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

September

7th Parent Open House 5-7pm

19th Picture Day

22nd Early Dismissal

25th Yom Kippur No school

Here is a link for you to complete a note when your student is absent. Please fill this out the morning of the absence, or within three days of their absence.

You can also send in a paper note with your student the day they return to school.

2023-2024 Student Excuse and Early Release Form

Please do not arrive at the school and ask for your child to be picked up without a note. It will take several minutes to locate the students and get them to the office area. We do understand there will be emergencies and we will accommodate those. However, please do not make this a regular occurrence.

Any parent who arrives after 2:30 to pick up their child must do so in the car rider line. Our bus process is very complex and we have over 17 buses. It will not be possible to find your student that late in the day and get them to the office quickly as we are also dismissing students at that time. As a result, we will tell the child to meet the parent in the car rider line instead of riding the bus.

If you want your child to be picked up in the car rider line and not take the bus home, you must send a note with your child to school so the teacher is aware.

We dismiss over 900 students and we need a very clear process for early releases and changes to transportation home. We appreciate your help with this process.

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.

I am going to provide weekly data snapshots throughout the school year. Below is a data snapshot of the attendance rates for our school from 8.28.23-9.6.23

5th grade 96.72% in attendance each day

6th grade 96.72% in attendance each day

7th grade 96.34% in attendance every day

8th grade 95.20% in attendance every day

These numbers might seem great, however our goal is 98% of our students in attendance every day. Remember every little absence makes a huge difference, even if it is one period. So, please do your best to send your students to school and limit their appointments to after school hours as much as possible.

We will often post messages on the cones in our car rider line as friendly reminders to parents. If you see our orange signs out please check out the message.

We received some information that First Student is still short several bus drivers. In addition, a few have gone on an extended leave of absence. This presents a difficult challenge for the district as we will need to make some bus runs do double runs. This means they will take one route, drop off the students and then come back to the school to do a second route. This will delay your student getting home. We also have several district members who have licenses to drive buses driving buses to help alleviate this issue.

I know this is challenging for families, and it is equally challenging for us as a district. First Student does not simply have enough staff to accommodate all of the bus runs. I wanted to share so you are aware of the issue and encourage you to be patient and understanding as this is a First Student issue and not a Norristown Area School District staffing issue.

We will be starting our beginning of the year benchmark assessments next week. These assessments are called STAR assessments.

Here is a link to some resources around these assessments. In essence, these tests help us determine the current ability level for students at the start of the year. We will take them again in the Winter and Spring and be able to compare the results from each assessments to see individual student growth.

Dear Parents and Guardians-

We are so excited to have the opportunity to bring back Field Trips in our school. This year we are planning two exciting field trips throughout the year.

We will need parent and guardian chaperones. In order for you to be able to participate in these fun and educational trips, you will need to have all of your clearances on file with our Human Resource Department.

Below is a quick ‘How To’ tutorial of where to find the Clearances needed and the links to complete this task. Visit the district website found HERE to follow the steps in the graphic below.

Please reach out to your child’s teacher if you have questions or concerns.

Thank you for your support-

The 6th Grade Team

The new ELA curriculum resources are a majority of novels and short stories. There is no formal textbook for this reading course. As a result, students will receive copies of novels and other materials for reading class. Additionally, these is a student workbook, and vocabulary book they will use for homework and classwork. These also will involve students taking care of these books and items.

Students must be sure not to lose these books. In the event that a student loses the book, workbook or vocabulary book, parents are responsible for the replacement costs. Some of the books can be easily ordered on Amazon by the school.

Vocabulary book replacement cost: $15

Wit and Wisdom workbook replacement cost $30

Individual Wit and Wisdom books: prices vary

Students may not participate in some field trips or end of the year events if they have outstanding dues from lost books etc. I am just letting parents know in advance so there is no confusion if you receive a bill for a book.

Welcome Back!

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

SAVE THE DATE!: We have our 1st PFC meeting on 9/13 at 7pm in the school library. Mr. Hutchinson will discuss the building's Title 1 plan and you will have an opportunity to ask questions during the meeting. The meeting is open to caregivers of ENMS students and is not recorded. We will also be approving our fundraising budget and discussing volunteer opportunities.

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

Our 5th grade teachers are organizing a fundraiser for their field trips this year. They are hosting a ENMS family night at Urban Air. We will need a certain number of families to purchase tickets to hold this event. All students must be accompanied by a parent to attend this event.

See the flyer below for information.

Nurse Reminders

Medication: If your child needs to take medication at school the nurse will need a doctor’s order to give medication. This note from the doctor should include the name of medication, amount to give and what time to take medication. It should be signed by the doctor. Medication must be in the original container with prescription on the bottle.

Injuries: If your child is injured and/or broke a bone and is in a brace, cast, sling or on crutches please remember to call the nurse. She can help accommodate your child in school for safety purposes. She would need documentation of the injury from the doctor.

6th grade physicals: All 6th graders should go to the doctor for a physical exam. If the child is 11 years old they should receive a Tdap and Meningitis vaccine at this appointment. Have the doctor fill out the PA Private Physical form so you can give that to the nurse as proof of physical. Updated vaccination records should be attached.

School Screenings: All students will receive a health screening which consists of height, weight and vision. Students in grade 7 will also get hearing and scoliosis screenings. If results are abnormal, parents will receive a letter to see a doctor. Screening will start in September and will take a few months to complete. If your child wears glasses please make sure they are using them in school so we can test them with their glasses on.

If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s health please call Lynne Zangara, School Nurse at 610-275-6520 ext 3 or email at Lzangara@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