SBMS Weekly Updates
August 27, 2017
Welcome back Pirates! We are excited to see our students tomorrow as we kick off the 17/18 school year. Our school community had tremendous success during 16/17 and we look forward to even more opportunities for our students this year. Our theme this year is "Join our club, be a Pirate!". We want all of our students to feel connected to Swansboro Middle School and to be proud of their pirate heritage. We had over 300 students to sign for clubs and extracurricular events on Thursday night at open house and look forward to a year filled with learning opportunities, friendships, academic and athletic successes.
New in 17/18 are revised attendance and behavior policies. Attendance and behavior were identified as our two target areas this year by our strategic planning team. With a focus on positive reinforcement, we will continue our incentives for academic success and great attendance by offering free ice cream on Mondays in the cafeteria for students who are passing all of their classes and who have had perfect attendance the previous week. We are stepping it up a notch this year and offering an exciting field trip excursion for student who keep their punches on their punch cards to under 6 each 9 weeks. Students will participate in training all day tomorrow to ensure they understand our expectations for their success in academics, attendance and behavior.
We are in need of parent volunteers to serve on our strategic planning committee. This committee meets the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 2:45 pm. Please contact Dr. Helen Gross at Helen.Gross@onslow.k12.nc.us if you are interested in participating. Our Pirate Parent Organization is also looking for parent volunteers and the first meeting is September 14 at 6:00 pm.
Please note our upcoming school happenings:
August 28: 1st day for students
September 4: Labor Day holiday - no school for students
September 5: Football
September 5: Papa John Pizza Night
September 7: Tri-M Induction
September 9: Pride yard sale
September 11: Parent Night 6-7 pm
September 12: Football & Softball
September 14: Softball
September 14: Pirate Parent Meeting 6:00 pm
September 15: Candyman kick-off 1:30-2:30 pm (fundraiser runs 9/15-10/2)
September 16: Rain date for Pride yard sale & 8th Grade Orchestra field trip
September 18: Softball
September 19: Football
September 20: Strategic Planning 2:45 pm
September 20: Softball
September 21: Early Release Day - all students will release at 11:25 am
September 26: Football & Softball
September 27: Fall pictures
September 28: Softball
September 29: Dance
October: Attraction book fundraiser
October 3: Football & Softball
October 9: Workday - no school for students
October 10: Football & Softball
October 16: Girls soccer tryouts
October 17: Football
October 18: Strategic Planning 2:45 pm
October 19: Early Release Day - all students will release at 11:25 am
October 19: Career Day
October 23-31: Book Fair
October 24: Orchestra concert
October 26-31: SCA Spirit Day
October 31: Football - Tailgating Party
November: Pride Fundraiser
November 1: Geo Bee
November 3: Dance
November 6: Girls Soccer & Wrestling
November 8: Girls Soccer & Wrestling
November 9: Early Release Day - all students will release at 11:25 am
November 10: Holiday
November 11: 7th Grade Orchestra field trip
November 13: Canned food drive
November 13: Fall picture make-ups
November 14: Pride celebration
November 14: Girls Soccer & Wrestling
November 15: Strategic Planning 2:45 pm
November 17: Candyman lunch/glow party
November 18: Cheerleading Competition
November 21: Girls Soccer & Wrestling
November 22-24: Thanksgiving holiday
November 28: Girls Soccer & Wrestling
November 30: Girls Soccer & Wrestling
December 1/2: Musical
December 4: Penny drive
December 5: Band Concert
December 7: Girls Soccer & Wrestling
December 8: Dance
December 9: Cheer Competition
December 11: Chorus concert
December 11: Basketball tryouts start
December 14: Orchestra Concert
December 16: Wrestling Tournament
December 21-January 2: Christmas holiday
Apply for Free/Reduced Lunch
New Attendance/Tardy Policy
Behavior Consequences for Tardies to School and Absences (per 9 weeks)
Tardy Consequences
4 tardies- After school detention
5 tardies - After school detention
6 tardies - Loss of extracurricular activities for the rest of the grading period
8 tardies - Saturday school
Absences Consequences
5 absences - Meeting with counselor and administration and Saturday school
8 absences - Intervention with school social worker
10 absences - Legal action and Saturday school
Attendance in Grades K-8: (Policy Code 4400)
1. Students with more than 20 absences (10 within the first ninety days and 10 within the last ninety days) in a school year shall not be promoted to the next grade except by determination of the principal/designee upon careful review of the student’s records.
2. When total absences (lawful and unlawful) exceed 10 days per semester, further documentation will be required (doctor’s statement, court documentation, etc.).
3. Make up work shall be assigned by the student’s teacher as deemed appropriate. All make up work shall be completed within a reasonable amount of time as determined by the child’s teacher.
4. Schools shall offer incentives to provide recognition of perfect attendance.
5. Students are expected to be in attendance to participate in instruction throughout the school day. Excessive tardies and early checkouts will be referred to the appropriate authorities and may also be considered by the principal when making a promotion determination.
Late Arrival to School, Check-Out and Withdrawal Guidelines
All students who enter school after 7:20 a.m. must sign in at the office and are considered tardy. There will be no checkouts after 2:00pm daily. Students must be checked out from the office, not from the child’s classroom. All visitors and parents must report directly to the office upon entering the building. To check a student out for part of a day, parents must give an excusable reason for the absence so that they remain in compliance with the compulsory attendance law (NCGS115C-376).
New Behavior Policy
1 - 3 punches: Warning
4 - 6 punches: Warning & Home Contact (phone or email)
7 punches: After School Detention (form sent home with student, parent signature required)
8 punches: After School Detention (form sent home with student, parent signature required) Intervention meeting with school counselor
9 punches: After School Detention (form sent home with student, parent signature required)
10 - 12 punches: Referral to administration; 1 day ISS; home contact by administration
13 punches: Referral to administration; OSS; home contact by administration
Swansboro Middle School
Email: Helen.Gross@onslow.k12.nc.us
Website: http://swansboro.nc.ocm.schoolinsites.com/
Location: 1240 West Corbett Avenue, Swansboro, NC, United States
Phone: (910) 326-3601
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sbms.pirates