Middle School Matters

The Mission of Portsmouth Middle School is to create a strong and safe learning environment: promote social, emotional and physical well-being and to provide opportunities for each student, to the best of their ability, to meet high academic standards, develop responsibility, and achieve the positive social values and behaviors to become productive citizens.

Thank you to our PTO and staff volunteers for making Rec Night a success. The students enjoyed the music, movie, games, treats, and most importantly friends!

We appreciate all who were able to join in the fun!

Breakfast, lunch, and milk are available for purchase for all PMS students.

Full price breakfast is $1.00 and lunch is $2.60. If your family qualifies for reduced prices, breakfast is $0.30 and lunch is $0.40. Milk is offered for $0.55 as a stand alone item.

Apply for free or reduced lunch only by visiting this site: My School Apps.

Payment for breakfast, lunch, and milk can be made online at MySchoolBucks. Your student's LASID will be needed to create and make payments.

You may also send cash or a check to school with your child's name, LASID, and amount included. If paying by check, checks should be made payable to Portsmouth School Department with your child's LASID noted on the memo line. Send a separate check for each child in your family as payments cannot be split between accounts.

Keeping your balance paid in full is very important.

Per the PSD policy, "Elementary and middle school students may not purchase "a la carte" items (i.e. milk) or snacks until all charges on the account have been satisfied." Your child's LASID may be found in your Aspen portal.

Our first SIT meeting is this Wednesday, November 1st, at 5:00 P.M. The meeting will be livestreamed if you would like to watch, click this link.

The agenda, subject to updates, is:

• Introductions

• Purpose and responsibility of the SIT/school

• Potential review of a draft School Improvement Plan for PMS

• Next steps

The order of locks has come in. We are currently cataloging them in our database system and will short for a quarter 2 locker hand out. We will send out a communication once we go online with the lockers with students.

Join us Thursday afternoons starting November 2nd, to team up with a National Honor Society high school student! They are ready to help you with your homework, give you some tips and strategies to master your academics, and assist you with your assignments. Make arrangements for a ride home or sign up for the late bus. Please sign up using the link here.

Please see the linked brochure here for the next flu clinic being offered at the middle school. This clinic will also have the COVID booster.

Please see the link for a document concerning health curriculum changes for next week happening district wide.

The PE staff is focusing on empowering our students to live as many adventures as possible in life and we're seeking photos from both our staff and students participating in outdoor adventures that we can share on our "Max your days" bulletin board outside the fitness room.

Please email your photos to Ms. McCarthy:

mccarthyt@portsmouthschoolsri.org

There will be a free Thanksgiving dinner available to all community members at the Portsmouth United Methodist Church located at 2732 East Main Road on Thursday, November 23rd from 1:00-3:00 P.M.

Our school day begins at 7:45AM with homeroom, an an important time of the day for students. In order for students to get their materials ready for the day, hear the announcements, and for teachers to accurately take attendance, it is recommended you drop off your child no later than 7:50AM.

We ask for your help in reminding your child about our expectations for electronic devices at school.

Phones must be turned off and stored in a backpack upon arrival to school.

If a student is not feeling well, the student should ask to see the nurse.

If a student needs to contact home, the student may use the phone in the main office or a cell phone under supervision of staff.

From our Student Handbook:

Electronic Devices:

All personal electronic devices are to be kept turned off and in the student’s backpack during

the class time and during transition times (before school, between classes, and after school).

This includes, but is not limited to: Cell phones, iPods/MP3 Players, Smart watches.

● 1st & 2nd offenses- the equipment will be confiscated and returned at the end of the day.

● 3rd offense- the equipment will be confiscated and returned only after a parent conference has occurred.

In case of emergency, (i.e. forgotten lunches, musical instruments, homework, bus passes,

after-school activities) students may use a phone in the main office or their cell phones under

supervision of staff.

The Mustache Dash is quickly approaching. Please clink the link here to register ahead of time and save $5.

Please see the linked flier regarding a winter soccer program.

Please see the linked flier regarding winter basketball programming.

PTO meeting

The November PTO meeting will be taking place on Wednesday, November 1st at 6:00 P.M. in the PMS library. This is an in person meeting. Agenda items include fundraising activities for November, Rec Night feedback, District Climate and Culture Committee discussion, etc.

Big PTO Fundraiser

Please see the following letter from our big PTO Fundraiser taking place in November. Here is also an information flier with more information.

VIS Approval

Do you want to participate/volunteer at Rec Night? This is just a reminder that you have to be VIS approved. If you did it last year, you are all set (even if you did it at another district school). If you haven’t, then please visit this address and sign up https://www.portsmouthschoolsri.org/page/volunteers

If we don’t have enough volunteers, we will be forced to cap off the sale of tickets. So far we have 20 volunteers, which means 200 students.

Community Shirt Sponsorship

PMS Parents!

Portsmouth Middle School is so excited to launch our new Community Shirt Sponsorship program! Through this program, we will be able to provide a spirited custom shirt to EVERY student in our school, while also raising needed funds for our students, staff, and programs this year. Please click the link here to see the Business Sponsorship form.

The primary component of our Shirt Sponsorship program is our Event Shirts for our Boosterthon fundraiser. We are hoping to partner with local businesses to help sponsor these shirts. Their logo or name will be displayed on the back of the shirt, and worn by every student in our school. Not only will their support be incredibly helpful to PMS but it will enable us to support them as a community!

If you know of, or are part of, a business that would be interested in becoming a PMS Shirt Sponsor, please see the attached Sponsorship Form for more information.

We need a commitment from all Sponsors by October 16, 2023 in order to supply all our students with a shirt. Thank you in advance for supporting our school! If you have any questions, please contact us at portsmouthripto@gmail.com. Thank you. PMS PTO Board

Upcoming Boost Fundraiser

Please see the linked letter from the PTO regarding updates to our Boost fundraiser.

Over the last few days, we have rolled out the SmartPass system to almost all of our grades. Early returns are that students have picked up the system pretty quickly. We will review trends over the next few weeks and make adjustments as needed. If your child has any questions, please let them know they can ask their coordinator of student life or Dr. Masterson at anytime.

Smart Pass Family Communication

By Wednesday, 11/1, please complete the Photo Permission form linked here if you DO NOT want your child's picture/image/video shared. If you are ok with the school sharing your child's picture, image, video with the media, please do not fill out the form below.

Hello Grade 7 and Grade 8 Parents,

This is just a reminder of the RIDOH Immunization requirements for your students.. If your child has already received the required vaccines could you please send them via email or with your student to school.

If your child has not yet received the vaccines, please reach out and let me know if they have an upcoming appointment. Please give me a call or send me an email with any questions.

Requirements for students entering 7th grade

A student entering 7th grade must have met the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten immunization requirements, plus:

• 1 dose of HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine

• 1 dose of Meningococcal Conjugate (MCV4) vaccine

• 1 dose of Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) vaccine

A student entering 8th grade must have met the 7th grade immunization requirements, plus:

• 2 doses of HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine

11/15 - 3:00-5:00

11/29 - 4:00-6:00

12/13 - 5:00-7:00

More information, including how to sign up, will follow as the dates near.

Fire drills occur on a regular basis. State law requires each school to conduct eleven fire drills, two lockdown drills and two evacuation drills each year. Shelter in Place drills are conducted throughout the school year. Children are given instruction on all procedures. Children are expected to behave in a calm, orderly manner during these exercises. Please review the importance of such exercises with your child and emphasize the need for appropriate behavior.

A lockdown is an alert to a school community that students and staff should not leave the classroom and should gather in one area of the room until provided with further direction.

An evacuation requires all students and staff to exit the building and meet at a designated safe place.

A shelter in place is an alert to a school community that movement outside of classrooms is being restricted for a brief period of time. It is typically used when a student or staff member is requiring some sort of attention (sometimes medical) and the school is trying to keep that area clear and/or protect that person’s privacy. If there were a serious safety concern the school would not issue a shelter in place.

We will send notification of lockdowns, evacuations, and shelter in place drills and events via email.

For access to your child's schedule and grades, please log in to the Aspen Portal.

If you are having issues accessing Aspen, please email familyportal@portsmouthschoolsri.org with your child's name, date of birth, grade level, and your name. The system administrators will be able to restore access to your account and make sure that you can login.

• Students should come to school with a charged Chromebook
• Students should come to school with a reusable water bottle.