The Principal's Office

Email: jhutchinson@nasd.k12.pa.us
Website: https://www.nasd.k12.pa.us/enms
Location: 330 Roland Drive, East Norriton, PA, USA
Phone: 610-275-6520
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Middle-School/East-Norriton-Middle-School-121770504834624/
Twitter: @EastNorritonMS

October

5th 5th Grade Incentive Trip (20 Students- Casselli/Ford to the EN Township Park)

12th 8th grade field trip to Longwood Gardens

13th 8th grade field trip to Longwood Gardens

13th 5th and 6th grade dance 6-8pm

16th 6th grade field trip to Franklin Institute

20th Early Dismissal

We want to encourage all students to wear red on Tuesday to support the Phillies in their quest for a World Championship. Their Wildcard round begins on Tuesday.

Students are encouraged to wear red to show their Philly pride on each of the Phillies playoff gamedays.

We are sending home PSSA score reports to families this week. Please look for them in your student's backpack. We received them from the Department of Education earlier this week.

Parents should log into the Infinite Campus Parent Portal to check your student's grades this week as part of our mid-mark reporting process. October 2nd marks the midway point in marking period #1. We have five weeks left before we issue report cards.

The district will be sending out information on Parent Portal instructions again this week. Please pay special attention to your email or phone for this message.

We are going to slowly transition away from the Google Form we use to enter your parent notes for absences or early releases.

Infinite Campus allows parents to submit your notes and reasons why your student was not at school. Download the Infinite Campus app to your smartphone and use the attendance feature to send us notes. You can download it here or search the Google Play or Apple Store. You will create an account and then choose Norristown Area School District using the credentials sent by the district. you can also just enter your student's credentials.

We will keep both systems running for parent notes for a little longer but eventually the Google Form I created several years ago will go away and all notes will need to be entered on the Infinite Campus app. Take some time to see how it works so you will be ready.

Students have the ability to scan into our attendance system when they arrive late to school via a late bus or parent drop off. Please encourage your child to download the Infinite Campus app, sign in with the credentials. This will allow them to simply open it, scan their id card and they will be send directly to class. This helps speed up the arrival process for students who arrive on late buses.

This will also them to check grades, attendance etc. It is a wonderful app. You can find the free download in the Google Play or Apple store.

All students attending home varsity football games must be accompanied by an adult/parent or guardian. An adult must be over the age of 18 (graduated from high school) and cannot be an older sibling or family member.

Students who do not attend the game with an adult will not be permitted entrance into the game.

ENMS will have a staff member at every high school football game and any instances of inappropriate behavior by ENMS students will be reported to the staff member on duty at the game. Disciplinary consequences will be given to students when they return to school on Monday. We have never had an incident involving an ENMS student at a football game so let's make sure we keep our streak going.

We want to encourage all teachers, parents, and students to follow our Middle School sports Instagram page @nasdMSathletics to stay up-to-date on upcoming events and team spotlights.

This is a great way for 5th & 6th-grade students and parents to get connected with the programs and receive important information as they get closer to participation.

The school district is sending out communications for late buses via email, text, and the district NASD app around 7am and again at 1:30pm. Please be sure you are checking messages so you can learn about important bus updates.

I have also been sending a school specific text around 3:30 to let parents know of specific buses still at school. Most buses do arrive before 4pm, but like to send that extra message just so you are aware.

We will be hosting our first dance of the year for our 5th and 6th graders on Friday October 13th from 6-8pm. More information about ticket sales and requirements to be able to attend will be shared soon. This is just a save the date notice for parents.

This dance is sponsored by your PFC and they can always use help chaperoning dances.

The Norristown High school PFC will be hosting a comedy show for adults on September 30th at the Holy Savior Club in Norristown. Please check out the attached flyer for details. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Nicole Echevarria at cole999@comcast.net. We hope to see you there.

Links to purchase tickets are here. https://kricket-comedy.seatengine-sites.com/shows/229478

Project Libertad is offering their free virtual adult ESL classes. There will be two separate classes based on proficiency level held virtually on Monday and Tuesday nights at 7:00 p.m. Classes begin October 9th and last 8 weeks. There will be no class during Thanksgiving week.

Adults can register using the QR code in the flyer or here. SIGN-UP LINK: tinyurl.com/Fall2023English

Please share this information with your families.

Below is a flyer with important attendance information. One of our school goals is to eliminate the number of students that miss more than 10% of school for any reason. When students miss school, leave early, or arrive late they are missing critical teaching lessons to help them master the grade level content. Please do your best to eliminate the need for early pick ups, or late drop offs. If you have a question about attendance etc. please contact your student's counselor.

Welcome Back!

The Parent Faculty Club is very excited about the upcoming 2023-2024 school year.

Volunteers Needed!

We love working and seeing families and their students, but we need your help! We have some upcoming dates we need volunteers for;

-Picture Day 9/19 8am-1pm

-School Store-Opening at the end of September, shifts are during lunches 10:15-1:15.

-Yearbook Committee-Help with organizing and meeting deadlines

-Music Boosters-Help with concessions at music events

Please see our Sign Up Genius for details

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0D45A5AC28A1F94-enms

All volunteers must have their clearances on file with the district.

Links to the required clearances can be found on the district website https://www.nasd.k12.pa.us

https://epatch.state.pa.us/

https://www.compass.state.pa.us/cwis/public/home

https://5il.co/1r3ea

https://www.identogo.com/locations/pennsylvania

Please be on the lookout for our Envelope Drive, starting in September. Our fundraisers help send our students on field trips, Teacher/Staff Appreciation events, and special projects.

Follow us on Facebook at East Norriton Middle School Parents Page

For more about the PFC find us on the NASD website

Executive board and chair lead information here

Thank You!

Amy Bligh

We are kicking off this year with our annual envelope drive. A flyer will be sent home with additional details on the fundraiser. Our goal is to raise $3,000 so we can help support various activities during the school year for our students. We are hoping to collect $10 per child. You may enclose cash or write a check payable to ENMS PFC & return it to your child’s homeroom or the main office and for an extra convenience, you can also pay through Venmo @EastNorriton-MiddleSchool. Thank you in advance for your support this year.

We have two counselors at ENMS. These individuals should be one of your first points of contact if you need guidance related to any issue or problem your student may be facing during the school year. We can usually resolve issues quickly when parents contact their child's counselor. If you need to speak to your child's counselor their contact information is found below.

5th and 6th grade School Counselor: Ms. Gena Bussell gbussell@nasd.k12.pa.us

7th and 8th grade School Counselor: Ms. Sarah Raimondi sraimondi@nasd.k12.pa.us

All students must have their cellphones turned off and placed in their lockers. Below are the consequences for cellphone violations.

1st-3rd offenses: Teachers will ask the students to turn their phone off and place it in their locker, or ask the student to give it to the teacher. It will be returned to the student at the end of the school day.

4th offense: Students will give their cell phone to a teacher and the teachers will give it to the main office. The parent or guardian must report to the school to pick up the device. Cell phones are placed in a locked safe in the main office until parents arrive. A one-hour office detention will be assigned for each violation.

Chronic cellphone offenses: It is the policy of ENMS that students who chronically violate the cellphone policy despite warnings, parents picking up the phone etc. will not be permitted to bring their cell phone to school. This is not negotiable and even if a parent disagrees with this policy it is still our policy and it will be enforced regardless of parental agreement. I am asking parents to please discuss these rules with your student.

All classrooms and office have telephones inside them. If there is an emergency we have plenty of phones to handle any emergency situation.

ENMS does not have a dress code for our students. Many of our students choose to wear hooded sweatshirts. The only rule we have around hoodies is that students must have their hoods off. We need to see students faces and when students wear hoodies, combined with masks it makes it extremely difficult to recognize a student from a distance. Therefore, students who choose to wear hoodies must leave their hoods pulled down.

If we run into situations where students do not remove their hood they will receive consequences ranging from a simple discussion all the way to a suspension for chronic offenders. This is usually not an issue for us, but I like to remind parents at the start of the year of this policy.

Lastly, students also cannot wear "slides." All students must have shoes that have a back on them. Croc style shoes are fine as long as students wear the strap along the back of them. The biggest issue with slides is the tripping hazard they pose on stairs. Therefore, students cannot wear slides to school. Again, this is not a big issue here at school, but I like to remind parents of those two simple rules around our dress policy.

Here are the first and last days for the 2023-2024 school year. Below is a pdf file of the calendar for next year. Plan those trips now :-)

First Day for Students - Monday, August 28, 2023
Last Day for Students - Thursday, June 6, 2024

Safe2Say Something is a youth violence prevention program run by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. The program teaches youth and adults how to recognize warning signs and signals, especially within social media, from individuals who may be a threat to themselves or others and to “say something” BEFORE it is too late. With Safe2Say Something, it’s easy and confidential to report safety concerns to help prevent violence and tragedies.

Here’s how it works:

• Submit an anonymous tip report through the Safe2SaySomething system
• Crisis center reviews, assesses and processes all submissions
• Crisis center sends all submissions to school administration and/or law enforcement for intervention
• If needed, crisis center may contact tipster anonymously through the app