The Pirate Post

Thank you for those that attended our Open House and Pirate Parents meeting this past week. Parent involvement is important for student success! If you couldn't make the 8th grade Fun Day planning meeting, but would like to assist with this event for our 8th grade students, please email Mrs. Faasii (jennifer.faasii@onslow.k12.nc.us). I am also including the link to the 8th Grade EOY Newsletter in case anyone missed it. Also, we have included the links to several resources that were used for our Open House Parent Session. We hope you find these helpful.

This week is National Assistant Principal Week. We are very blessed to have two amazing assistant principals at Swansboro Middle School, Mrs. Napier (michelle.napier@onslow.k12.nc.us) and Mrs. Reopelle (amanda.reopelle@onslow.k12.nc.us). I know that I could not do my job without their support, and I appreciate them dearly. Please take a few minutes to fill their inbox with words of appreciation.

This week is also Purple Up Week to support our military students and their families. Everyone is encouraged to show their support by participating in our Purple Up Spirit Week. Monday is pajama day, Tuesday wear red, white & blue, and Wednesday is Camo Day. Thursday students wear outfits from around the world and Friday everyone wears purple!

Don't forget that Wednesday is an Early Release Day, so students will be dismissed at 11:40 and bus riders will arrive home 3 hour earlier than usual. Wednesday evening there is an OCS Career Opportunities online event. If you interested, see the flyer below for more information. Thursday Tri-M will have a dress rehearsal from 2:45-4:00 pm in the media center. On Friday Colevanelli's Italian Ice will be on campus and students may purchase a cup for $5 CASH. Not that anyone could forget, but Spring Break is the following week, April 14th -April 21st. Students will return to school on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Parents, it is that time of the year when we ask for you to please take a few minutes to complete our Cognia Survey. This is a required survey and will only take a few minutes to complete. We do appreciate and utilize your feedback: https://eprovesurveys.advanc-ed.org/surveys/#/action/279340/25074

Congratulations to all students who earned the Altitude trip for positive behavior and grade for the third nine weeks. Sixth grade students will be going on Monday, April 7th, seventh grade students will be going Tuesday, April 8th, and eighth grade students will be going on Thursday, April 10th.

All permission slips, waivers and payment must have already been received by now in order for your child to attend.

Points to remember:

• Altitude Trampoline Safety Socks are required to jump (included in cost of field trip).
• No outside food or drink. Students who bring a bagged lunch will eat lunch on the bus.

• Close toed shoes are required for Clip n Climb.

• No hoodies allowed while climbing.
• All cellphones, watches, and jewelry are prohibited from being on the trampolines. We strongly recommend that these items are left at HOME, as back packs, cell phones, et. will be left at school in classrooms (unsecured).

Track and Field tryouts will begin on Tuesday, April 22nd! Any 7th or 8th grader interested in trying out, should complete the interest form posted on the Student Teams page. Athletes must meet eligibility requirements, have a current physical packet on file and have attended a sportsmanship meeting with a parent this year. For tryouts on April 22nd, athletes MUST be eligible to tryout AND have a ride to pick them up at 5:00 from the Annex gym parking lot on the day of tryouts. If you have any questions, please see or email Emily.Ross@onslow.k12.nc.us or Mark.Starlin@onslow.k12.nc.us.

Parents please take a few minutes to speak your child about the following:

* Do not share consumable items with other students, even food. This is a huge safety concern. Remind your child NOT to accept items from other students. Middle schoolers often find it funny to give other students harmful things. This is not funny and could be life threatening.

* Any item that is harmful to your body should not be brought to school or consumed at school. Items like energy drinks, supplements and medications of any kind, drugs, vapes, alcohol, etc. are prohibited from campus and will result in major consequences.

* There should be NO selling or trading of any items by students on campus.

* Restrooms are for using the RESTROOM only. It is not a place to hang out and not a place to vandalize.

Just because something is on Tik Tok doesn't mean it is a good idea; more than often it is a BAD idea. Thank you for your help in keeping our students safe and ready to learn.

ATTENDANCE- Please make school attendance a priority. When students are not at school, they miss out on important opportunities for hands on learning and discussion and this can never be recreated through a makeup assignment. Students get frustrated because they are behind their peers, and this often leads to students shutting down and giving up. It is also important that students are at school on time in class by 7:30 am, ready to learn. Rushing in late sets students up to have a bad day. Signing students out before dismissal (2:40 pm) also creates gaps in learning and sends the message that school is not important. Please make sure that your child knows that you value their education by making attendance a priority. Good school attendance is also great for their mental health and creates good habits for future employment. In order to be eligible for sports at SBMS, a student must be present for at least 85% of the previous semester. It does not matter if the absence is considered an "excused" absence or not. North Carolina also has truancy laws. It you do not comply with this law, Social Services and Law Enforcement will become involved. Let's avoid that and get our students to school regularly! Absentee notes can be email directly to our data manager (lesley.whited@onslow.k12.nc.us). We follow the OCS Board Attendance policy: Policy Manual (boardpolicyonline.com)

BEHAVIOR- Everyone deserves a safe and distraction free environment for learning. School rules and procedures are in place to help us achieve this goal. Please be proactive by discussing school rules and expectations with your child. When students make mistakes and break the rules, encourage them to accept the consequences and learn from these mistakes. Failure to support school discipline policies will lead to increased behaviors. Please help us in teaching our students that you don't have to agree with a rule in order to follow it and you don't have to like someone to be respectful towards them. This will set your child up for success at school and in the real world. We hope to be able to work with families in order to help our students through these difficult middle school years with the least turbulence as possible. Always encourage your child to put forth their best effort; hard work pays off!

COMMUNICATION- Effective communication is critical for success.

1. The teacher is always the first point of contact. If you cannot resolve an issue after meeting with the teacher, please schedule an appointment to meet with administration. Administration does not take walk ins as we are in classrooms, meetings, and working directly with students & staff during the school day. You may leave a message, and we will do our best to return your call within 24 hours. If you do not hear back within 48 hours, please reach out again as it may have gotten lost in the shuffle. The best way to reach administration is via email which is listed below or can be accessed from our school's website.

2. Please sign up for Parent Portal (paperwork will be sent home on the first day of school). This gives you access to PowerSchool where you can see up to date information on student attendance and assignments. Please check Parent Portal weekly to stay on top of missing assignments.

3. Pay attention to the weekly ALL CALL and EMAIL that is sent out every Sunday evening. If you don't want to listen to the message, no worries, the email contains the transcript as well as important links and some pictures too! If you are not receiving the call and email, please let our data manager (lesley.whited@onslow.k12.nc.us) know so that we can make sure your info. is up to date. This is the method that we will use to communicate with parents in the event of an emergency, so you need to make sure that you are receiving these calls and emails. If you use your cell phone as your primary phone in PowerSchool, you can opt in to receive texts as well. If you block us, you will not receive emergency calls either.

4. Check out our school website: Home - Swansboro Middle School (onslow.k12.nc.us)

5. Check out our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SwansboroMiddleSchool/

6. Remember, for safety reasons, we do not give out student information over the phone and all changes in transportation must be made in writing.

7. If there are custody issues, we must have a copy of the current custody paperwork on file with a judge's signature. If not, both parents have equal access to the student and their educational records.

If you have concerns regarding bus stops or drivers, please contact the Swansboro Transportation Department at 910-326-1436. Swansboro Middle School does not have direct access to buses. Communication directly with buses can only be done through the transportation department. If there are any emergency situations, we will send out an all call to parents; otherwise, please assume that everything is fine, buses are just running behind schedule. If you have an emergency, the best way to reach administrators is via email since we are often tied up in meetings and can't answer the phone.

page.highsmith@onslow.k12.nc.us

amanda.reopelle@onslow.k12.nc.us

michelle.napier@onslow.k12.nc.us

Riding the bus is a privilege, not a right. If your child does not follow the bus rules, they will be suspended from the bus. Disrespectable and unsafe behaviors will not be tolerated.

Check out the OCS Transportation website for more great information regarding buses: Home - Onslow County Schools

4/7/2025-4/11/25 National Assistant Principal Week

4/7/2025-4/11/25 Purple Up Week

4/9/2025 ERPD (release 3 hours early)

4/10/2025 Tri-M Dress Rehearsal – 2:45-4:00pm (in the Library)

4/11/2025 Colevanelli’s Italian Ice will be available for purchase for $5 cash, sponsored by

Pirate Parents

4/14/2025 to 4/21/202 Spring Break- Workday for staff Monday 4/21/25

4/21/2025-4/25/25 Public School Volunteer Week & Administrative Professionals Week

4/23/2025 Administrative Professionals Day

4/22/2025 Track Tryouts

4/23/2025 Baseball vs JCMS: (Home Game Starts at 4:00pm)

4/23/2025 School Improvement Team Planning 3:15-4:15 Media Center

4/24/2025 Tri-M Recital- 6:00-7:00pm (in the Library)

4/25/2025 Kona Ice (Hospitality) Tentative

4/25/2025 Interim Reports

4/28/2025 Baseball vs BMS: (Home Game Starts at 4:00pm)

4/30/2025 8th Grade Science NC Check In

4/30/2025 Baseball vs NBMS: (Home Game Starts at 4:00pm)

5/1/2025 School Principals Day

5/2/2025 School Lunch Hero Day

5/2/2025 5th Graders Visit SBMS (Auditorium)

5/5/2025 Baseball at TMS: Away games- start time TBD by host site

5/5/2025-5/9/2025 OCS Employee Appreciation Week, OCS Bus Driver Appreciation Week and Teacher & Teacher Assistant Appreciation Week- May 5-9, 2025

5/6/2024 Reading EOY Diagnostic

5/6/2025 National Teacher Day

5/6/2025 Mini Tri-Meet #1: Tuesday, 5/6 (Location TBD)

5/7/2025 National School Nurse Day

5/7/2025 Pirate Parents Meeting 9:30 in Pirate's Den

5/7/2025 Baseball vs SWMS: (Home Game Starts at 4:00pm)

5/7/2025 Teacher Luncheon sponsored by the Pirate Parents

5/7/2024 Math EOY Diagnostic

5/9/2025 Kona Ice sponsored by Pirate Parents

5/12/2025 Baseball at DMS: Away games- start time TBD by host site

5/13/2025 Mini Tri-Meet #2: Tuesday, 5/13 (Location TBD)

5/13/2025 Band & Orchestra Sign-Up Night 5:30-7:00pm (Auditorium, Choir, Orchestra, Band Room)

5/14/2025 Baseball at NPMS: Away games- start time TBD by host site

5/15/2025 Interim Reports

5/21/2025 Conference Championship Meet: Wed., May 21 (Location and Time TBD)

5/23/2025 8th grade formal- Annex gym 6-8 pm

5/26/2025 Holiday- No School

5/20/2025 Piano Concert- 6pm (Auditorium, Band)

5/22/2025 Band Concert- 6th - 6pm, 7th, 8th, Jazz- 7pm (Auditorium & Band Room)

5/23/25-6/6/25NC Extend 1 Administration Window

5/27/2025 Choir Concert- 6 TH, 7TH, & 8TH - 6pm (Auditorium & Choir Room)

5/28/2025 Athletic Banquet

5/29/2025 Orchestra Concert- 6th, 7th, & 8th - 6pm (Auditorium, Band, Orchestra, & Choir Room)

6/2/2025 Science EOG

6/3/2025 Math EOG

6/4/2025 ELA EOG

6/6/2025 Grading Period Ends

6/6/2025 8th grade FUN DAY

6/6/2025 Last day of school for the 2024-2025 school year for students