This week is Teacher Appreciation and OCS Staff Appreciation Week. I am very grateful for the opportunity that I have to work with the staff of SBMS. Working in a middle school with over a thousand teenagers can be extremely challenging; however, I every day I am impressed by the kindness, patience and dedication that our staff shows towards our students. The hours of sacrifice are countless, but so is the impact. Thank you for making our world a better place one student at a time. I hope you feel appreciated this week and every week. We are in need of people to donate to the Taco Bar teacher luncheon on May 7th. Please use this link at the top of this newsletter to sign up. We appreciate it!

Congratulations to our baseball team for starting the season off strong with three wins last week. This week they will face Trexler away on Monday and Soutwest Middle at home on Wednesday. Good luck Pirates! On Tuesday we will have our first track mini meet of the season at 4pm at Swansboro High School. This week our students will take their End of Year iReady Diagnostic Tests. Tuesday will be Reading and Wednesday will be Math. Our student schedule will be different those two days to accommodate testing. On Wednesday we will have our monthly Pirate Parent meeting at 9:30 am in the cafeteria and we will have an 8th grade planning meeting at 1 pm for those interested in helping us plan for the 8th grade Fun Day (last day of school). Wednesday is National School Nurse Day. Thank you Nurse Irwin and Nurse Sammons for all that you do for our students! On Friday our rising 6th graders will be visiting SBMS.

We have 97 students that have made Principal's list all year thus far and are invited to the trip to Busch Gardens on June 11. Permission slips went home with these students, and you can pay for this trip in School Cash Online. If you feel your child is eligible, but did not receive a permission slip. Please reach out to Amanda Reopelle asap.

Thank you to the 56 parents that completed to parent survey, we need 152 more parents in order to have the required 20% completion rate. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey. We do appreciate and utilize your feedback, and we will have to continue to mention this survey until we reach our 20%: https://eprovesurveys.advanc-ed.org/surveys/#/action/279340/25074. We are also in need of Proctors (parents to monitor classrooms for EOG testing and re-testing). If you can help us out, please utilize the Proctor Link above.

As we get closer to the end of the school, it is typical for student discipline issues to increase. Parents we ask that you take a few minutes to review behavior expectations with your child in an effort to capitalize time learning and preparing for promotion and in order to avoid consequences for code of conduct violations. We know it takes schools and parents working together to help our students succeed and we appreciate your help!

Our revised EOG testing dates will be Math (grades 6-8) May 28th, ELA (grades 6-8) May 29th, and Science (8th grade only) May 30th. Students that do not pass the EOG will be provided remediation on June 2nd & 3rd and will then be required to re-test. Retest dates will be Math Re-test June 4th, ELA Re-test June 5th. There will not be a Science Re-test opportunity. Students that pass the EOG the first time they are given will participate in fun enrichment opportunities, while remediation and re-testing is occurring for those that do not pass. If your child wants to participate in the enrichment opportunities, it is imperative that they do their very best the first time tested. Please keep in mind that EOG tests are 20% of students' grades and EOC tests (Math 1) are 25% of students' grades. Students are expected to pass EOG tests and all core classes in order to be promoted. There will be no summer school. The time to prepare for these tests is NOW! Please also make note that students will be dismissed at 12:40 on May 28th, May 29th, June 4th and June 5th. We will be in need of proctors for EOG testing, so please click on the link above to sign up to help proctor. We have included some resources below (Click End-of-Grade EOG) to help prepare for EOG tests. Students must slow down, read the entire question, use their test taking strategies and show their work (especially for math- don't skip steps) in order to do well on EOG tests. There is a direct correlation between a student's effort applied daily in the classroom and their EOG pass rate.

ATTENDANCE- Please make school attendance a priority. When students are not at school, they miss out on important opportunities for hands on learning and discussion and this can never be recreated through a makeup assignment. Students get frustrated because they are behind their peers, and this often leads to students shutting down and giving up. It is also important that students are at school on time in class by 7:30 am, ready to learn. Rushing in late sets students up to have a bad day. Signing students out before dismissal (2:40 pm) also creates gaps in learning and sends the message that school is not important. Please make sure that your child knows that you value their education by making attendance a priority. Good school attendance is also great for their mental health and creates good habits for future employment. In order to be eligible for sports at SBMS, a student must be present for at least 85% of the previous semester. It does not matter if the absence is considered an "excused" absence or not. North Carolina also has truancy laws. It you do not comply with this law, Social Services and Law Enforcement will become involved. Let's avoid that and get our students to school regularly! Absentee notes can be email directly to our data manager (lesley.whited@onslow.k12.nc.us). We follow the OCS Board Attendance policy: Policy Manual (boardpolicyonline.com)

BEHAVIOR- Everyone deserves a safe and distraction free environment for learning. School rules and procedures are in place to help us achieve this goal. Please be proactive by discussing school rules and expectations with your child. When students make mistakes and break the rules, encourage them to accept the consequences and learn from these mistakes. Failure to support school discipline policies will lead to increased behaviors. Please help us in teaching our students that you don't have to agree with a rule in order to follow it and you don't have to like someone to be respectful towards them. This will set your child up for success at school and in the real world. We hope to be able to work with families in order to help our students through these difficult middle school years with the least turbulence as possible. Always encourage your child to put forth their best effort; hard work pays off!

COMMUNICATION- Effective communication is critical for success.

1. The teacher is always the first point of contact. If you cannot resolve an issue after meeting with the teacher, please schedule an appointment to meet with administration. Administration does not take walk ins as we are in classrooms, meetings, and working directly with students & staff during the school day. You may leave a message, and we will do our best to return your call within 24 hours. If you do not hear back within 48 hours, please reach out again as it may have gotten lost in the shuffle. The best way to reach administration is via email which is listed below or can be accessed from our school's website.

2. Please sign up for Parent Portal (paperwork will be sent home on the first day of school). This gives you access to PowerSchool where you can see up to date information on student attendance and assignments. Please check Parent Portal weekly to stay on top of missing assignments.

3. Pay attention to the weekly ALL CALL and EMAIL that is sent out every Sunday evening. If you don't want to listen to the message, no worries, the email contains the transcript as well as important links and some pictures too! If you are not receiving the call and email, please let our data manager (lesley.whited@onslow.k12.nc.us) know so that we can make sure your info. is up to date. This is the method that we will use to communicate with parents in the event of an emergency, so you need to make sure that you are receiving these calls and emails. If you use your cell phone as your primary phone in PowerSchool, you can opt in to receive texts as well. If you block us, you will not receive emergency calls either.

4. Check out our school website: Home - Swansboro Middle School (onslow.k12.nc.us)

5. Check out our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SwansboroMiddleSchool/

6. Remember, for safety reasons, we do not give out student information over the phone and all changes in transportation must be made in writing.

7. If there are custody issues, we must have a copy of the current custody paperwork on file with a judge's signature. If not, both parents have equal access to the student and their educational records.

If you have concerns regarding bus stops or drivers, please contact the Swansboro Transportation Department at 910-326-1436. Swansboro Middle School does not have direct access to buses. Communication directly with buses can only be done through the transportation department. If there are any emergency situations, we will send out an all call to parents; otherwise, please assume that everything is fine, buses are just running behind schedule. If you have an emergency, the best way to reach administrators is via email since we are often tied up in meetings and can't answer the phone.

page.highsmith@onslow.k12.nc.us

amanda.reopelle@onslow.k12.nc.us

michelle.napier@onslow.k12.nc.us

Riding the bus is a privilege, not a right. If your child does not follow the bus rules, they will be suspended from the bus. Disrespectable and unsafe behaviors will not be tolerated.

Check out the OCS Transportation website for more great information regarding buses: Home - Onslow County Schools

5/5/2025 Baseball at TMS 4 pm

5/5/2025-5/9/2025 OCS Employee Appreciation Week, OCS Bus Driver Appreciation Week and Teacher & Teacher Assistant Appreciation Week- May 5-9, 2025

5/6/2024 Reading EOY Diagnostic

5/6/2025 National Teacher Day

5/6/2025 Mini Tri-Meet #1 @ Swansboro High at 4 pm

5/7/2025 8th grade parent planning mtg at 1 pm

5/7/2025 National School Nurse Day

5/7/2025 Pirate Parents Meeting 9:30 in Pirate's Den

5/7/2025 Baseball vs SWMS: (Home Game Starts at 4:00pm)

5/7/2025 Teacher Luncheon sponsored by the Pirate Parents

5/7/2024 Math EOY Diagnostic

5/9/2025 5th Graders Visit SBMS (Auditorium)

5/12/2025 Baseball at DMS at 4 pm

5/13/2025 Mini Tri-Meet #2: Tuesday, 5/13 (Location TBD)

5/13/2025 Band & Orchestra Sign-Up Night 5:30-7:00pm (Auditorium, Choir, Orchestra, Band Room)

5/15/2025 Baseball at NPMS (Kerr Park) at 4 pm

5/15/2025 Interim Reports

5/19/2025 Baseball at HCM at 4pm

5/20/2025 Band concert 6th grade at 6 pm, 7th/8th/Jazz at 7 pm

5/21/2025 Conference Championship Meet @ White Oak at 1pm

5/23/2025 8th grade formal- Annex gym 6-8 pm

5/26/2025 Holiday- No School

5/22/2025 Orchestra Concert (6th-8th grade) at 6 pm

5/23/25-6/6/25 NC Extend 1 Administration Window (adaptive curriculum)

5/27/2025 Choir Concert (6th-8th grade) at 6pm

5/28/2025 Math EOG (dismissal at 12:40)

5/29/2025 ELA EOG (dismissal at 12:40)

5/30/2025 Science EOG (8th grade only)

6/4/2025 Math EOG Re-test (dismissal at 12:40)

6/5/2025 ELA EOG Re-test (dismissal at 12:40)

6/6/2025 Grading Period Ends

6/6/2025 8th grade FUN DAY

6/6/2025 Last day of school for the 2024-2025 school year for students

6/11/2025 Principal's List Trip to Busch Gardens