Switzerland Point Middle School

The St. Johns County School District and the local Department of Health are working together to follow the recommended guidelines of the CDC regarding Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). This guidance offers specific steps for school staff, parents, and students to take during the current low-risk conditions, as well as for more severe conditions. It is recommended, that based on current conditions, students and staff with flu-like illness stay home until at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever or signs of a fever. This should be determined without the use of fever-reducing medications (i.e., any medicine that contains ibuprofen or acetaminophen).

The CDC emphasizes washing hands, respiratory etiquette and staying home when sick:

• Practice good hand hygiene. Students and staff members should wash their hands often with soap and water, especially after coughing or sneezing. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are also effective.

• Practice respiratory etiquette. Illnesses can spread from person to person in the droplets produced by coughs and sneezes, so it is important to cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. If you don’t have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your elbow or shoulder, not into your hands.

• Stay home if you are sick. Keeping sick students home means decreasing the spread of germs to others.

For further information visit www.floridahealth.gov and www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/.

Parents, in the month of February, our school fulfilled the state mandate to provide 5 hours of mental health training to students. This included lessons on Vaping, Human Trafficking, and Drug use. Please feel free to view the materials, discuss follow up concerns with your children, and reach out to a counselor if needed. The materials are located: https://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/mh-instruction/middle-school/

Thank you to those of you that attended our Rising 7th and 8th Grade Parent Night. Schedules will be released in the summer.

May 8th –

8th grade GradVenture fieldtrip, 1:00p.m. departure, return May 9th at 3a.m. Fieldtrip closed.

May 14 –

8th grade Awards Night, 5:30p.m. – 8:30p.m. – invitation only; invitations will come out the end of April/beginning of May

May 22 –

8th grade Formal – 6:30p.m. – 9:30p.m. – Fliers will be given to students the beginning of May

** Parents should join the 8th grade Schoology page to keep informed about 8th grade events. Access Code: HF5F-TKTJ-5RQGC

Attention 8th Grade Parents!

Celebrate your 8th grader! Buy a yearbook ad for only $25!

Go to www.yearbookordercenter.com school code: 359 click “Buy an Ad”

Time is running out – Limited space available! Get yours by Mar. 9 or until space runs out!

SPMS is raising money for the Lymphoma Foundation. Please encourage your child to take part in the events below and help us raise money for the worthy cause!

Tuesday 3/3 - Slides $1

Wedensday 3/4 - Hats $1

Thursday 3/5- PJ Pants and Onesies $1, Candy for a Cure – Lunchtime Mosaic

Friday 3/6 Candy for a Cure – Lunchtime Mosaic

All of our students did great at the State Drama Festival on 2/8/2020! We took 10 events to the festival. Two received an “Excellent” rating and eight received “Superiors.” Also, one of our 8th graders, Lilly Agneta, won Critic’s Choice for Costume Design!

This year over 8,000 people attended the festival from all over Florida. SPMS took 19 students and each one earned at least one medal at the festival! We are very proud of their hard work!

Our SPMS Access Points students traveled to Creekside HS on Friday and took part in the Mini-Olympics, a local version of the "Special Olympics." A wonderful time was had by all of our students.

Our own SPMS student, Manischa Wijayawardhana, came in 3rd place in the regional spelling bee Thursday evening at Jacksonville University. This was her second consecutive regional competition, having won the St. Johns County School District bee for the last two years. Great job, Manischa!

SPMS students came in 7th place in the recent Math Counts Competition. We are very proud of our students. Thank you to Ms. Wilkie and Ms. Amatagelo for your dedication to our team!

Please join the SPMS band Facebook page and make sure you are receiving emails from your directors!

Lots of exciting things coming up!

- Wind Symphony MPA at Matanzas High School on March 4, 2020

- Wind Ensemble MPA at Matanzas High School on March 5, 2020

- Wild Adventures Band Trip on May 2, 2020

More details to follow! Please check out our Facebook page - SPMS Band Booster FB page

We have a large need for parent and community volunteers to assist as test proctors. Please sign up on the sign up genius below if you can assist.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A044EADAC2AABFF2-spms1

Each year, in an effort to make continuous improvement, the school sends out a SAC survey to parents, teachers and students. Please take a momen to complete this survey.

Thank you!

https://surveys.stjohns.k12.fl.us/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=98LM7o8K

Shearwater 5K is looking for volunteers. Please sign up. Proceeds are donated to several locals schools, including SPMS.

5K on the Trails:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090E4BA5A823ABFF2-20201

Registration to run the 5K:

https://shearwater5k.itsyourrace.com/event.aspx?id=8399

PTSO MEMERSHIP

It’s not too late to join the PTSO. Please consider signing up today if you have not done so already. Memberships are only $20 per family. Memberships are a donation and do not require volunteer hours.

Sign up here:

https://squareup.com/store/switzerland-point-middle-school-ptso

OTHER INFORMATION

Come join us at the meeting to see what PTSO is all about.

Please consider shopping through the PTSO link on AmazonSmile!

Click this link to find out more! https://smile.amazon.com/ch/59-3741022

Now while you do your regular shopping on Amazon thru AmazonSmile, .5% of your purchase will be donated to SPMS PTSO! It is that EASY! Thank you for your support!

Keep an eye on the PTSO website, Facebook and Instagram to stay up-to-date on what is coming up throughout the year!

Questions/concerns?? spmsptso@hotmail.com

For up to date happenings LIKE us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/SwissPointPTSO/

SPMS PTSO is on INSTAGRAM! Follow us at https://www.instagram.com/spmsptso/

Check the PTSO website for all the latest news! http://www.swisspointptso.com/

Check here throughout the year for updates on SPMS sports related news! We love ALL our SPMS athletes!

SJMSAA is a non-profit organization. They have a Board of Directors and dozens of volunteer coaches and staff members who oversee 7 different sports in the 13 schools located in St. Johns county that offer 6, 7, and 8th grade. The sports include: football, cheerleading, soccer, baseball, softball, golf, and tennis. This is the website: https://www.sjmsaa.com/sjmsaa that houses all the details.

This program is not affiliated with Switzerland Point Middle School. Instead, SJMSAA partners with the schools, the school board and the county to utilize the school names for the sports teams, and in turn SJMSAA manages all the programs from registration, scheduling, team-building, etc. They then work with the Athletic Directors in each school as the bridge for the programs. Information below is provided as a service to our teams. Please reach out on the website above for additional details.

3/10 Wind Ensemble

3/13 . Teacher Planning - NO STUDENTS

3/13- 3/20 SPRING BREAK

3/23 Students Return

4/1 Band PDQ Night

3/12 Third Quarter Ends

Email: sandra.brunet@stjohns.k12.fl.us
Website: https://www-raider.stjohns.k12.fl.us/
Location: Switzerland Point Middle School, Greenbriar Road, Jacksonville, FL, USA
Phone: (904) 547-7500