The OMS Community Newsletter

Dear OMS Community,

Read through the newsletter to learn more about what has been going on at OMS and what will be coming up this month. In an effort to provide more frequent updates and to share all of the great things happening in our school, the OMS Community Newsletter will have a new edition each week!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Katrina Crowley

The Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC) visited OMS this week to give a presentation to students in Grades 6 and 7 about understanding bullying and cyberbullying. The Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center is housed at Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. MARC’s founder and director is Dr. Elizabeth Englander, a professor of Psychology at the University, and an expert in the field.

The assembly was developmentally designed for each grade to help students define and understand bullying, cyberbullying, and relational aggression. Students have learned about the characteristics of bullying and cyberbullying and how to differentiate between fighting/conflict and bullying situations. Online safety was covered, and students were educated about the dangers of disclosing too much online and the impact of a digital footprint. The social and emotional impacts of bullying behaviors in the classroom and in cyberspace were also addressed. This presentation was designed to leave students with concrete ideas of how to best deal with bullies in school and online.

In Grade 8, students have already learned about understanding the difference between bullying and conflict throughout their time in middle school. These concepts will be reviewed, specifically through a cyberbullying lens, in their Grade 8 STEM class.

Check out some of the key points from the assembly below.

On Monday, October 30th, we inducted 32 new members to the our chapter of the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS). The 25 returning NJHS members shared biographies of our new inductees as they received their certificates from NJHS advisors Ms. Whittaker and Mrs. Walsh (Starring) and shook hands with Mrs. Crowley and Dr. Baeta. The National Junior Honor Society was established to recognize outstanding middle level students. More than just an honor roll, NJHS serves to honor those students who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of scholarship, service, leadership, character, and citizenship.

Tana Bernard, Val Botello, Gabby Bowyer, Tyler Cabrera, Dawn Corcoran, Callum Devey, Zackary Domercant, Logan Fontaine, Liam Fox, Lily Goodwin, Cooper Greenlaw, Ella Hannaford, Savannah Isabelle, Brandon Kuznitz, Emily McDonough, Keniel Mercado Cruz, Jacob Michals, Christa Maria Mikhael, Kaitlyn Mitchell, Eva Musatov, Joel Omidiji, Diya Patel, Cianna Pezzano, Angel Phan, Ryan Pohl, Princyy Purohit, Isabella Ramos, Lily Shirey, Sophia Singer, Emma Tran, Noah Trocki, Andrea Udeh

Caleb Adjai Boatang, Gabriella Aravena, Kerrin Bennett, Victoria Boutros, Isabelle Bukhenik, Kyle Bunker, Raegan Costello, Ava Cunningham, Taryn Dacey, Trinity Davis, Ivy Dunn, Logan Fitzgerald, Callie Gallan, Isabella Glowka, Eden Gonsalves, Jackson Gosule, Sara Janelli, Anthony Marroquin, Caitlin McGowan, Yiranny Pena Perez, Xaven Studer, Colin Thornton, Zena Uwaifo, Charlotta Zbinski, Karen Zhang Cheng

As part of our school safety plan, we will be conducting safety drills throughout the month of November. Students and staff will participate in a shelter in place drill, a lockdown drill, and a site Evacuation drill. An email will go out to families following each of these drills.

• Shelter in Place - We go into a shelter in place when there is no direct safety threat to the building but we need the hallways cleared for safety reasons.
• Lockdown - A lockdown is called when there is a direct safety threat to the building.
• Site Evacuation - A site evacuation is when all students and staff evacuate the OMS school site due to safety concerns and relocate to a designated site.

More information regarding our approach to school safety can be found under the School Safety page of the SPS website.

Did you know that 40% of the SHS Marching Band is made up of OMS students? We are so incredibly proud of our OMS students who are representing OMS and Stoughton in the SHS Marching Band. Here are a few of their most recent achievements:

• On October 21st, Stoughton hosted a USBands marching band competition for the first time ever. The band had an excellent performance (83.8) in spite of the terrible weather.
  
• Saturday, October 28th was USBands New England Finals in New Britain, CT. SHS Marching Black Knights came in 2nd place by less than a point and earned their highest score (92.1) since at least 2017! The SHS Marching Black Knights were first in Massachusetts and received a police escort back from the competition in recognition of their achievement.
  
• Sunday, October 29th was MICCA Finals (Massachusetts Instrumental & Choral Conductors Association). At this competition, the SHS Marching Black Knights achieved a Gold (5 stars) award (superior performance) overall.
  

Congratulations to the SHS Marching Black Knights for their incredible achievements!

Our Fall Sports season has ended and we are now gearing up for Winter Sports. We will be offering the following winter sports at the middle school: Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, Co-ed Wrestling. Registration is now open. See the attached flyer for more information.

Thank you to everyone who donated to the collection for the homeless in October! The OMS Student Council is running their annual Stoughton Food Pantry Food Drive from now until November 17th. There will be a competition between homerooms and grade levels to see who will donate the most items. Students can bring in any of the below items to their homeroom teacher (Period 1 teacher).

The late bus is available to any OMS student who participates in an after school activity or who stays to work with a teacher. The teacher or club advisor will provide students with a blue late bus pass if they need to ride the late bus. There will be 3 different late bus routes. Please take a look at the bus routes and stops. If your child will be taking the late bus, please let them know which late bus number to take and which stop to get off at.

The Tutoring Center at the Stoughton Public Library is back! OMS students are invited to get academic support at the tutoring center on Mondays from 6:00 - 8:00pm. This will begin on Monday, October 16th and will run through May. The program will not run on October 28, November 6, and December 4.