Heartland MS Family Newsletter

The sun is shining and it was another great week for our Hawks! It seems like all of our weeks are jammed packed full of events as we've hit the home stretch of our school year. I can't encourage our parents enough to be sure to check infinite campus and follow up with your student(s) on assignments and missing work. The end is drawing near and we don't want our students to be overwhelmed and trying to catch up last minute. With the end of the year comes Oklahoma State Testing. We will begin testing Virtual Edmond students this week and in-person students the week of the 21st. Hopefully you received Mr. McQueen's email communication yesterday regarding all things testing. Please be sure to look at the information to know exactly which days your student will be testing. It is of utmost importance that your student is present during those days! More information to come in next week's newsletter.

Additionally, we had cause for 2 big celebrations! Last week was National Assistant Principal's Week! Ms. Brown, Mr. McQueen, and Mrs. Williams are all dedicated leaders that work tirelessly to bolster teacher morale, motivate students, support their principal, create positive learning communities, and face the many unpredictable challenges that land on their desks daily! We celebrated them all week with gifts, goodies, and grub! We hope that they've felt the love this past week and know how appreciated they are for working everyday to support our Heartland community. Along with our assistant principals, we also recognized our fantastic 24/25 Staff of the Year! Mr. Shane Hohn - Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Alex Williams - Rookie Teacher of the Year, and Mrs. Cheryl Thatcher - Support Employee of the Year! Each year, staff at Heartland vote to recognize individuals that exemplify exactly what it means to be a Thunderhawk and it is such an honor to be chosen! We celebrated them by hosting dress up days to make sure they knew how much we loved and appreciated their contributions to our community. Both Mr. Hohn and Mrs. Thatcher were recognized and celebrated at the district's Celebration of Excellence hosted at Edmond Memorial High School last Monday! It was a beautiful celebration all things excellent at Edmond Public Schools!

I can not fail to mention how INCREDIBLE Thunderhawk Theater's, The Addam's Family, musical was!! Our drama department put on a SPECTACULAR production and our Thunderhawks did not disappoint! Thank you to all that were involved from the cast, set design, backstage crew, choreographers, directors, parents, teachers and many more!! I know that it was a labor of love and that so many hours of preparation went into such a fantastic production! A special shoutout to Ms. Stewart for pouring her heart and soul into the program and our Thunderhawks! The show was so incredibly well done and thoughtfully crafted thanks in part to her vision and creativity! This was an experience that our students will carry with them for many years to come and it was so wonderful to see our Hawks living their best life on stage! Bravo, Hawks... BRAVO!

Only 6 weeks/29 school days left before Summer (not that anyone is counting)! As always, should you ever have any questions, ideas, or suggestions please feel free to reach out to our office! Let's finish the school year strong, Thunderhawks!

WE ARE...HEARTLAND!

Respectfully,

Veronica Johnson

Principal, Heartland Middle School

405-340-2972

Hello, parents of future 7th graders! As we begin to think about enrollment for next school year, I wanted to make you aware of Oklahoma immunization requirements for students before entering 7th grade. All 7th-grade students will need to have documentation of a Tdap vaccine on file - this is typically given between ages 10-12 and serves as a “booster” to the DTaP vaccine given at an earlier age.

Alternatively, you may complete an Oklahoma Vaccine Exemption form and return it to the school.

Please email all immunization records to torie.moore@edmondschools.net.

Edmond Public Schools wishes to build strong partnerships with families by offering our parents and guardians the opportunity to access free research based and clinician-led live webinars to build resilient children. It can be hard to understand what your child might be going through. EPS welcomes you to join us from the comfort of your home.

Monday, April 22 from 6:00-7:00 pm

The final Daybreak session of this school year, Social Media & Youth Mental Health, is Tuesday, April 22nd from 6:00 to 7:00.It can be hard to understand what your child might be going through. Join this free webinar with Edmond Public School & a clinical expert from Daybreak Health to learn about social media & youth mental health, including:

• Understanding changes in child behavior and recognizing typical vs. concerning technology usage habits - Strategies to help kids spend less time on social media.
• Learning how to help keep kids safe online - Q&A with a licensed clinician

As you already know, the district sent out communication regarding the need to add additional minutes to the school day due to unforeseen inclement weather days. In order to stay in compliance with State regulations for required seat time, EPS middle schools are required to add 10 minutes to the school day making the day last from 7:35am - 2:25pm. I have dispersed the 10 minutes amongst classes adding 1 minute to all instructional class periods. I have created a graphic for you to reference below. Please note that this effective immediately. Should you have any questions regarding the new bell schedule, please feel free to reach out to our office. Thank You!

Now that we are in the process of running eligibility for OSSAA activities - there always tends to be some confusion as to when a student can and can not participate. Here are some bullet points to help define when a student can and can not participate.

• Eligibility is run mid-week. For example - we run eligibility on Thursday morning based on grades posted on Wednesday evening. If a student is listed as "ineligible" - that means they can not participate in any OSSAA games scheduled for the next calendar week of Sunday - Sunday. By OSSAA rules - students can still practice during that time. However, individual coaches may have other team rules regarding practice.
• Probation vs. Ineligible. The first week a student has a grade that qualifies them for the eligibility report - they are listed as "on Probation"... At that point in time - they can still participate and play in games. (Again - team rules may be more strict) If the student raises the grade by the next eligibility report run - their name comes off the list and they are good to go. If there is still a grade in question - the student becomes ineligible.
• If a student is listed as ineligible - AND - raises their grade (yay!!) the next time there is a grade in question -- they move back to the probation category. Therefore, there is always a week of grace after a student has worked to get their name off of the list.

Please feel free to contact Heartland Athletic Director Laura Brown with questions as I know it can be confusing.

Honesty - Being truthful in what I say and do

Enthusiasm - Expressing interest and excitement in what I do

Attentiveness - Concentrating on the person or task before me

Resiliency - Recovering from adversity and finding the inner strength to withstand stress

and do my best

Tolerance- Demonstrating respect for others who do not share my perspective

Leadership- Knowing the way. Going the way. Showing the way.

Accountability - Accepting responsibility for my actions

Nice- Dude. Be Nice!

Discipline- Choosing behaviors to help me reach my goals and finish strong!

Veronica Johnson - Lead Principal

Laura Brown - Asst. Principal, 8th Grade/Athletic Director

Dana Williams - Asst. Principal, 7th Grade

Paul McQueen - Asst. Principal, 6th Grade

Kim Treece - 7th Grade Counselor

Neika Jackson - 8th Grade Counselor

Cara Bowerman - 6th Grade Counselor

Email: heartland.middleschool@edmondschools.net
Website: https://heartland.edmondschools.net/
Location: Heartland Middle School, Explorer Drive, Edmond, OK, USA
Phone: (405)340-2972
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heartlandmiddleschool