What's new with Watkins Middle?

• Families are reminded that in order for their students to attend school they need to complete the parent portion of final forms. The process takes only a few minutes to sign off for renewal. Sign in here. Students also need to sign in to sign off on the student handbook. Those students that have not signed off will need to do so prior to picking up their schedules.
• Schedule pick-up days are for Thursday, August 8th & Friday, August 9th. On both days students may enter the building to pick up their schedules. They can then walk the building, and try out their locker combinations. No schedule discussions will be entertained at this time. Computers will be available for students to complete their final forms who have yet to do so.
• Please take a look at the drop off map below regarding AM & PM drop off routes.
• We had a few changes take place over the summer, as some of our leadership team has been promoted to take on leadership positions in other buildings. We would like to congratulate Mrs. Keene on her Principalship at Kirkersville, and likewise we are excited for one of our counselors, Mrs. Matheny who will be joining Mrs Keene at Kirk in a new challenge. We will miss them, but wish them well! As a result of these changes we are pleased to announce the following women who have stepped into these leadership roles:
• Mrs. Keller has moved from the Dean of students position to Assistant Principal.
• Mrs. Kalina has assumed the new Dean of students position from her role as an intervention specialist.
• Mrs. Parker has moved out of her role as a Health and P.E. teacher and will be our new school counselor.
• WMS also added a few teaching positions for the 24-25 school year, in addition to other new staff joining us. Please help us in welcoming...
• ELL (English Language Learners) teacher, Ms. Miriam Ponce.
• 8th grade intervention specialist, Mr. Zach Robertson.
• 7th grade intervention specialist, Ms. Megan Posey
• 6th grade intervention specialist, Ms. Angel Taylor
• 6th grade Science teacher, Mr. Collin Linnabary
• Physical Education & weight lifting teacher, Mr. Nick Eader
• Physical Education & Health instructor, Mr. Kamden Siewny
• 8th grade Health instructor, Ms. Danielle Davis.
• Multi-grade intervention instructor, Mr. Kade Johnson
• We also welcome our new building I.T. staff member, Mr. Kyle Jones, as well as a new evening custodian, Mr. Dale Helton.
• Planning on monitoring your child's grades this year? Once school begins you will want to sign up for 'Progress Book' access. If you are new to the building you will likely need to wait until the start of school. See directions on how to do so by clicking on the progress book button below.
• Please be aware of, and share with your child, the following policy changes for the 24-25 school year.
• Cell phones must be turned off and away. This was always historically the policy at WMS, but last year we attempted to mirror the high school practice of using cell phone holders. The move back to this policy means that students are not permitted to have cell phones out for any reason during the school day. Why you may ask? Overwhelming Scientific evidence demonstrates increased levels of distractibility heavily correlated to smart phone use at school with pre-teens and teenagers of this age grouping. The WMS leadership team conducted a book study this summer in attempts to support students in the development of their executive functioning skills due to the increasing levels of student distractibility, and its impact on student learning. More to come on this!!
• Bookbags will not be permitted in classrooms. WMS houses over 1100 students, and most classes are capped out a 28. The classrooms sizes are not conducive to 28 students, plus 28 bookbags on top of it. This creates movement barriers, and tripping hazards. All students will be assigned a locker and will be expected to use it. For decades, all middle school students had to follow this expectation. The pandemic and space issues in the old building forced the need for students to carry bags. We are blessed to be able to provide storage for each individual student in our beautiful new building. I suspect that hearing this will created some anxiety for a handful of students and parents. It will be ok! This is actually a much needed opportunity for students to work on developing time management, organization, and flexible thinking skills. Skills they will need to be successful high school students. More info to come later on this as well.

Please click the link below for all of your athletic ticketing and scheduling needs.

Hometown Ticketing

• Varsity Ticket events are $7 up to 1 hour before the event. At the gate tickets are $8 (use of a card includes a fee at the gate). Middle School tickets are $5.

• All athletes should enter and exit the building through the 600 hall (Door 7) entrance before and after practice each day.

August 8th Schedule pick-up 8:00am-2:00pm

August 9th Schedule pick-up 8:00am-2:00pm

August 15th 1st day of school, 6th grade only

August 16th All students start

August 22nd WMS Open House, 6:00-8:00pm

Email: jball@laca.org
Website: https://wms.swl.k12.oh.us/
Location: 8868 Watkins Road Southwest, Pataskala, OH, USA
Phone: (740)927-5767
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gowatkinsmiddleschool
Twitter: @WatkinsMiddle