The Spartan Scoop

Chelsea Jennings, Principal

Aaron Tinnin, Assistant Principal

Rhett Barrett, Assistant Principal

Email: cjennings@sdale.org
Website: http://sms.sdale.org/
Location: 17051 U.S. 412, Springdale, AR, USA
Phone: (479) 750-8821
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smspartans/

Monday, August 12th:

• Welcome back, students!
• Camp SPARTA Schedule - Students will learn important school procedures and engage in team-building activities

Tuesday, August 13th:

• Regular M-T-Th-Fri bell schedule
• WIN Time: Advisory (Camp SPARTA, cont.)
  
  

Wednesday, August 14th:

• Regular W bell schedule - Early release Wednesday (2:10)!
  
  

Thursday, August 15th:

• WIN Time: Advisory (Camp SPARTA, cont.)

Friday, August 16th:

• WIN Time: Advisory (Camp SPARTA, cont.)

Mrs. Jennings, Principal (middle)

Mr. Tinnin, 6th Grade Assistant Principal (left)

Mr. Barrett, 7th Grade Assistant Principal (right)

• The school day starts at 8:05am and ends at 3:30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
• Wednesday is an early release day to allow time for teachers to collaborate on teaching and learning needs. The day starts at 8:05 and ends at 2:10pm on Wednesdays. Car riders will need to be picked up at that time.
• The doors and cafeteria will open beginning at 7:30.
• If you did not pay for a student ID at Open House, please send $5 with your child this week to pay for their ID and lanyard.
• If you need to check out your student early, please come to the front office. The latest a parent can check out a student is 3:00pm (or 1:40 on Wednesdays). For your student’s safety and security, we ask for an ID for all student checkouts. All people checking out students must be the legal guardian or on the “checkout list" from registration. To add a person to the checkout list, please come by the office.
• Make sure you have updated your information through Registration Gateway.
• I will continue to update you on news and events through our school newsletter, social media pages, and website. Please follow our Facebook page and feel free to reach out through Messenger with questions.

Please take note of our flow of traffic for car riders. Please do not drop students off at the front doors or use the bus lanes. There will be teachers on duty just inside the doors of the drop-off area (starred below) to greet your student and show them where to go. Please anticipate more car rider traffic on the first day of school.

There has been some synching issues with Rooms. You can expect a text and email notification to come through in the coming days with instructions for accessing Rooms with a special code. We appreciate your patience as we get this new platform up and running!

If you have a returning student, click here. Any student that has ever attended a school in Springdale School District, including Pre-K, is considered a returning student. Please update your child's information.

If you have NEVER attended Springdale and need to register, click here.

Springdale Public Schools has implemented a new bus routing system and parent portal to better communicate with families and to further improve student safety. The new program has the capability of texting and emailing families concerning any changes in their district bus service. This program is optional and only parents or guardians will have access to a student's bus schedule. Sign up and learn more here.

We will be offering our after school program again this year. Here is more information! Visit our booth in the cafeteria at Open House.

Find more information about purchasing meals and completing the Free/Reduced Lunch form here.

This RISE Behavior Matrix explains our rules and expectations across the building.

For the 2024-25 school year, there is a joint effort with other schools across the district to increase learning and engagement during class time by limiting students’ access to cell phones during school hours.

Student Expectations

Students may possess personal electronic devices at school; however, they must be turned off and stored in their locker from arrival to dismissal. Cell phones/personal electronic devices may not be used during the school day. Failure to comply with this policy will result in the item being confiscated. The school is not responsible for lost or stolen electronic devices. Smartwatches or any other devices used for texting or that become a distraction to student learning will be subject to the same consequences.

Consequences

1st offense: The device is confiscated, and the student may pick it up in the front office at the end of the day (Warning).

2nd Offense: The device is confiscated, and the parent will be required to pick it up in the front office during regular school office hours.

3rd Offense: The device is confiscated, and the parent must meet with an administrator to discuss consequences and/or make a plan before it can be taken home.

If your electronic device and/or electronic communication cause a substantial disruption to the learning environment and/or jeopardize student safety, it may result in a complete loss of device access at school, in addition to any disciplinary action for involvement. Inciting, filming, and sharing fights and cyberbullying will not be tolerated.

Parents or guardians who need to get information to their student during the school day may call the office.

Rationale:

Even though cell phones play an important role in modern society, they can be detrimental to students’ education. Below are some of the drawbacks in an educational setting along with links to additional information.

1. Poor academic performance: The addiction to their phones leads to poor academic performance. Students fail to pay attention while studying, their memory suffers, and their mind suffers from dullness and lethargy.

Smart Phone, Bad Grades?

1. Lack of focus: The virtual world that students view on their mobile phones is highly distracting. Students find it fascinating and spend hours lost in it. It can be misleading, confusing, and distracts them from their studies. Students’ academic performance tends to suffer badly.

The Negative Effects of Smartphones on Students

1. Anxiety: The wide array of video games and other applications not only disturb them but also cause anxiety in students. Students suffer from headaches and migraines due to constant phone usage, which further leads to anxiety and depression.

Frequent Cell Phone use Linked to Anxiety

1. Cyberbullying: Students often lack the maturity and the presence of mind to deal with cybercrimes or cyberbullying. They can fall prey to the negative elements present in the virtual world and suffer from anxiety and depression, besides low self-esteem due to the psychological bullying they might suffer at the hands of the cyberbullies.

Cyberbullying and Cell Phone Policy in U.S. Primary and Secondary Schools

1. Isolation and poor social interactions: Students who prefer spending time on their cell phones often lose themselves in the virtual world. Social maturation suffers and can cause serious mental health concerns.

How Smartphones are Contributing to the Loneliness Epidemic

1. Ethical Concerns: There is a lot of inappropriate content on the internet. Students, who are too young to differentiate between fact and fiction, find this mesmerizing and risk getting misled. The pull of the virtual world is so strong, that it increases social disturbance and raises many ethical concerns.

Ethics and Technology: Cell Phones

1. Accidents: The addiction to mobile phones is so strong that kids seldom let go of their phones, even while walking on the street, crossing the road, or worse yet, driving. This increases the possibility of being involved in an accident.

Cell Phones: The Most Dangerous Thing on the Road

1. Loss of sleep: Spending too much time on their phones disturbs students’ sleep. The radiations being emitted by mobile phones tend to disturb the natural sleep pattern and cause sleeplessness and the blue light emitted by the phones keeps the brain awake and alert even at night.

How Teenage Phone Use is Affecting Their Sleep

1. Vision Problems: Constant staring at mobile phones affects eyesight and eye health. Eyes tend to get dry and the vision blurry. The eyesight gets affected, too, and kids have difficulty reading. Using phones day and night ruins eye health and the repercussions last a lifetime. This is one of the worst negative effects of mobile phones.

The Impact of Smartphones on Children's Vision

1. Bad posture: Staring at phone screens for prolonged periods, with heads bent and shoulders drooped leads to bad posture, neck ache, headache, backache, and tendonitis.

Can Too Much Screen Time Affect Your Kid's Posture?

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