Heartland MS Family Newsletter

This is the last edition of The Heartland Family Newsletter for first semester of the 24/25 school year. THAT WENT FAST! It never seems like it when you're in the middle of it but when you look back - it's crazy fast. We've had some AMAZING success this semester and identified opportunities for growth when we come back for the second semester. As a reminder - should your family be moving over the break - we ask that you give our registrar a call or email so that we can either update your records or prepare to send records once they are requested by the new school. As I said last week, if you have any students moving into your neighborhood - please let them know that our offices will once again open on January 6th so that they can come in and hopefully complete the enrollment process. School starts back on January 7th which is quite a bit later in comparison to normal. Please make sure you are aware of those dates.

Looking back, we had a fantastic week full of dress up days, door decorating contests, Holiday concerts and sporting events! Please reference the pics below for a glimpse into our week! I can't say enough about our performing arts programs here at Heartland! I thoroughly enjoyed attending the jazz band, choir, orchestra and band concerts! Additionally, our drama department hosted Heartland's first ever Winter play, A Charlie Brown Christmas AND FCCLA, TSA & E-Sports competed in the respective competitions! Seeing our students thrive in doing the things they love brings so much joy to my heart and makes the difficult days/long hours well worth the effort! Heartland is full of amazingly talented artists, performers, musicians, athletes and so much more! I feel thankful everyday to lead such an incredible community of students, faculty, staff and families!

Looking ahead, we have semester finals before us. Monday through Wednesday of this week, our teachers will be giving their comprehensive semester finals and you can reference the graphic below to see which subjects are on which days. The goal of semester finals is to evaluate which of the covered State standards have been mastered by your student. The data is invaluable and helps our teachers plan for the Spring semester in preparation for State testing. April will be here before we know it. I encourage you to have a conversation with your student about the importance of trying their best on their semester finals, how the new grading policy may put an additional emphasis on semester finals, and how important it is to study and get a good night's rest.

It was another great week of "Decking the Heartland Halls!" On deck for the last four days are:

• December 16th - Candy Cane Day - Wear Red/White/Stripes
• December 17th - Santa's Helpers- Dress Like An Elf/Reindeer
• December 18th - Christmas Movie Character Day - Favorite Movie Character
• December 19th - Merry Morning - Wear Pajamas - Winter Assembly

We will celebrate a wonderful Fall semester with an all-school assembly on Thursday full of fun minute-to-win -it games and performances!! Lots of fun things still ahead of us! Lastly, this will be my last newsletter of the year! Expect to see me back in action NEXT YEAR! From the bottom of my heart, from my family to yours, may the Holiday season fill your home with joy, your hearts with love and your life with laughter! 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