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Week of June 23, 2024

YEARBOOKS STILL AVAILABLE

The PA has a few softcover yearbooks still available for purchase — simply follow the link HERE to buy a yearbook and have it in your hands before the last day of school. Yearbooks include pictures of all 3 grades of students at Lab — plus photos of sports teams & other afterschool shenanigans, and fun official events from this year. Middle School goes fast — hold onto the memories!

New SLT Members Elected; New PA Budget

Please welcome Ellie Pilgrim and Lydia Kopolova, 6th grade parents who were elected to the School Leadership Team at the PA Meeting 6/18. They will join the SLT in September for the 2024-25 & 25-26 school years.

At the same meeting, parents approved this Spring's by-laws revisions and next year's PA budget. Click HERE to see the PA budget for 2024-25. We toasted our successes with coffee and donuts — see you all at the September meeting!

Stepping Up Ceremony & Graduation Party Successes

Eighth graders unlocked the next level last week with a fun party Tuesday night and a beautiful (but hot) graduation ceremony Friday afternoon.

Huge thanks to Margarit Ordukhanyan, 8th grade mom & VP for Events in our PA, for chairing the Stepping Up Committee for the second year in a row! Margarit and her team of parent volunteers put together a great party at Slate with a photo booth, ping pong, Skee-Ball, a DJ, yummy food and drinks — the reports from our kids were glowing (& we all know how hard it is to impress 8th graders). And to top it off, the ceremony was the perfect farewell to our favorite middle school.

City-Wide Summer Meal Distribution at Schools

Don't let any kids go hungry this summer — NYC DOE provides free breakfasts and lunches 6/27-8/30. Go HERE for more information and to find a distribution site close to your home.

8TH Grade Parent HS Survey: Preliminary Results — Still Time to Fill it Out!

The PA has been collecting responses from 8th grade families about which HS their kids are attending HERE. It's a quick 3-minute survey & we would love to have more families fill it out (so far only one-third of 8th grade families have responded) In compiling this list we will be able to contact you about alumni events, and it will also be enormously helpful to 6th and 7th grade families preparing for high school applications. Here are the preliminary results from 1/3 of the Class of 2024.

Please note: this information will not be public, we will not divulge email addresses, cell phone numbers, or what schools individual students are attending.

We hope to send a general recap of what was sent in the next couple of weeks in some fashion, so keep an eye out!

To add your student's next step to the data, go HERE. Thanks!

So Long, Farewell, & Thank You!

When we were elected Co-Presidents of Lab MS PA last June, the school community was still coming out of its COVID shell. We had one main goal: widen and deepen family involvement in our school.

We are proud of the work that was done! Successes included reinstating the Class Parent network; bringing the Lunar New Year event into the school and making it a bigger and more inclusive celebration; hosting more high school admissions-related events; growing our list of volunteers, and starting casual coffee meet-ups after PA meetings.

There were some plans we didn't get to — maybe next year you will have an international potluck and more parent workshops -- But we're proud to have brought back the annual book fair to Lab, re-invigorated the Whitney partnership, staged an epic Teacher Appreciation Week, and put on a huge school-wide Carnival (among so many other things!)

Every step of the way, we worked with a great group of parents on the Executive Board, some of whom are staying on this upcoming year (notably your new Co-Presidents Mike Fleischman and Chanel Gilmer!) We want to thank each and every one of them for working with us so selflessly and whenever we needed support! We both can say that meeting so many parents and families has truly been the greatest joy of this year of service.

None of the PA's work is possible without our wonderful Principal Meg, our APs Matt and Lisa, Judah & the Manhattan Youth team, and the loyal, steadfast, & stylish support of Ms. Marilyn. A heartfelt thanks to you, we learned so much from you & will miss you all!

For next year, remember: "Everybody can be great because anybody can serve." (MLK Jr) Pitch in however you can to help make our Lab Community shine even brighter. You — and your kids — will be better for it.

Have a lovely summer and best of luck next year, whether at Lab or at high school!

Love,

Lisa Leingang & Rose Newnham-Ying

Lab MS PA Co-Presidents

2023-2024

Summer Contact

The best way to contact the Parents Association through the summer will be by email (just like during the school year), but please allow us more time to respond. Our email is LabMSPA@gmail.com.

The L ab MS website has school administration emails. Please remember staff will be on vacation through most of the summer.

District 2 CEC Opening

There is currently an opening on the District 2 Community Education Council for a one-year term. Parents interested in running for the seat should go HERE for more information.

Mark Your Calendars:

6/24: Spanish Proficiency Exam (most 8^th Graders)
6/26: Last Day of School
9/5: First day of '24-'25 school year

Principal Meg’s Weekly Message

Dear Lab Middle School Families,

How are we already here — almost to the end of another school year together?! This past week was a whirlwind of emotions for me. ALL three of my own children had Stepping/Graduation Ceremonies.

I think I cried the most at my son’s fifth grade graduation realizing I was going to have a middle schooler in my house but both of my daughters’ made me a little teary too.

And then of course I had the pleasure of celebrating our Lab Middle School 8^th Graders at their Stepping Up ceremony on Friday. I didn’t even make it to the second page of my speech before I heard my voice crack and felt tears in my eyes. It is such a gift to spend my days watching your children learn and grow and I know I speak for all the faculty and staff at Lab Middle School when I say this 8^th Grade Class is going to be missed tremendously. Eighth Grade families, thank you for sharing in the last three years with us – I am so grateful to share in the gift of your children. Sixth and 7^th Grade families, I look forward to our continued time together and cannot wait to see you in September.

To all families, wishing you a wonderful summer.

In Kindness,

Principal Meg

Science Fair

Congratulations to our 7^th Grade students on a fabulous science fair on Friday. Display boards filled the gym with research on a wide variety of topics. I learned about the effects of screen time, how tricky AI images truly are, how the age of a car impacts its speed, what type of light makes plants grow faster and techniques for melting ice.

Our 7^th Graders spent the past couple of weeks on the projects and it was exciting to see the end results. This is the third year we have held the 7^th Grade Science Fair and it is quickly becoming a tradition at Lab Middle School.

Thank you to all the families that could attend. An extra special shout-out to Ms. Fischer, Ms. Emerson, Mr. Skinner, and Ms. Heimann – our 7^th Grade science teachers for their support and leadership on this event.

8^th Grade Parent Committee – Thank You

Thank you to the Eighth Grade Parent Committee for all of your work in celebrating the class of 2024. The committee has been working since the winter to plan all the wonderful events and items for this class.

The Stepping Up party was held earlier this week and the Stepping Up ceremony was held on Friday. Both events could not have happened without the hard work and dedication of these parents. Thank you for giving this class such a special send-off. A special thank you to Margarit Ordukhanyan who has led this committee for the past two years.

Stepping Up — Thank You

Thank you to everyone that made Stepping Up such a special event this year. Our 8^th Grade Parent Committee for the printing of diplomas and programs, amazing decorations and getting a piano to Fashion High School. Thank you to the faculty and staff for all elements of planning and coordination — in the months prior and the day of. Thank you to our families that came to celebrate. And an extra shout-out to Ms. Kowalczyk and Ms. Woodbury our 8^th Grade Team Leaders who were responsible for this event. A lot goes into Stepping Up and we are grateful for your leadership – they even helped carry back the 7ft high balloon poles through the hot streets of Manhattan at the end of the ceremony.

June Calendar Reminders

Wednesday, June 24^th – Spanish Proficiency Test for 8^th Graders (information was shared with students earlier last week)

Wednesday, June 26^th – Last Day of School (this is a full day dismissal at 2:50 PM)

Summer Assignments, Supplies, and Next Year

All information will be posted on/around July 1^st to our Lab Middle School website www.labmiddleschool.com. Next year’s homeroom assignments will be posted to your student’s NYCPS Schools account in early summer (at this point I do not have the exact date).

Please note that there may be some shifts due to changes in enrollment, etc. This is especially true for our incoming 6^th Grade students (as enrollment numbers have the tendency to fluctuate a lot). Please note that our teachers spend hours creating the classes, and a tremendous amount of consideration goes into how students are placed. We do not take teacher requests or homeroom requests.