“Genius without education is like silver in the mine. “ -Ben Franklin

1. October 2006 Upcoming Events Liberty Middle School The Liberty Ledger 10/02—School Closed 10/04— Basketball @ Bartells 5:30 pm 10/04— Chorus Concert 7pm 10/06— End of 1st Quarter 10/06— Full Day of School 10/13— School Closed 10/17— PTSA Fundraiser Main Event 10/26 — Report Cards 17400 Commerce Park Blvd. Tampa, FL 33647 (813) 558-1180- http://liberty.mysdhc.org/ A Hillsborough County Public School LIBERTY MIDDLE SCHOOL HAS BEEN NAMED ONE OF FLORIDA’S TOP 75 MIDDLE SCHOOLS Liberty welcomes a new assistant principal. Mr. Murillo is joining the Liberty family as our new Assistant Principal of Curriculum. Previously, Mr. Murillo served as the Assistant Principal of Student Affairs at Turkey Creek Middle School. We are all very excited to have him on board! Great American Teach In November 15th We are looking for parents to come speak in classes. If you are interested please contact Mr. Paul at 558-1180 x 228 or email brendan.paul@sdhc.k12.fl.us IMPORTANT CHANGE October 6 is now a full day of school Liberty Middle School Principal: Deborah Rogers Ed. D. Assistant Principals Marcos Murillo Angela Brown Sixth Grade Administrator John Paton Liberty Bids Farewell to Mrs. Collins Dena Collins our former Assistant Principal of Curriculum was appointed as the Principal of Eisenhower Middle School. We wish Mrs. Collins all the best, and continue to thank her for her numerous contributions to Liberty Middle School. CONGRATS CORNER Congratulations to our newly elected Student Council Members President Haley Gray Vice President Becky Raffoul Secretary Cody Gerdes Treasurer Matt D'Angelo Historian Adrian Ortega “Genius without education is like silver in the mine. “ -Ben Franklin Report Cards Go Home Thursday, October 26th

2. Liberty Middle School The Liberty Ledger Page 2 During the summer, the Florida Department of Education sends each school an annual School Public Accountability Report. This report contains detailed information for the 2005-2006 school year for Liberty Middle, the district and the state in the following areas: 1. Ethnic composition of student population 2. FCAT reading, math and writing scores 3. Professional qualifications of teachers 4. Classes taught by in-field and out-of-field teachers. This report is kept on file in the main office. Copies of the report are available upon request. I would like to close by thanking our PTSA for their continued support and efforts. Your assistance with the newsletter, first day packets, open house, student pictures, book fair and the fundraiser is deeply appreciated. The work you do for our school helps us achieve our goals! With Liberty flag-waving pride, -Deborah H. Rodgers, Ed.D. A Message From the Principal Liberty Middle School’s vision is to be one of the top performing middle schools. Recently the Governor’s office announced that Liberty Middle was named as one of the top 75 high-performing middle schools in the State of Florida. The total points our school received on the grading school criteria of the 2005-2006 FCAT determined this recognition. I applaud the work of our students, parents, teachers and staff, as it takes people working together to achieve such a lofty accomplishment. While we enjoy this time of celebration, we are already working toward making similar gains for the upcoming school year. Our School Improvement Plan team has met and marked out a course of action for Liberty Middle. We continue our efforts to improve our reading, writing, math and science goals along with increasing our attendance rate. The Liberty community has an opportunity to help support our school reading goal. In order for students to improve in reading they have to be engaged in reading. Some of our students are challenged by limited opportunities of available reading material in their homes. This is where you can help us. If you would like to sponsor a magazine subscription for a needy student or for a teacher’s classroom (for extra reading material), please fill out the form in the newsletter. This will benefit our school in two ways. First, it will give students additional resources for reading. Second, it continues to support the PTSA magazine fundraiser. I am pleased to announce that Marcos Murillo has joined our faculty as the new Assistant Principal for Curriculum. He is an experienced Assistant Principal, as he served in that capacity for two years at Turkey Creek Middle School. Before he became an Assistant Principal, he was a Spanish teacher at Benito Middle School. He is excited about being at Liberty, as he is an aspiring principal and lives in this area. In fact, he has a daughter in first grade at Clark Elementary. Please join me in welcoming Mr. Murillo to our Liberty family. PRIDE

3. Page 3 Liberty Middle School The Liberty Ledger A Note from the PTSA On behalf of the Liberty PTSA, I want to welcome everyone back to school.   We hope you had a relaxing summer.   We look forward to a wonderful school year and working together to make this a fantastic year for our children.  Our PTSA is here to assist the administration and staff as they educate and nurture our children in a respectful and positive manner.  We need your support to make our efforts successful. Studies have shown that parental involvement tends to decline significantly in middle school.  However, this is a critical time of development for children.  Strong parental participation in your child’s education and social activities is of vital importance now.  Kids notice what we do.  Every time you volunteer or donate, your children see and know that you are involved in something larger than yourselves. How do you become involved?  It’s easy.  You can volunteer to help on a PTSA committee by simply calling or e-mailing an executive board member listed in this issue.  You can financially support Liberty by becoming a member of PTSA and contribute to our fund raising efforts.  As a member of our PTSA, I encourage you to participate and take a leadership role that will shape the programs and activities of this group. There is so much for us to do, but in order to do it all, we need people like you.  Please consider one of the following Chair Positions: Awards & Grants, Media Center, and Recycling. Your involvement really does make a difference!  Join PTSA today. Please call or e-mail me with any questions, concerns or ideas you have to help us make this a memorable middle school experience for our children. Sincerely, Lisa Evans, PTSA President PTSA REFLECTIONS ARTS CONTEST The 2006-2007 theme is: ”My Favorite Place” If you’re looking for a way to show your talent in the area of Photography, Visual Arts, Dance Choreography, Film/Video, and Literature, do not miss the PTA’s Annual Reflection Program! Watch for complete information to come home soon. Students may submit entries only through a PTA or PTSA, and entries will be due on October 9th . Remember all work must be original and must relate to the year’s Reflections Program theme. For more information on participating, contact Karen Olsen x 548 Calling All Volunteers If you are interested in volunteering in any capacity at Liberty, please get your name on The PTSA e-mail list, so we can let you know when opportunities arise. We look forward to receiving an email from you! E-mail Struby Thelen, Volunteer Coordinator, at cstruby@tampabay.rr.com and put LIBERTY VOLUNTEER in the subject line.

4. Liberty Middle School PTSA Membership The Liberty PTSA invites you to join us in making a difference in your child’s school experience. Why join Liberty PTSA? Research shows: PTA is the oldest and largest lobbying group for education and the only one that lobbies for all children.  The PTA through its membership and its integrity is clearly heard by legislators.  Help us to make your voice heard!  In addition, middle school students whose parents remain involved in school make better transitions, maintain the quality of their work and develop realistic plans for the future.  Help us, help your child! Each individual membership is $7.00.  All students, businesses, parents and relatives are welcomed and encouraged to join. Simply complete the form located later in the newsletter.  Place in an envelope addressed to PTSA Membership with payment and return it to your child’s homeroom teacher.  Be sure to list all names clearly so that membership credit can be applied correctly. Thank you for your support, now and throughout the school year! Page 4 Liberty Middle School The Liberty Ledger Dear Parents and Guardians, Welcome to another great year at Liberty Middle School! My name is Angela Chin and I’m the new coordinator for Box Tops for Education. This year, our goal is to raise the most Box Tops in the school district. I believe we can achieve this goal if we all work together. To motivate everyone to collect and bring in the Box Tops, we are giving away prizes and gift certificates generously donated from our local restaurant owners. Mr. Calhoun’s class has already been treated to Panera Bread’s bagels for breakfast for collecting the most box tops in September. A New monthly raffle contest is in place from now until the end of the school year for all staff and students.  Just put yourname, grade, and teacher's name on the backof each box tops.  If more space is needed, write it on a small piece of paper and tape it on the back of the box tops but do not cover the expiration date.  Next month, ten lucky winners will be selected and win Panera Bread certificates for free sandwich, soup, and salad.  Each winner may win up to two prizes.  Turn in the box tops to your homeroom teacher or drop them off in the Box Tops collection bin set up at the library before or after school. Feel free to contact me by email angelachin@tampabay.rr.com if you have any questions or suggestions or if you want to donate anything for the monthly raffle. Thank you for your continuous support! Angela Chin For those who purchase Tyson chicken products, we do collect Project A+ Label. Cut on the dotted line and send in the entire panel “Support Your School 1-2-3”

5. Liberty Middle School The Liberty Ledger Page 5 Liberty Market Need a paper, a pen or a pencil? Don’t despair, Liberty Market is there to assist you. Liberty Market is a school store which is provided for students, teachers and anyone else to purchase school supplies and other items for a nominal price (prices range from 10 cents to 10 dollars). This year Liberty Market will be open in the cafeteria every Monday during both lunch periods. Below are some of the items sold at Liberty Market: Liberty Spirit Shirt $10 Gel Pen $1 Liberty Sports Bag $7 Mechanical Pencil $1 Liberty Car Magnet $3 Sharpie $1 Liberty Lanyard $1 Book Cover $1 Remember, every purchase you make from Liberty Market helps to support our school in many ways! Liberty Market Committee Support Student Literacy The research is clear that the hands joined approach from teachers, students and parents results in student success. Parents are the supportive energy that keeps our students moving forward to achieve their dreams. We call on you now to provide all students with the gift of reading. Our one and only fundraiser for the year is the magazine drive. This magazine drive offers families an opportunity to purchase a variety of magazines that encourage reading at home and in school. Magazines are the HOOK for our reluctant readers. Liberty Middle engages students in DEAR (drop everything and read) time as part of a school wide approach to teach our students strategies to be an effective independent reader. In many cases, our reluctant readers do not bring appropriate (if any) reading material to class, so that they can be engaged in this process. This is where your help is needed the most. If it is within your means, please consider sponsoring a reluctant reader or the teacher of a class of reluctant readers by sending in a donation for a magazine subscription. The cost range for a magazine subscription is between $15-$25 dollars. Detach and submit this form with your magazine donation I would like to sponsor a teacher/student by purchasing a magazine subscription from this year’s magazine fundraiser. I have enclosed a check for $_______made out to LMS PTSA. Please write DONATION on the MEMO line of your check. Please check your gift amount: ___$15 ___$25 ___$50 ___$75 ___$100 ___(amount of your choice) Benefactors Name _________________________________________ or I prefer to remain anonymous SUBMIT PAYMENT THROUGH YOUR CHILD’S HOMEROOM TEACHER

6. Page 6 Liberty Middle School The Liberty Ledger We're the new Arches National Park Team. Our mascot is the Scorpion. We're feisty, we're smart, and we're strong! We have evolved from the former Craters of the Moon Nighthawks and Olympic Black Bears. Our team of teachers include: Mrs. Self (Math) and Ms. Rhoades (Science), co-team leaders. Mrs. Hayman (Language Arts), Mr. Fuhrmeister (Geography), Mrs. Medina (Intensive Language Arts), and Mrs. Demik (Intensive Math) round out our team. In our short time together we have already celebrated, issued challenges, honored deserving students, experimented, and made new friends. The Rhoades/Fuhrmeister Magazine Challenge winner is Rhoades Homeroom. They will enjoy a pizza party (celebrating again!). Our first Pride recipients for the "R" in Respect are Tyler Alvarez, David Monkress, and Dakiela McKamey. These students are very considerate of their peers, always do anything asked of them, can be witnessed mentoring other students who might need assistance, and approach tasks not with simply compliance and cooperation, but with diligence and motivation. It is with tremendous PRIDE that the Arches teachers honor these students. There is an Arches student who will be attending the SPACE CAMP for Interested Visually Impaired Students. He will be in Huntsville, AL from 9/23-9/29. Congratulations, Peyton! We hope you have an out of this world adventure!!! We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Arches students and parents for all their wonderful and already active support. Because of you we were able to hold a "Meet and Greet" for parents to get to know their new teachers. Thank you to all who supplied refreshments and helped set up in the Media Center. Many thanks also to Arches families who supported our magazine drive. We look forward to working with our new team and you in this school year. Debbie Rhoades 7th Grade Science Arches National Park Team Co-Team Leader Liberty’s Chorus “Fall” into Beautiful Music Liberty’s Chorus students have started the year off right! They are singing beautiful songs in many styles. 7th grade Eagle Singers are working on fabulous African melodies and spirituals while the 8th grade Eagle Chorale is perfecting a cappella melodies in Latin. The Liberty Voices Show Choir have been putting together songs from the Broadway shows, “Chicago” and “Rent”. If you would like to hear these choirs perform come to the Fall Concert on Wednesday, October 4 at 7:00 in the auditorium. There is not set ticket price, just donations being accepted at the door. Hope to see you there!!! • DO YOU SPEAK A • FOREIGN LANGUAGE? • Spanish • Haitian-Creole • Russian • WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO VOLUNTEER YOUR TIME TO HELP KIDS WHO ARE STRUGGLING TO LEARN ENGLISH?OUR EVER GROWING ESOL POPULATION • COULD USE YOUR HELP!ANY TIME YOU COULD VOLUNTEERWOULD BE GREATLY APPPRECIATED!PLEASE CONTACT ANGELA BORDNER AT angela.bordner@sdhc.k12.fl.us • ORMARTA NAZARIO-SPENCER AT • marta.nazario-spencer@sdhc.k12.fl.us • EVEN AN HOUR COULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

7. Page 7 Liberty Middle School The Liberty Ledger Thank you for your tremendous support of our August Scholastic Book Fair. Your financial support of this event is greatly appreciated, as well as the hours volunteers gave to help Ms. Vega and me run the book fair. I am planning a book swap for students to participate in during the month of December. Students may bring their used books to the media center from November 27 through December 6 and receive tickets to purchase books at the swap. The book swap will be December 8 in the gym during first period. So if you're cleaning out book shelves and closets before the holidays, I have just the place for you to send those books! This will be a fun way to get books into our students' hands at no cost. Please contact me if you would like to help out. I have a great list of volunteers from the book fair and will be calling asking for help as the date draws near, but new names and faces are always welcome. Please take a look at the media center webpage. You may access it on the school homepage by clicking on "Media Center" or "Specialists". Students will find useful information there, especially the electronic databases which will be very helpful with research projects. Last year, I showed many students how to use these tools, but if your child would like assistance, please have them stop by the media center and I'll be happy to help them. To access World Book Online, the login id and the password are both students. To access the Gale Resources, type in student. This year's Sunshine State Young Reader's Award books, which will also be our Book Battle titles, are also listed on the media center webpage. I hope your child will consider trying out for the team this year. Our team won third place last year! I will have an official start for the Book Battle in October. There is a link on the Liberty Media Center webpage that students may find useful when working on their science project. Just click on Portaportal to access several science/science project websites. Students should log on as a guest by using the guest name: libertymiddle (there is no space). I will use this Portaportal link throughout the year for projects that large groups of students are working on. Stop by the media center anytime. Parents are always welcome. Thank you again for your support Mrs. Meginnis CALLING ALL DADS! Liberty Middle School will be starting a Dad’s Club this year! All interested Dad’s and male guardians please email Ms. Miller for additional information. amanda.miller@sdhc.k12.fl.us

8. Page 8 Liberty Middle School The Liberty Ledger Liberty Middle School PTSA Spirit Shirt Order Form PTSA is pleased to announce a new style of spirit shirt. Students are encourage to wear their spirit shirt on Friday, Spirit Day. This year’s shirt will be ash gray with this logo on the front. The colors are red, white and navy. The shirt comes in adult sizes and is a 50/50 polyester/cotton blend. The price is $10.00. Please make checks payable to Liberty Middle School PTSA. Adult Small Adult Medium Adult Large Adult X-Large Adult XX-Large Students Name: Phone: Homeroom Teacher’s Name: Homeroom #:Amount Enclosed: Return this form, along with your cash or check to your homeroom teacher in an envelope marked Liberty PTSA. Thank you for your support!

9. 2006 GREAT AMERICAN TEACH-IN TAMPA BAY Parents, community members, and friends of Liberty Middle School, make plans now to be a part of the annual Great American Teach-In Tampa Bay, on Wednesday, November 15, 2006. We are looking for volunteers to teach one class or teach all day in this community-wide effort to give you a taste of teaching. You don't need teaching experience, just enthusiasm and a desire to share with students something about your career, your experiences, your hobby, or yourself. We want you to carry some key messages into our classrooms, including the importance of staying in school and the value of each individual student. The Great American Teach-In is a perfect opportunity for parents, business leaders, and community members to let our students know we care about them. The idea is simple - join us on November 15, 2006, and teach a class or two, whatever your schedule permits. We'll do our part in giving you some suggestions and preparing you for this teaching experience. Simply fill out the registration form located on the reverse to participate. If you have any questions feel free to call the school office at 558-1180 x 228 on weekdays, during the hours of 9:00-4:00 or Email Brendan Paul at brendan.paul@sdhc.k12.fl.us You won't regret your decision to be a volunteer teacher during The Great American Teach-In Tampa Bay! We can't wait to hear from you. Sincerely, Brendan Paul

10. 2006 GREAT AMERICAN TEACH-IN TAMPA BAY SCHOOL DISTRICT OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY SPEAKER REGISTRATION FORM Mr.___ Mrs.___ Ms.___ Dr.___ _____________________________________________________________________ (Last) (First) Email Address ____________________________________________________ Company/Organization______________________________________Position_____________________ Mailing Address_____________________________________________________________________ City______________________________________ Zip Code__________________________ Home Phone ( ) Work Phone ( ) Presentation Topic____________________________________________________________ Time of Day Available ________ a.m. ________ p.m. Time Available ____ 1-2 Hours ____ 3-4 Hours ____ 5-6 Hours ____ All Day Preference ______ Group Size ______ Number of presentations ______ Length of presentation Available Equipment (check if needed) ______ Overhead Projector______ VCR ______DVD Player _____ Other____________  Please call the school ahead of time if we can assist you in any way.  _____________________________________________ __________________________ Signature of Speaker Date

11. FCAT EXPLORER IS ONCE AGAIN OPERATIONAL. TEACHERS WILL BE PROVIDING STUDENTS WITH THEIR LOG IN AND PASSWORD CODES. CONTACT YOUR CHILDS TEACHER FOR FURTHER INFORMATION LEARN MORE AT www.fcatexplorer.com Report Cards Go Home Thursday, October 26th County School BoardChair—Carolyn Bricklemyer, Vice Chair—Jack R. Lamb, Ed.D., Members—Doretha W. Edgecomb,Jennifer Faliero, Carol W. Kurdell, Candy Olson, Susan L. Valdes. Superintendent of SchoolsMaryEllen Elia www.sdhc.k12.fl.us Non-Profit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Tampa, FL Permit No. 1009 School Board of Hillsborough County, Florida Post Office Box 3408 Tampa, Florida 33601