Eagle Eye JMS Parent Newsletter #38

Gratitude. Appreciation. Thankfulness.

We are filled with all of these as we reflect on the investment and efforts of students, staff, and families. We are finally finished with all TCAPS, including makeup testing. For this, too, we are grateful. Students are now fully immersed in various projects, activities, and assignments in all of their classes and will continue to grow, learn, and excel. We could not be any prouder of the entire JMS community. We are also thankful that our PTO has nurtured and catered to our staff with treats, snacks, and encouraging messages. We appreciate that our teachers continue to facilitate learning to the highest levels, motivating and engaging our students.

A Reminder about the Remainder!

Again, students do not leave until June 1st, and we have so much learning still yet to do! Many teachers are taking the month of May to expand their lessons to project-based learnings or to get students prepared for the next grade level. Still others are using this time to expand their teaching with some cross curricular work with other teachers. The JMS teachers will not be slowing down after testing! This is both a testament to our teachers, but also the skills of your students. JMS students keep pushing and expanding their knowledge, and we are here to serve them.

As always, we thank our parents and our staff for what they do to help our students be the best they can be.

Phil Cox, Principal, pcox@ortn.edu

Ben Fowler, Vice Principal, bjfowler@ortn.edu

Brian Tinker, Dean of Students, bjtinker@ortn.edu

Elizabeth Leavitt, Instructional Technology Coach, ealeavitt@ortn.edu

Monday, May 8, A Day

• 5th Grade Placement JPAC 12:45

• 7th Grade Placement Library 2nd period

• 6th Grade Placement Library 6th period

• Football Practice 3:00-5:00

• Cheer Practice 3:00-5:00

• Cheer Parent meeting 5:00 --picnic tables in front of school

• Chess Club Library 2:45-3:45

• Track Practice 3:00-4:30
  

Tuesday, May 9, B Day

• Cross Country Interest Meeting 7:15 AM Rm 313

• RTI Spring Screener-ELA STAR

• Woodland 4th graders visit

• Football Practice 3:00-5:00

• Track Practice 3:00-4:30 5th/6th Grade

• Chorus Spring Concert JPAC 7:00
  

Wednesday, May 10, A Day

• RTI Spring Screener-ELA Writing
• Wilderness Connections to Big South Fork NRRA
  

Thursday, May 11, B Day

• Grade Level Meetings RTI Spring Screener-ELA Math

• Dream It/Do It Awards Ceremony Clinton HS 9:00-noon

• Glenwood 4th Graders visit JMS

• Football Practice 3:00-5:00

• Rising 4th graders Parent Night 6:00

• Track Practice 3:00-4:30
  

Friday, May 12, A Day :

• Youth for Christ Band Room 7:15

• 8th Graders to Roane State CC for Junior Achievement “Get Hired” event 9:00-2:00 Truancy Meeting SAB 10:00-12:00

• Kala Class to Cedar Hill

• Student Council End of year party 6th period

• Football Practice 3:00-5:00

• Wilderness Connections return 3:30
  

Saturday, May 13

5th/6th Grade Bands to Music in the Parks Concert Festival Dollywood 7:30 AM-9:00PM

STEM Engineering Challenge at Jefferson Middle School. Students will team up and compete to build the tallest paper tower that can hold a can of food. They should consider design and engineering principles and bring their creative ideas. All supplies are provided. Free to all students, but limited spaces so please register early. Event will be held after school on Monday, May 15, 2023 from 2:45-5:00PM. Snack provided and prizes will be awarded.

2023 ORHS Golf

Tryouts will take place at the home of ORHS Golf Oak Ridge Country Club on June 1st. Meet at 2:30 pm on the putting green with a 9-hole tryout to follow beginning at 3:00

Email head coach Scott Hinton at shinton@ortn.edu to confirm tryout opportunity and more information

See the attached flyer for STEM camp!

Please be sure students are coming to school in dress code and dressed for success! JMS Administration has noticed an increase in the areas listed below and would like to remind students and families of ORS Code of Conduct.

Students are prohibited from wearing:

• Clothing that resembles sleepwear such as lounging pants, or other lounging items. This also includes house shoes.
• 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.

Athletic Interest Meetings for the 2023-2024 JMS Athletic Teams are taking place over the next couple of weeks for many of our JMS athletic teams! If you are a rising 6th, 7th or 8th grader and are interested in trying out for one of the JMS athletic teams for next school year, please make plans to attend these meetings. Interest meeting dates and times are as follows:

Cross Country: Tuesday, May 9th @ 7:10am in Coach Smith’s classroom—313.

2023-2024 Sports Physical Forms are now posted on the JMS Athletics website and you can also pick up hard copies in the main office. All sports physicals for the 2023-2024 school year must be dated on or after April 16th, 2023.

FREE sports physicals will be offered on Tuesday, May 16th, from 5-8pm, at Tennessee Orthopedic Clinic at 961 Oak Ridge Turnpike. Try to take advantage of this great opportunity!

JMS Athletics Try-Out Dates:

Girls Basketball: Try-outs are on May 15th and 16th from 3-4:30pm both days in the JMS gym.

Boys Basketball: Try-outs are on May 15th and 16th from 4:30-6pm both days in the JMS gym.

Football: Spring Practice & Try-Outs begins on May 4th from 3-5pm.

Girls Volleyball: Try-outs are on June 1st from 1:30-3pm and on June 2nd from 9am-10:30am.

If you have any questions about spring athletic try-outs, please reach out to the coach of the team or to Athletic Director, Katie Bolling.

As always, GO EAGLES!

Thank you,

Coach Bolling

Jefferson’s track teams competed in the Oak Ridge City Championship track meet. Both our boys and girls defeated Robertsville and are the Oak Ridge City Champions in track and field. Athletes are City Champions also if they earn first place in their individual events. Nolan Riden and Amaijah Bishop led the way again with dominating performances. Nolan won the 1600 and 800 meters, and Amaijah won the high jump and the 400 meter dash. Other individual City Champions: Hailey Moore won the 100 meter hurdles, while Zya Watson was first in the Long jump. Brooke Taylor won the 1600 meters, and Robyn Greenhalgh was first in the 800 meters. Harry Shanafield placed first in the discus, while Michael Gerlock was first in the shot put. Mo Afariogun won the 400 meters and Nathan Reazer was first in the 200 meters. In the relays our boys were first in the 4x 200 relay and 1st in the 4 by 400 relay. Relay members were Alex Pavon, Nathan Reazer, Shane McDaniel, Jadyn Johnson, Alex Mercado, Mo Afariogun, and Nolan Riden. The girls 4 by 400 relay finished first with Amaijah Bishop, Malea Breeden, Gretchen Grubb, and Vivian Sullivan. Many other track team members not mentioned in the announcement contributed to our success yesterday. The coaches appreciate the contributions of every track team member. We would also like thank teachers, parents, and administrators for helping out in so many ways. Our next meet is the middle school state track meet in Clarksville on May 20th .

When the kids are in school and sports and after-school activities have ramped up, you may feel like the pressure is off to keep them active and entertained. And it’s true that kids may be getting more structured physical activity than they do during the summer months, but maintaining healthy family habits all year round helps keep kids on track —and off the couch. It also makes for great family bonding. Enjoy these tips and ideas for making fitness a family affair.

Get into a Routine

• Walk or bike to school together, if your schedules allow.
• Take a family walk around the block or neighborhood after dinner.
• Play upbeat music and dance your way through family chores.

Play Together

Instead of going to a movie or restaurant for your next family outing, plan something active:

• Explore free and low-cost physical activity options near your home (forest preserves, parks, bike paths, hiking trails, tennis courts).
• Spend an afternoon at the local playground or find a park with a walking path and fitness course.
• Play a round of miniature golf or go to the batting cages together.

Set Family Fitness Goals

• Post goals on the fridge, along with a way to track everyone’s progress. Cheer each other on as you achieve your goals—and maybe even offer some non-food prizes!
• Buy inexpensive pedometers or use your personal health trackers and have a contest to see who takes the most steps in a given week.
• ‘Tis the season for charity walks and runs! Train as a family for a 5K or 10K, and cook or go out for a nourishing breakfast afterward to celebrate your accomplishment.

Screen Your Screen Time

We’re all prone to the lure of the screen, whether it’s the TV, cell phone, computer or other personal devices. But whenever you can, get your kids to ditch the screens and use those minutes and hours to hang out, get moving and recharge together as a family. Challenge your kids to sign up for some form of physical activity through school or a local program. Everyone can find something they enjoy. Limit sedentary screen time (computers, tablets, phones, video games, TV) to no more than two hours per day. Many families use the following rule: no video games or computers (except for homework) on school nights, only two hours of TV on weekends, and only 14 hours of screen time overall. Challenge your family to skip the screen for a full week. If that’s too extreme, start by trying Screen-Free Weekends, Screen-Free Saturdays, or even a Screen-Free Night.

For more info, visit https://www.actionforhealthykids.org/blog/

As we have been taking our TCAPs this week, our students have not met for Zero Period the past two weeks. However, we will jump right back in to our SEL and Capstone learning this upcoming Wednesday.

We so much appreciate all of our parents.

Feel free to continue sending in any donations for our clinic.

Congratulations We are so proud of our Character Trait winners each week!

5th Grade:

Zeke Kidwell

Matthew Ferry

6th Grade

Wynn Uptgraft

7th Grade

Lynsee Pennington

Angel Contreras Padron

Adalie Powers

Trinity Gass

8th Grade

Evelyn Bonner

Nick Engelhart

Aniyah Reynolds

Gabe Sherman

We also want to note that our Character Trait program is tied directly to our ORS district POG, as represented in "LIFE READY" above: Students exhibit traits of citizens ready for life with age-appropriate measures of self-awareness, self-discipline, and empathy.

Clothing Closet Accepting Donations

JMS is pleased to offer support for students in need through our “Clothing Closet”. We are now accepting clean, gently used clothing items for the Spring & Summer months. Please make sure all donated items meet the JMS dress code policy. Donated items can be dropped off in the Counseling office. Thank you for your support!

Mental Health Resources

For mental health support, please feel free to reach out to the Jefferson Middle School Counseling Department at (865) 425-9301.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please refer to the information below:

Mobile Crisis/Youth Villages: 866-779-9225

Ridgeview Behavioral Health in Oak Ridge: 482-1076

Statewide Crisis Hotline: 1-855-Crisis-1 or 1-855-274-7471

Statewide Crisis Text line: Text TN to 741741

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-TALK or 1-800-273-8255

School Counseling Support Team

Ms. Price – Counselor (5th & 7th Grade) - clprice@ortn.edu

Mr. Sudderth – Counselor (6th & 8th Grade) - pwsudderth@orth.edu

Ms. Myers - Registrar - amyers@ortn.edu or 865-425-9302

Wednesday Homework Help is in FULL SWING. If students have questions about an assignment, need guidance about their homework, or are looking for a quiet place to work, Mrs. Huddleston and Mrs. Ozcan will be available in the Innovation Center on Wednesdays after dismissal. Students will need to be picked up by 3:00 pm. All grade levels are welcome to attend. Please e-mail Mrs. Huddleston (cdhuddleston@ortn.edu) or Mrs. Ozcan (mozcan@ortn.edu) with any questions.

Remember when dropping off/picking up your student:

• JMS's weather policy is to load busses and release car riders during most weather events EXCEPT lightning or severe rain/wind. When lightning is present we will push our students back to the building and delay releasing students. We have had three major lightning issues and a major wind/rain events during our releases over the first term, and we wanted to reiterate what our hold policy is. We thank our parents for their patience as we do our best to keep our students safe.
• DO NOT enter the bus loop when buses are present!
• Please pull your vehicle all the way up so we can keep as many cars as possible off of Fairbanks Road.
• When dropping off AFTER 7:30am, students will be directed towards the main entrance. Go ahead and pull all the way up.
• Make sure your child is ready to exit the vehicle and doesn't have to access the trunk for items, as this holds up the line.
• DO NOT park or leave your vehicles in the neighborhoods across the street from Jefferson. Traffic is heavy during pickup and drop off and parking on those streets only increases the danger to our students and parents attempting to navigate the traffic.

A request for parade participants!

The 2023 Scarboro Reunion Unity Parade. The parade is scheduled for Saturday, July 29th, lineup at 8:15 a.m. This year's route will start on Tuskegee Avenue, turn left onto Benedict passing Spurgeon Chapel Church, crossing Wilberfoce to Benedict Avenue, passing side streets Bennett and Bettis Lane, turning left onto Carver Avenue, passing Mt Zion Baptist Church and ending at Grey Strange Baseball Field.

We need bands, dancers, performers, businesses, organization, the community and youth to participate. To date Cameo, Nashville Band, and singers from Nashville are participating. We need everyone.

Details are forthcoming.

Rose Weaver, Parade Coordinator

2023 Scarboro Reunion

Oak Ridge Schools will be providing resources for families as we collectively tackle this growing vaping problem in our schools and families. For the complete schedule, please follow this link:

Vaping Prevention Week - Jefferson Middle (ortn.edu)

Parents,

We are sad to report that student vaping has increased significantly at the secondary level this school year. School Administration and staff are committed to addressing this concern, but effectively controlling this trend will be challenging. Student access, the ability to hide vapes and the odorless nature of vapes increases the difficulty of monitoring and reducing this dangerous trend.

This trend is resulting in lost instructional time for many students. Students using or possessing vapes that contain nicotine products are being assigned multiple days of out of school suspension. Students identified as using vapes or being in possession of vapes containing THC, are being expelled for a full calendar year. Approximately 50% of the students currently assigned to the Secret City Academy are there due to using a vape that contained THC.

Due to the increase in vapes containing THC, we are informing parents that the Secret City Academy is currently at capacity. The Oak Ridge Schools Code of Conduct clearly communicates our expectations regarding the unauthorized use or possession of drugs. Students confirmed of using or being in possession of drugs at school, or at a school activity, will be expelled in accordance with the Oak Ridge Schools Code of Conduct.

If your child is expelled, it is likely that they will only have the option to participate in on-line learning. Expelled students will be placed on a waiting list and granted access to the Secret City Academy when a student complete their time at the SCA. Choosing to use a vape containing THC or participating in other zero tolerance events while at school or at a school event will remove your child's ability to participate in face-to-face instruction.

Oak Ridge Schools clearly recognizes the value of attending school in person, but we also understand the importance and are committed to providing students a drug free learning environment.

Please continue speaking with your child or children regarding the harm of vaping and drugs. We are in the process of scheduling a Vaping Education Week which will focus on providing students an educational assembly to communicate the harms of vaping. We are also looking to provide a similar evening opportunity for parents to attend.

Respectfully,

Oak Ridge Schools

Youth Vaping Prevention - Additional Resources & Information

2022-2023 ORS Student Code of Conduct Handbook (see pgs 22-24)

National Institute of Health (NIH) - Smoke Free Teen

Alcohol & Substance Abuse Prevention of Anderson County - Parent & Teen Resources

CATCH My Breath - Vaping Epidemic - Parent Toolkit