keeping a child from getting to/coming to school without having to involve the courts.
Also, once a student has 15 absences, excused or unexcused, a doctor's note is required for all future absences. A principal can require doctor's notes before 15 absences if there is a history of excessive absences.  These policies are system-wide.

Teens Against Tobacco will be having its next meeting on Tuesday, November 29, from 3:30-4:30.  Please make sure you have a ride to pick you up at 4:30!