RAVEN REPORT

DMS Vision

At DMS every student's best interests comes first, every single day!

DMS Mission

At Decker Middle School we will build a community of lifelong learners who have a sense of pride and integrity, in a safe, welcoming, creative, and inclusive environment in order to be college and career-ready in today’s society.

DMS Motto

On Time, On Task, and On a Mission!

#OTTM

Friday 1/20 was our first Decker Pride Friday of 2023! We recognized scholars for both academic and personal achievement, competed in an advisory teacher/scholar game, and recognized our Staff Member of the Month, our librarian Ms. Lin!

Congratulations to all of the scholars who were recognized, rewarded, and celebrated for each grade level as follows:

1) Scholar with the most growth in Math and Reading (per teacher) from their 2022 STAAR test to the most recent district test.

2) Scholar with the highest score on most recent district Math and Reading test (per teacher).

3) Scholar per advisory teacher who exemplifies the character strength of Perseverance or Prudence.

4) Scholars who made the A honor roll, and A/B honor roll!

Dear Families,

This week our school community will be focusing on the character strength of Social Intelligence. Social intelligence means you are aware of other people’s thoughts and feelings. You understand why they do things.

Social intelligence refers to a person’s ability to understand and manage interpersonal relationships. It is distinct from a person’s IQ or “book smarts.” It includes an individual’s ability to understand, and act on, the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of other people. This type of intelligence can take place “in the moment” of face-to-face conversations but also appears during times of deliberate thinking. It involves emotional intelligence and self-awareness.

Social intelligence helps individuals build relationships -- and is important to numerous aspects of a person’s life. It allows an individual to form friendships and alliances. And it assists a person against being taken advantage of. People with social intelligence can “read” other people’s faces and know what motivates them. Social intelligence builds over time and as a person ages. In this sense, it is similar to the character strength of perspective.

To practice and encourage the character strength of social intelligence with your child, please visit the Positivity Project’s P2 for Families (password: P2), where together you will watch a video, read a quote, and talk about the answers to three questions.

Have a wonderful week!

Friday January 13th marked the end of the grading period. Please model perseverance and prudence for your scholar by doing the following:

1) Ask your scholar to login to Skyward Family Access and check their current grades.

2) Use the current grades to plan for the future. With your scholar, develop one academic short-term goal for this week, one academic mid-term goal for the next grading period, and one academic long-term goal to be achieved by the end of the school year.

3) Monitor the progress toward their goals each week.

4) Save the date for 2/22/23, when we will host student-led conferences to revisit goals as a school.

In just a few short weeks, scholars will begin taking their STAAR exams to determine if they learned what was taught in class. Scholars who did not pass this exam last year are in need of tutoring. Parents and guardians, please complete this form to learn more about providing consent for tutoring.

In October, we completed Red Ribbon Week, the annual week where we highlight the importance of being drug free with our scholars. Parents and guardians, we need your help in ensuring this conversation is ongoing.

Nationwide, vaping amongst teens is on the rise, and unfortunately we have had our share of DMS scholars who have made poor decisions related to vaping. Please talk with your children about the dangers of vaping, and make sure they understand that under no circumstances is vaping tolerated at Decker Middle School.

If you interested in learning how you can support your scholar by learning about current drug trends, prevention information, and protective factors to help keep your scholar and family safe, Manor ISD offers monthly education classes as detailed here.

If you suspect that your teen is vaping, and is in need of additional support, please do not hesitate to contact our guidance counselors:

Aursha Waldon 6th grade/8th grade (aursha.waldon@manorisd.net)

Rachel Groth 7th grade/8th grade (rachel.groth@manorisd.net)

Recently, all 8th graders met with Dr. Sadikova, Principal of Manor Early College High School, to learn about what they offer. Please see the message from Dr. Sadikova below:

Manor Early College High School (MECHS) is happy to announce that we are now starting our recruitment process for MECHS Class of 2027! So all current 8th graders who are interested in earning FREE college credits, earn a full associate degree from college while going to high school, and ready to work hard, are welcome to apply! Please read more details here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wqqz2M_Bv22Xeoc9zLgqMnhB6fnWS8cinoCQDkiUZ9A/edit?usp=sharing and attend one of the informational parent meetings either in-person or online.

Parents and guardians, please support us in teaching this important life skill by asking to see your scholars' Advisory Agenda each day. The calendar inside of this journal should give you a clear picture of what you scholar is doing in each class, each day. An example photo of what it should look like is pictured below!

To ensure that we are able to keep all scholars safe, IDs must be worn at all times. Scholars will use their ID each day to receive lunch, check out books from the library, and various other things.

Scholars who lose their ID or fail to bring it to school can purchase a temporary ID for $1 or a replacement ID for $5. Scholars who are unable to wear their ID will serve lunch detention until they do. Please see the DMS Playbook linked below for more information.

Please review the DMS Family Handbook with your scholar, and digitally sign. This handbook includes schoolwide expectations for all scholars. This includes our cell phone policy, detailed below:

Cell Phones/Electronic Devices

For safety purposes, the district permits students to possess electronic devices. The use of cell phones or any device capable of capturing video and/or images is strictly prohibited in locker rooms or restroom areas while at school or at a school-related or school-sponsored event. If a cell phone or electronic device is used for the purpose of capturing video or images in prohibited areas and to include verbal and/or physical altercations, the phone or electronic device will no longer be allowed on campus. In the event that a scholar needs their phone for safety reasons before and after school, arrangements will be made to turn the phone in upon arrival each day to the front office before reporting to their first class.

If a student uses an electronic device without authorization during the school day, such as in class during instruction, the device will be confiscated. The parent may pick up the confiscated electronic device from the principal’s office for a fee of $15 after the first time. In limited circumstances and in accordance with law, authorized personnel may search a student’s personal electronic device. Any disciplinary action will be in accordance with the Student Code of Conduct. The district will not be responsible for damaged, lost or stolen electronic devices.

Students are not permitted to possess or use personal electronic devices such as personal laptops or tablets at school. Items will be collected and turned into the front office. In limited circumstances and in accordance with law, authorized personnel may search a student’s personal electronic device. Any disciplinary action will be in accordance with the Student Code of Conduct. The district will not be responsible for any damaged, lost or stolen electronic device.

If your child will ride the bus, you can find information on the location for pick up and time the bus will arrive for pick up in the morning and drop off in the afternoon by going to the infofinder page linked here and typing in your address.

Please note:

If you need to make changes for how your scholar will get home please contact the office before 3:30. If you contact us after that we will not be able to pull your child off the bus. Please know that scholars can not ride a bus they are not assigned to, so we are not able to put them on a different bus.

• Shirts must be short or long-sleeved polo-style collared shirts.
• 6th Graders will wear Gray and White
• 7th Graders will wear Maroon
• 8th Graders will wear Black
• Spirit shirts can be worn on Fridays
• Pants, jeans, shorts, skirts, and skorts must be worn on the scholar's natural waist at all times
• Sweatpants and Joggers are not allowed
• Hoodies are allowed in the respective grade level colors. However, we will not allow hoods to be worn inside the building. Hoodies may not have images or language depicting violence, drugs, alcohol, any illegal item or activity, or any other prohibited substance
• For safety reasons, athletic shoes featuring closed toes plus rubber soles with no cleats, elevation, or wheels, are suitable for Physical Education classes at all levels
• Student IDs must be worn on a lanyard around the neck and visible at all times

Parents please speak with your child/children about the importance of reporting to each class period on time daily, as this impacts their achievement! Tardies and skipping will not be tolerated.

Students identified as skipping or having excessive tardies will be placed in In -School Suspension (ISS) to reflect and create an "On Time, On Task, and On a Mission" action plan. We love all of our scholars and want them to be successful. We will begin to schedule Student Success Meetings for scholars with excessive tardies next week.

We are looking for parents to become members of the DMS Parent Teacher Organization (PTO). This is an opportunity to really help our scholars in ways we may not be able to internally. You have the perspective of the family member so we would really appreciate it if we had our parents join PTA and become active fixtures on our campus. Here is the link to join.

January

1/25: MECHS/MNTHS apps due

February

2/1: Early release PL day

2/17: School holiday

2/20: School holiday

2/22: Student-led conferences

2/24: End of grading period 4

2/27: DBA 3 window opens

March

3/10: Early release PL day

3/13-3/17: Spring Break

April

4/7: School holiday

4/10: School holiday

4/12: Early release PL day

4/14: End of grading period 5

4/18: 6-8 Reading/English 1 STAAR Exam

4/25: Science STAAR Exam

4/27: US History STAAR Exam

May

5/2: 6-8 Math/Algebra 1 STAAR Exam

5/26: School holiday

5/29: School holiday

June

6/7: Half day, end of grading period 6, last day of school