Midland's handbook for the 2024-2025 school year contains school history, goals, graduation requirements, and other helpful articles and school rules. If you want the straight scoop on Midland, this is where you'll find it.
This year's cover features the iconic Midland Mustang emblazoned with a white cross. Our mission statement is "Developing passionate followers of Christ who love God and serve people."
Last update: August 12, 2024
Dear Midland Families and Students,
I hope your family has had a great summer. Midland Academy has completed or will soon complete several important technology and building upgrades. The staff is back and excited about getting school started on August 13.
There are a couple of important policy changes that I would like to share with you as we quickly approach the beginning of the 2024-25 school year. I also need to share a clarification about our dress code.
The first policy change has to do with the use of personal electronic devices at school. Without a doubt, electronic devices distract students and diminish their focus. Personal devices are also associated with increases in cyberbullying, other disciplinary issues and can lead to physical and mental health challenges. Recently, the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, wrote, “The most common question parents ask me is, ‘is social media safe for my kids’. The answer is that we don't have enough evidence to say it's safe, and in fact, there is growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to young people’s mental health.”
Please read the policy in the link provided above in this email. The essential idea is that electronic devices of all kinds cannot be used at school from 8:00 to 3:20 Monday-Thursday, 8:00 to 1:30 on Fridays, and 8:00 to 12:10 on early dismissal days. Any kind of communication that needs to take place with or from students at school can be accomplished by calling the school office or emailing students in grades 7-12. Messages left with the office will be delivered to students or relayed to classroom teachers.
What hasn’t changed is the school policy on searching a student’s personal property, including electronic devices. No search will ever take place unless there is a reasonable suspicion that a search needs to be done to protect the students, staff and parents that are part of our school. Obviously, if a student follows the personal electronic device policy of the school, it is extremely unlikely that a search would ever be necessary.
The second change concerns our attendance policy, specifically students who are often late to school. Students who are late to school cause a disruption of learning when they enter the classroom. Clearly, they are missing instructional time that will be difficult to make up. In addition, they are developing habits of tardiness that will not serve them well in the future. We recognize that students depend heavily on their parents to get them to school on time. MAA wants to ensure that our students are given every opportunity to succeed, and one way we can help is to encourage them to arrive at school on time.
Please read the policy in the link provided above in this email. What is important to note is that students who are dropped off at school late will need to be signed in by their parent/driver before they are allowed to go to class. Parents/drivers will have to enter the school to sign their student(s) in. Accumulating an excessive number of unexcused tardies will result in meetings with school personnel to devise a plan to prevent future tardiness. This policy will affect only students who are late to school.
The third area of note is some specifics concerning our dress code. The staff has identified a few areas of the dress code that need to be improved on. The good news is that the vast majority of our students will not have to change anything about the way they dress for school, and the other students will only have to make minor changes.
The following is a list of dress/attire that are not allowed at school unless specifically designated by a teacher / administrator.
Dress code violations will result in a student being sent to the office to change clothes before they return to class. A student may be required to wear a school issued hoodie, shirt, or sweats if they do not have their own clothes to change into or a parent cannot bring clothes for a student to change into.
The overall goal of these changes is to provide the best possible learning environment for our students. I believe these changes will help us accomplish that goal.
Greg Murphy
Principal
