August 2007 Dear Parents, I hope that you are resting and enjoying your summer vacation.  I am honored that I am the new principal at Black Middle School.  This school year, I am pleased that I will become part of the community at Black and look forward to meeting and working together with all of you.  I welcome the opportunity to continue the work in developing and nurturing the whole child at Black, so that our middle school children can be successful both in their high school and college careers. Black has had many wonderful successes this past year.  I am pleased to see that I will be joining a school community that works collaboratively and does whatever it takes to help students be successful academically.  This is evident with our successes, this past year, in increasing the number of students who met standards on the various TAKS tests across grade levels.  I hope that we, as a school community, can continue to share proud moments for this upcoming school year. We will have a 6th grade Parent/Student Panther Orientation Camp on August 24 from 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM.  All parents and students new to our school are welcome to attend our Panther Orientation Camp.  Our first day of school is Monday, August 27, 2007.  Our school hours are from 8:00 AM to 3:10 PM.  Breakfast will be served in the school cafeteria from 7:30 AM to 7:55 AM.  On the first day of school, your child will receive many forms for you to complete, the Student Handbook, and the HISD Student Code of Conduct.  Please take the time to review the Student Handbook and Code of Conduct with your child since both items will contain pertinent information regarding the school.  Attached, we are sending information regarding the school's dress code. A school calendar will be sent home with your child on a monthly basis at the beginning of each month.  It will have information regarding the various events that will be occurring at the school.  I look forward in seeing you at the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) meetings which will be held once a month in the school's library.   If you have any questions regarding the first day of school, please do not hesitate to call the school at 713-613-2505. Sincerely, Meilin Jao Principal