Monroe County School System's

MONROE MESSAGES

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A Message from the Superintendent
Monroe County Schools by the Numbers for 2012-2013 is available here and on the system website at http://www.monroe.k12.ga.us.  MCS By the Numbers contains information about key operations of our organization.
To review our system Continuous Improvement Plan, click here.
 
 
Monroe County School System Receives Central Georgia EMC Funds

On October 9, 2012, Central Georgia EMC's Board Member Phillip Ham presented the Forsyth-Monroe County Chamber of Commerce, Forsyth-Monroe County Industrial Development Authority, and the Monroe County School System with checks totaling $10,800 to go toward community and economic development activities.

 

Central Georgia EMC (CGEMC), an electric membership cooperative headquartered in Jackson, Georgia, hand delivered 22 checks this month totaling $73,750 to area Chambers of Commerce, School Boards, and Industrial Development Authorities throughout the service territory.

 

These funds come from unclaimed capital credits that remain with CGEMC after five years. Unclaimed capital credits were once remitted to the state of Georgia Department of Revenue, under Georgia's Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act (DUPA). Unclaimed capital credits remaining after five years can now stay in the communities served by Central Georgia EMC for the sole purposes of funding education, economic development and 501(c) (3) charitable organizations in the EMC service area.

 

Capital credits are margins over and above the cost of providing service for members of Central Georgia EMC for a specific year, after Central Georgia EMC's financial obligations have been met. According to unique cooperative business principles, capital credits may be returned to each member on a pro-rata basis on a schedule determined by the respective EMC management and board of directors. The amount of unclaimed capital credits will fluctuate annually, depending on the amount of capital credits refunded to members in a given year.

 

Central Georgia EMC is a consumer-owned cooperative providing electricity and related services to over 50,000 billed accounts in 14 counties (Bibb, Butts, Clayton, Fayette, Henry, Jasper, Jones, Lamar, Monroe, Newton, Pike, Putnam, and Spalding).

 
  
Open Enrollment for State Health Insurance
 for Employees Continues through Friday, November 9

This year's State Health Insurance Open Enrollment, for changes effective calendar year 2013, will run through Friday, Nov. 9 at 4:30 p.m.  This is the period of time that employees who are covered by State Health Insurance must visit the Open Enrollment Web Site to:

 

(1) make new elections in coverage

(2) confirm current dependents

(3) add or delete dependents for coverage

(4) Confirm member status in relation to previous year's Wellness plan

 

CIGNA and UnitedHealthcare will offer members the choice of either a Standard or Wellness Plan, with the following options:    

Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA)

Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), or

High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP).

Changes in Health Benefits for this year include:

  • Elimination of the Spousal Surcharge (tobacco surcharge continues);
  • Increased deductibles and co-insurance;
  • Increase in co-payments under the HMO Standard Plans
  • Change in HRA credits in Standard Plan
  • Increase in employee premiums
  • Elimination of the $125 HRA credit for annual physical and health assessment.

All of these changes and other features of the Health Benefit Plan can be found at http://dch.georgia.gov/open-enrollment-2013.  This website includes links to all insurance companies, the 2013 Decision Guide document, information about PeachCare for Children, and other information to assist you. There is also a video/audio presentation on this website calledActive employees/Early Retireeswhich provides a great deal of information. The process is totally on-line through the State Health Benefit Plan (SHBP) portal. Employees can visit the portal anytime and as often as needed between Oct. 9 and Nov. 9, but the last election confirmed at the time the Open Enrollment period closes at 4:30 on Nov. 9 will be the employee's election for the 2013 Plan Year. Persons needing assistance in accessing the website can receive it by calling the Business Services Office.  Please review the email sent last week for specific rates.

 

After doing your research on changes and options, and considering the rates as presented above, here is how you can make your 2013 Health Insurance Election:

 

* Access the Decision Guide  on line, review it carefully, and compare the plans and options available to you.

* Visit http://dch.georgia.gov/open-enrollment-2013 as often as you need to through Friday, Nov. 9;

* Verify dependents and add any eligible dependents under age 26;

* Click "Confirm" to finalize your election;

* Print or save your confirmation page;

* A confirmation number will show once the election is processed. Copy and keep this confirmation number;

* The last option, plan and tier you select prior to the end of Open Enrollment at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 9 will be your choice for the 2013 coverage year.

 

 

During this fall Open Enrollment Period, employees may meet with benefit representatives to review and make changes in the following products:

 

Short and Long Term Disability                             Vision

Long Term Care                                                   Cancer Policies

Dental                                                                 PrePaid Legal

Life Insurance                                                       Investments

Flexible Spending Accounts for dependent care & health care 

Employees needing to visit with Jeff Jeremiah and other benefit providers may do so on the following dates:

 

Wednesday & Thursday, Oct. 17 & 18, Hubbard Elementary;

Monday, Oct. 22, Hubbard Campus of Monroe County Middle School;

Wednesday & Thursday, Oct. 24 & 25, T.G. Scott Elementary;

Monday, Oct. 29, Transportation Department;

Wednesday, Oct. 31, Banks Stephens Campus of Monroe County Middle School;

Friday, Nov. 2 and Monday, Nov. 5, Mary Persons High School.

There will be sign-up sheets at all the schools.  We encourage each of you to make an appointment to review and update yourself with your benefits.  This process is helpful for you to understand your benefits.

 

 

 

 A Message from Monroe County School System Counselors
Teaching Your Child Time and Structure

It's part of the nature of childhood and adolescence to be disorganized, and one of the consequences is that you'll see kids who are late. Remember, we're dealing with a thing called childhood, and let's face it, part of growing up and maturing is learning how to organize yourself and your life in a way that fits in with the world. 

 

Parents have to be very careful about being excessively rigid with their children about time. Keep in mind that kids are highly distractible by nature and the development of the neurological system takes a long time. The rate of maturity isn't the same for every child: some kids dawdle at three, some at five, some at eight years of age. And some might be more prone to dawdling than others because their brains haven't matured yet, or because of other factors, like ADHD or ADD.

If your child is chronically late, a host of different reasons might be behind their seeming lack of motivation to get ready. It might be because they're not committed to their schedules or to the activity they're supposed to be doing next. Or they're trying to avoid something they don't like or that's anxiety-provoking for them, like an exam at school. And sometimes they're simply not yet able to organize themselves in a way that will help them get ready quickly and easily. Parents have to take these things into consideration when figuring out how to best manage their individual child's schedule.

 

5 Ways to Get Your Child Moving and on Time
 

  • Be a good role model. If you are always late or you don't make the time to be somewhere when you said that you would be, then what kind of message does that send to your child?
  • State your expectations. You may think they don't want to go to school, but most kids want to be there; they're just feeling disorganized and perhaps they don't want to face the academics that they have to deal with that day. "You and I agree that being on time is important, so let's get going so we are in the car line and ready to drop off before the tardy bell rings."
  • Don't excuse their lateness: If your child is tardy or misses school because he or she is not taking the responsibility to get ready and get there on time, don't give them an excused absence. Don't write them a note giving a false statement. Tell the school what happened and let your child pay the consequences for their lateness. School personnel want your child to succeed just let you want your child to succeed, so let us work cooperatively to help your student understand promptness.
  • Use an alarm clock from an early age. Put an alarm clock in your child's room from an early age. This will teach them that they have the responsibility to wake up and follow a schedule.
  • Make them pay for their lateness-literally. Another thing you can do, especially with younger kids, is to charge them for their lateness. So tell them, "For every minute we have to wait for you, you're losing five minutes of video game time." For older kids, it might be five minutes of cell phone time. And if you have to, make it ten minutes. This is effective because now, when your child makes other people late, there's some cost to them also.

The important thing is to hold your child responsible in some measurable way. As kids get older, you really have to be very strong about these things, because later on in life when they're employed or in college-when nobody's keeping score or nagging them-they're going to pay. If they haven't internalized the need to follow a schedule and to respect the kind of structure it gives their life, there's a greater likelihood that they're going to fall behind and not meet their responsibilities.  Adapted from http://www.empoweringparents.com/Chronically-Late-Kids-Let-Them-Pay-the-Price.php#ixzz28KuuF6n0 .

A Message from Monroe County School System Nurses

Hand Sanitizer or Hand Soap, which is better?

Researchers agree that soap and water is still the best way of cleaning your hands. Sanitizers work well, but should be used only when soap and running water are not available.

How Soap Works

When soap is mixed with water, a reaction occurs that allows dirt to be lifted off of the surface of the skin. When rubbing the hands together is combined with soap and running water, dirt and bacteria are washed away.

There are three parts to good hand washing:

  • Soap - breaks down skin oils that tend to hold dirt and other particles
  • Friction - used to assist in removing dirt, dead skin and other particles
  • Warm running water - to remove the loosened soil   

 How Hand Sanitizers Work

Alcohol sanitizers work by removing the outer layer of oil on the skin. Removal of the oil causes the destruction of germs that are on the hands.

Clearing up some confusion

In 2002 the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said that alcohol hand sanitizers could be used as an alternative to hand washing for health-care workers.

They found that the use of alcohol gels by healthcare staff improved the number of times staff actually cleaned their hands because of the time it saved over regular hand washing. The recommendation was not meant to stop the use of soap and water.

The CDC still recommends use of soap and water as a first and best way to clean your hands and the use of hand sanitizers, only when soap and water are not available.

 

References: This document is FCS8788, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida. Original publication date April 2005. Reviewed March 2011. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/

 
Monroe County School System Students Recognized at the International Media Festival
Students who won at the local and state level progressed to the international level this fall with their media projects.  Once again, Monroe County School System students placed at the international level for their excellence in media production.

 

Amber Pritchett
 
Banks Stephens Middle School
 
(Now at Mary Persons High School)
 
"My Guardian Angel Has the Same Last Name"
 
Excellence in Media Production and Judges' Favorite Award
 
Sponsoring Teacher: Mrs. Carrie Soderman

 

Katie Thomason & Sarah Boyer

Samuel E. Hubbard Elementary School

Project: Cotton
 
Excellence in Media Production
 
Sponsoring teachers: Mrs. Ashley Allen and Mrs. Misti Sikes

 

Jason Hickman, Jacobi Green, & Madden McLendon

Samuel E. Hubbard Elementary School

(Now attending MCMS William Hubbard Campus)
 
Project: Chillin in Nepal
 
Excellence in Media Production
 
Sponsoring Teachers: Ms. Marnai Boose, and Mrs. Misti Sikes

 

Elizabeth Bennett & Emma Heath

Samuel E. Hubbard Elementary School
 
Project: Walt Disney World
 
Excellence in Media Production
 
Sponsoring Teacher: Mrs. Ashley Allen

 

Natalie Pippin, Marcelene Leverett, & Kayleigh Hill

Project: Georgia On Our Minds

Samuel E. Hubbard Elementary School

Excellence in Media Production and Judges' Favorite
 
Sponsoring Teacher: Mrs. Lisa Crosby 

 

Rachel Sparks & Maggie Cooper
 
Project: Adopt A Pet Now
 
Samuel E. Hubbard Elementary School
 
(Now attending MCMS William Hubbard Campus)
 
Excellence in Media Production and Judges' Favorite
 
Sponsoring Teacher: Mr. Justen Eason

 

Lauren Maxwell, Matt McClellan
 
Project: Miguel Barcelo
 
Mary Persons High School
 
Excellence in Media Production
 
Sponsoring Teacher: Mrs. Kristy Slaughter