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The Panther's Claw
October 3, 2022
A Note From Ms. Dean
Welcome Parents, to The Claw!
Good Afternoon Parents,
To those of you who are new to the claw--Welcome! Did you know that a group of panthers is called a "claw?" I thought I should leave that little tidbit so you were aware of where "the claw" came from.
Congratulations! You and your students have successfully made it through the first grading period. Our first report cards will come out this coming Friday 10/7. Students will receive them in Homeroom before going to the Pep Rally. This Pep Rally, Phoenix House will attend in person and the rest of the homerooms will watch via the live stream. All Homerooms will have one opportunity to go outside for an afternoon of fun and one opportunity to participate in a pep rally each semester.
October, in general is a super busy month and this year is no different. I am going to keep this part a little shorter because I have a lot of information to get out to you regarding dates and activities on the campus.
Just a final reminder regarding communication platforms.
**Remember, all district information or any legal information that might be sent out from the school will be sent out via SchoolMessenger, not Remind. Please go onto HISD Connect and make sure your information is updated and correct. The computer will only pull from information in Connect.
Sincerely,
MDean
Highlighting our SuperStars on Campus
Devin Steen--Teacher of the Month!
Mr. Steen is one of our 8th grade science teachers here on campus and is new to campus this year. He loves to think out of the box and get kids engaged. Watch out parents, he also loves morning tutorials. Congrats to Mr. Steen!
Staff Member(s) of the Month--Karla Mendez and Marilyn Segura
Ms. Mendez and Ms. Segura do an amazing job around here. Ms. Mendez runs the 8th grade office and Ms. Segura is our Registrar, so if you have been around the front office at all you know Ms. Segura. Parents, these two were in a virtual tie throughout the voting process and they ended up tied. I felt like it was meant to be! Congrats to Ms. Mendez and Ms. Segura!
Nina Frey-Brinker--Student of the Month
Nina is a 7th grade student on campus. She ispart of the VG program, she plays in the band and is now competing for our UIL Debate Team. Go Nina! Teachers nominated and voted for students who represent the core values of FBMS and represented what we look for in FBMS students--Excellence in Academics, the Arts and Athletics. Congratulations Nina!
October Events
Volunteers Needed
October Events in Calendar Form
Important Dates for October(listed)--There are a lot of them!
10/3-10/7-- Hispanic Heritage Month Dress Days (See Flyer Below)
October 4/5-- Student Holidays
October 7-- Pep Rally Schedule--STAR Student Celebration/House Cup Competition
10/10-- Stomp Out Bullying(Students should wear blue)
10/11-- Emerging Bilingual Parent Meeting (Community Center--See Flyer Above)
10/12-- PSAT (All 8th grade Students)
10/12-10/19--Homecoming Week
10/12--Red/White Day--Come Support our 8th grade Football Team in your best school colors
10/12-- Color Run--Immediately after school (Flyer is Above)
10/13-- Sports Day--Rep your Favorite Team in your Favorite Jersey or Sports shirt
10/14-- HoCo Pep Rally
10/14-- Pink Out for Breast Cancer Awareness; 6th grade students may also Dress for the Dance
10/14-- 6/7th grade HoCo Dances
10/15-- 8th grade HoCo Dance
10/17-- FBMS Tailgate and 7th grade Game (Twin Day)
10/18-- Tacky Tuesday--wear your "Tackiest" outfit to support FBMS
10/19-- GAME DAY!! Black Out Pershing!! FBMS vs. Pershing 7:00 @Delmar
10/20--SDMC
10/24--10/28-- Red Ribbon Week (Activities to follow)
10/28-- Haunted Hallways
10/31-- Halloween Dress Up (Must be school appropriate)
In the classrooms...
Ms. King doing Team Building with her students
Ms. Thorne going over roles and responsibilities in the classroom
Ms. Strong doing Writing Wednesday
Ms. Kramer reviewing classroom expectations
Ms. Pete doing a community building activity
Mr. Spriggs with his Beginning Debate students
Coffee with the Principal--Topics of Conversation
Lunch Option for Claw Patrol--Lunch was made an option for parents to volunteer.
Soap, paper towels and toilet paper in the bathrooms at all times--Custodians refill and replenish those daily. If there is ever an issue, it can be reported and it will be taken care of.
Student ID's--All students should have ID's at this time. With the change in staff, we had to get access to the software and program key to run the software. This has been taken care of. Administrators are going class by class and ensuring everyone has an ID. Replacement ID badges are $5 after the initial badge is given.
Armed Intruder protocol--We follow HISD's protocol during all drills and classroom doors, windows and exterior doors are checked by the leadership team. Teachers are given feedback and the administrative team debriefs after every drill with the campus officer.
Bullying and tracking--Bullying is tracked in our internal campus behavior tracker as well as in HISD Connect. The campus follows the HISD code of conduct for disciplinary issues but also tries to mediate when possible. Issues involving bullying are always followed up with by counselors and deans.
Gate on Chantilly being locked and making the campus less porous--The campus follows the Risk Management protocol set by HISD. At this time, this is the gate which all HISD vehicles come in for deliveries, work orders, etc. so there is not a plan in place to lock that gate during the day. The faculty and staff have been addressed and should immediately stop anyone on campus who does not have an HISD badge or badge from the front office. Myself and the officer walk the campus daily inspecting and putting in work orders where necessary for safety.
Directing visitors to the main office--Our beautification committee painted the sidewalk leading to the main office bright red. #1--it looks great! #2--it is a visual directing people to the main office. In addition, I am meeting with a parent and the officer this week to look at signage which may make it more clear where visitors should go when on campus.
Campus and Community Opportunities for Growth...
In response to the situation, I sent an email to my staff alerting them to the issue going on. Immediately I began getting information of things they had seen or even addressed during classes, so I took this to my leadership team. Monday, 9/26, I presented the information and we began to formulate a plan. First, we did a 6th grade assembly to set the expectations and talk with students about how they should and should not handle conflict. Next, our counselors have been visiting Enrichment classes and formulating lessons and curriculum surrounding cultural awareness and respect for differences. Our counselors will continue to be in Enrichment or Elective classes throughout the month of October. Our counseling team reached out to HISD for some additional resources and have worked with the team at HISD to develop lessons which are specific to our school. Our counselors took the leadership team through some of those lessons this morning. As an administrative team, everyone is excited and on board. We will begin pushing those lessons out school wide in hopes of building a stronger school culture and community. Our Core Values are Community, Respect, Kindness, Ownership and Integrity. As we have been integrating these lessons into our Enrichment classes, we have decided these should also be implemented into our core classes as well.
Thank you for bringing these issues to our attention. I am a firm believer that education is the best equalizer. I also believe that we have to teach our young people how to act or they will not know. Please use this opportunity to speak to your students about cultural awareness. I will tell you the issue we faced was not a race issue, it was however, a socio-economic issue.
I have said over and over that I believe FBMS will be a premier middle school in HISD and in TEXAS. It is my goal for us all to work together to solve problems and continue to keep FBMS great!