
BSMS News from the Nest
August 2024
Welcome to the 24-25 School Year!
It's that time of year again! The excitement is building here at the middle school. Teachers are popping in to begin setting up their rooms, and staff are putting on the final touches to schedules. We are so pumped to welcome back our students in just about two weeks! As we are starting to gear up for a new school year, I wanted to take a moment to connect with you and share some important updates.
Student schedules have been posted to Sapphire. Please reach out to Ms. Umbaugh if you notice an inaccuracy in the schedule based on what you believe your student should be scheduled for.
In addition, we have included informational videos to review basic expectations at every grade level (see below). These videos review the common processes and expectations for students and parents. We encourage families to watch them in order to prepare for the upcoming year.
Please remember that we are here to support you every step of the way. If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to reach out. We value your input and are committed to working collaboratively to ensure the success of every child.
Have a great rest of your summer, and soak in some sunshine and fun. We can't wait to see you shortly!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Shelley
Back to School Videos
We have created a video approximately 10 minutes in length geared towards each grade level's expectations and routines. We encourage you to watch this with your students in order to prepare for the upcoming school year.
PBIS Corner
Welcome to our PBIS corner! PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) is the framework we use to teach all of our students the rules and expectations of the middle school. Our Berm Middle Eagles follow the acronym RISE- Respect, Integrity, Self-Discipline, and Engagement. Lessons will take place during the first week of school to explicitly teach what these behaviors look like here at BSMS. Students then caught exhibiting these positive behaviors may be recognized by staff members and asked to scan our RISE QR code. When this happens, a email home is generated to alert parents to the positive behavior their student was showing. Be sure to praise your student if you receive one of these emails!
PBIS is an incentivized framework and students have the opportunity to earn weekly and monthly rewards. Any student who receives a scan may earn a reward which includes coupons for special seating in the cafeteria, access to our ping pong tables, a variety of trinkets, or free snacks in the cafeteria. At the end of each month, the building will have a grade-level or building-wide reward. Students who receive at least one scan per month and do not have a major office referral will automatically be invited to their grade-level reward. Building-wide rewards will be for students who receive a scan, do not receive a major office referral and are randomly selected to participate.
We are always looking for parent volunteers to be a part of our PBIS committee at school or who would like to donate their time or prizes towards this recognition framework. Please contact Mr. Jenkins at mjenkins@bermudian.org if you’d be interested in serving on our PBIS committee as a parent representative or if you’d like to donate prizes for our students. Be on the lookout for that first positive email home from your student.
Looking forward to a fantastic 2024-2025 school year.
Mark Your Calendar
AUGUST
8/14 - Meet your Teacher Night 5:00 PM-7:00 PM
8/20 - First Student Day
8/26-8/28- Fall Musical Auditions
SEPTEMBER
8/30 - 9/2 - Labor Day Vacation (No School)
9/13 - Half Day Dismissal
9/18 - Fall Picture Day
Sapphire Community Portal Account
BSMS Parent Resources
We have created a Parent Resource Page that is a one stop shop for all our documents and useful information. It includes the student handbook, attendance excuses, family trip forms, physical forms, health forms and other useful information, along with explanations to support families. We encourage you to bookmark for future reference!
Parent Tutorials
Click this LINK to our webpage that is filled with a variety of videos that cover a wide range of topics, from how to setup a Sapphire account to check grades to how to help your child with homework.
Meet Our New Middle School Staff
Transportation
Transportation letters have been mailed and should have arrived. If you have any questions, please reach out to Mrs. Green at egreen@bermudian.org. A reminder to be flexible during the first couple days of school as drivers get accustomed to their new routes and riders.
Important: As we get closer to the start of the year, please remember that any changes submitted may take up to 48 hours to be implemented.
Message from our Nurse
NURSE’S NOTE
Medications: *** New this year***
If your child must take medication during the school day, please make an appointment with the school nurse ahead of time, as inventory must be taken, and a parent signature is required in the presence of a school nurse for drop-off/pick up. Please provide medication in the originally labeled container with dosage instructions written per a signed physician's order (see link below for form). Students are not permitted to carry any medication with them during school.
- Permission to use and/or carry an asthma inhaler and/or an Epi-pen requires a
physician’s order. The authorization form must be completed by the physician, parent
and/or student and returned to the nurse. Please note above rules as it applies to
medication drop-off/pick-up for students not permitted to carry with them.
- If you are permitting your child to use/carry cough drops, a signed parent note is required
and must be given to the school nurse.
The nurse may provide specific over-the-counter-medications if needed, only if the parent has
completed the emergency card sent home during the first week of school and/or completed online in the Sapphire portal.
The state of Pennsylvania requires 6th Grade Physicals/Immunizations and 7th Grade Dental
Exams. These forms/records should be returned to the school nurse before December 31, 2024. The above forms can be found at https://www.bermudian.org/services/health-services/health-
forms.
Dates to Remember:
- Immunizations must be up to date per state guidelines.
- Growth screenings for all students and hearing screenings for all 7 th graders will start in September.
- Vision Screenings will begin after Christmas break in January; students must have their glasses/contacts with them.
- Mobile Dentist is coming March 7, 2024.
Smiles,
Julie Nelson, RN, BSN, CEN, CSN, M. Ed.
Middle School Nurse
Phone: 717-528-4113 x3740
Fax: 717-528-0034
Fall Musical
We are excited to announce our middle school musical for November of 2024, Disney's Finding Nemo Jr.! All students in grades 5-8 for the 2024/25 school year are eligible to audition for our show. Students can audition for lead roles, the ensemble, and apply to be stage crew members. It's going to "so totally rock"!
Please follow the link below for more information on the middle school musical audition process. The password is Eagles (case sensitive). The website must be password protected to ensure the security of the copyrighted material and the student schedule. Please do not share the site and password on social media.
https://jgrosskopf2.wixsite.com/bsmsperformingarts
Please reach out if you have any questions!
Thank you,
JoAnne Grosskopf
David Morning
Athletic Events
7th & 8th Football
Wed August 28th 4:00PM HOME vs York Suburban
Wed September 4th 4:00PM HOME vs Susquehannock
Wed September 18th 4:00PM HOME vs Delone Catholic
Wed September 25th 4:00PM AWAY @ Biglerville Middle School
Wed October 2nd 5:00PM AWAY @ Big Spring High School
Wed October 9th 6:00PM AWAY @ York Catholic High School
Wed October 16th 4:00PM HOME vs Hanover
Wed October 23rd 4:00PM AWAY @ Littlestown Senior High School
Wed October 30th 4:00PM AWAY @ New Oxford High School
7th & 8th Field Hockey
Tue August 27th 8th Grade 4:15PM/ 7th Grade 5:15PMAWAY @ South Western High School
Wed August 28th 8th Grade 4:15PM/ 7th Grade 5:15PM HOME vs West York
Wed September 4th 8th Grade 4:15PM/ 7th Grade 5:15PM AWAY @ New Oxford Middle School
Mon September 9th 8th Grade 4:15PM/ 7th Grade 5:15PM AWAY @ Hanover High School
Wed September 11th 8th Grade 4:15PM @ Eastern York High School
Tue September 17th 8th Grade 4:15PM/ 7th Grade 5:15PM HOME vs York Suburban
Thu September 19th 8th Grade 4:15PM/ 7th Grade 5:30PM AWAY @ Fairfield High School
Fri September 20th 8th Grade 4:15PM / 7th Grade 5:15PM HOME vs Littlestown
Mon September 23rd 8th Grade 4:15PM/ 7th Grade 5:15PM AWAY @ Biglerville Middle School
Wed September 25th 8th Grade 4:15PM/7th Grade 5:30PM AWAY @ Susquehannock High School
Tue October 1st 8th Grade 4:15PM/ 7th Grade 5:15PM HOME vs Kennard Dale
Thu October 3rd 8th Grade 4:15PM/ 7th Grade 5:15PM HOME vs Northeastern
Mon October 7th 8th Grade 4:15PM/ 7th Grade 5:15PM AWAY @ Littlestown Senior High School
Tue October 8th 8th Grade 4:15PM/7th Grade 5:15PM HOME vs Biglerville
Thu October 10th 8th Grade 4:15PM/7th Grade 5:15PM AWAY @ Hanover High School
7th & 8th Cross Country
Tue September 10th 4:30PM HOME vs Eastern York,South West and Kennard Dale
Wed September 18th 4:30PM AWAY @ Northeastern Senior High School
Wed September 25th 4:30PM AWAY @ Sunset Lane Park
Wed October 2nd 4:30PM HOME vs Central York, Dover and Spring Grove
Wed October 9th 4:30 PM AWAY @ Red Lion Junior High School Copper Beech
REMINDERS
Parent Pick Up/ Drop Off Procedures
As we gear up for the school year, we wanted to remind parents of our arrival and dismissal process in our car rider loop.
Parent Drop Off
Parents should use the 2nd loop that circles the parking lot when dropping off students. Please pull all the way up to the end of the walkway to provide enough room for all cars dropping off. The school doors open at 7:25am for student entry. Students are expected to be in their homerooms by 7:40 each day. When exciting the parking lot in the morning, a reminder that all traffic must turn right at the top of the middle school drive in order to maintain traffic flow during high school arrival.
Parent Pick Up
Parents that wish to pick up their students should park along the parent pick up loop, with the first car pulling forward to the end of the walkway. In addition, please do not block the entrance to the bus loop so that busses can pull forward into the loop. Students being picked up will be dismissed at 2:38pm daily.
Cafeteria
Bermudian Springs Food Service Department will be using the SchoolCafe software for online payments. Parents/Guardians will be able to add money to students accounts for a fee of $2.25 as well as track their students purchases www.schoolcafe.com
Please contact Judy Sterling at jsterling@bermudian.org, or 717-528-4113 ext. 2780.
Judy Sterling
Director of Food Service
Breakfast and Lunch Menus
Breakfast - Free
Lunch - Free
Deposit Forms - Used to add money to a student's account for Ala carte items.
Attendance and Family Trip Procedures
Absences
Regular attendance at school is essential to maintain a good academic standing. Excused absences include: illness, family emergencies, prearranged doctor and dental appointments, and pre approved trips and school activities. Other absences are unexcused unless prior approval is given through the main office. Prior approval should be requested by the parent or guardian in writing prior to the day of absence. After three unexcused absences, a notice of Illegal Absences will be issued. After a 1st Notice of Illegal Absences has been issued, a parent meeting will be scheduled in a attempt to support the family and student with attendance. Future illegal absences may result in the school presenting the attendance issue before the local magistrate. This can be monitored in your Sapphire Parent Portal.
Tardies
This year we will again closely monitoring student tardiness. For each accumulation of 65 unexcused minutes, the student will receive what will equal to a 1/2 day unexcused absence.
Excuses
Please provide the school with written documentation for all tardies and absences. Absences will be marked as unexcused until an excuse is provided. Upon returning to school after an absence, students must report to the office with written documentation signed by their parent/guardian. All written excuses must be provided with five school days of the absence.
There are numerous options for providing an excuse/note for your students' absence(s). Any of the following are acceptable methods to submit this documentation. As always, if possible please provide medical documentation.
Complete the electronic form at this link English or Spanish
Email a note/excuse to Mrs. Clouser at kclouser@bermudian.org at the middle school.
Send in a written note/excuse directly to the office with the student.
Excused Family Trips
A total accumulation of 10 excused family trip days for the school year is the limit allowed per student. Any additional days will not be approved. Please provide a weeks notice prior to the trip.
This form is available to request permission for your child's absence from school to participate in an educational trip. All trips must have prior approval. Please fill this form out and submit to your child's building secretary/principal for approval.
Educational Trip-Parent Request Form 2024-2025
Media Center
The Media Center is ready and anxious to welcome students back! All 5th grade students may check out two books at a time and 6th, 7th and 8th graders, three books. All checked-out books need to be returned within two weeks. Checking out books can be done in the media center or by using our online book check-out form.
* * *
Any 6th, 7th or 8th grade bookworms interested in being library helpers, please see Mrs. Smith during the first two weeks of school.
* * *
Our Scholastic Book Fair will be held in October. Look for more information in next month's newsletter.
Welcome back to books!
Mrs. Smith, Library Aide
Adult Education
Social Media
BSMS Live Stream News each morning starting at 7:40AM
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHBAxGcNh5xrxxo-Yu7Z-Rg
BSMS FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/BermudianSpringsMiddleSchool/
BSMS PTO FACEBOOK
Helpful Contacts
Mrs. Jennifer Shelley- Principal
Mr. Matt Jenkins- Assistant Principal
Ms. Sherri Umbaugh- School Counselor
Ms. Erin Green- Building Secretary
Mrs. Kayla Clouser- Attendance Secretary