Welcome back to school Tamanend students and families! Please note that any item beginning with "Reminder" appeared in the previous newsletter. You can reference current and past editions of this newsletter under "School Links" on our website.

We will run a special schedule on the first day of school. Here's where students will start their day on Monday, August 29:

7th Graders--Auditorium*

8th Graders--8th Graders who arrive to school before 7:20 should report to the Cafeteria*. After 7:20, they should report to their Tiger's i class. This class appears on students' schedules after 2nd Period and is listed as I&E.

9th Graders--9th Graders who arrive to school before 7:20 should report to the Main Gym*. After 7:20, they should report to their Tiger's i class. This class appears on students' schedules after 2nd Period and is listed as I&E.

*Students who wish to purchase breakfast may do so in the Cafeteria before 7:30.

Student schedules are available on the Portal.

Click here for information from the CB Transportation Department.

Click here to view the 7th Grade School Supply List and Welcome Letter

Click here to view the 8th Grade School Supply List and Welcome Letter

Click here to view the 9th Grade School Supply List and Welcome Letter

Reminder: Students should purchase a lock for their Gym locker on MyPaymentsPlus. (see below)

MyPaymentsPlus Opens for Technology Fee Payments--Monday, August 15 (details below)

First Day of School for Students--Monday, August 29

School Holidays--Friday, September 2 and Monday, September 5

Tamanend Student Picture Day--Wednesday, September 14

7th Grade Back to School Night--Thursday, September 15 at 7:00

8th & 9th Grade Back to School Night--Thursday, September 22 at 7:00

Parent Council Meeting--Thursday, September 29 at 9:00 AM

Deadline to Complete Annual Student Information Update in Portal--Friday, September 30 (details below)

INFORMATION:

• The deadline for registering 7th and 8th Grade student-athletes for Fall sports was August 24th. All who registered received an email from Mr. Klein which outlines mandatory concussion information, required paperwork, start dates, and other information.
• All student-athletes must have completed PIAA physicals uploaded to Family ID prior to the start of the Fall sports season. Those must be uploaded to Family ID no later than noon on Monday, August 29th for football players and noon on Tuesday, September 6th for all other student-athletes. The PIAA physical forms can be found HERE. Additional items are outlined and explained on the Tamanend Athletics web page.
• Practice for 7th and 8th Grade football will begin on Monday, August 29th.
• Tryouts/Practices will begin for all other Fall sports teams on Tuesday, September 6th.
• An interest meeting for those who would like to tryout for the cheerleading team will be held from 2:45-3:30 on Wednesday, August 31st in Tamanend’s cafeteria.
• If you and would like to receive immediate updates on game schedules, cancellations, etc., visit Tamanend Athletics web page and become a “fan” to get alerts for your child’s team.

FROM CB SOUTH:

• If you are interested in playing ice hockey for CB South, please see below for tryout information.

7th Grade BTSN will be held Thursday, September 15 at 7:00 pm

8th and 9th Grade BTSN will be held Thursday, September 22 at 7:00 pm

Over the summer, students began researching the history of our school. Through their research, they created the "A Glimpse Into the Past" project. Throughout Tamanend, you will find artifacts, photographs, and descriptions of our school from many years ago. Special thanks to 9th Graders Max Jin and Luka Jonjic for taking the lead on this project.

We received a donation of brand new backpacks. If you would like one for your child, please email one of the following staff members and we will set one aside for you:

Brian Caughie, Principal bcaughie@cbsd.org

Patti Hartz, Secretary phartz@cbsd.org

Andrea Consoletti, Student Service Secretary aconsoletti@cbsd.org

Tamanend Middle School empowers students to grow academically, socially and emotionally. Students, staff, and families work collaboratively to model the acronym ROAR.

Respect yourself, others, and property.

Own your behaviors.

Act appropriately.

Remember Kindness.

We believe that a caring, positive school culture and learning environment foster respectful, thoughtful, appropriate, and kind citizens.

In order to operationalize our mission, Tamanend utilizes a school-wide positive behavioral intervention and support plan (SWPBIS). This plan helps us establish a social culture in which students expect and support appropriate behavior from one another— creating school environments that are socially predictable, consistent, safe, and positive. This helps to reduce problem behaviors that lead to office discipline referrals and suspensions, and to change perceptions of school safety.

For supervision and safety reasons, students may not be dropped off at school before 7:10 a.m. If you are driving your student to school and arrive before 7:10, please remain in your car with your student until 7:10 a.m.

Students are not required to purchase a CBSD issued physical education uniform; however, students will be required to change into athletic attire and sneakers to participate safely and practice good hygiene. Student attire must adhere to the dress code guidelines presented in the student handbook. CB locks will still be required to purchase to ensure personal items are secured in a locker. Locks are available for purchase on MyPaymentsPlus.

If parents/guardians decide to drive students to school, please plan enough travel time to allow for safety and congestion on Stuckert Road and in our school parking lot. The speed limit in our lot is 15 mph.

Below is a map of how the student drop-off will work in our parking lot. Drop off should only happen along the sidewalk in the front parking lot up to the Main Entrance, as indicated by the yellow highlighted area on the map. For your safety and the safety of our students, please follow these directions and do not drop your student off on Stuckert Road, the Visitor's Parking area, or in the middle of the Main Parking Area.

When dropping off your child, please remember that you should MAKE A RIGHT-HAND TURN INTO/OUT OF THE PARKING LOT. Please stay to the right of the parking lot, along the sidewalk, all the way up to the Stop Sign across from the Tennis Courts. Pull up as far as you can when the cars in front of you clear, and let your child out on the sidewalk. PLEASE STAY IN A SINGLE-FILE LINE WHILE IN THE PARKING LOT.

When picking up your child, please remember that YOU SHOULD ONLY MAKE A RIGHT-HAND TURN INTO THE PARKING LOT. The line of traffic will extend back toward the baseball field (Kelly Rd.). Please stay in the line of traffic and continue moving up as the car(s) in front of you move up. If we follow this procedure, all cars we be gone by 2:40.

When the weather is poor (heavy rain, low temperatures, etc.), more and more parents/guardians choose to drive their children to school. A reminder that students are expected to be in their 1st Period classes by 7:30 AM. If a child is late to school because of CBSD transportation, their tardiness will be excused. If a student is late to school because of car trouble, over-sleeping, or they are in the car drop-off line, their tardiness is unexcused. Typically, there are few cars in the drop off line from when the doors open at 7:10 until about 7:20. After 7:20, the line begins to get very long.

If you drive your child to school and the weather is poor, please consider leaving home earlier so that your child arrives to class on time.

Thanks for your assistance!

The regular school day is from 7:30--2:30.

7:10: Students may be dropped off at Tamanend.

7:10--7:20*: 7th Graders wait in the Auditorium; 8th Graders wait in the Cafeteria; 9th Graders wait in Main Gym

7:20: Classrooms open to students

7:27: Reminder bell rings

7:30: First period classes begin

*Breakfast is available to students in all grades beginning at 7:10 in the Cafeteria.

Last year, CB middle schools began running a weekly intervention and enrichment period. The purpose of this period is to provide time, space, and support for students to receive help from a teacher, to participate in enrichment activities, and to prepare for upcoming assessments and projects. At Tamanend, we called this time Tiger's i. For the 2022-2023 school year, our middle schools will be expanding this from a weekly program to a daily program. Students' Tiger's i groups will meet during the I & E block on their schedule.

You may report your child's absence in any of the following ways:

• Phone (Attendance hotline): 267-893-2920
• Written note to be turned in to Main Office
• Through Portal. Click here to learn how to report student absences through Portal.
  

Kindergarten and New Students:

All new students will need to use the following:

Families can find their username by logging into Parent Portal >

More > Family Information. For support they can contact their

building office, librarian (elementary), or counselor (secondary).

New student passwords are First Initial - Uppercase, last initial -

lowercase, Date of birth - numeric. Example: John Smith born

12/25/2003 = Js122503

All new students will be forced to make a new password their first time

logging in.

Please do NOT reset your entire class or use the same password for

all students.

Microsoft will also prompt the student to answer security questions

for SSPR the first time logging in.

Grades 1-12:

All students in grades 1-12 should use their password from last year. If students forget their password, please have them refer to the instructions at www.cbsd.org/passwordguide.

Dear Central Bucks Families:

We hope that you had a relaxing summer. Our team is gearing up for the 2022-23 school year which includes handing out student laptops.

The Technology and Innovation Department is excited to kick off our student device distribution. All Central Bucks’ students will either receive a device this year or continue to use the device that was issued last year. Below is a chart that lists the device that will be issued by grade level as well as the cost of the usage fee. On Thursday, August 25, we received a notification the 7th Grade laptops for CBSD middle school students are scheduled to arrive next week. We plan to distribute laptops to 7th Graders the first week of school.

Even if your child has his/her own device, we are asking that you participate in our program to allow for a consistent learning platform for our students. All students in a grade level will receive a device equipped with: internet filtering, software, tech support for break/fix, and access to instructional tools and resources used by our teachers. You can learn more on our FAQ page: https://www.cbsd.org/Page/38121

First Steps for Families:

The first step prior to distribution is to enroll online and pay a usage fee. The usage fee covers the at-home and in-school use of a device, a charger, and insurance for accidental breaks. We have different pricing structures for elementary students as they will pay $15 a year and secondary families will pay $60 in 7th grade and $60 in 10th grade. Each payment for secondary will be good for three years. We have prorated payments for all secondary students who are new to Central Bucks.

Who has to pay the fee?

All students in grades 3-6, 7, 10, 12+, and new families* must complete the steps below prior to receiving a device.

*New students to Central Bucks in secondary will pay a prorated fee. 8th and 11th grade students will pay $40. 9th and 12th grade students will pay $20. These students will complete the user agreement and bring a check made out to CBSD Schools to the device pick-up.

What steps does a family need to take prior to device handout?

1. Beginning on August 16th, all families in grades 3-12 should visit: https://www.cbsd.org/1to1
2. Parent/Guardian and Student will click on and read the 1:1 Handbook.
3. Parent/Guardian signs the user agreement and pays* the user fee via MyPaymentsPlus (MPP). Upon submitting the fee and MPP agreement, you are confirming that you have reviewed the information with your child.

The Fee Table:

*Please note that the fee is reduced for families who are economically disadvantaged. You will see the balance as $0 when entering MPP. All families still need to complete steps 1-3 even if the balance is $0. Additionally, new procedures for Free and Reduced guidelines are being established and sent out next week.

**If you were not given a bag last year, the school can provide one for you. Students in grade 3 will receive a new bag this year.

Questions?

If you are able to submit a Help Desk ticket for technical questions do so here.

Thank you for your support with the handout this year. We hope that you have an amazing year with your child. On behalf of the Technology and Innovation Department, good luck on the first day of school.

Our Central Bucks “Guidance” Department will now be known as “Student Services” Department. We are making this name change K-12 to better represent the wide-range of services that our department provides to students and families across the district. While we certainly provide “guidance” to students, our School Counselors, School Psychologists, Student Support Social Workers, Student Support Counselors, and Nurses provide services including academic planning; college and career planning; social and emotional programs and initiatives; physical wellness; connections to community resources (financial, housing, food, services); and educational record management. We look forward to seeing students and families in our Student Services Office!

Children entering 7th grade are required to have:

• 1 dose Meningococcal Conjugate (meningitis)
• 1 dose TDAP – tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis

Please send an up to date copy of your child's immunization report to lmyrtetus@cbsd.org.

To check the immunization status of your student, go to the Portal and click on the Health tab.

Dental exams are required for all 7th Graders by October 15, 2022. Any exam given since September 1, 2021 is acceptable. Please have your student turn in his or her dental exam form directly to the Health Office.

Students eat lunch with their grade-level classmates. 7th Grade lunch is after 4th Period. 8th Grade lunch is after 5th Period. 9th Grade lunch is after 3rd Period.

School breakfast and lunch has been available for Central Bucks School District students at no cost since March 2020. Reimbursement for the cost of providing these meals has come through a United States Department of Agriculture Waiver issued to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. This waiver suspended free and reduced lunch eligibility requirements, allowing for universal participation in the National School Lunch Program. The waiver is expected to expire at the end of Jun

In anticipation of this, we wish to remind families of the following:

• Eligible families are strongly encouraged to apply for free and reduced lunches. Families may apply through an online application that is safe, secure, and private. Visit cbsd.org/freeandreduced for details. All children in households eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits are eligible for free meals. If you have questions about your family’s eligibility, please send email to Renee Ziccardi at rziccardi@cbsd.org or contact your school nurse.
• When the waiver expires, students may again purchase lunch, a la carte items, or snacks through their MySchoolBucks account. Now is a good time to log on, bring your child’s account up to date if money is owed, and update expired payment information. Review frequently asked questions about school lunch accounts on our website. Your child will not be able to utilize their account to purchase a la carte items or snacks if it is past due. If you have questions about your child’s account, or if you believe the balance information is inaccurate, please contact Renee Ziccardi at rziccardi@cbsd.org.

Families can access the online application for Free & Reduced Meals by clicking here. The application must be submitted each year.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

CBSD is currently accepting applications for Free & Reduced Lunch. Students who qualify for the Free and Reduced School Meals Program may also qualify for a variety of needs-based assistance based on their program eligibility. Federal law requires the family’s consent before Central Bucks School District can use or share eligibility status for purposes other than the provision of free or reduced lunch. This information will only be shared if you consent to help provide needs-based assistance to your student that may be beneficial to your family. Your decision to share or not share this information will not in any way affect your eligibility status for the Free and Reduced School Meals Program; it is completely optional.

If your student(s) qualifies for the Free and Reduced School Meals Program, you will receive a notification of a document that needs your attention in the Parent Portal. The Free/Reduced Lunch Information Sharing Consent Form requests permission to use the eligibility status to qualify for various needs-based assistance and programming. You may consent for all areas listed below, decline consent to all areas, or provide partial consent. See the link below for instructions to complete this consent form.

Free/Reduced Lunch Information Sharing Consent Form Instructions

Best wishes for a wonderful start to the school year.

Tamanend is committed to ensuring that every child has a positive experience at our school. We work hard to ensure that we have financial supports in place for families in need. Please be aware that we can help with the following resources:

• Food--pantry with healthy snacks and personal care items available all day outside of Guidance; meals to take home (students and/or parents and guardians can contact Mrs. Consoletti in the Guidance Office or Mrs. Myrtetus in the Health Office); weekend food packages to take home (students and/or parents and guardians can contact Mrs. Consoletti in the Guidance Office or Mrs. Myrtetus in the Health Office)
• Clothing
• Internet access
• Field trips, school supplies, fees
• Holiday gifts

If your family experiences a financial hardship, please feel free to email one of the staff members below so that we may help:

Brian Caughie (Principal) bcaughie@cbsd.org

Kyle Dudley (Assistant Principal) kdudley@cbsd.org

Lauren Myrtetus (Certified School Nurse) lmyrtetus@cbsd.org

Jeff Klein (Guidance Counselor and Athletic Director) jklein@cbsd.org

Mandy Cammann (Guidance Counselor) mcammann@cbsd.org

Andrea Consoletti (Guidance Secretary) aconsoletti@cbsd.org

Here is a list of ways Tamanend communicates with students, families, and the community:

• Tamanend website: includes important information, resources, calendar of school events, and daily announcements
• Calendar of school events (posted on our website)
• Daily announcements (Posted each school day morning on our website and in Canvas. Look for the “Tamanend Announcements” course. Students will self-enroll in this course during the first week of school.
  
• TV show (weekly, during Advisory period)
• Email blasts from Tamanend administration regarding important news, new procedures, and reminders
• Parent Portal: student information, grades, and attendance
• Tamanend Connections newsletter: useful information, important reminders, and school highlights emailed weekly during school year and posted on Tamanend website
• Twitter: @CBTamanendMS highlights of activities, events, and daily life at Tamanend
• CBSD app: highlights of activities, events, and daily life in Central Bucks
  

¡Bienvenidos a Tamanend! Yo soy Brian Caughie, Director de Tamanend Middle School. Soy hispanohablante. Pasé mucho de mi vida en España. Estoy aquí para apoyarles a todos los estudiantes y familias en Tamanend. Favor de llamarme or escribirme (en inglés o en español) si Ud. tiene cualquier duda o pregunta.

Correo electrónico: bcaughie@cbsd.org

Oficina: (267) 893-2900

Starting with the 2022-2023 school year, Tamanend is changing how we publish daily announcements. We will continue to post our daily announcements on our website. We will also be publishing daily announcements through Canvas. We believe this change will make students more connected to the many activities and events available at our school. Tamanend Students will self-enroll in the "Tamanend Announcements" Canvas course during the first week of school.

Pennsylvania law requires all persons having direct contact with school children to obtain background checks and clearances. If you are planning on volunteer in in a Central Bucks school during the 2022-2023 school year, you will need to go to Volunteer Required Paperwork, and complete what is needed to be an approved volunteer in our school. Thank you!

Tamanend students make a difference in our community. Share your story about the accomplishments and good work of a Tamanend student with Dr. Caughie at bcaughie@cbsd.org so that he may highlight this good news in an upcoming edition of Tamanend Connections.

Email: tms@cbsd.org
Website: http://www.cbsd.org/Domain/25
Location: 1492 Stuckert Road, Warrington, PA
Phone: 267.893.2900