Merrill FAQ

To report an absence, please call our attendance line at (515) 242-8358 or email at Merrill.Attendance@dmschools.org. If you will be picking your student up early, please provide as much notice as you can prior to your arrival. Students who are leaving early, regardless of the reason, must check-in and exit through the main office. As the school day winds down, classrooms and the office are busy and hectic. If you are picking your student up early, please make sure you are doing so before 3:00. Otherwise, students will be dismissed at 3:25.

The Merrill Nurse, Kelli Luft (MSN), provides health services for all 700+ students and staff. You can reach her via email at kelli.luft@dmschools.org or via phone by calling (515) 242-8448 (Ext. 5006). For non-emergency medical concerns, students are asked to make appointments online to see Nurse Luft to limit wait time and help with the traffic flow in and out of her office.

Click here for the Merrill Health Website, which includes information regarding physicals, dental screens, immunizations, etc.

Our school counselors are here to help! Kimber Foshe (Last Name A-K) kimber.foshe@dmschools.org and Emma Althaus (Last Name L-Z) emam.althaus@dmschools.org are available to consult with students and families regarding mental health. Each counselor at Merrill serves 350+ students. They meet with each student in the fall and the spring, push-in to classrooms for SEL mini-lessons, organize and facilitate small groups such as grief groups and attendance groups, manage 504s, and meet with students 1:1 who are in need of additional support, among a host of other things.

Once in the Infinite Campus app, click "Menu", then click "More", then click "Transporation". Here you will find the bus number, bus time, and the address of the bus stop. Middle school students must live more than 2.0 miles from Merrill to qualify for transportation. (6th Grade Families: Elementary students are eligible at 1.5 miles. If you live 1.5-2.0 miles from Merrill, this could impact your eligibility for transportation.) There are a few exceptions. For more information about rider eligibility, please click here.

Once in the Infinite Campus app, click "Menu", then click "Calendar". At the top of the calendar, there is a choice of Assignments, Schedule, or Attendance. Click "Attendance". Any date with a dot below it signifies an attendance mark - tardy, absence, etc.

Infinite Campus will provide you with information about your student’s progress in each course. The most current information will be shown via the learning-target (standard) scores. Please click here for step-by-step directions on how to access learning-target scores.

Please click here for the directory of Merrill teachers and staff. If you aren't sure who your student has as a teacher for a particular course, you can find that information in Infinite Campus by clicking on "Schedule", or by asking your student. Teachers have anywhere from 150 (core teachers) to 300 (extended core teachers) at any given time. Thank you for your patience as they respond to your emails.

While conferences have traditionally been an "event", they are not always timely. So, please don't hesitate to give us a call when you have a question or concern, and we promise to do the same. Conferences for the '24-'25 school year are scheduled for October 9 from 12:00 PM - 7:45 PM, February 10 from 3:45 PM - 7:45 PM, and February 11 from 12:00 PM - 3:45 PM.

Contact us anytime. We will do the same. We encourage all students and families to reach out at any time to visit. We can schedule a time to visit with you on the phone, meet with you virtually on Teams, or get together in person at Merrill.

In this system of grading and feedback, each teacher keeps track of students’ assignment scores, but that body of evidence is not entered into Infinite Campus. Instead of entering assignment scores into Infinite Campus, teachers now track student learning by learning target (standard), and they continually update the learning-target scores as students work toward grade-level proficiency.

Student progress for learning-target scores is entered in Infinite Campus using the following notations:

Exceeding Target (ET)—demonstrated learning above the grade-level expectation

Achieving Target (AT)—met the grade-level expectation (demonstrated proficiency)

Progressing Toward (PT)—working toward the grade-level expectation

Not Meeting (NM)—did not meet the grade-level expectation

No Evidence Submitted (0)

Once the teacher determines that there is enough evidence submitted for each learning target in a unit of instruction, he/she/they will then determine a numerical topic score.

At the end of the semester, topic scores are averaged to create a semester grade.

Linked below are several resources to further support your understanding of SRG.

• SRG 1-Page Summary
• SRG Overview for Families
• Video for SRG Overview: https://www.loom.com/share/6d2ea29b8f0849ceb2ffe66cfe650961
• Click here for a PDF about navigating SRG on Infinite Campus.
• Video for how to navigate Infinite Campus: https://www.loom.com/share/53845d73788247708c22ff6e88a9ec81

At Des Moines Public Schools, we are fortunate to have a computer for each student which allows us to address the educational needs of our students. While we recognize that cell phones are a part of our everyday lives, they are not a necessary requirement to meet curricular outcomes. In fact, cell phones are often a distraction to our students’ ability to engage in their learning. To maintain an optimal learning environment for all students and to ensure safety and limit distractions, cell phones may only be used before school and during lunchtime if they are used appropriately. Cell phones should be off or silenced and kept in the student’s pocket or backpack at all other times.

Students have access to the internet via school-issued computers. Cell phones, and the social media that often accompanies the phones, disrupt the school learning environment. Can students use their phones during passing periods? Nope, sorry. With only a few minutes to get from one class to the next and with over 700 people in our hallways, phones are off-limits during passing periods.

Families who need to contact their students during the school day should call the main office at 242-8448. Students needing to call home during the day may use the phone in the main office. Finally, students may check their cell phones for messages when school is dismissed at 3:25.

Making sure our global student body, families, and staff are connected is a top priority at DMPS. Snap!CNXT is helping DMPS to remove remaining communication barriers by providing two-way communication in 100+ languages.

Simply click here to enter your information and get your personalized code. Then, download the app, use the code, select your preferred language, and you’re connected! Messages from the district or your school arrive on your phone instantly and are kept in a social media-style feed for easy reference.

Navigate to the Merrill Website to find our weekly announcements posted on the "bulletin board". Here you will find the list of clubs, activities, and events scheduled for each day. Click on the Merrill Activities Tab for a list of each club and activity, along with a short description/more information.

Still have questions? Email our Student Engagement Coordinator, Martin Luft, at martin.luft@dmschools.org or give us a call at 515-242-8448.

We encourage all students to join a before or after-school club or activity. Each year we offer upwards of 30 different clubs for students to participate in including Battle of the Books, soccer, Best Buddies, Drama, Mustang TV, Minecraft, Gardening Club, All the People All the Time (APAT), and Girls Voices, to name just a few. Clubs and activities provide students opportunities to try new things, meet new friends, and engage more deeply with our school community.

Encourage your student to speak up and share both celebrations from the day, as well as any concerns or questions they might have. We want to know how students are feeling. Students can talk to a teacher or administrator, email a staff member, or tell a family member who can then call the school. We want to hear from you and work with your student as they navigate middle school.

At Merrill cell phones are required to be off and put away during class. For some students, this is a difficult transition. All students have been, or will be, issued a laptop computer to access 21st-century learning tools and inquire into the endless sources of information available at their fingertips. Now is the time to have conversations at home about screen time, when electronic devices are helpful, and how to recognize when devices become items that students are passively gazing at.

August is the time to practice the routines that will come in handy during the school year. Students should practice sustaining an enjoyable activity for approximately 50-60 minutes, which is the length of a class period. Have students select an activity from a menu of options such as reading a book from the public library, building something out of materials, listening to a podcast and sharing the highlights with you, or inquiring into a social issue and writing about it.

August is also the time to determine a reasonable bedtime and wake time for students that will be routine during the school year. The more accustomed students are to this schedule before school starts, the better. Children aged 6-12 should regularly sleep 9-12 hours, while teenagers should regularly sleep 8-10 hours.

Middle school is a big jump from elementary. Students transition from just a few teachers to having 7-8 teachers throughout the day. Many students will learn to navigate a new building that is 2-3 times larger than their elementary building. New friendships don't always develop overnight, but we encourage students to get involved, speak up, practice healthy habits, and use technology as a powerful learning tool. Over time, students will settle into the learning community and be the next experts to offer advice to our new group of Mustangs.

We have a very active and supportive PTA (https://merrillpta.com/) that walks alongside us and is always there with great ideas, monetary donations, and acts of kindness that bring joy to all. The PTA meets monthly and organizes events such as The Winter Olympics, fundraising drives for books and field trips, Helping Hands, Teacher Appreciation, Merrill Apparel, and anything else that students and teachers might need to enhance the Merrill experience. Thank you, PTA!

The PTA also serves as the Merrill School Advisory Council (SAC), which is a family-led collaborative team that strengthens communication and relationships between schools, families, and the community.

Merrill organized their council in December 2022. It includes parents, students, staff, and community stakeholders. The purpose of this council is to provide feedback to building leadership, develop solutions for policies/practices to improve the student and family experience at Merrill, and create more opportunities for family engagement.

Members engage in strategic conversations that center on three primary focus areas:

• supporting academic achievement

• improving school climate & culture

• strengthening family engagement

For more information, please contact simone.freeman@dmschools.org.

The DMPS Community Legislative Action Team (DMPS-CLAT) is made up of parents and other community members who recognize the need for more awareness of how specific legislative actions affect our schools, and actively advocate for policies that increase student success.

To be successful, this group needs one thing: YOU. It’s important that the voices of parents, grandparents, community members and others are heard by our legislators and the Governor so they know how important education and schools are to our children and all of Des Moines.

Click here to learn more.