BMS Parent Newsletter

School safety is always an important part of the BMS educational setting. Blanco MS and Blanco ISD have partnered with Stay Alert to provide an avenue for students, parents, teachers, and community members to report issues related to school safety. If you are aware of an incident, situation, activity, etc. that needs to be reported to school officials, please utilize one of the Stay Alert program avenues to report it. Those reporting can choose to remain anonymous.

You can report:

online at www.stayalert.info

by email to report@stayalert.info

by text to 206-406-6485

by phone to 206-406-6485

The State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) administrations will begin next week. The schedule of STAAR tests is below:

Thursday, April 20 -- Reading/ELA -- All BMS grade levels

Wednesday, April 26 - Science - 8th Grade Only

Thursday, April 27 - Social Studies - 8th Grade Only

Tuesday, May 2 - Math and Algebra 1 - All BMS Grade Levels

Tennis practices are underway for BMS students. Practices are held at the new tennis courts on the HS campus. April 19 will be the first tennis tournament of the season for the BMS teams. They will have a dual meet in Johnson City that day.

The Blanco Methodist Church has donated gift cards to be used in the Spring Semester in a drawing for students with perfect attendance. During the 5th Six Week Grading period, there were 34 students with perfect attendance. Those names were entered in a random generator and Summer Horton was the winner. Summer received a Visa gift card this week. Congratulations Summer! Thank you to the Blanco Methodist Church for their donation.

Texas Law requires students to have at least a 90% attendance rate to get credit for the courses they are taking. If your child has more than a 10% absence rate (this is 18 absences for BMS) they will have to make up hours during summer school. Additional information will be forthcoming in Parent Newsletters regarding summer school.

Ms. Staas has provided some information regarding absences below. Excessive absences could result in students being retained in the same grade level, truancy charges, and fines. If you have questions about attendance, please email Ms. Staas == kat.staas@blancoisd.org or contact Mr. Kinney using the contact information at the bottom of this newsletter.

Ms. Meier's 7th Grade Science Classes follow a March Madness bracket in conjunction with the NCAA March Madness Basketball Men's and Women's Tournaments. Different species of animals compete with each other in the bracket. Students research the animals and make predictions about the outcome of the match ups. The Okapi and Wolverine were the last two standing to face off in the final contest. The Wolverine outlasted the Okapi and was the March Madness Champion!

Avery Hutton and Josiah Romero ended up tied for first place with 107 points. Josie White was right behind with 104 points. Katie Sapp was the fourth place finisher. Congratulations to all of the students who were on team wolverine!

The motto for March Mammal Madness is: If you are learning, you are winning. This contest allowed our students to learn about different organisms and adaptations while having fun in the process.

There will be a rabies vaccination drive Wednesday, April 19 at the BHS Ag Shop - 3 PM - 6 PM. There will be additional vaccinations available as well. If your pet is in need of vaccinations, make plans to bring them to BHS on April 19.

The PTO will be celebrating the "Sunsational" staff at BMS on Friday (April 21). If you would like to sign up to donate for this teacher/staff appreciation event, please use the link below.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a044ca4ad2ea5f94-help/122702978#/

BMS teachers, staff, and students provide shout outs to those who have gone above and beyond, provided help to another person, been a good citizen, accomplished a task/goal, won an athletic contest, participated in an activity or competition, or just need recognition for doing something nice, etc. These are our SHOUT OUTS for the week:

Avery Hutton and Josiah Romero for winning the March Mammal Madness tournament.

Josie White for finishing third in the March Mammal Madness tournament.

Katie Sapp for finishing fourth in the March Mammal Madness tournament.

Students participating in the March Mammal Madness contest.

Summer Horton for winning the perfect attendance award drawing for the 5th six weeks.

If you have questions related to middle school, please contact the appropriate person at BMS:

Brad Kinney: Principal - brad.kinney@blancoisd.org

Sallie Lyons: Counselor - sallie.lyons@blancoisd.org

Cheryl Tesch: Registrar - cheryl.tesch@blancoisd.org

Paula Batey: Administrative Assistant - paula.batey@blancoisd.org

BMS Phone: 830-833-5570