The Panther Pulse

Dear Pershing Families,

It was another great week at Pershing. Between the USA's victory against Iran in the World Cup and hosting our first dance on Wednesday there was a lot of excitement on campus this week. I apologize for my poor picture quality I was having such a good time watching the students at the dance I forgot to take a lot of photos and tried to get a few at the end. A big thank you to our parent volunteers who helped out at the snack table, with supervision, and the DJ booth. It really does take a village and we are so blessed to have such an involved parent community - Pershing Parents are the best!

As we prepare for the upcoming Winter Break I wanted to alert families that we have seen a fairly signficant rise in COVID and flu cases on the campus. While we want your child in school every day because attendance is important, if you child is sick please keep them home from school to protect others. Some students and staff have been wearing masks as an extra layer of protection. Masks are not required but they are vailable in the office if a student would like one.

Looking forward to visitng classrooms this week. Let's keep our focus and finish off these last two weeks strong Panthers!

I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peek of our strings section as they prepared for our Winter Concer that will be held at 6:00 PM in our auditorium on December 13th. We have some talented students!

P2 GRADES ARE NOW AVAILABLE IN POWER SCHOOL

Grades for the second reporting period are now available in PowerSchool. If your child is struggling we encourage you to reach out to individual teachers for assistance or contact your child's counselor. There is still time for students to improve their grades before final grades are posted in January for the first semester.

6TH GRADE CAMP MEETING POWERPOINT

Thank you to the families that joined us in-person and visually on Thursday - we are looking forward to our students being able to attend sixth grade camp. We will be adding a separate 6th Grade Camp section to the newsletter starting next week, look for it below. We are waiting for Mr. Burns to forward the PowerPoint he presented and as soon as we have it we will add it and any other important information to the new 6th Grade Camp Section next week. Thank you in advance for your patience. Payments for sixth grade camp are handled through the Pershing Foundation, CLICK HERE to visit their website and make a payment. Our goal is to have all payments in by the end of January.

8TH GRADE BABY PHOTOS FOR YEARBOOK

A friendly reminder if you are planning on submiting an 8th Grade Baby photo to the yearbook the deadline is December 9th. You can either turn in a physical copy (will be returned) or send Ms. Ruckle a digital copy at sruckle@sandi.net. The student's name needs to be on the subject line of the email or the back of the photo.

MODEL UN MEETING AFTER SCHOOL ON TUESDAY

For those interested in being involved in Model UN, Ms. Imonen and Ms. Ruckle will be hosting a meeting for interested students after school on Tuesday, Dec 6th in Rm. 704.

HOLIDAY CARD DONATIONS NEEDED

In anticipation of our Cards for Troops Holiday Drive we are asking families to donate any extra holiday cards to Ms. Robe and the ASB. We are in search of cards saying "Happy Holidays." If you or your child would like to donate holiday cards they can be dropped off in the main office or your student can deliver them to Ms. Robe in Rm. 305.

CLEARING ATTENDANCE

We are requesting that if you have to pull your child out of school early for a medical or dental appointment that you provide written documentation (such as a doctor's note) in order to clear the absence upon the student's return. Without the written documentation the absence will remain unexcused.

PHOTO ID REQUIRED FOR STUDENT PICK UP

A friendly reminder that students can only be released to people listed on the emergency contact list in PowerSchool and the person must have photo ID to verify their identity when picking up students. Student safety is a top priority and we take that responsibility seriously at Pershing. Thank you in advance for your support.

PRACTICING PANTHER PRIDE - BEING RESPONSIBLE AND TAKING CARE OF CHROMEBOOKS

We wanted to make sure families are aware that while the vast majority of our students handle their district-issued chromebooks with care we have had instances where some students have not be responsible with their district issued device. The biggest issue seems to be when students forget that their chromebooks are in their backpacks and they throw the backpack onto the ground to go play. We want families to know that while we understand that accidents sometimes do happen, students have an obiligation to take care of their district issued devices and if we are having to issue multiple devices to the same student in a given school year because they are breaking or damaging their device, families can and will be charged for those devices under district procedure AR3260.2. We are asking families to remind their children that these devices are expensive and they need to be handled with care.

PERSHING FOUNDATION UPDATE - STAY CONNECTED

There a lots of a ways to stay involved and support Pershing Middle School starting with our fabulous Pershing Parent Foundation. Be sure to check out their website: https://pershingmiddleschoolfoundation.org/ and visit them on facebook @parentsofpershingpanthers. On their facebook page they have information on how to sign up for Amazon Smile so that a portion of your amazon purchases support our school.

PERSHING SCHOOL WEBSITE

https://pershing.sandiegounified.org/

Do you have suggestions for our school website? CLICK HERE to complete our website feedback survey.

Winter Middle School Sports Registration is Open

• Athletic teams are available to all SDUSD students grades 6-8, free of charge.

• Winter season: soccer and volleyball for boys and girls teams.

• Sign-ups are currently open and will close on December 5th

• Sign Up Form

• Flyer

• Parent/Guardian FAQ’s

• Winter Practice Schedule

• Middle School Athletics (MSA) Website

SPANISH TUTORING AVAILABLE

Does your child need help with Spanish? Mr. Barry is offering tutoring support on Tuesdays in Rm. 104 afterschool.

PRESENTATION FROM HENRY HIGH FOR 8TH GRADE PERSHING SLIM PARENT

A big thank you to Henry High School and their couseling team for taking the time to meet with our 8th grade SLIM families about the Spanish Dual Language pathway and what it will look like for students when they move on to high school. If you were not able to attend the meeting CLICK HERE to see the slide deck the Henry team presented.

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CHILD IS EXHIBITING COVID SYMPTOMS

If you child is exhibiting any of the following symptoms: fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion, runny nose, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea please keep them home from school unless they have have negative COVID test or until the symptoms have abated. If your child is sent home from school with one of these symptoms they must have a negative test to return the next school day. An at home COVID test would be an acceptable test.

Dec 19-Jan 2: Winter Break (NO SCHOOL)

March 20-24: 6th Grade Camp