CDE CODE: 09-61903
2940 Lake Tahoe Blvd.
Principal: Beth Delacour
Assistant Principals: Chris Renzullo & Patrick Harnett
Counselors: JoAnn Hernandez (7th) & Roy Benavidez (8th)
Important Numbers
Front Office: (530) 541-6404
Attendance Office: (530) 543-2281
Student Services: (530) 543 - 2290
Homework Hotline: (530) 543-2282
Transportation: (530) 543-2218
District Office: (530) 541-2850
STMS Secret Witness: 543-1234
South Tahoe Middle School is located in South Lake Tahoe, California. Our Address is 2940 Lake Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150. Lake Tahoe Blvd, also known as Highway 50, is the main road that runs along the South Shore. STMS is located at the intersection of Lake Tahoe Blvd. and Al Tahoe Blvd., across from the Albertson's/Rite Aide Shopping Complex.
7th and 8th graders at STMS are on an A/B block schedule. Students go to periods 1, 2, and 3 on A days and 4, 5, and 6 on B days. In addition, students have a "Skinny" class every day opposite their lunch.
7th & 8th Grades
First Lunch Second Lunch Periods Periods 1/4 7:45-920 1/4 7:45-920 2/5 9:25-10:55 2/5 9:25-10:55 Lunch A 11:00-11:30 Skinny B 11:00-11:45 Skinny A 11:35-12:20 Lunch B 11:50-12:20 3/6 12:25-1:55 3/6 12:25-1:55 Minimum Day Schedule
First Lunch Second Lunch Periods Periods 1/4 7:45-8:50 1/4 7:45-8:50 2/5 8:55-9:55 2/5 8:55-9:55 Lunch A 10:00-10:30 Skinny B 10:00-10:30 Skinny A 10:35-11:05 Lunch B 10:35-11:05 3/6 11:10-12:10*
11:10-11:55**
3/6 11:10-12:10*
11:10-11:55**
*STMS Minimum Day Release
** District Minimum Day Release
6th Grade
Periods 1 7:45-8:30 2 8:35-9:18 3 9:23-10:06 4 10:11-10:54 5 10:59-11:42 6 11:47-12:30 Lunch 12:35-1:05 7 1:10-1:55 Minimum Day Schedule
Periods 1 7:45-8:15 2 8:20-8:50 3 8:55-9:25 4 9:30-9:55 5 10:00-10:30 6 10:35-11:05 Lunch 11:10-11:35 7 11:40-12:10*
11:40-11:55**
*STMS Minimum Day Release
** District Minimum Day Release
Emergency Cards
Every student must have an emergency card on file in the office. If your address or telephone number is changed, please see that the office is notified immediately to prevent loss of time in the case of an emergency.
Medication
California state law governs the administration of medication to students at school. All medication, either prescribed or over-the-counter, needs to be given by the school nurse or her designee. A medication policy form signed by a physician and parent is needed before medication can be given at school. Please contact the school nurse if you have any questions.
Telephones and Messages
The school office is a place of business and is extremely busy most of the time. Thus, the office telephone may be used by students only in the case of emergency. Pay phones are available for student use just outside the front office. Although teachers have phones in their rooms, except during their prep period, outside calls cannot be transfered to the rooms. Phone calls in the middle of class get very distracting for both the students and the teacher. Please arrange meeting times and places with your student before sending them to school as messages will only be delivered in the case of emergency.
Bus Information
Students who live in qualifying areas may take the bus to school. Bus routes and times are published in the Tahoe Daily Tribune the week before school starts or may be obtained by calling the Transportation Department at 543 - 2218. Riding the bus is a priviledge and can be revoked at any time for improper or unsafe behavior.
Visitors
Our front office is open Monday - Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Because your child's safety is of utmost concern, we require all visitors to sign in at the front office before proceding anywhere on campus. You will receive a visitors pass at that time and must display this pass so that it is clearly visible. Adults without a visitor's pass will be asked to return to the front office immediately to sign in and get one. STMS is a closed campus. Once a student gets on a bus or arrives at school, he/she may not leave campus without permission. Parents must sign students out of school in the front office. Please do not pick up your child and fail to check them out. In case of an emergency, we need to be able to account for every one of our students!
California state law requires that each student attend school regularly and punctually. It is the parent's responsibility to ensure that this happens. According to the State, the only valid excuses for absences are illness, medical appointments, and attending a funeral. Every teacher checks attendance each period of the day. If a student is absent for even one period please follow the procedures below:
On the first day of your absence parents must telephone the school attendance office by 9:00 a.m. giving the reason for the absence.
Whenever a student returns to school after an absence, he/she should report directly to the first block of the day. If the parent did not contact the school, a note must be brought to the school stating the date and reason for the absence. The student should present the note to the teacher of the first block of the day.
Whenever a student must leave school early, he/she must report to the office before leaving to sign out.
If a student becomes ill during class, s/he should notify the teacher who will write a pass to the office. If a student becomes ill outside of class, report to the office. Students should not leave the grounds without seeking help from the school nurse or front office secretary.
If a student is absent for several days for a valid reason, the parent can call the school to request homework. In order to allow time for the teacher to get work together, advance notice of twenty-four hours is required for this arrangement. All requested homework must be turned in to the teachers for grading and credit.
The average student in California misses between 4 and 8 days per year. When a child reachers ten absences, a letter from the School Attendance Review Board will be mailed home. If the pattern of absences continues, a mandatory meeting between the school, the parent, and the child will be held.
If a student is moving to another school, we ask that the parent provide as much notice as possible. Please call Student Services or send a note with your child at least one week prior to his/her last day. A student cannot check him/herself out of school without parent notification. Your child will need to complete an official checkout sheet which includes the latest grades and any missing books or fines. We will not be able to release records for students who owe fines.
Snow Days
During inclement weather a "snow day" could be announced. To find out if school has been cancelled, listen to your local radio station or call the district snow phone at 541-INFO. You may also visit http://www.ltusd.k12.ca.us and click on Snow Day Information for the latest information. Please do not call the school as you will only get a recording before the office opens. Three snow days are built into the school calendar. If we have more than three snow days, we will add these days to the end of the year.
Illness and Injury
All injured or ill students will be sent to the office. Students should report all injuries to the office and complete an accident report form. In case of a serious accident or injury, parents will be notified and emergency services will be called to administer medical aide. It is essential that the emergency card you have on file is up-to-date to avoid delays in contacting you in the event of an emergency. A school nurse is at STMS on a part-time basis.
The purpose of the rules we enforce at STMS is to ensure a positive, safe environment for learning, and to help students become responsible members of society. Listed below are some of the basic rules to guide you while at STMS:
ZERO TOLERANCE ITEMS: That people, including students, will make mistakes is assured, certain behaviors are considered so serious, however, that students will be considered for expulsion on their first offense. These are:
- Possession of weapons of any kind, including imitation weapons
- Possession, use, or sale of drugs, alcohol, or drug paraphenalia
- Extortion
- Serious bodily injury of another person
Other, less serious rules we expect our students to obey include:
- STMS is a closed campus. Students may not leave campus without first gaining permission from the office. A student who rides the bus or walks to school is considered to be at school from the time they leave their house in the morning until they arrive back at their house after school.
- Hall passes are required whenever a student is in the hall during class time. The hall pass must include a date, time, destination, and teacher signature.
- Students are expected to obey all adult employees at the school.
- Student are to follow the rules established by the bus drivers.
- Students are expected to respect school property and the property of others.
- Students are expected to display proper manners and behavior in the cafeteria. Students must raise their hand and wait to be excused by an adult before leaving their table.
- Overt displays of affection are inappropriate for school and are not permitted.
- The use of rude or obscene language or hand gestures will not be tolerated.
- Gum-chewing is not allowed.
- The following items distract from learning and are not allowed at school: Radios, tape players, beepers, cellular phones, toys, skateboards, roller blades, laser pens, water balloons, water guns, fire-crackers, stink bombs, lighters, or any other item deemed inappropriate by the school.
- Clothing, jewelry, or artwork that portrays drugs, alcohol, tobacco, satanic symbols, profanity, obscenity, degrading messages, or intolerance is not acceptable and will be confiscated. We have a variety of acceptable yet oh so fashionable clothing for you to borrow.
- Shoes must be worn at all times.
Consequences
For the most part, teachers take care of minor misbehaviors within their own classroom. Each teacher uses techniques that they find successful. These might include moving a student's seat, isolation from the class, being sent into the hall or to another room, or being assigned sentences to write. In habitual situations, a student's schedule may be changed to place him/her into a different class, team or house. Students who do not respond to the teacher's efforts to maintain a learning environment in their classroom may be assigned after-school detention.
Detention starts at 2:00 p.m. and runs for 45 minutes. A student who skips a detention will have it doubled by the assigning teacher. A student may get a maximum of three (3) detentions in any 12-week trimester. Students who have had three previous detentions or who display more extreme behavior may be placed into On-Campus Retention (OCR) for a period of from one to several days. In this setting the student is isolated from his/her peers and completes school work independently effectively removing the social interaction of the child. This is usually very effective in changing a student's behavior. A student can have a maximum of three (3) OCR placements during the academic year.
Students who have run out of OCR placements or who display severe behavior may be suspended from school for between one and five days per occurance. A student who reaches fifteen (15) days of suspension will be placed on pre-expulsion. Any student who reaches twenty (20) days of suspension will be expelled from the school. Offenses for which suspension will almost certainly occur include:
- Causing or attempting to cause physcial injury
- Damage to, or theft of, school or private property
- Possessing any controlled substance, firearm, knife, explosive or other dangerous item.
- Possessing or using tobacco
- Habitually distrupting school activities or willfully defying school authority
Dress Code
The purpose of this policy is to promote an atmosphere conducive to learning. Students are to dress in a manner that is a credit to the school, their families, and themselves. This is an area in which parental understanding and cooperation are most important to students and the school. Below are listed items that we feel take away from the educational environment and thus may not be worn:
- Bare midriff tops or blouses
- "See through" material in tops, blouses, shirts, skirts, pants
- Tube-tops, halter tops, and tank tops
- Cut-away shirts
- Short-shorts: Shorts must come to the student's fingertips with arms at his/her sides
- Sagging: All pants must be worn at the waist and secured with a belt
- Gang Attire: Any clothing the administration feels creates a gang atmosphere. This would include, but is not limited to: bandanas, logos, tags, etc.
For more complete information on Student Services, click on Student Services.
Our school provides a counseling system for the purpose of guiding students throughout their middle school years and preparing them for later life. All students should be familiar with the guidance system and feel free to use it often and to its full extent. Counselors are assigned by grade level and follow the students from year-to-year. Your student can drop in to see their counselor or, if the counselor is not available, sign up to have the counselor call the student in. Student Services provides the following services:
- Program and schedule questions, concerns, and changes
- New student registration
- Monitoring of grades for advancement, promotion, and retention of students
- Assistance with parent/student/teacher conferences
- Coordination and administration of standardized testing
- Coordination and administration of the After School Assistance Program
- Coordination and administration of the Tutorial Program
- Coordination and administration of Wide World of Work Program
- Crisis counseling and referral for more in-depth services
- Group counseling
- Conflict resolution between students
Report Cards and Progress Reports
Report cards and progress reports are mailed out periodically to the address of record for all students. For a calendar of when to expect these mailings, go to the STMS Home Page and click on "Calendar". For question regarding a specific grade, please contact the teacher. We strongly recommend that if your child receives a grade of 'D' or 'F' that you contact the teacher at your earliest convenience.
Schedule Changes
All schedule changes must be done through the student's grade level counselor. For student requested changes, the student must pick up and complete a "Schedule Change Request Form" available in Student Services. This form requires signatures from the teachers who are affected, the parent, and the student. For parent requested schedule changes, we ask that the parent meet with the teacher to try to resolve any issues with the class, then, if the situation is not resolved, to contact the grade level counselor to discuss the issue. Due to the nature of Teacher Teams and Houses, changing a class often disrupts a student's entire schedule. Thus, we want to make schedule changes a 'last resort'.
The Lake Tahoe Unified School District has set specific standards at each grade level that a student must achieve in order to pass to the next grade. At STMS, a student who fails more that one (1) class is required to attend and pass summer school in order to advance to the next grade. A committee will review all students who fail more that one class during any one school year. Students who fail to pass summer school or who fail too many classes may be retained or placed into a special program.
8th grade students who fail more than one class will NOT be eligible to participate in the promotion ceremony. They will be able to advance to the High School provided they do not have more than four (4) Fs and pass summer school. If your child is in this situation you should contact the grade level counselor immediately.
Homework has a wider definition than most students realize. It includes, but is not limited to:
- Completion of work not finished in class
- Completion of short-term and long-term projects
- Review of material studied that day in class
- Studying for quizes and tests
- Independent reading
Students who set aside time on a regular basis for homework have an advantage over those who do not. While there is no standard for each grade level or every subject area, your child should have homework regularly. If he never seems to have any homework, call the homework hotline or check your student's school agenda to see what is coming up. If you are still unclear about what is happening at school with your student, contact the teacher to see how your child is doing. Doing this will avoid surprises when the progress report shows up with poor grades.