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

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

I wanted to provide some helpful tips and information related to transportation. Sorry for the many different sections in this week's newsletter, but I know it is on everyone's minds. Please take some time to review the information below

If possible, I would like to recommend that parents drive their students to school on the day of field trips. The main reason for this ask is that it will avoid the potential of First Student buses arriving late, after the field trip has already left. I know this may be a big inconvenience, but wanted to share in case it is an option for some families.

Unfortunately we cannot wait for all First Student buses to arrive at ENMS before we leave ENMS to go on our field trips. Our field trips have to leave ENMS by 8:45/9:00am in order to make it to their destination in time for students to enjoy the events. Our field trip buses are covered by Metz, which is a different bussing company. In many instances, we are taking students to Philadelphia and other places that are out of the Norristown area. For example, our 6th grade is going to the Franklin Institute. These trips require us to leave those locations by 1:00-1:30 in order to meet the deadline of all field trips returning to school by 2:15. In order to give our students enough time at the trip destination we need to leave before 9am so we can arrive with enough time to enjoy the experience.

I do understand this may be difficult. I wanted to pass along this information because we will need to leave probably before all of the buses arrive. There is no logistical way for us to wait for all buses to arrive before we leave.

If any student misses the trip due to a late First Student bus, we will refund the cost of the trip to those families.

We have noticed that some families have been placing their children on different school buses in order for them to get to school on time. Students are then trying to ride buses that arrive at ENMS at 3pm in an effort to get home earlier. I completely understand the thought behind this, they would like to get home.

However, the issue this presents is buses become over crowded, leading to an unsafe situation. Our teachers have a full list of each student in their classroom and the bus they should be riding. They will not allow students to leave their classroom until their bus is called. Additionally, First Student drivers also have a roster and they will not allow students onto their bus if they have not been assigned to that bus.

I am asking parents to only place their child on the bus they are assigned. I know it is frustrating and please be patient as we work through this bus issue.

Due to the bussing issue we are seeing many parents picking up their child. This is very helpful. We are asking parents write a note explaining their child will be a car rider for the day, week etc. They can show this note to their teacher they have at the end of the day. This lets the teacher know to send the student out to the car rider line in a timely manner. If we do not have a note and you arrive and ask our staff in the car rider line to get your student from class it is very challenging as they are also trying to keep the car rider line moving to get everyone out quickly. We are also dismissing buses at that time and there are chances your student could be on a bus because we were not aware.

I am asking that you not email or call the secretary to send a message to your student regarding becoming a car rider for that day. Often, the secretary is also dismissing bus students and may not be able to relay that message to the teacher. Additionally, teachers are teaching and may miss your email or message. This could result in you coming to the school and your child getting on the bus because the teacher did not get the message.

Please send a note in with your child if your child is not riding the bus that day. It really helps make sure the dismissal procedure is smooth and efficient.

The final message regarding transportation is related to picking up your student after 3:30 due to their bus being late. If you did not send a note but still would like to pick up your child because their bus is going to be late please follow this procedure.

• Report to the front of the front of the school and see the administrator or security guard outside. They will call me in the cafeteria (where late bus students are seated) and we will send the student out to you.

We also noticed some parents trying to pick up other students besides their student (neighbor or a friend's student etc). This presents a dilemma for us as a school. We want to be helpful but we also need to protect students. We can only allow students to be released to individuals listed by parents in our student information system. If you ask to pick up a child that is not your own child and you are not listed in our student information system we cannot release them to you. This protects the safety of all of our students.

We can accept a note from the parent of the child you are picking up if this is something you are going to be doing. This helps us know that a parent has granted permission for you to pick up their child.

Thanks for your help with this issue and hope you understand our caution regarding this issue.

One final issue we are having is regarding when buses finally arrive to either drop off or pick up students. Drivers are reporting that parents are yelling at them because they are late. I wanted to share what is happening with late buses.

• First Student (the bus company) asks drivers to do double runs when they do not have enough drivers for the day. These drivers are very helpful for us and without double runs we would have even more issues with late buses.
• Drivers also have the option from their company to refuse double runs.
• One of the main reasons drivers are refusing double runs is due to the issue of parents confronting them at bus stops and yelling at them for being late. This causes drivers to refuse to do a double run, and that will result in the buses being even more late.
• The drivers that are dropping your student off late are really nice drivers who understand the situation and are trying to help us by completing a double run.

Please refrain from yelling at them at stops. We know you are frustrated but your frustration is misplaced when you take it out on the driver that is really helping us out.

Montgomery County Norristown Library is holding its second annual Hispanic Heritage Night on Wednesday, October 11th, from 4:00 - 7:30 p.m. There will be music, folk dancers, activities, food and much more. It is a free, fun family event. Please share these flyers with your families.

Project Libertad is back at ENMS each Thursday morning with the Newcomer Support Program. This class is especially for our students who have newly arrived in the United States.

Project Libertad does several activities each week with our students including community building games, crafts, English learning, and lessons about the seasons and holidays to acclimate students to life here in the U.S. Our goal is to provide a safe and welcoming space where students can build friendships and community, and gain insight to navigate through new experiences with positive mentors.

Projectlibertad.org is an organization that provides immigration legal services for youth, English classes for adults, and other support for the immigrant community here in Norristown.

We want to encourage all students to wear red on the day of the Phillies playoff games to support them in their quest for a World Championship.

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.

PENNSYLVANIA SYSTEM OF SCHOOL ASSESSMENT (PSSA) AND KEYSTONE EXAMS REVIEW AND OPT-OUT PROCEDURES

Section 4.4 of Title 22, Chapter 4 provides for the rights of any parent or guardian to excuse his or her child from the state assessment if, upon inspection of the testing materials, they find the assessment to be in conflict with their religious beliefs.

This is the only basis for a parent or guardian to excuse his or her child from the statewide assessments.

A Parent/Guardian may only request a secure assessment review if they believe that they may have an objection to content based upon their religious beliefs.

The opt-out request is only in effect for religious reasons and not moral or ethical reasons. If opt-out not for religious reasons, test must be marked as parent refusal.

If you have questions around exemptions or other questions related to the PSSA assessment please email or give me a call.

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.

We will be hosting our first dance of the year for our 5th and 6th graders on Friday October 13th from 6-8pm. Permission slips were given to students this week. All money and permission slips are due by October 10th.

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

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.

We are off to a great start this year! Thank you to everyone who donated to our Envelope Drive in the month of September! We will continue to accept donations through our Venmo account at EastNorriton-MiddleSchool, cash or check payable to ENMS PFC.

ENMS custodians Fran, Corwin, Dave and Brian want to thank our parents for the lunch and all the treats for Custodian Appreciation Day on October 2.

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:

-School Store- shifts are during lunches 10:15-1:15.

-Yearbook Committee-Help with organizing and meeting deadlines

-Music Boosters-Help with concessions at music events

10/13 5th and 6th grade Dance

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

Check out the new Flux Space and Book Vending Machine at the October meeting!

Our next PFC meeting is on Wednesday, 10/11 @7pm in the ENMS library. This is a great time to get to know our Principal,Mr. Hutchinson, and hear of all the things happening at ENMS, and meet other parents.

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

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