Heartland MS Family Newsletter

I can't even believe how fast time moves in the month of December and I'm shocked that the semester only has a week and a half more days left in it. Those 9 school days will go by very quickly. I know that I included this in my last newsletter but I just wanted to reiterate that the hard cut-off date to turn in any late work is this Friday, December 13th. This allows teachers to get assignments graded and updated before the Holiday Break begins. Please talk with your student and review their assignments on infinite campus. Also, be aware that if your student received a bad grade grade on an assignment, they are welcome to resubmit the assignment. Just have your student communicate with their teacher for further clarification on how'd they'd like resubmission to be done. Students tend to always wait until the very last minute to get things done and the more we can nudge them along, the better the outcome!

Final Exams for HS Credit Courses... Courses that are taken during middle school for high school credit are required to have a final exam. This final exam counts for a good percentage of the student final grade for the semester. This means that a student could have a passing grade going into the final exam and fail the course based upon their score on the final. Those courses include: IA Algebra I, IA Geometry, Spanish, Great Books/Humanities, and Computer Apps. The concept of a final exam is new for most of our students - and - they tend to not understand the seriousness of the process. Please reinforce this with your student should you have one in those listed courses. Remember, once a student has taken a course for HS credit - their final grade will go on their permanent transcript. However, grades for courses taken in MS for HS credit do not count against HS GPA.

Speaking of final exams, be sure to check out the graphic below for the schedule. Depending on the grade level, finals count for a significant portion of the your student's grade. It is in their best interest that they are present for the days leading up to finals as reviews are being conducted and teachers are helping to prepare them for success!

It was a great first week of "Decking the Heartland Halls!" We had tons of participation in our dress up days from students and staff and hope to have even more participation this week! We've started our door decorating contest and I appreciate all of the parent donations to help make this a fun event! The line-up of all dress up days is listed in the graphic below! On deck this week we have:

• December 9th - Sleigh Ride - Plaid/Flannel Day
• December 10th - I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas - Wear Animal Print
• December 11th - Baby, It's Cold Outside - Wear White/Blue
• December 12th - NYE: Dress To Impress - Shiny/Bright Clothing
• December 13th - Sweater Weather - Ugly Christmas Sweater

A huge shout-out to our Winter sports teams and performing arts organizations! It's so fun and exciting to see our students participating in an extracurricular activity that they love! Additionally, I love the support that our students show one another at these events! The number of students attending the basketball games and Holiday concerts/productions is AWESOME! A special shoutout to our RZE Basketball Step Team that are cheering our teams on when playing at home! Makes the games even more exciting as the energy levels are high! Thank to our amazing student section for keeping your comments clean and cheering your friends to victory! I look forward to watching and enjoying more holiday concerts and games this upcoming week! 9 school days to go before the Holiday Break! Let's finish the semester strong, Heartland! As always should you have any questions, ideas, or suggestions please feel free to reach out to our office!

WE ARE...HEARTLAND!

Respectfully,

Veronica Johnson

Principal, Heartland Middle School

405-340-2972

I realize everyone is in a rush to drop off and pick up. I get it - believe me! However, there are some practices happening that are not safe & we need to address those.

1) Picking Up/Dropping Off on Penn Itself. We have a few parents who are stopping on Penn Ave to have students get in and out of the car. Not only does this stop traffic for the other cars that are traveling down the street - but - it's simply not safe. I've even noticed cars make an immediate illegal u-turn after pick-up/drop-off. Please help us out by trying a safer method for pick up/drop off.

2) Dropping Off at the North Entrance We have SEVERAL parents who are now skipping the line, driving around to the North side of the school and dropping their students off in the bus loop after the buses leave in the morning. We are currently not staffed for supervision of these students as they come in. We ask that you utilize the car rider line and not drop off in the North bus loop. I promise you, the line goes pretty quickly.

3) Picking Up and Dropping Off in the East Parking Lot. The East parking lot by the tennis courts is used for staff parking. Many parents are driving around the North side of the building and into the East parking lot to drop off and pick up their student. Again, this area is not properly supervised. The more students that gather over on the East side, the more likely something dangerous/inappropriate can happen.

4) Students Dropped Off Early or Picked Up Late. We have supervision of students scheduled from 7:10 am to 2:40 pm. We've consistently had students waiting out front until deep in the 3:30pm time. These students are not supervised. AND - they're bored. Bored and not supervised turns into many things at the middle school level. We ask that you please make arrangements to have your student picked up at the normal time - OR - ride the bus home. Additionally - we're having many students dropped off on campus and waiting for doors to open for a long time. Some as early as 6:00am. An hour and ten minutes is a long time to wait once it gets really cold outside..

In short - I ask that we all follow the normal procedure for pick up and drop off for the safety of our students. Please help us in enforcing the rules with our students by following them as parents.

If your student tested last Spring at Heartland and you are interested in picking up a paper copy of your current 7th, 8th, or 9th-grade student OSTP scores from last year - we will have those available at the school - until the end of this first semester. Current 6th-grade students would need to visit the elementary school in which they tested to receive the paper copy of their scores.

Now that we are in the process of running eligibility for OSSAA activities - there always tends to be some confusion as to when a student can and can not participate. Here are some bullet points to help define when a student can and can not participate.

• Eligibility is run mid-week. For example - we run eligibility on Thursday morning based on grades posted on Wednesday evening. If a student is listed as "ineligible" - that means they can not participate in any OSSAA games scheduled for the next calendar week of Sunday - Sunday. By OSSAA rules - students can still practice during that time. However, individual coaches may have other team rules regarding practice.
• Probation vs. Ineligible. The first week a student has a grade that qualifies them for the eligibility report - they are listed as "on Probation"... At that point in time - they can still participate and play in games. (Again - team rules may be more strict) If the student raises the grade by the next eligibility report run - their name comes off the list and they are good to go. If there is still a grade in question - the student becomes ineligible.
• If a student is listed as ineligible - AND - raises their grade (yay!!) the next time there is a grade in question -- they move back to the probation category. Therefore, there is always a week of grace after a student has worked to get their name off of the list.

Please feel free to contact Heartland Athletic Director Laura Brown with questions as I know it can be confusing.

Honesty - Being truthful in what I say and do

Enthusiasm - Expressing interest and excitement in what I do

Attentiveness - Concentrating on the person or task before me

Resiliency - Recovering from adversity and finding the inner strength to withstand stress

and do my best

Tolerance- Demonstrating respect for others who do not share my perspective

Leadership- Knowing the way. Going the way. Showing the way.

Accountability - Accepting responsibility for my actions

Nice- Dude. Be Nice!

Discipline- Choosing behaviors to help me reach my goals and finish strong!

Veronica Johnson - Lead Principal

Laura Brown - Asst. Principal, 8th Grade/Athletic Director

Dana Williams - Asst. Principal, 7th Grade

Paul McQueen - Asst. Principal, 6th Grade

Kim Treece - 7th Grade Counselor

Neika Jackson - 8th Grade Counselor

Cara Bowerman - 6th Grade Counselor

Email: heartland.middleschool@edmondschools.net
Website: https://heartland.edmondschools.net/
Location: Heartland Middle School, Explorer Drive, Edmond, OK, USA
Phone: (405)340-2972
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heartlandmiddleschool