January 7, 2008 

Dear Parents, 

Happy New Year!   The cool temperatures didn’t diminish the energy and enthusiasm of 300 Middle School students starting back to school last week.  It was nice to see the rested faces and hear of the various travel and family experiences that occurred over the break.   

Please note the following upcoming January dates: 

• School is closed on Monday, January 21^th, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
• Mark your calendars and get your tickets for the upcoming middle and Upper School production of The Secret Garden which runs January 24^th-26^th.
• The middle of the second trimester falls on Friday, January 25th.  Interim reports will be accessible via the Cary Academy Website the following week.  In general, only grades and effort marks will be posted.  However, a comment is written for a student in a course should one of the following three conditions occur: a student’s average is C- or below, a student’s effort grade is a 2 or a 1, or a student’s average has dropped a full letter grade since the previous marking period. 
• January 30^th  – Middle School Family Night – No homework
• January 31^st (after school) and February 1^st (no school for sixth and seventh grade) – 6th and 7^th grade parent/student/advisor conferences.  Sixth and seventh grade advisors will be contacting parents to arrange times for conference meetings. Students will present portfolios of their work and share in the leadership of the conferences. 

In late October, all Middle School students had the opportunity to take an online survey regarding the amount of time they spend on homework during the week and over the weekends (about 280 of our 300 students participated).    In addition, the students provided information about the amount of time they are involved with extracurricular commitments at Cary Academy as well as outside of school. As a faculty we examined the results on a departmental, grade level and individual basis. Overall, we were pleased to see that at all three grade levels, the vast majority of the students reported an appropriate homework level of 20 minutes or less per class nightly.  There were a few classes where students reported a higher amount of time spent (21-29 minutes) and, as was expected, the majority of those classes were the higher level math classes and in a couple of eighth grade courses.   Also, as expected, the survey indicated that 7^th and 8^th graders spent more time than 6^th graders participating in school extracurricular activities.  At all three grade levels, our students on average spend 2-3 hours involved in non- Cary Academy extracurricular commitments on the weekends.  We will continually strive to monitor and assign the appropriate amount of homework and long-term projects at each grade level. This survey was an affirmation of what we seek to practice as well as a formal confirmation of the feedback we receive during parents/student/advisory conferences and on a daily basis.  We will survey the students again this year near the end of the second trimester.  As always, if your child consistently appears to be spending an inordinate amount of time on homework, you are encouraged to contact the teacher, advisor or counselor. 

I would like to share a note about the dress code in the event you have questions or your child asks for clarification.  Effective next week, the Upper School has implemented some changes to their dress code and its enforcement. The most obvious change to their policy (and the one that may create questions for Middle School boys) is that young men will be permitted to wear their shirt tails out if they chose.  Please be aware that there have been no changes in the expectations and enforcement of the Middle School dress code.  For further information about the changes in the Upper School dress code, please refer to the student handbook. 

Have a great month! 

Sincerely,  

Marti Jenkins
Head of Middle School