2025 JMS Eagle Eye #19

We had a fantastic week last week filled with concerts and field trips and learning experiences across our building and outside of it!

With two weeks remaining before the Winter Break, we start Benchmarks this week. There may be some individual grade level rearranging, but our schedule looks like this:

Dec 9/10 (M/T) ELA

Dec 11/12 (W/H) Math

Dec 13 (F) Science

Dec 16 (M) S.S.

As a reminder, these assessments are FORMATIVE. They help us make plans for remediation, intervention, and acceleration. It helps students make goals for their own learning, which is something we have been working on this year and will address in a big way in January. We want students to take them seriously, do well on them, but not stress. Because of the way our standards grouping works, sometimes we may have a couple of questions that students have seen but may not be fully explored. That is okay! We want students to know that it is okay. When they encounter something difficult, we want them to try their best, but not worry if they don't know. Staff will be addressing students about this very idea before we take our tests over the next week.

We have another busy week ahead of us, so take a look at the newsletter below. Thank you for your support, and if there is anything you need, please let us know.

Mr. Phil Cox, Principal pcox@ortn.edu

Dr. Benjamin Fowler, Vice Principal bjfowler@ortn.edu

Dr. Jacob Quilliams, Dean of Students jrquilliams@ortn.edu

Monday 9 B day

• ELA Benchmarks
• Family Life Presentations in PE, all grade levels, JPAC and Gym
• Atomic Eagles FLL Science Wing 2:45-4:30
• Master Builders FLL Rm 102 2:45-4:30
• RadioActive Brix FLL Rm 223 2:45-4:30
• Secret Innovation FLL Rm 313 2:45-4:15
• Girls JV Basketball vs Jacksboro Gym – 5:00
• Girls Basketball vs Jacksboro – 6:00
• Boys Basketball vs Jacksboro – 7:00




Tuesday 10 A Day

• Family Life Presentations in PE, all grade levels, JPAC and Gym
• Atomic Eagles FLL Science Wing 2:45-4:30
• Master Builders FLL Rm 102 2:45-4:30
• RadioActive Brix FLL Rm 223 2:45-4:30
• Secret Innovation FLL Rm 313 2:45-4:15
• Boys Basketball practice 3:00-4:30
• Girls Basketball practice 4:30-6:30




Wednesday 11 B day

• Math Benchmarks
• RadioActive Brix FLL Rm 223 12:45-3:00
• Boys Basketball Practice Gym 3:00-4:30
• Girls Basketball Practice Gym 4:30-6:30

Thursday 12 A Day

• Family Life Presentations in PE, all grade levels, JPAC and Gym
• Math Benchmarks
• RadioActive Brix FLL Rm 223 2:45-4:30
• Cheer Practice 3:00-5:00
• Boys JV Basketball vs Lafollette at JMS 5:00
• Girls Basketball vs Lafollette at JMS 6:00
• Boys Basketball vs Lafollette at JMS 7:00




Friday 13 B day

• Science Benchmarks
• Family Life Presentations in PE, all grade levels, JPAC and Gym
• RadioActive Brix FLL Rm 223 2:45-4:30
• Boys Basketball practice 3:00-4:30
• Girls Basketball practice 4:30-6:30




Saturday 14

• FLL Secret City Qualifier 7:30-4:30
• Girls JV Basketball vs RMS at ORHS 1:00
• Girls Basketball vs RMS at ORHS 2:00
• Boys Basketball vs RMS at ORHS 3:00
• JMS Float in OR City Christmas Parade 6:00

Students in 5th, 6th , 7th and 8th grades will participate in the Oak Ridge Board of Education approved Family Life curriculum during their Physical Education class on Nov 18th-22nd . The programming will be age appropriate and address topics covered in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade Health Education standards.

6th, 7th and 8th Grade Parent Information on Family Life Programming

The Oak Ridge Board of Education approved Family Life Program, designed for students in 6th-8th grades, provides age-appropriate information (based on the State of TN Health Education standards) on the emotional, social, and physical aspects of growing up. Information on sexually transmitted diseases, refusal skills, abstinence and HIV-AIDS is also included. The program will be provided during Physical Education Class on the following dates: December 9-13th. Boys and Girls will remain in the same class throughout all programming. The information will be presented by Let's Talk 101.

5th Grade Parent Information on Family Life Programming

The Oak Ridge Board of Education approved Family Life Program, designed for students in the 5th grade, provides age-appropriate information on the emotional, social, and physical aspects of growing up. In the 5th grade program, boys and girls will be separated for the class, but will watch the same video. The program will be during Physical Education Class on the following dates: December 9-13th. The information will be presented by Let's Talk 101. The students will be shown the following video on puberty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw1N06PKhu4

All Grades (5th-8th) Information

The "Baby Olivia Act" was passed and went into effect this school year. As enacted, the "Baby Olivia Act," requires any family life curriculum that directly or indirectly addresses human growth, human development, or human sexuality to include the presentation of a high-quality, computer-generated animation or high-definition ultrasound of at least three minutes in duration that shows the development of the brain, heart, and other vital organs in early fetal development. The video we will show to meet this law can be found at: https://babyolivia.liveaction.org/

Per School Board Policy 4.213, a parent/guardian has the right to opt their child out of participating in the family life education programming. By filling out this form, you are opting your child out of participation in the Family Life Education programming for the 2024-2025 school year. Your child may be assigned alternative health activities and will not be penalized academically. If you have more than one child, you must fill out the form individually for each child.

https://forms.office.com/r/3hZXpxGbS5

If you would like additional information or have questions about the program, please feel free to contact Katie Bolling (ksbolling@ortn.edu), Jeff Miner (jaminer@ortn.edu), or Sean Jessie (skjessie@ortn.edu) or call the school at 865-425-9301.

As always, our music teachers have been working and rehearsing with our students for months to push and grow our musicians. That is always the expectation, but it is a marvel to see how much our students grow under their instruction.

JMS Band had a fantastic experience at the ETSBOA band performance on Saturday! Here are some pictures of our students looking fantastic.

We are entering the Winter Concert season here at JMS, so we wanted everyone to know so they could put them on the calendar. There is one more this week.

RMS and JMS Combined 7th and 8th grade Chorus concert - December 12, 7pm @ORHS

Three FIRST Lego League teams from Jefferson Middle School competed in qualifiers on December 7, 2024.

The Master Builders attended the Model City qualifier and was awarded the First Place Champions Award and First Place Robot Performance Award. Their mentor, Elijah Freese, was awarded the Coach/Mentor Award.

The RadioActive Brix and the Atomic Eagles attended the Marble City Qualifier. The RadioActive Brix was awarded the First Place Core Values Award and the Atomic Eagles was awarded the First Place Innovation Project Award.

The Master Builders will compete in the State Championship on February 8, 2025. The RadioActive Brix and Atomic Eagles will find out if they qualified later this month.

On January 18, 2025, the Jefferson Middle School FIRST Lego League teams will host the 11th Annual Atomic City Invitational. Area teams will compete in Lego Sumo Bot competition, Submerged Challenge, and have the opportunity to create a Lego Great Ball contraption module that will be included in the Lego Great Ball Contraption for the day.

The following students have been nominated. Congratulations to these fantastic students!

Eagle Behavior

(Students recognized for their outstanding behavior in school, befitting a JMS Eagle)

McKinley Crisp

Chance Cook

Amora Watson

Eagle Excellence

(Students recognized for their outstanding achievement in school, befitting a JMS Eagle)

Dillon Doling

Madison Tracey

McKinley Crisp

Stephen Hudgens

Audrey Large

Ta'Miyah Porter

Payton Chavez

Arriyanna Gerace

Eagle Expectations

(Students recognized for their outstanding manner of living up-to and exceeding JMS expectations in school, befitting a JMS Eagle)

Allison Rodabaugh

Leslie Hicks

Eagle Accountability

(Students recognized for holding themselves accountable to the high expectations in school, befitting a JMS Eagle)

The Jefferson basketball teams will host Jacksboro on Monday evening for a very big district game! Girls JV will play at 5pm, followed by girls varsity at 6pm and boys varsity at 7pm. Admission for all home basketball games is $5 for spectators, kindergarten and under is free.

On Thursday, Jefferson will travel to Lafollette for another big district game. The boys JV game will tip at 5pm, followed by girls varsity at 6pm and boys varsity at 7pm.

On Saturday, Jefferson will play Robertsville at Oak Ridge High School, with Girls JV starting at 1pm, followed by girls varsity at 2pm and boys varsity at 3pm.

Please make plans to come support the Eagles and Lady Eagles basketball teams and cheerleaders this week.

Go Eagles!

Dear JMS Parents,

We open every sporting event at JMS with the same comments about Good Sportsmanship. We believe that student athletes develop life-long personal and interpersonal skill sets by participation in and support of our extracurricular events. We rarely have any issues on this front. For example, the City Basketball Championship twice a year between RMS and JMS is a rousing demonstration of GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP --fantastic fans, dedicated players, and supportive family and friends. Though we compete and play hard, we (the parents, the staff, the supporters) engaged in the good sportsmanship we want to see in our students. We thank you for that! The comradery at these events builds into our great ORHS fan base.

JMS Admin wanted to remind all spectators of the policies regarding expectations of spectators at any school athletic event. Whether here at Jefferson or away at another school, we hold our students and our supporters to the same high standards. Some of these policies are state level requirements. Due to recent events at other sporting venues in Tennessee, TSSAA updated their bylaws in July 2023. Article II section 9 of the TSSAA bylaws now states that:

For fans ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct during a contests, the school will be fined a minimum of $250.00. In addition, other non-monetary disciplinary action may occur, including but not limited to probation and/or restricted probation for the entire athletic program.

As such, any JMS parent or supporter that is ejected from a game will be required to pay whatever fine is assessed before they can attend future extracurricular events.

Game officials (referees, school administrators, athletic directors, and SROs) have the power to remove a supporter from a venue for unsportsmanlike conduct. Per the TSSAA website, "The most common unsportsmanlike scenarios involve coaches and fans displaying disrespectful behavior towards officials, players, and other coaches. This includes yelling and arguing with officials, making inappropriate comments, refusing to leave the court or gymnasium when asked, and even physically confronting or threatening officials." Ultimately, the definition of unsportsmanlike conduct will be at the general discretion of the game officials, and game officials control access to the playing field.

In the event of an emergency, the JMS administration will work with you to ensure that you have access to your student. Your student safety is paramount to us. It may take us a moment, but we will work with you.

The goal of JMS administration is to uphold the high standards which make JMS a school of excellence. To achieve this goal we ask that all or our fans adhere to the JMS code of conduct and follow the guidelines below:

• Good sportsmanship should always be emphasized by student athletes and spectators.

• Booing has no place at school-sponsored activities.

• Students and parents in attendance at athletic events should remain seated in the stands during the contest and stay off the basketball court, football field, track, and other playing areas.

• JMS campus is smoke free. This includes e-cigarettes, and other types of devices, including all VAPING.

Again, we rarely have these issues, but with changing state policies, we like to keep our parents informed. Thank you so much for being such great supporters of Jefferson sports and other extra curricular activities. If you have any questions, please let us know.

- Mr. Cox, Dr. Fowler, and Dr. Quilliams.

It is always recommended that JMS students have a change of clothes in their backpack or locker. Middle school students can get into a mess: be it in gym, working a lab experiment, the lunch line, or personal accident. With the weather alternating between hot and cold, a change of clothes can help a student avoid a dress code infraction and help them get back to class faster.

Please discuss with your student about a back up outfit. Thanks!

Flu, cold, and allergy season is upon us, and with it comes all of the coughing and sore throats. Most cough drops have active ingredients, meaning too many can be harmful, and there is potential for side effects or allergic reactions. For this reason, students cannot be allowed to bring them to school and/or keep them on their person. This is a district wide policy for student safety.

As with any other over-the-counter medication, if you would like your student to have cough drops at school, please bring them to the nurse and complete a medication administration form so that they can be administered in a safe way. The medication form can also be found on the JMS website under the "Forms" section of the "Parent + Student" tab.

Just a reminder: STUDENTS are NOT allowed to carry or bring medication to school. Parents must bring the medication in and fill out a form with the school nurse.

If a student has medications for asthma, allergies, or seizures (or any other potential emergencies) that needs to be with them at school, please reach out to me via phone (865-425-9338) or email (kcjones@ortn.edu) or come see me in the clinic.

Students and staff have had access to Adobe Express for the past year, but we wanted to take a moment to reintroduce it. Adobe Express can be accessed via Clever or by visiting https://express.adobe.com and using the “Already a user?” link on the page. When prompted to select a profile please choose “Oak Ridge Schools”. Use your ORS credentials to log in.

What is Adobe Express?

Adobe Express makes it easy to get started with tons of professionally designed templates and assets for media content, logos, and more. Feel like you’ve got the help of a trusted designer in your corner with the entire Adobe Stock* royalty-free photo collection plus a full library of Adobe Fonts at your fingertips. Create anything you need with intuitive tools that let you remove backgrounds, animate text, add your brand, and so much more. With just a few taps you can resize content and add Adobe Photoshop quality effects in a snap

Middle school can be a stressful time for adolescents. While managing more challenging workload demands, they also grapple with anxiety brought on by larger issues like forming their identity and gaining independence. These emotions can be difficult to experience but are easier with relaxation skills.

As highlighted in the video, stress and anxiety often produce physical sensations due to our flight, fight, or freeze response. Effective relaxation skills like paced belly breathing help to calm the body and turn down the intensity of that emotion.

Below is a summary of PACED BELLY BREATHING, one of the key relaxation skills in the video:

• Belly breathing is breathing slowly and deeply at a steady pace. By slowing their inhales and extending their exhales, your child can use their breath to harness control of their emotions.

• Belly breathing balances out the carbon dioxide and oxygen in kids’ bodies, cutting off their fight, flight, or freeze response. It returns their mind and body to a calmer state.

The JMS PTO would like to thank all the parents that came out for Open House. If you couldn't make it, we invite you to learn more about PTO activities and how you can get involved. Email us at jmseaglespto@gmail.com if you are interested!

We are moving our meetings to the evening times this year due to parent requests. We will start at 530 in the Jefferson Library. Look to this space for updates from JMS PTO President, Kayla Colwell.

You get a ton of forms at the start of the year, so here is a quick guide as to what is what and where.

Forms on Paper:

ORS district handbook have been sent home. There is a paper form in the front for you to sign. Please have you AND your student sign it and return it this week to your student's first period teacher.

Forms in ParentSquare:

• McKinney Vento
• Parent Occupational Survey

• Media Release

• Survey Opt-In form
• Biometric Form (Cafeteria Identification Form)

Forms in Skyward

These forms will need to be filled out in Skyward Family Access in web browser, not the app

• First Student- Bus

• Free and Reduced Lunch

If you have any issues with the forms, please reach out to John Smith, our Innovation coach at jrsmith@ortn.edu or Dr. Fowler at bjfowler@ortn.edu

Safety is our number one priority at Jefferson Middle School. The video below helps show the process for both drop off and pick up each day. We want our parents and students to be aware of the process in order to create the safest environment for all during these busy times. The following times below give you the best idea for drop off times:

There are two loops on campus. One loop on the gym/football field side of campus, which is a car drop off loop all morning long. The second loop on the softball field side is the bus loop at the beginning of the morning and becomes a car loop after buses leave. Buses will enter the loop from 7am - 7:10am each day. Please do not enter the loop if buses are present. In addition, please do not pass buses at any time while in the loop.

Please utilize the loop on the gym side to drop off your child each morning. When 5th grade students arrive on campus, they report to the gym until 7:30 am.

• Free and Reduced Lunch forms are now available in Skyward. Be sure to log in to your Skyward Account to complete the form. The sooner we get that processed, the sooner we can make sure we are serving your students as best we can.
• Students must be enrolled in a school to receive school meals. Students attending virtual academies are not eligible to participate in either of the federal school meal programs.
• Meals shall only be provided and served on days when school is in session.

For additional information, please visit:

https://www.ortn.edu/district/food-services/food-services/

The Board of Education believes that appropriate dress and grooming contribute to a productive learning environment. The Board expects students to give proper attention to personal cleanliness and to wear suitable clothing. Students are asked to wear simple, comfortable clothing that is clean and neat. Shoes should be always worn. Students are not to wear clothing which compromises safety or modesty; nor clothing which is disruptive to the educational process.

Students are prohibited from wearing:

1. Clothing or accessories which by reasonable judgment is considered unsafe, dangerous or a health hazard (examples include, but are not limited to wallet chains, spiked collars, necklaces or rings with spikes or sharp edges, oversized belt buckles, picks and combs.

2. Clothing or accessories which contain or suggest offensive or obscene symbols, signs, slogans or words degrading any gender, cultural, religious or ethnic values.

3. Clothing or accessories which contain or suggest language or symbols oriented toward violence, vandalism, sex, drugs, alcohol or tobacco.

4. Pajamas or clothing resembling sleepwear. This also includes house shoes.

5. Apparel

• a. Shirts, shorts, jeans or pants with holes, skirts and dresses that compromise modesty or are disruptive to the learning environment.
• b. The following attire is not permitted: bare midriffs; halter or tube tops; short shorts; tight, see through, or revealing clothing; or clothing which allows underwear to be exposed, such as sagging pants, spaghetti strap tops, muscle shirts.
• c. A belt is mandatory if pants or shorts will not stay at the waist without one.
• d. Hats, head coverings, bandanas, and sunglasses are not to be worn inside the school building.

6. Any articles which can be related to gang activity such as: items with gang names; gang initials; or individual gang member monikers; gang related jewelry; gang related tattoos; or self-inflicted scars. (TCA 49-6- 4215)

7. Any manner of grooming, which by its color, arrangement, trademark, or any other attribute that is gang related. This may include such items as shoelaces, belt buckles, hats or tattoos.

8. All students must wear shoes. It is strongly suggested that students wear shoes which either enclose the foot or are secured with heel straps. Flip flops are not allowed in grades PreK-4.

9. Heavy coats must be removed upon arrival at school, be placed in lockers and left there until the student leaves the building. (At campuses that have multiple buildings that require outside travel between classes, the principal may exercise discretion.)

The school building administrator may make exceptions to dress requirements to accommodate the special needs of classes (examples include but are not limited to science labs, welding, cooking labs) and/or certain sports/activities.

All students are expected to comply with the general dress code policy of the Oak Ridge School Board. Students who fail to comply with the Dress Code Policy shall be advised of the policy and offered the opportunity to take corrective action. The school shall attempt to contact the student's parents. Students who repeatedly fail to dress in accordance with the Dress Code Policy may be subject to disciplinary actions as set forth in the Oak Ridge Schools Discipline Code. The Administration reserves the right to judge what is appropriate or not.

Consequences for violations of the dress code guidelines will follow the ORS District Disciplinary Code.

https://www.ortn.edu/jefferson/supply-lists/

Please be sure to visit the link below to review this year's Student Handbook.

Students are required to turn off phones and place in lockers when they arrive to school. Students are not permitted to have phones throughout the building. In the event of an emergency, parents can contact the main phone line (425-9301) and students may use the main phone line to contact home.

Additionally, NO wired or wireless headphones or earbuds or personal electronic devices are permitted for use during the school day unless at the direction of a teacher for a classroom activity.

Due to concerns about social media and improper use of cell phones during the school day, please see detailed cell phone policy below:

1. Students must turn off cell phone upon arriving to campus and place in their locker.

2. Students are not to use cell phones during the school day unless instructed by a teacher. Teachers will make administration aware when they will be using phones in advance.

3. Any student found to be sharing or distributing inappropriate messages or pictures online will be immediately reported to our SRO and the Oak Ridge Police Department.

4. Per the ORS Code of Conduct, "students are prohibited from using personally owned devices to record (video, audio, photograph) others". This could also be considered Cyberbullying - the use of cell phones, social networking sites or other types of digital technology to harass, threaten, discriminate, or intimidate others.

Any violation of the cell phone policy will lead to action from administration including but not limited to consequences below:

1st violation: student cell phone, headphones, earbuds, or personal electronic devices will be confiscated and sent to the office. Student will be issued a warning in Skyward and phone will be kept in the office until parent/guardian comes to the school to pick up the phone.

2nd violation: student cell phone, headphones, earbuds, or personal electronic devices will be confiscated and sent to the office. Student will be assigned an after-school detention in Skyward and phone will be kept in the office until parent/guardian comes to the school to pick up the phone.

3rd violation: student cell phone, headphones, earbuds, or personal electronic devices will be confiscated and sent to the office. Student will be issued ISS in Skyward and phone will be kept in the office until parent/guardian comes to the school to pick up the phone.

4th violation: student cell phone, headphones, earbuds, or personal electronic devices will be confiscated and sent to the office. Student will be issued an OSS in Skyward and phone will be kept in the office until parent/guardian comes to the school to pick up the phone. In addition, student may lose privilege of bringing phone to school for a time to be determined.

SECURE ENTRANCE TELEPHONE USAGE

School phones are for business and emergency use only. Students who are required to remain after school to make up work or for other reasons can call to arrange a ride home.

Canvas is our learning management system. We utilize Canvas in order to communicate with students and parents including announcements, information that is important to the class, links to resources to help support in class learning and also digital assignments.

Our teachers are AMAZING in the amount of detail they provide on their Canvas page. We encourage parents to spend 10 minutes each week with their child logged on to Canvas and read the details for each teacher's page, announcements, and assignments.

In Canvas our teachers work to provide:

• Announcements - A weekly look at what will be taught throughout the week
• Assignments - Some assignments will be digital and completed through Canvas and some will be analog and completed on paper. The goal for teachers here is to update with information to help explain the assignment and the due date.
• Calendar - A student calendar that shows all of the student's class and helps to color code each. The calendar allows for parents to see due dates for assignments, quiz and test dates

To learn more about Canvas and how we use it each day, please access the video below.