SPARTAN SCOOP

Good evening!

Thank you so much for a wonderful two day SLC experience. It was so nice to welcome you all to Schmucker and see students interacting with their families and "talking school". Our bake sale was a tremendous success and the kindness of the folks that paid double or triple the price for items knowing we will feed some of our own over the holidays was great to see. Talk about IMPACT.

I am excited that the boys basketball season will be starting this week. We have a dedicated group of young men who are working together as a team. We have some much Spartan Pride and are excited to see what they can do this season.

Information about our "Sparty Party" on December 21, 2023, during the school day, will be coming out soon. This is our once a year, school-wide fundraiser. It is a great time for students to interact with one another and their teachers in a festive atmosphere.

Once again, thank you for the opportunity to work with your students. I hope you were able to spend some quality time together over the long weekend. As always, I am here to help if you need anything.

SPARTY UP!

#PHMExcellence

Congratulations to these nine Penn seniors who recently learned that they are National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists: Owen Black, Jacob Ciliberti, Lillian Gregory, Lily Meyer, Olivia Nijim, Noah Schafer, Connor Schmitt, Jayden Wang, and Felix Zhang! These Kingsmen have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,140 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered this coming spring to the Class of 2024. Nationwide, the Semifinalists represent less than 1% of all U.S. high school seniors; they are the highest-scoring entrants in each state. Click to learn more about the National Merit Scholarship program and the selection criteria.

Report Cards will be posted the afternoon of October 27, 2023. Please follow the directions below to access your child's first quarter report card:

• Login to Family Access

• Click on the Portfolio Folder for your student

• Click on the download button to download a PDF of the report card, called 1st Quarter Report Card October 27, 2023.

• Once the Report Card has been downloaded, you may view and/or print a copy

If you have more than one student, you will need to follow the steps for each child. If you are experiencing a technical difficulty, please send an email to familyaccess@phm.k12.in.us and we will assist you.

The 6th grade Social is Friday, October 27, 2023 from 4:00pm to 5:30. Mark your calendars. Tickets will be on sale next week during lunch. Tickets are $3.00 and we will have the concession stand open for amazing snacks. We are excited to have an amazing sparty party.

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to Schmucker. It will be in the building the end of October/beginning of November. To help you and your student make thoughtful choices, I am attaching the list of books for sale. Please know that copies may be limited, so you may want to pick a few.

Once again, SMS is proud to host a Veterans Day celebration on Friday, November 10th. The program will start at 9:45. Each year we encourage 8th graders to invite a veteran to join them at the celebration. The link below is the invitation and your 8th grader needs to fill it out and return it by October 30 to Room 203, Mrs. Schuster.

We will have a reception afterwards in the LGI with drinks and desserts.

Knowing there is dialog around the state about the Indiana Academic Standards, we continue to follow the direction of the Indiana Department of Education and Dr. Jenner as provided in this letter. If you have any concerns about your child's education, please work with your child's teacher for clarification or reach out to me at anytime!

Questions? Please see the assigned staff at each site to help answer your questions.

Parents,

Families have the option of receiving weekly emails outlining your students online activity while using Chromebooks. This online service is free and it gives parents an opportunity to maintain a safe learning environment at school and at home. Please click on the attached links to learn more about how Securly can help you.

• Click to read and download a copy of the parent letter that provides step-by-step instructions on how to set up your Securly Parent Portal.

If you see something, hear something, say something! The Safe School Helpline is a convenient, confidential way for anyone to report information about situations that might affect safety at any P-H-M school or building. You can call the number any time of the day or night to report concerns about unsafe or potentially disruptive activities or situations including drug or alcohol abuse, weapons, harassment, bullying or threats. All calls are completely confidential.

• 800-418-6423 (800-4-1-VOICE, ext. 359)

• TEXT: 66746, TIPS

• www.safeschoolhelpline.com

• Chromebooks- Sokun Kit (skit@phm.k12.in.us )

• Attendance- Linda Brown (lbrown2@phm.k12.in.us)

• Textbooks and Fees- Ashley Kirkpatrick (akirkpatrick@phm.k12.in.us)

• Special Education Teachers

• 6th grade- Emily Morin (emorin1@phm.k12.in.us )

• 7th grade- Allison Steele (asteele2@phm.k12.in.us )

• 8th grade- Allie Chrise (achrise2@phm.k12.in.us )

• Multiple Grades- Michael VanDurmen (mvandurmen@phm.k12.in.us)

• School Counselors

• Allie Piatt (Last Names A-G) (apiatt@phm.k12.in.us)

• Cara Watt (Last Names H-N) (cwatt@phm.k12.in.us)

• Andrea Hoover (Last Names O-Z) (ahoover@phm.k12.in.us )

• Athletics- Jim Modlin (jmodlin@phm.k12.in.us )

• Enrollments/Withdrawals/Address Changes- Aly Abel (aabel@phm.k12.in.us)

• PTO- (schmuckerpto@phm.k12.in.us)

Email: spsmith@phm.k12.in.us
Website: http://schmucker.phmschools.org/
Location: Schmucker Middle School, Bittersweet Road, Mishawaka, IN, United States
Phone: 574-259-5661
Twitter: @SMSSpartanPride