The mission of Honea Path Middle School in collaboration with the total community is to inspire lifelong learners who apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to become creative problem solvers, achieve personal success, and contribute responsibly as citizens in our diverse and dynamic world.

We had a great week back at HPMS! Next week is Spirit Week at HPMS, and we hope your students will participate!

1. Monday is Hawaiian Day. Students can wear a Hawaiian/tropical shirt or outfit.

2. Tuesday is Country-Western Day. Students can dress in country/western attire, and they are welcomed to wear a cowboy or cowgirl hat as a part of the theme. There should be no ball caps or other hats.

3. Wednesday is School Spirit Day. Students should wear HPMS gear or red, blue, and/or white.

4. Thursday is Book Character Day. Students are welcomed to wear a costume to represent a book character. This can include a school appropriate hat if it is a part of the costume; however, there should be no face paint, fake blood, fake weapons, sexually suggestive clothing, items that promote violence, or masks.

5. Friday is Neon Day. Students should wear neon clothing to school. It will also be a hat day fundraiser for our United Way Campaign. Students can pay $1 to wear a school-appropriate hat, and all proceeds will go to the United Way Campaign.

Once again, everything students wear should be school appropriate and within our dress code if not listed in the few exceptions above. Again, we are allowing hats on Tuesday and Thursday if they are a part of the theme. Friday is a hat day where students can pay a dollar to wear a hat. Face paint is not allowed throughout the week, and students should follow the other listed guidelines above for Book Character Day. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the school next week. We are looking forward to a fantastic Spirit Week! Go Cubs!

• The football team plays at HOME this coming WEDNESDAY at 5:30PM against Belton Middle! Go Cubs!
  
  
• We will have our next 2:30 early dismissal at HPMS on Wednesday, 10/30. This will occur every Wednesday throughout the school year. If your child is a car rider and you are able to pick them up at this time, we ask that you please make plans to be at HPMS by 2:30. We will run dismissal like we normally do for the first 10 minutes after the bell. After that, we will move students who have not been picked up to another location to wait for their ride. Athletes who play sports at BHP can be picked up at 2:30 rather than riding the bus; however, they cannot be dropped off at BHP until 3:35. They can also stay at HPMS until the shuttle to BHP arrives at 3:15.
  
  
• A message from the Town of Honea Path regarding Halloween this year:
  Due to the ongoing cleanup efforts from Hurricane Helene, the Town of Honea Path is focusing on ensuring a safe Halloween for our community, especially our children.
  With curbside debris throughout the neighborhoods, there is a heightened risk for children on the streets. We urge families to participate in our downtown "Trick or Treating" event or support local churches with their "Trunk or Treat" events. Safety is our top priority, and we want to ensure this event is safe for all involved.
  
  
• BHP Dance Team - Please see the flyer above for the BHP Dance Team. Tryouts will be open until 11/7. Students who make the dance team will dance at all BHP Varsity Basketball games.
  
  
• Little Bear Wrestling Clinic - There will be a free wrestling clinic open to all students grades K4-6th on 11/9/24. I sent an email with the attached registration form to all parents on 10/18/24. If you have questions, please reach out to Coach Strickland at wstrickland@asd2.org.
  
  

Morning Minutes

If your student is in need of some academic assistance, please see the information regarding the twice weekly study sessions that we offer on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week. This is available from 7:15AM-7:45AM, Tuesdays and Thursdays each week. This is a great, focused time to get on track each week!

Thank you,

John Michael Hall, Principal of Honea Path Middle School

CLICK HERE for the 6th Grade Newsletter

CLICK HERE for the 7th Grade Newsletter

CLICK HERE for the 8th Grade Newsletter

On page 3 of our handbook, we have asked that family members refrain from dropping off food, money, clothing, or other random items for students. Food and gifts in particular often create a disruption and more students requesting this from their parents. We appreciate your help in keeping our students focused.

We also ask that parents help us to remind students that they are to utilize the proper procedures for contacting home if needed. Student phones are to be turned off and put away throughout the day.

Once students have gotten permission from teachers or staff, we have phones available throughout the school for students to contact home in case of emergency, and our front office staff allows students to use personal devices if needed to contact home as long as they have gotten permission from office staff.

We appreciate your help in making sure students wear clothing that meets our dress code. The most common issues we typically see are shorts that are too short, tops that are too short and do not cover the buttocks when leggings are worn as pants, and tops that expose the midriff. The dress code can be found on pages 8-9 of the handbook. I have linked the handbook here!

Page 9 of the handbook covers items that are prohibited from school, including metal water bottles, wireless earbuds, and other objects that are disruptive to our learning environment. Many more things have been covered with your students over the past two days regarding the handbooks, and we highly recommend you review these with your students as well as the school year begins!

As always, I am happy to go into further detail if more is needed regarding the policies above. We are very blessed to have such supportive and understanding families who appreciate our efforts to provide a safe and focused learning environment for your children.

Please see this important message from ASD2 by clicking this link. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

Please be aware of the following expectations have been shared with students regarding Chromebooks:

1. These Chromebooks are for school use. If you transfer out of the school the Chromebook and charger must be returned to the school.

2. The hard plastic cases must remain on the Chromebook at all times.

3. Please do not put any stickers anywhere on the Chromebook, charger or case.

4. Do not write on the Chromebook, case or charger.

5. Make sure there are not ANY objects between the screen and keyboard when closing the lid.

6. Please do not eat or drink over your Chromebook.

7. Charge your Chromebook at home every night and leave your charger at home.

8. Keep all of your usernames and passwords secure. DO NOT share them with others.

9. The first accidental damage is covered by the technology fee. Any additional damages or intentional damage will result in a bill being sent home.

10. Report any problems to your teacher who will send you to Mrs. Totman and Mr. Hufham as needed.

We want you to be aware of these as well so that you can reinforce these expectations with your students to avoid fines or other complications with these devices.

This is a great resource from the state for students and parents. The link below is a quick Screencastify video that shows how to go to the Tutor.com program through discus. (No audio)

https://watch.screencastify.com/v/xXFJ54tuo7maIx8GiJDr

Visit our online MySchoolBucks School Store! Create your free account today to easily pay for your student’s fees online or on-the-go with the mobile app. With MySchoolBucks you’ll be able to quickly pay registration fees, browse school items, be notified when fees are due, and make payments from anywhere!

Get Started Today:

1. Go to myschoolbucks.com or download the mobile app
2. Create your free account and add your students using their school name
3. Add school items or invoices to your cart
4. Check out using your credit / debit card or electronic check

If you are interested in volunteering for the BHP Booster Club, please see this linked slide show (it launches from Google Slides). CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE PRESENTATION.

You can also contact Kelli Satterfield at boosterclubbhp@gmail.com for more information. This is a great opportunity if your student will be or is already participating in athletics at BHP!

Please continue to assist us in the mornings with drop offs. It is very helpful to us and the other parents in line if you will pull forward, at least until the end of the brick flowerbed wall out front to let your child out if you are in the front of the line. We ask that other cars behind the lead car to pull forward as well. This adds only a few extra steps for your student, but it goes much faster for everyone and helps everyone get to class on time if we can unload 4 or more students at a time out front. Students must be inside their 1st period classroom by 8AM in order to not be counted tardy.

We appreciate in advance your help with our updated dress code for this year. I ask you to please review these for yourself and with your students. They have been covered in school with the teachers, but we greatly appreciate your help at home. The most common issues we typically see are holes in pants that are far too large or too high, shorts that are too short, shirts that are too short or cut too low, exposed undergarments, and shirts/tops that aren't long enough over leggings. Please also note that we also don't allow blankets/pillows to be carried or hats/hoodies worn in the building.

If you’re interested in volunteering to help with the PTO, or if you're just interested in finding out ways to help support our students and teachers, please contact the PTO at https://www.remind.com/join/hpmscubpto for more information! We would love to have you involved!

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE 24-25 STUDENT HANDBOOK ONLINE

All HPMS students have been given a physical copy of the handbook, and they've all been asked to share this with you and have you sign the student behavioral contract/celebration contract.

Dress code and prohibited items list can be found on pages 8-9.

Discipline information, including cell phone policies, can be found on pages 15-22.

If you are unclear about the dismissal procedures, I have them listed along with a map below. We do ask that you follow them as they are listed to help us keep things running smoothly and safely. We are averaging a 7 minute dismissal each day which is fantastic for a car rider dismissal, and we appreciate your help in keeping it running smoothly.

Please make sure your car rider is picked up by 3:35PM each day at the latest.

The flyers above explain how students can utilize Tutor.com for free through scdiscus.org. Also, the link below is to a video tutorial that explains how it works and what features it offers. This is an excellent resource and we want to make sure all of our students have the information needed to access it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5vseB8vIXI

If you have more than one student attending HPMS, we ask that you follow the procedure for the eldest student. If you are carpooling, we ask that you follow the procedure for 8th graders.

6th Grade - 6th grade students will be dismissed to the front car line, and we will continue to have parents pull forward until you reach your child. 6th graders will be waiting down at the end of the sidewalk in front of the 4K building (except in cases of severe weather). We ask 6th grade parents to approach the school from the Main Street side of Central Avenue. This will keep us from backing up on to 252 from Brock, and it should require very little driving out of the way to get in line. We ask that you do not attempt to turn left from Brock into the front of the school as this is against the traffic laws on that road during school hours.

7th Grade - 7th grade students will cross the road to get in cars which will be on Park Ave. on the right side of the road. Please do not block the entrance/exit to the parking lot in front of the school when you are in line. Park Ave. is wide enough that if you will pull to the right, it will still allow traffic through on Park as needed. Once you pick up your student, please turn left onto Brock Ave. to help us keep that crosswalk cleared. We also prefer that you would get in line from the part of Central Ave. that runs behind the football field to avoid backing up traffic on Park. We realize this may not be practical for all.

8th Grade and Carpooling Students - 8th grade students will go to the parking lot across the street for dismissal. To make leaving easier for you, please park in the center column of spaces in the lot. We are also asking that you turn left out of the parking lot when you leave. We realize that this is less convenient for those of you who normally turn right, but it will keep from having two sets of traffic turning onto Brock Ave. at the same time and creating a bottleneck. If you are picking up two or more students, you are welcomed to use this lot as well, regardless of grade level.

We ask that you drive carefully around the school because there will be several different valves of traffic going to and from the school.

• 10/28-11/1 - Spirit Week
  
• 10/30- Football v Belton Middle - HOME - 5:30PM
• 11/4 - No School
• 11/5 - Election Day - No School
• 11/9 - Little Bear Wrestling Clinic (Grades K4-6) @ BHP
• 11/11 - Veterans Day Assembly
• 11/12 - Q2 Progress Reports
• 11/25-11/29 - Thanksgiving Break