Middle School Gets Revamped AC, Dress Code

Twenty classrooms get air conditioning in time for the 2012-13 school year.

As Chatham Middle School (CMS) students head back into the classrooms, there will be one immediate change they are sure to notice. Over the summer, 20 classrooms were outfitted with air conditioning for the first time, thanks to a $12,000 donation from the CMS Parent Teacher Organization (PTO). These were the last classrooms in the school not to have air conditioning. "That is an enormous upgrade, because there were the haves and have-nots," Principal Robert Accardi said. "It's been my personal crusade. The PTO's been terrific in making that possible. ... It's really going to help provide an optimal learning environment for students." The PTO also donated funds for a new awning at the entrance to CMS, which has been installed. The district…

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Back to School 2011

Dress Code Eliminates Short Shorts, Dresses

A committee of staff, parents and students revised the dress code for Chatham Middle School for the upcoming school year.

When Chatham Middle School students step onto campus on Sept. 6, things will look a little different. Principal Robert Accardi said that after numerous concerns reported from parents and teachers in the last academic year, the school decided to revise its dress code. "We haven't had a revision in a good many years," Accardi said, "[but] last year we noticed a real change in some of the clothing that had become popular with the kids." The new fashions for the tween and young teens who attend the school "were very revealing," Accardi said. "Very short dresses, very short shorts, and tops that were revealing more skin than we thought was appropriate for a school environment." At first Accardi said that the school was permissive of the style …

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2:19 pm on Tuesday, April 17, 2012

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Outfitting Your Middle Schooler

Textbooks, supplies and a new dress code for incoming sixth graders at Chatham Middle School.

Whether you are sending your child to Chatham Middle School for the first time or the last time, there are always a few things that every parent – and student – needs to know. "This year we are all going to start off with a brand new master schedule," said Principal Robert Accardi. The new schedule rotates classes on different days, with a different class dropped each day, allowing the remaining classes to have longer time periods. "This increase in instructional time has been wildly welcomed by the teachers, because that seven minutes makes a huge difference in engaging students," Accardi said. Under the new schedule, the morning classes rotate with each other and the afternoon classes rotate with each other, so teachers and students meet…

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