Eagle Eye -JMS Parent Newsletter#31

Good morning Jefferson Parents & Families:

We hope you have enjoyed a wonderful Spring Break! We look forward to seeing your students on Monday and kicking off a fantastic final term of the 2021-2022 academic year!

There is a lot happening at JMS as we begin Term 4, so check out the week at a glance schedule below for more details. Please reach out if we can be of any additional help!

As always, we thank you for your support and your encouragement throughout the school year. We are excited to get back to school and finish the year strong!

Phil Cox, Principal, pcox@ortn.edu

Dr. Josh Tipton, Vice Principal, jctipton@ortn.edu

Nick Corrigan, Dean of Students, njcorrigan@ortn.edu

Yearbooks on sale NOW - April 30!! Go to--Yearbookordercenter.com

Order number--Jefferson Middle School 1575

Monday 28

B day

7th/8th grade dance tickets on sale 7:15-7:30

Truancy Referrals due

Chess Club Meeting Library 2:45-3:45

Environmental Club 2:45-5:00

Track & Field Practice 3:00-4:30

Board of Education Meeting SAB 6:00

Tuesday 29

A day

7th/8th grade dance tickets on sale 7:15-7:30

Principal’s Meeting SAB 9:00

Level 4 Lockdown Drill followed by Fire Drill 1:00

RadioActive Brix Meeting 2:45-4:30

Girl Scouts Meeting Room 208 3:00-5:00

Student Focus Planning Meeting 3:30-4:00

Track & Field Meet @ Lenoir City MS 4:30

Wednesday 30

B day

7th/8th grade dance tickets on sale 7:15-7:30

Food Truck for faculty-Shirley’s Boy Country Cookin’

SLT Meeting 1:00

Staff Meeting 2:00

Special Education Meeting following Staff Meeting

Track & Field Practice 1:00-2:30

Thursday 31

A day

7th/8th grade dance tickets on sale 7:15-7:30

Student Focus Meeting Eagles Nest

Track & Field Meet @ Heritage HS 4:30

Friday 1

B Day

7th/8th grade dance tickets on sale 7:15-7:30

Youth for Christ Band Room 7:00 AM

Student Success Assemblies

• · 7th Grade – 2nd period (8:40-9:30am)
• · 8th Grade – 3rd period (9:35-10:25am)
• · 5th Grade – 6th period (12:55-1:45pm)
• · 6th Grade – 7th period (1:50-2:35pm) Students should pack up to go home and plan to be dismissed from the gym.

First Lego League/STEM-Robotics Competition UT 8:45-2:30

Ms. Kala’s class to Krystal 11:45

Student Council Meeting Library 6th period

Grade reports distributed to students 7th period

Track & Field Practice 3:00-4:30

Saturday 2

First Lego League Robotics Project Thompson Boling Arena 10:00-2:00

Parents,

Several nationally and state recognized (Public Health) organizations, including the Anderson County and State Health Departments, issued a joint statement in January 2022 recommending states begin to transition away from universal contact tracing for individual cases of COVID-19. Based on these recommendations and the fact that we have seen a significant decrease in confirmed COVID-19 cases, effective Monday, March 14, 2022, Oak Ridge Schools will be shifting away from contact tracing and the COVID-19 Dashboard will be removed from the Oak Ridge Schools website.

We wish our families a wonderful Spring Break and look forward to our students returning on Monday, March 28, 2022.

Spring is here and we want to remind our students and parents about the dress code at Jefferson Middle School.

The Board of Education and our administrative team believes that appropriate dress and grooming contribute to a productive learning environment. We expect students to give proper attention to personal cleanliness and to wear suitable clothing. Students are asked to wear simple, comfortable clothing that is clean and neat. Shoes should be worn at all times. Students are not to wear clothing which compromises safety or modesty; nor clothing which is disruptive to the educational process.

Students are prohibited from wearing:

1. Clothing or accessories which by reasonable judgment is considered unsafe, dangerous or a health hazard (examples include, but are not limited to: wallet chains; spiked collars, necklaces or rings with spikes or sharp edges; oversized belt buckles; picks and combs).
2. Students are not permitted to wear pants or shorts with holes above the knee. This includes wearing any type of shorts or leggings underneath ripped attire.
3. Clothing or accessories which contain or suggest offensive or obscene symbols, signs, slogans or words degrading any gender, cultural, religious or ethnic values.
4. Clothing or accessories which contain or suggest language or symbols oriented toward violence, vandalism, sex, drugs, alcohol or tobacco.
5. Clothing that resembles sleepwear such as lounging pants, or other lounging items. This also includes house shoes.
6. Skirts and dresses that are inappropriate for bending, sitting, standing and reaching,
7. Attire that is disruptive to the instructional process which may be inclusive of, but not limited to: bare midriffs; halter tops; short shorts; tight, see through, or revealing clothing; or clothing which allows underwear to be exposed, (examples include, but are not limited to: sagging pants, tank tops, spaghetti strap tops, muscle shirts, etc.
8. A belt is mandatory if pants or shorts will not stay at the waist without one.
9. Mid-thigh is the appropriate length for shorts, skirts, and dresses.
10. Mid-thigh length top is appropriate for covering leggings.
11. Hats, hoods, head coverings, athletic headbands not worn during athletic event, bandanas and sunglasses are not to be worn inside the school building.
12. Any articles which can be related to gang activity such as: items with gang names; gang initials; or individual gang member monikers; gang related jewelry; gang related tattoos; or self-inflicted scars. This may include such items as shoe laces, belt buckles, hats or tattoos. (TCA 49-6- 4215
13. All students must wear shoes. It is strongly suggested that students wear shoes which either enclose the foot or are secured with heel straps.
14. Coats, jackets and blankets must be removed upon arrival at school, be placed in lockers until the student leaves the building.

Consequences for violations of the dress code guidelines will follow the ORS District Disciplinary Code.

Dear parents, it is time to reserve your child’s copy of the yearbook. Yearbooks are $20 each and orders should be placed online at yearbookordercenter.com. When prompted, please use our school code 1575. Reserve your copy today. Ordering will be open until April 30th!

*Please note: Online purchases include a service fee set by the vendor*

The official theme for this year's dance will be “Enchanted Forest”.

• Tickets must be purchased the week prior to the dance; no tickets will be sold at the door. Tickets will be sold this week, March 28-April 1, in the morning before school from 7:15-7:35.
• Tickets will cost $15.00.
• Food will include a “Sweet and Salty” (snack) buffet for students to eat throughout the dance. Drinks are also included.
• A photographer will attend the dance for any students wanting profession pictures. Students must bring money to the dance to directly pay the photographer. Envelopes will be delivered to the main office when we return from spring break, these envelopes will include picture package prices.
• There will be a DJ for music.
• Dress is semi-formal. Please consider dress code!

Request to See a Counselor Form:

If your child would like to visit with their school counselor, please have them click the following link:

https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=vdNYGNb6YE61OeUm8KqiP7G5HNanvSRHqIRqq3rFqlxUOVIzQlhQOURUWDhZRUxZRDBCV1BDMU5PVy4u&fsw=0

If you have a School Counseling need, please reach out to:

• Ms. Cormack - 5th & 7th Grade Counselor - khcormack@ortn.edu
• Ms. Price - 6th & 8th Grade Counselor - clprice@ortn.edu
• Ms. Myers - Registrar - amyers@ortn.edu

The following students will be recognized as students of the week for displaying Creativity this week!

5th Grade

Miles Erwin

Isaiah Tafao

6th Grade

Keegan Peterson

7th Grade

Jack Younger

Grace Moran

8th Grade

Hayden Rouse

Students may pick up their certificates in the front office on Monday morning.

Congratulations!!

There are several upcoming events we wanted to make you aware of regarding high school registration and course selection.

• Monday, March 28th, ORHS will publish a Parent Seminar and registration video. More information to come.
• Thursday, March 31st, ORHS will host a Parent Meeting in person. More information on how to register for this event to come.
• Thursday, April 7th, ORHS Counselors and staff will visit JMS to assist students in completing their course selections in Skyward.
• Thursday, April 7th, ORHS will host a virtual Q&A for parents via Microsoft Teams. All online registration should be completed by April 14th.
• In addition, all 8th graders, have been added to the “Class of 2026” canvas page. This is where they will be able to access videos, documents and other information related to high school registration and planning.

Attention 8th grade parents: ORHS released the virtual tour video for this year. Please encourage your child to watch this video and to get excited for next year! Registration will be here before we know it, so this is a great way to learn about the awesome opportunities ORHS has to offer. This video is also posted on the JMS School Counseling Canvas Page.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI_JUUDlRak

Jefferson’s track teams competed at the Lenoir City Track Jamboree on Tuesday, March 8. This was their first meet of the season and the team was very successful!

The girls were led by Dylan Job and Taylor Lane. Dylan placed 1st in the 1600 and 800 meter races. Taylor won the shot put and the discus. Other top performing girls included Lily Bailey, who was 2nd in the shot put, and Kaollaidhe Lewellyn who placed 3rd in the 1600 meter run. Anna Berven was 3rd in the high jump, and the girls 4 x 100 meter relay finished 3rd. Relay team members included: Amaijah Bishop, Scarlett Smith, Robyn Greenhalgh, and Anna Berven.

The boys team was led by Ryker Armes and Mason Greenhalgh. Ryker placed first in the 100 and 200 meter races and Mason placed first in the 400 and 1600 meter races. Other top performing boys included JT Gormley, who was 2nd in the 200 meter race. Rhett Hovater finished 2nd in the 800 meters and the 1600 meters. Evan Biewer finished 4th in the 800 meter race. Adam Washington was 1st in the long jump with Jakob Holman finishing 2nd. Michael Gerlock placed 2nd in the shot put and 3rd in the discus. Ve’lon Henderson finished 2nd in the high jump and Jakob Holman finished 3rd. Our boys won the 4 x 100! Relay team members included: Gary Carlisle, Jermichael Howard, JT Gormley, and Ryker Armes.

The Jefferson Track Team will travel to Heritage for their next meet on Thursday, March 31st!

Go Eagles!

The College of Engineering at Tennessee Tech would like to extend an invitation to your rising 8th and 9th grade female students for the 2022 Engineering a Future Summer Camp!

Engineering a Future (EAF) is a 5 – day experience for rising 8th and 9th grade young women with an interest in engineering, taking place from June 6 – 10. This is a residential camp and food and board will be provided. This is an amazing opportunity for students to learn more about the field of engineering, make connections with other young women interested in STEM, and be mentored by current female engineering students and professionals! Campers will be led in exciting, hands-on experiments, participate in fun engineering challenges, and have the chance to explore our campus.

Registration closes April 1st and there is a $25 attendance fee. Fee waivers are available.

Please reach out to Sara Bowman with questions at sebowman@tntech.edu or 931-372-3830.

The Cybersecurity Education Research and Outreach Center (CEROC) at Tennessee Tech will be hosting a GenCyber Residential Student Camp on the Tennessee Tech campus from Sunday, June 19, 2022 concluding Friday, June 24, 2022. The NSA sponsored GenCyber camp will provide an exciting week for high school students and current 8th graders in middle schools (rising freshman for the 2022-2023 school year) to experience the world of cybersecurity through hands-on activities and games. As part of the week, guest speakers from academia, government, and industry will visit the camp sharing their personal and professional experiences in cyber.

Student participants will get a Raspberry Pi computer of their own, which can go home with them at the end of the camp. During their time a camp, participants will also earn GenCyber Coins (camp cryptocurrency) with which they can purchase prizes from the online store at the end of the camp.

Students will be provided with shuttle service from three different major cities (Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville) to travel to/from Tennessee Tech campus at Cookeville on before and after the week-long residential camp.

As part of our “get the word out” efforts, CEROC will be conducting two introductory Zoom webinars for interested students discussing the camp, expectations regarding the camp, as well as cybersecurity in general. Each of these webinars will be later followed by a two hour camp teaser experience in which students can get hands-on experience with cybersecurity and get a taste of what to expect at the actual camp.

Middle School Webinar Dates (for current 8th graders only):

• Camp Introduction Webinar: January 28, 2022 from 4:00-5:00pm CST
• Camp Teaser Webinar: February 2, 2022 from 6:00-8:00pm CST (group will be selected from those attending the Camp Introduction)

Please register for the introduction webinar at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QC2KGT6. A meeting link will be sent to the out to those registered no later than three (3) days prior to the meeting. Camp information will be posted at https://www.tntech.edu/ceroc/outreach/gen-cyber.php.

The site will be updated as new information becomes available. Other questions can be sent to ceroc@tntech.edu.

Space is limited as only 35 participants will be selected from across the state.

About Katerpillar Kids Camp

Katerpillar Kids Camp is a special camp for children who are grieving the loss of a loved one. The camp is coordinated by Covenant Hospice and sponsored by Variety, and celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019. Many campers come to camp because they lost a parent, however, children who have lost any family member or a friend is welcome to participate. Learn more at the Covenant HomeCare and Hospice website.

About Mane Support

Mane Support is a nonprofit organization that provides a ministry through equine-assisted grief counseling to children, youth, teens, and adults who have experienced the death of a loved one or other types of trauma. Horses can play a special role in the healing journey. Therapists and equine specialists of Mane Support are certified through EAGALA (Equine-Assisted Growth and Learning Association). In addition, they have experience, degrees and certifications in the fields of equine training and management, child development, and thanatology. All Mane Support activities are conducted on the ground; there is no horse riding. Mane Support is located in Roane County.

Save the Date!

We are excited to announce that we have partnered with Mane Support to host our next in-person Katerpillar Kids Camp to children 1st- 12th grade grade! Camp will take place on Saturday, April 23 and Sunday, April 24 at Mane Support in Roane County.

Who: Children 1st – 12th grade and their parents or guardians

What: A FREE grief camp that teaches children how to cope with the loss of a loved one through a variety of activities including equine therapy, games, music, etc.

When: Saturday, April 23 and Sunday, April 24, 2022.

Where: Mane Support in Roane County – transportation will be available.

The USDA has extended FREE breakfast and lunch for ALL students this school year!

Please find the March Breakfast and Lunch Menus attached below for your convenience!

Sign up for the JMS PTO Newsletter to receive PTO news, updates, and learn about opportunities to get involved in some great initiatives! Contact jeffersonmspto@gmail.com for more information!

Thank you for your patience and communication during our first week back! Please be sure to discuss your child's method of transportation each day to ensure they know where they are to go at dismissal.

First Student Transportation has posted 2021-2022 Bus Routes and you can find them here:

https://www.ortn.edu/Transportation/2021_Revised_JMS_Bus_Routes.pdf

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Mr. Corrigan at njcorrigan@ortn.edu or Ms. Myers at amyers@ortn.edu.

SIGN UP FOR MYSTOP - BUS TRACKING APP!

Once you are registered for transportation, you will be able to track your child's bus using the app information detailed below. Please see information on how to register for MyStop below.

MyStop - Parent/Student Login

• Username: (use student’s name - case sensitive) firstname.lastname
• Password: (use student birth date) in this format 03122007 for March 12, 2007

MyStop Phone App Available In Your App Store

Go to: Versatrans My Stop™ provides mobile access to bus information. This app displays the location of the user’s assigned school bus, as well as the estimated time of arrival to their stop. Students can plan for late or on-time arrival, and prevent missed pick-ups or being left outside in inclement weather.

Can’t Access the MyStop App?

If you are having difficulty accessing the MyStop App please take the following steps:

1. Please confirm the following:
2. You have downloaded the App from Tyler Technologies.
3. You are using the legal student name as listed in Skyward.
4. You have selected all lower case letters.
5. You have placed a period between the first and last name.
6. The birthdate is correct and only consist of 8 numbers.

If this information doesn’t allow you to successfully download your child’s MyStop App account, please contact Amy Myers at 865.425.9302 or email amyers@ortn.edu. You can also view more information on the ORS District website at https://www.ortn.edu/district/bus-routes/.