Thursday - Mint for Breathing

Thursday - Our Lungs are "MINT" for breathing.

Did you know that your lungs contain almost 1500 miles of airways and that every minute you breathe in 13 pints of air?? Our lungs do important work! But smoking cigarettes makes it difficult for our lungs to function well. Cigarette smoke contains over 4,800 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer…not suspected, not in some cases, but KNOWN to cause cancer! In fact, about 8.6 million people in the US have at least one serious illness caused by smoking. These illnesses are preventable – all we need to do is be sure we are smoke-free! Our lungs are not “mint” for processing chemicals, our lungs are “mint” for breathing!


Sincerely,

Lisa Bowman

7th Grade Counselor at NOMS

Wednesday - We CAN do it!

WEDNESDAY - We CAN be drug Free.

“I cannot believe the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all, to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.” This is my favorite quote that inspires me to act even when I don’t quite feel like it at times. With the increased need for canned goods in our community, we can all contribute in small ways that together has such a large impact. For now, let it be an extra canned good in the pantry thrown in your child’s backpack to bring to school. We have 814 students in our building. What a great act of compassion!

Sincerely,
Teresa Forrest
6th Grade Counselor at NOMS

Tuesday - Red Ribbon Week

TUESDAY - Don't Get STUCK on Drugs.

Tuesday is: come by the table in the lunch room and guess the number of SMARTies. The winner will be announced Friday for a special prize ALONG with the SMARTies. The winning teacher of the glue sticks will be announced as well! Three participant drawings will be announced at the end of the day.

MONDAY - Too Smart to Start

Parents,
Monday is the first day of Red Ribbon week! Please join NOMS and NOMS PTSA as we celebrate making healthy choices during Red Ribbon Week!!

Monday, Oct. 27~“Too Smart to Start!!"

Today kids will receive a Drug Free pencil from the PTSA in their target classes. More than that, they will be reminded of the importance of making "SMART" choices in their lives. Smart choices about friends, homework, responsibility, relationships, respect, free time, and more. In my home we have a saying, "Choose the Right," meaning - make the right choice, and a question "What's the right thing to do? - whatever situation you are in - they can ask themself this question; hopefully it will make a difference.

For fun ... “Which students will have the lucky numbers on their “Drug Free” pencils to win prizes given through out the day?? They will find out on Monday!

Best wishes,
Betsy Lowe
NOMS PTSA President

New Bathrooms at NOMS

From the servey it is obvious that there is a HIGH importance on the bathroom renovation project at NOMS. Thanks for sharing your opinion!

According to OCBE, the bathrooms at NOMS should be completed over the fall break.

Minutes from the September PTSA meeting

NOMS PTSA Meeting Notes September 24, 2008
The meeting was called to order by Betsy Lowe at 9:05 a.m. with eleven people in attendance including: Kim Finnicum, Betsy Lowe, Jean Lewis, Nancy Stevens, Stephanie Mattingly, Beth Scherer, Pauline Moore, Kellie Harrison, Cheryl Junion, Deborah Alston and Karen Morrison.
Principal’s Report: No report

President’s Report: The gym banner is up from the spring 2008 spaghetti dinner auction.
* A big thank you to Nancy Stevens and Deborah Alston for all their hard work on the Java fundraiser
* Thanks to Cheryl Junion and everyone that helped to make such a fun Kentucky Kid’s Day
* Thanks to Laura Karaglanis for a great newsletter
* Betsy will check on using the one call system to update PTSA members on meetings

Secretary’s Report: The August 27, 2008 meeting notes will be corrected under fundraising to read $7000.00 vs. $7.0 and with this correction the minutes stand approved.

Corresponding Secretary Report: Stephanie is sending out congratulations to Mrs. Pohlman and Mr. Williams

Treasurer’s Report: There is a correction to last month’s report that PTSA membership has taken in over $5000.00 not $2700.00.

Membership Report: We now have 1083 members (643 parents, 384 students and 56 staff). Directories are off to the printer, a few people signed up late and will not be included in the directory this year.

Fundraising Report: The Java fundraiser brought in gross proceeds of $10, 269.50 with net proceeds being approximately $5, 000.00 with a few more orders still coming in to be included later. Nine students were winners of the $100.00 daily prize, the top 10 overall sellers will receive $100.00 each and the top overall seller will receive $200.00. The classroom with the most dollars sold will win breakfast in the cafeteria on 10-3-08 from 8:30 – 9:30. Java will be distributed on 11-3-08.
Paragon Fundraiser: Kick off will be at the assembly on 9-25-08 with orders due 10-9-08. There is a flyer that tells about selling initiatives and prizes based on dollars they sell and the top seller at NOMS will receive $100.00 while the class that participates the most will receive a pizza party.

Reflections Report: Entries are due 9-25-08 and there will not be an extension due to the windstorm as students have had plenty of time to enter. There is currently no dance judge but there are no dance entries either, all other categories are covered with judges.

Kentucky Kids Day Report: It was a fun morning with the red carpet rolled out and kids entering school getting their pictures taken and asked for their autographs which was a super idea, they loved it! A video with pictures and music was shown in the afternoon and the students really enjoyed that too! Next year it was recommended to call and remind the volunteers who sign up as six people volunteered but only one person showed up to help on the red carpet.

Red Ribbon Week: October 13 – 17th
Each day of this week there will be a fun activity for the kids to participate in and win prizes all which reinforce being drug free. Wednesday Oct. 15th students are asked to bring in one canned good item to donate to the Harvest Food Bank. For Friday’s assembly all kids are invited to wear red and the winner of the door decorating contest will be announced. We need volunteers so please email Cindy Morgan at Cindy.Morgan@insightbb.com if you can help out.

Newsletter Report: Great job on the first newsletter!
SBDM Report: No report as the meeting was cancelled.
New Business Report: Ernie Harris sent a letter congratulating the NOMS Odyssey of the Mind team so Betsy will get it framed and hung up in the school.
* WWW.SOS.KY.GOV has information from the Secretary of State, Trey Grayson that gives
information about state issues if you are interested.
* If anyone know someone that should be nominated for the Kentucky Young Mother of the Year Representative for American Mothers Inc. (www.americanmothers.org) (kids 18 and under) please let Betsy Lowe know betsy4kids@aol.com.

Meeting adjourned at 10:00 a.m.

Red Ribbon Week now after fall break

Dear Parents,

We want to let you know Red Ribbon Week has been moved back to the week AFTER fall break, October 27 - October 31.

Please see post (further down) that shares what is going to happen each day.
Thanks!

JAVA products delivered Friday

Hi Parents,

Please join me in thanking Nancy Stevens, Shelly Heckenberg, Deborah Alston and Susan Spayd for all their hard work putting on this fundraiser. They've done a great job! We raised approximately $4500. By far, the top product ordered was the Hot Chocolate.

In case you didn't know, the JAVA fundraising products were distributed to students on Friday, October 10. If your NOMS student didn't bring home their JAVA products, please contact the school. There were a few orders that were turned in late that will be delivered next Friday. If you have any questions or comments, please contact Nancy Stevens.

Thank you for supporting our fabulous MUSTANGS!!!

Paragon Orders and Money Due Today

Hi Parents,

I hope you found the products of this fundraiser of higher quality and choice than that from last year. The time has come to turn in the order forms and money. Please make checks payable to: NOMS PTSA. Your student can turn in the check, order form and "Lockerful of Fun" prize form in the manilla envelope that was provided at the start of the sale.

Thanks again for your support. Everything you do supports the school and the PTSA. The product will be delivered in approximately three weeks. If you have any questions please contact Jenny Stegeman.

Thanks again!

New Look at NOMS

In case you haven't been to the school lately, their is a new trend going around - the mohawk!

Last year Mr. Smith promised to get a mohawk if the kids met their target goal of 110. Well, they did even better - 111! WAY TO GO MUSTGANGS!

Minutes of August 27, 2008

NOMS PTSA Meeting Notes August 27, 2008
The meeting was called to order at Java Brewing by Betsy Lowe at 9:02 a.m. with 19 people in attendance including: Betsy Lowe, Cynthia Paris, Renae Riley, Kellie Harrison, Lyne Church, Holly Ansman, Beth Scherer, Cheryl Junion, Jean Lewis, Nancy Stevens, Stephanie Mattingly, Kim Finnicum, Karen Morrison, Pauline Wasser, Terri Stinebruner, Pauline Moore, Deborah Alston, Laura Karaglanis, Robb Smith and Jenny Stegeman.
Principal’s Report:

• Bathroom update – The district office is getting bids and finalizing contractors with the intention of the renovations to the front bathrooms being done over fall break in October, plus all 4 bathrooms will be receiving higher partitions at that time.

President’s Report:

• The PTSA ended up donating $11,000 towards the bathroom renovation
• Thanks to all volunteers who worked registration, it went very smoothly
• Thanks to Monica for her excellent job on the Birthday bulletin boards
• If you have not gotten your black PTSA binder from Betsy please do so asap, also along the way this year, as you plan your events please keep notes on your planning time frames, what worked – what didn’t, future ideas etc. for the next person to be able to look back on
• Loretta Shake takes care of our website so please send anything you need posted to her but be patient as we have changed servers and it is a bit challenging to load new items right now
• General PTSA meeting will be 8-28-08 at 5:30 to present the budget for approval and welcome the 6th grade parents to North.

Corresponding Secretary:

• Please send anything you hear about to Stephanie Mattingly and she will send a card, this month a card was sent to Mrs. Tuney as her aunt passed away

Treasurer’s Report:
Current checkbook balance as of 7-23-08 is $14,621.00.

• Approximately $5,000.00 taken in for Membership and Directories is not in the #’s
• Made $1,700.00 at the PTSA sponsored dance with $502.00 in expenses
• $11,000.00 being written to NOMS for the bathrooms
• Approximate balance after above adjustments will be $7,519.00
• A motion by Lyne Church was proposed to add a line for Operation Spirit to the Treasury recap not to be listed in the operating budget and was seconded by Jean Lewis and passed unanimously. These monies taken in will help offset the $400 we spent for workbooks in the beginning of the project.
  

Membership Report:

• We currently have 1026 members including 637 parents, 376 kids and 13 staff. There has been a challenge from other Middle schools to see who can get the most staff signed up, Mr. Smith will encourage the staff for us.

Fundraising Report:

• Java update = kick off is 8-29-08 with forms going home with students. Every 5 bags a student sells they can bring in a coupon to enter a daily drawing for $100.00 which will be given away for 8 days in a row. The top seller overall will receive $200.00 and sellers 2-9 will receive $100.00 each. The class with the most sales in $ volume will win a fancy breakfast. Our goal is $7,000.
• Paragon Update = last year generated almost $7.0, 42% was from the gift catalog. Kick off date is 9-25-08 with orders due 10-8-08. An assembly to kick off this would be great which Mr. Smith said he thinks will tie into an assembly about test results and award winners

Kentucky Kids Day update
This is 9-23-08 and the plan is to make a DVD of the kids again which will be shown at the end of the day in the classrooms. The red carpet will be out to welcome kids in the a.m. with paparazzi taking photos of the kids. Decorations and a treat are still being discussed.

Reflections Report:
The theme this year is “Wow” and the deadline for entries is 9-25-08 with everything to district by 10-15-08. They are working on securing judges and getting this on the website.

Newsletter Report:
Articles are due on 9-5-08 to Laura so the newsletter can be out by 9-10-08. It was motioned by Robb Smith that there be 5 newsletters a year going forward and seconded by Jean Lewis then passed unanimously so the 5 newsletters will be in September, November, January, March and May.

SBDM Report: Mr. Smith said the only update was the new food policy that no food would be allowed in classrooms.

New Business: It was decided that future PTSA meetings would start at 8:45 a.m. with the next meeting being on 9-24-08 with location TBD.

Meeting adjourned at 10:27 a.m.