User:Anleming/sandbox

Fun Facts
Franklin Township Middle School East (FTMSE) is a middle school in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. The school's current enrollment is 692 students in grades 6, 7, and 8.[1] Both Franklin Township Middle Schools are enrolling three grade for the first time in ten years. FTMSE is under the responsibility of the Franklin Township Community School Corporation along with nine other schools. The new FTMSE building was constructed in 2008 to accommodate Franklin Township's growing population. Franklin Township middle school students now either attend FTMSE or Franklin Township Middle School West (FTMSW), which was previously known as Franklin Township Middle School.

Transportation Issues 2011-2012
One thing that has been a big change at FTMSE is the bus transportation cost. This year, 2011-2012, was the first year where parents had to pay a fee for their students to ride the bus. If the fees were not paid then the parents would have to provide their children with their own transportation to and from school. The cost of riding the bus is $47.50 a month per student, which comes out to be around $400 a year (4). There is currently a parent suing Franklin Township Community for the cost of this year transportation. There is an article on Indy Star (4). This parent wants Franklin Township to reimburse all parents who paid for transportation and do something for the parents that provided transportation for their children. One thing that has increased since the cost to ride the bus is car-pooling with other parents. Car-pooling has also increased with transportation to and from athletic events. Student athletes have to provide their own transportation to and from meets at the middle school level.

Future of the Transportation
The bill, HB 1134, goes into effect on July first(5). This bill bans any school district from charging parents a bus fee for all regular home-to-school transportation. This bill does not discuss fees for athletic or any other extra-circular transportation. So in the up coming years parents will have to continue to provide transportation at the middle school level for all extra-curricular events.

Sports Teams
FTMSE had many sports teams and an established academic pursuit team. The fall sports are seventh and eighth grade football, girls and boys cross country, volleyball, and girls and boys tennis. The winter sports consist of boys and girls basketball, boys and girls swimming and boys wrestling. The spring sports that are offered are track and field for girls and boys, seventh and eighth baseball, and finally seventh and eighth grade softball. Since there is sixth grade now in the middle schools, some of the sports allow the sixth graders to participate while other just have a intramural type of team for the sixth graders to participate in (6). To view the current years schedule 2011-2012 you can visit FTMSE home page, click athletics, and then follow that and click athletic schedule.

Athletic Passes
Now there are sports passes to get into all the home athletic events with an exception to any tournaments hosted my the school. Passes for adults to attend all home athletic events is $35(6). Or you can purchase a family pass that is a total of $125. If a pass is not purchased you will have to pay to get into each individual game you attend.

Lunch Costs
An important thing to know about FTMSE is the lunch cost from the STAR express. Star Express is the provider of the food the students eat at FTMSE (2). There are two meals provided for students, breakfast and lunch. Breakfast is $1.25 and lunch is $2.15. There is a reduced plan for students who need financial assistance. To receive reduced lunch parents must contact the lunch service and fill out paper work to see if eligible for federal and state financial assistance. The reduced price for breakfast is $0.30 and for lunch is $0.40 (2). Meal prices are established to cover the following costs of food, labor and benefits, repairs and replacement of equipment, and supplies, training, and indirect cost to district (2).

Phone Directory
It is very important to be able to get a hold of people you need in the middle school. There is a school staff email and phone directory for the year 2011-12. 2011-2012 Staff Email & Phone Directory as of Oct 26, this can be used to communicate with parent to students teachers. Since in middle school students have multiple teachers, it is an easy access to all the teachers numbers and emails. The directory also includes the principal, assistant principals and all other head of importance. A good thing about this cite is its divided by grades and communities.

Yearly Calendar
One final important tool to use to find information about what is going on at FTMSE is 2012-2013 Balanced Student Calendar. This is the calendar for the 2012-1013 year. There is information for when the first and last day of school is, when breaks start and end, when report cards will be sent home, when parents/teacher conferences will be help, and holidays when school will be out.