POMS Weekly Patriot Post
Week of September 20 - 24, 2021
From the Principal:
Hello Post Oak Families –
Thanks to all of our families for their involvement in Parent Communication/Conference Day this past week and for helping our Fall Mega Blast Fundraiser get off to a great start! We are almost halfway to meeting our fundraiser goal of $15,000.00!!! Please continue to share our fundraiser information by email and social media. Students are still able to bring their Golden Tickets to receive prizes just for sharing 10 emails. Students that share 20 or more emails will be entered into the Raffle Drawing for a set of Apple Air Pods later this week! Thank you for supporting our amazing students!
Our PTO is hosting the first Sonic School Spirit Night of this school year on Wednesday, September 22nd from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. Thanks for supporting our PTO!
As you may be aware, there is a recent challenge on Tik-Tok called "Devious Licks" that is encouraging students to vandalize schools, steal from classrooms, and damage bathrooms in their school facilities so that they can post their activities online for others to view. This is extremely frustrating as it defaces our schools, inconveniences students, adds unnecessary work and stress for school staff, and costs our community (taxpayers) money.
Our students have been reminded of the importance of being responsible, respectful, and productive throughout the school day. Especially when using the restroom as we have had damage to several of our faucets. We will continue to work to investigate and identify students responsible for these acts of vandalism. Appropriate disciplinary consequences will be applied and restitution will be sought as applicable.
I encourage all of our families to discuss the importance of using our facilities properly and report any students who are doing otherwise. We appreciate the majority of our students who are doing the right things as we seek to address the few students engaging in these nonsensical and disruptive behaviors. Your partnership is appreciated as we all work together to protect our beautiful school.
Our students earned over 1,400 Patriot Pride Cards with 7th grade earning 630, 8th grade earning 473, and 6th grade earning 325 for exhibiting positive behavior! Many students used their Pride Cards to earn prizes or privileges. The grade level that earns the most Pride Cards during the month of September will have the opportunity to eat lunch outdoors! Our students continue to demonstrate respectful, responsible, and positive behaviors. Go Patriots!!!
We continue to do all we can to implement mitigation strategies to reduce the number of students that are impacted due to COVID and required quarantines. Please note that it is extremely important that students remain home if they are sick. This will reduce the number of staff and students that have to quarantine. Please understand that we want ALL of our students to be in school. However, both staff and students who are not fully vaccinated are required to quarantine for 14 days per current guidance.
Students that are quarantined may be invited to join their classes virtually by their teachers. All of our English, history, math, science, and world language teachers recently received OWL Cameras that allow students to view instruction virtually from home. Teachers will also provide work electronically and/or by hard copy for those students that are quarantined.
Additional quarantine information can be found in the SCPS ReEngage Plan. Your understanding and support is appreciated as we work together within the current operational procedures to remain safe and healthy.
Feel free to contact our main office with any questions at 540-582-7517.
Sincerely,
Scott Belako, Principal
Join Us for our First POMS PTO Spirit Night at Sonic Drive-Thru
Reminders & Announcements
VDOE Growth Assessments - please see the attached letter about the VDOE Growth Assessments that students will be participating in on September 28 (math) and October 5 (Reading).
Last Week we kicked off our fall fundraiser. Our campaign concludes on Wednesday, September 29th. There is no product, no selling, no money collection or delivery. It takes just five minutes of your time. The money we raise during this program will be used to fund student PBIS incentives, classroom materials to support hands on learning, and enhance our outdoor learning spaces. Students can win five awesome prizes for registering and loading 10 emails into our system. It’s easy to participate. Please use the following link - www.themegablast.com/join/POMS - to register and set up your student’s personal donation page. On this page, you can invite TEN (10) friends and family to join our efforts by sending them an email. By sending out 10 or more emails via your personal donation page, your child will win an official Tik Tok Popsocket, a mobile plug in disco ball, a bag of Warhead Sour Chewy Cubes, a Mega Blast band for incentives and $500 in Tuition Reward points. Once 10 emails have been loaded, have them turn in their Golden Ticket tomorrow to redeem it for these prizes. Students that earn $75 or more in donations from emails and shares will go to the Rick Smith Jr. Card Throwing event (video link below) and can also win additional prizes (see link below). Thank you again for your support of POMS! Click these links for more information on our campaign.
KICKOFF VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/605502817
RICK SMITH JR. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvNTcB6c-V8
PRIZES: https://storage.googleapis.com/megablast-production-external-files/prizes-chart/1631202972017.pdf
Outdoor Classroom Canopy Donation Drive - We have partnered with the Belmont Foundation to begin a donation drive to purchase a permanent canopy for our outdoor classroom. Please use the following links for more information and if you (or an organization you know of) are interested in supporting this effort: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/100002533940837/posts/4413488282078926/ or the Belmont Foundation website - https://belmontfoundationva.org/donations
- Bus Transportation – Our bus drivers are going above and beyond to cover multiple routes due to the driver shortage. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding when buses are later than expected. Please note that requests for students to ride a different bus (bus passes) will not be accepted due to mitigation strategies and transportation challenges. All students are required to wear a face covering/mask while riding the school bus to and from school.
- Masks/Face Coverings – Recent CDC guidance and Virginia Public Health Order requires all students, staff, and visitors to wear a mask/face coverings in public indoor spaces (schools). We greatly appreciate everyone’s cooperation as we work together to remain safe and healthy!
- Water Bottles – Students are encouraged to bring/carry a water bottle with them throughout the school day. Filtered water filling stations are available throughout our school.
The 2021-2022 Instructional Calendar is available on the SCPS website and can be viewed using this link.
Directions for ParentVue - can be viewed using the following links: Directions in English and Directions in Spanish.
- POMS PTO - Be sure to LIKE and FOLLOW the POMS PTO Facebook Page.
POMS Athletic Information
We are looking forward to a successful Fall Athletic Season:
- Basketball & Soccer HOME 9/20 v. FMS
- Basketball & Soccer AWAY 9/22 @ TMS
- Soccer HOME 9/23 v. CMS (Make up Game)
- Football AWAY 9/23 @ SMS (Legion Field)
Volleyball Camp - The Massaponax Volleyball Team will be hosting a Panther Pup Middle School Tryout prep camp on Friday 10/15 and Saturday 10/16. Middle School tryouts for Spotsylvania schools begin on Monday, October 18th! This link will take you to a registration form with the details about the camp. If you have any questions, please text, call (804-938-5269) or email (jcox@spotsylvania.k12.va.us) Coach Joe Cox.
Please contact Sarah French, Athletic Director, at sfrench@spotsylvania.k12.va.us, or 540-582-7517, ext. 6417 with any questions.
Post Oak Middle Schools
6959 Courthouse Road
Spotsylvania, VA 22551
(540) 582-7517