Middle School Matters - Staff

The Mission of Portsmouth Middle School is to create a strong and safe learning environment: promote social, emotional and physical well-being and to provide opportunities for each student, to the best of their ability, to meet high academic standards, develop responsibility, and achieve the positive social values and behaviors to become productive citizens.

At Portsmouth Middle School, we believe that school citizenship is an integral part of a student’s total educational experience. School citizenship is measured by eight key values: integrity, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, love of country, civic duty, and work ethic. The attainment of these attributes is invaluable to our students' future development and our community.

Congratulations to Atiba Brown, Ryleigh Clarke, Anna (AK) Inman, Adam O'Brien, Kylie Salveson, Max Sarkady, Eoin Soler, Kyla Walton, and AJ Weldon who were selected as Students of the Month for October. Students are photographed with Dr. Masterson - Principal, Mrs. Goodwin - Assistant Principal, and Mr. Gonsalves and Mrs. Pritchard - Coordinators of Student Life.

Thank you to all who were able to participate in our Can the Coordinator food drive where we collected a total of 787 donations school-wide!! Mr. Gonsalves and Mrs. Pritchard's offices filled up fast thanks to your contributions

Donations will be shared with families in our school community in need of extra assistance. We are working to set up a food pantry at PMS. More details to follow!

Grades 5/7 - 388 total donations

Grades 6/8 - 399 total donations

A huge congratulations to our entire school for a big win with 787 donations!

Our PBIS team is organizing our first Staff Potluck Breakfast of the year on December 1st. Click here for more information!

Sign up to bring your favorite item or if you would prefer to make a monetary donation to be used on the purchase of food/beverages, please see Meg Tucker or Bethany Pritchard with cash by 11/27. A $5 donation is suggested.

Get ready for our first ever Portsmouth Patriot Pride Door Decorating Contest coming in December. Get your wheels turning as you start to think about ways to decorate your door to represent our core values and Portsmouth Middle School Patriot Pride. More details to follow soon!

Portsmouth schools are working together to bring holiday cheer to our Portsmouth families. Many families are struggling this holiday season and need your help. Mittens have been posted in the mail room if anyone is interested in buying a gift card for a Portsmouth student in need. If interested please take the mitten with the desired gift card noted and please purchase the gift card and return the mitten and gift card by December 13th to Sara Gullison.

Thank you in advance for your generosity!!!

Thank you to all for your preparation and active participation in our data dives this week. The timing of the PLC Data Dives were tied nicely to the School Committee presentation that was put on from the district with our team. This is important work for all of us to ensure our students are making progress towards proficiency. Thank you to Tanin, Kyle, and Lyndsey for conducting the data analysis and sharing that information with us. I also appreciate the dedication and investment from our faculty and staff who take pride in reviewing last year's students as well as this year's students. There will be more to come in the next few months.

Please click here for a look inside Ms. Straube, Ms. Younkin, and Ms. Desrosiers' ELA class this week. The team worked with Kyle to incorporate station rotations in to this week's ELA lessons.

We have done a tremendous job transitioning to our new conduct documentation system through Aspen.

All conduct referrals must be completed using the new workflow introduced to staff on 10/10/2023 during our PD day. The new system took effect on 10/10/2023 and no referrals entered the "old" way are being reviewed by Jay, Lisa, Marc, or Bethany. Here are the links from our training that were shared in email on 10/10.

Response to Problem Behaviors 10.10.23 PD

Communication Cycle of Problem Behavior

Response to Problem Behaviors Flow Chart

Aspen Conduct Workflow Directions

Restorative Reflection

A few reminders:

• All conduct entered into Aspen (minors, moderates, or majors) should be followed up with communication to the students' family.
• Minors - Staff who complete the referral should contact home
• Please do not use other student names or initials in the description section of a conduct referral. The description should be objective and should NOT include other student names or initials.
• Moderate or major - Include in your description of incident in the conduct workflow if you have contacted home to notify family of the infraction. Ex. "Staff spoke with parent on phone on 11/1/2023 to share specifics of incident). Parents often have questions about specifics of infractions and it is always easier for the person who observed them to share.

Family communication for parent/teacher conferences including the links for what parents have signed up can be found here. If you have any concerns regarding a conference, feel free to let Jay know so that we can prestaff any concerns.

For a list of who has signed up to date, please see the front office staff.

If any student is failing your class for the term, it is expected you have reached out to the family. Feel free to encourage them to sign up for a conference time on parent/teacher conference night.

Three dates will be offered for Parent/Teacher Conferences:

11/15 - 3:00-5:00 P.M.

11/29 - 4:00-6:00 P.M.

12/13 - 5:00-7:00 P.M.

Please review the attached Safety Care Response Protocol. Page 2 includes some helpful tips for responses to provide following a call.

Thank you to all who completed the special education survey. The leadership team met this week to review responses. We plan to use PLC time and an upcoming faculty meeting for professional development requests. More information coming soon!

Our students and staff are continually achieving remarkable feats, and it’s time to put the spotlight on you! Share your success stories with us and we’ll make sure they shine on our PMS social media platforms. Whether it’s a groundbreaking project, a heartwarming moment, or a noteworthy accomplishment, we want to hear about it. Together we can celebrate and inspire.

Please send to Bethany photos of media approved students with a brief blurb explaining. Thank you!

At Portsmouth Middle School, we believe that school citizenship is an integral part of a student’s total educational experience. School citizenship is measured by eight key values: integrity, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, love of country, civic duty, and work ethic. The attainment of these attributes is invaluable to our students' future development and our community.

Please nominate your team's November Student of the Month by 12/8.

11/28 - Science standardized test score results and more information to come (working with building union reps

12/5 - More information to come (working with the building union reps)

12/12 - Progress Reports

12/19- D/F report review

1/2 - Special Education Data Activity with Charity

Lisa Donofrio always shows up with a problem solving approach. When she shares problems, she always has a suggestion of a solution. She does her best to keep the best interest of students and staff in mind.

Kyle Spatholz has been a huge help to Alex and I as we transition to PMS. He is always willing to jump in to teach us something new. He is currently working to bring the Anchored4Life program to PMS as a part of his counseling internship, which will be a great addition to our school. He is a great coach and will be a great school counselor. ~Mae

Want to celebrate a colleague? Complete this Shout Out Form and your compliment will be shared in our Middle School Matters Staff Newsletter. Staff Shout Outs are being rolled out by our PBIS Committee as a way to recognize all of the positives of our PMS staff.

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