Mandarino Minutes for 9-25-17

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Tutoring Available-
We will have free tutoring available three days a week after school. Tuesday and Thursdays it will be in the high school media center until 4:15 P.M.  You can drive them to the high school or Bus #16 the Pink Pig will drop at Wells Field and the students would walk up the hill to the SJHS Media Center.  The tutoring here is done by SJHS National Honor Society students.
Wednesdays it would be at Upton Middle School from 2:50-3:50 P.M. in our media center.  This would be volunteer adults from our community.

Upton Picture Day-
This Friday, September 29th is picture day for anyone who missed the Upton startup day.  The pictures will take place in the morning.  This is not a retake day.  We need everyone to take a picture regardless of whether you order pictures or not.  The pictures are used for student ID's, the yearbook, and to update PowerSchool.

SJ Robotics-
St. Joseph Robotics is having a give back night this Wednesday, September 27th at Chilis.  Please click on the attachment for more information:  Chili's Voucher

Third Annual "Friendraiser"-
The St. Joseph Public School Foundation is having a giveback night on Tuesday, October 10th.  Silver Beach Pizza will give a portion of all sales both dine-in and take-out to the SJPS Foundation.  This will take place between 4:00-9:00 P.M.  As you already know the Foundation is very generous to SJPS schools!  
Link to the site:  SJPS "Friendraiser"

UPTO-

Our wonderful UPTO had their first meeting of the year last Thursday.  They voted to support the rehab of the long jump pit out by our track! They also will support putting more positive quotes up around Upton.  They have gathered the parent volunteer sheets and will get in contact with the various parents soon.  The PTO would also still accept a donation of any amount that you feel comfortable giving.

Late Start this Wednesday, September 28th-

We will have another late start/one-hour delay this Wednesday, September 28th.  We will also have them every Wednesday in October.  Buses run one hour later and breakfast is still available.

Artprize 2017-

Our 8th grade advanced art class (Studio art) will be going to Artprize this Thursday, September 28th.  We want to thank the St. Joseph Public Schools Foundation for their support!

Interact Club meeting-
A membership meeting is before school tomorrow, Tuesday, September 26th in the Upton Conference room.  The meeting will begin at 7:10 A.M.

Quote of the week-

"Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." - Abraham Lincoln

Have a great week,

Mr. Mandarino

Mandarino Minutes for 9-18-17

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Back to School Night-

Tonight (Monday, September 18th) is our Upton Back to School Night.  The evening will begin at 7:00 P.M. Your daughter/son will tell you who their first hour teacher is and their class schedule will be with there.  Each class will meet for 11 minutes with a passing time in between.  We look forward to seeing you!

One-Hour Delay-

This Wednesday, September 20th will be a late start.  School will begin exactly one hour later 8:45 A.M.  Buses will also run one later.  Our school will be open with supervision at its usual time of 7:15 A.M.

itsLearning-

We would love if each parent could sign in and bookmark itsLearning.  Here is a link to parent directions on itsLearning parent portal directions:  itsLearning Parent Portal . We also encourage you to have your daughter/son login and see what they see from their end of itsLearning.  These directions can also be found on the sjschools.org webpage under PARENTS—PARENT TOOLS—LMS.  If you have any questions about itsLearning parent portal, please email Amy Dirlam at adirlam@sjschools.org

UPTO-

Our first PTO meeting of the year is this Thursday, September 21st at 12:00 in the Upton Conference room.

Parking in the Staff Lot after school-

Please do not park in the staff parking lot (North Parking Lot) after school when picking up you children.  We have staff that have been blocked in who have to get to coaching, club, and other activities at other buildings.  We ask that you park in the main parking lot on the east side of the building.  Thanks with your help with this!

Note in the Morning-

If your son/daughter needs to see a teacher in the morning before school, we ask that you write a note indicating to our morning supervisors that they should be excused from their grade level gathering area.

Quote of the Week-

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style." - Maya Angelou

Have a great week,

Mr. Mandarino

Mandarino Minutes for September 11, 2017

Dear Parents/Guardians,


Welcome Back-
The first week was a great week!  The students seem to be getting more comfortable each day.  We want your daughter/son to have a great experience.  Please communicate with your child's teachers when something comes up, and we will do the same.

Sign-in/Sign-out-
You do not need to enter the school to sign your child into Upton, but we do require a parent to sign them out when leaving the building.  When a student has an appointment they should bring a note to the office and a pass will be given to them.  When they leave the building for an appointment the pass will go into the metal tray by the exit of the door. 

Back to School Night-
Our Back to School Night will be next Monday, September 18th at 7:00 P.M.  You will spend about 11 minutes per class and will hear from each of your son/daughter's teachers.  It is always a great and informative evening.

Drop-off/Pickup-
The morning drop-off can be very busy.  We do have two options that students may be dropped off at in the morning:
1) Off of Maiden Lane into our front circle
2) Off of Lincoln Avenue around the back and by the large metal bear.
The Pickup option is the main parking lot.  We ask that students do not cross when the buses are in motion.  When they do cross, we like it to be by the main entrance in the opening there.

Home High School Football Games-

We ask that students during home football games either sit with you, or in our middle school section located at the South end of the stadium.  We also want to remind you that your daughter/son should not be playing football behind the stadium on the practice field during the game.  We appreciate your support with this.

Involvement-

We really have a lot of students involved at Upton right now!  Around 90 in the cross country program,  3 boys soccer teams, a huge cheerleading squad, 4 volleyball teams, 60+ football players, people on the morning news team, a great size robotics team, and students signing up for Builders and Interact Club.  More information to follow on Science Olympiad, Spelling team, Coders Club, Math Counts, Chess Club, Ski Club, weightlifting, etc.

UPTO-

Our first UPTO (Upton Parent-Teacher Organization) meeting of the year will be Thursday, September 21st at noon in the Upton Conference room.  Please join President Cindy Igoe and her team as they kickoff another great school year!  We want to thank you for your donations to this organization.  The UPTO relies on donations as we do not have a formal fundraiser.  Please send in donations to the office and we will make sure the UPTO receives it.  Checks can be made available to SJPS in the memo line please put UPTO. Thanks to those that have already donated! 

Quote of the week-

"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand." - Harry S. Truman

Have a great week,

Mr. Mandarino