School begins this Monday

It's that time already — Somers and Lakeside children will head back to school Monday, Aug. 30. Here are some details parents and students will need to know as they prepare for the first day.

SOMERS MIDDLE SCHOOL

Somers Middle School's students will notice a new addition to the locker room — new physical eduction lockers with built-in combination locks, Principal Lori Schieffer said. Also the basketball and four-square courts have been seal coated and their lines repainted.

Along with some new features at the school, students and parents will also run into some new faces with five new teachers and one new staff member. New teachers include Sarah Louden in sixth-grade language arts, Danielle Blanc in seventh- and eighth-grade science, Camille Larsen in Spanish, Matt Iba in band and Kelly Brady for art and physical education. Brady moved over to the middle school from Lakeside Elementary. Lindsey Aldrich, formerly a government, economics and history teacher at Bigfork High School, will take over as secretary. (Read more about this year's new teachers in upcoming editions of the West Shore News.)

Students and parents should be aware that P.E. uniforms are required for all students in sixth through eighth grade. Students can use a sibling's or buy one for $15 at the school's office. They'll be distributed the first week of school.

Students in seventh and eighth grade should be able to access their schedules using PowerSchool as needed.

Sports physicals will be offered from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 27, in the Somers Middle School gym. The cost is $15 and all proceeds will be donated to the district's athletic program. All athletes are required to have a current physical examination turned in to the office prior to the first practice. Other requirements include that the student be in good standing based on attendance, behavior and academics.

Middle school sports, which include football, volleyball and cross country, start on the first day of school, Aug. 30. The first games will take place Saturday, Sept. 11, for both cross country and football. Volleyball will have its first match Tuesday, Sept. 14.

LAKESIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

At Lakeside Elementary School, parents and students may notice a number of maintenance projects that were completed this summer. These included resurfacing and painting the parking lot, installing new water gutters and fixing the temperature in the technology room, Principal John Thies said.

On the technology side, the school added a few more SMART Boards to its collection. The end goal is to have all classrooms with the interactive technology by chipping away at purchasing a few each year. This year's purchases bring the total number of boards to about a dozen.

In addition, students will find quite a few new people in the school Monday. Mitch Brinkman will work with physical education, Sharla Roberts will be a para-educator, Caitlin Amy will work with Title I reading, Lucia Ek will teach fifth grade, Alicia Van Egmond will teach third grade and Amy Gardner will be an added kindergarten teacher. With the number of students enrolled in kindergarten this year, a number that is floating around 65, a fourth teacher had to be added to meet accreditation standards, Thies said. A kindergarten class cannot have more than 20 students in it. The elementary school will also share new band teacher Iba.

Also, two teachers familiar to the school have new positions and new names this year. Both got married over the summer. Cindy Terry will move from first to second grade and her name is now Cindy Harvey. Molly Kern moved from third to fourth grade and her name changed to Molly O'Brien.

The elementary school will host an open house night for parents to meet the teachers and get to know the school from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 14.

Buses for both schools are running on the same schedule as previous years. That schedule is available online at http://somersdist29.org.