HBMS Warrior Parent Update
Week of October 12, 2020
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Week of October 12, 2020
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
National Bullying Prevention Month
B Day - Periods 5,6,7,8
Start of Term 2
Volleyball Tryouts begin - must have valid physical to try out
Tuesday
A Day - Periods 1,2,3,4
Volleyball Tryouts
Wednesday
B Day - Periods 5,6,7,8
College Wear Wednesday - Wear your favorite college attire
Football Practice Begins
Volleyball Tryouts
Thursday
A Day - Periods 1,2,3,4
Volleyball Tryouts
Friday
B Day - Periods 5,6,7,8
Principal Corner
Thank you for your patience as the district transitioned to Dual Learning Models - Face to Face and Online. This has never been done before in FBISD and we expected and experienced lots of technology concerns. Not everything worked perfectly, but we were able to welcome back almost 400 Warriors to our building and another 600 in our virtual classes.
As the Term 1 grades are posted to Skyward Family Access on October 13, we hope the technology issues will be dramatically decreased for all our students and staff. We will continue our transition to dual learning models and you may see changes in Skyward as we begin to balance classes. I appreciate your patience. We will get to a good place and we will be able to recoup the missed learning in the classes to come.
Thank you to all the students that reported to campus. You all did a great job and followed all our new COVID prevention protocols. I have a few reminders, F2F students should:
- bring their iPad/laptop to campus each school day
- wear a face covering while on campus and receive a forehead temperature check
- complete the LiveWell Health Screening in Skyward each day for each F2F student
- once the screening is complete, initial the wellness check chart to show at school
- bring their school ID each school day (returning students should bring last years)
There has been a change to our grading guidelines for the remainder of the school year for online and F2F students. All secondary students will now have a minimum of nine (9) grades for each course: 6 Daily and 3 Major. Note: Please note that the minimum number of grades is reflective of each subject area. Daily grades will continue to count as 50 percent of a student’s grading period average, with major grades accounting for the other 50 percent of a student’s grading period average.
We are having our first Virtual Book Fair, see below for more information. We're excited about the work our new librarian has done and we encourage your student to request a library book and participate in the book fair. All breakfast and lunches in the cafeteria are free to every child, but your child can also bring their own lunch if they prefer. There are limited snacks available for purchase. We ask that you please deposit money into their online http://www.schoolcafe.com/fbisd account.
Thank you very much for your support, understanding and flexibility as we work to provide the best learning environment during a pandemic. I understand that it is a stressful time and I appreciate your support. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Ms. Cortez
HBMS Principal
Change to A/B Block Schedule
All secondary students will follow an A/B Block Schedule. This includes online and F2F students.
This means that students will alternate between A Days (Periods, 1,2,3,4) and B Days (Periods 5,6,7,8). We will no longer have the all period Wednesday schedule.
See the calendar below.
Coffee with the Counselors
November 3, 2020 at 9:00 am
December 1, 2020 at 9:00 am
Our counselors work with students by last name:
A-Gi Tamara.Carrell@fortbendisd.com
Library News - Virtual Book Fair
Virtual Book Fair - October 19 - November 1. Access information here: Hodges Bend Virtual Book Fair
Online students can also request a library book by using the form below. Once a book is requested, a date and time for pick up will be scheduled. For questions about the HBMS Library, please contact our Librarian at Shari.Wendt@fortbendisd.com
Special Education Parent Advisory Committee Representative (SEPAC)
Family Center Information
Drug Take-Back Event Soon
DHS Girl Bytes
Read below for upcoming workshop series that DHS will be hosting for middle schoolers.
For starters, even though women make up 50% of the labor force, there are only 28% of women in STEM fields. As a result, our club is hoping to improve this statistic, even if it's by a small amount, by holding workshops for middle school girls to gain an introduction into a few coding languages. The workshops we plan to offer this year include Java, HTML, Python, MIT AppInventor, Scratch, & SQL. We've already prepared the curriculum on our own, so we hope to spread our knowledge to the middle schoolers.
If you are interested, fill out the interest form at tinyurl.com/dhsgbworkshops and we'll send out more information to the email that you provide on the form regarding meeting links
Attendance is Important!
Email your absence notes to: AttendanceHBMS@fortbendisd.com
Student Daily Wellness Screenings (from FBISD)
Each morning, a District staff member will conduct no-contact temperature checks for all students and staff entering the building. Please allow for additional time during morning drop-off so that wellness checks can be conducted as students and staff arrive.
Parents will also be required to complete a daily pre-screen questionnaire, found on Skyward Family Access, for each student prior to 7:15 a.m. for elementary students and prior to 6:45 a.m. for secondary students. Parents are required to complete the Daily Wellness Screening before the student reports to school each morning to ensure a faster check-in process. This form must be filled out each morning, and cannot be completed before midnight. Note: Secondary (middle and high school) students will have the option of completing the Daily Wellness Screener within Skyward, using their own Skyward credentials.
Wellness Screening Process
Parents can access Skyward Family Access on their home computer, laptop, tablet or mobile device. (The Skyward Family Mobile Access app is available in the following app stores: Apple App Store, Google Play, Amazon and Windows Phone Store.)
- Log in to your account in Skyward Family Access
- Select “Today’s Screening."
- Complete the two Wellness Screening questions, and click “Save.” Based on your response for each student, a Wellness Screening Report will appear, with a green circle and a checkmark, indicating that your child is clear to attend school; or, if you’ve indicated symptoms, exposure, or a positive case, the system will provide next steps.
Note: Please be mindful as you submit the wellness screening, as only one submission is accepted each day, and cannot be altered once submitted. Students with cell phones should be prepared to show their results on the app to expedite the wellness screening process.
FBISD does not allow students with a fever over 100.0 degrees or greater to enter or remain in a building, and should a student exhibit any symptoms of respiratory illness or a fever of 100.0 degrees or above during the school day, they will be isolated from other students until they are picked up. They may only return to school when the following criteria are met: at least 24 hours has passed since they have had fever without the use of fever-reducing medications; AND the individual has improvement in symptoms (e.g., cough or shortness of breath); AND at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared. If the student wants to return after 72 hours, the student must obtain a medical professional’s note clearing them for return based on an alternative diagnosis or provide the school with a negative PCR COVID-19 test.
Reporting a Positive Case of COVID-19 or Exposure to a Positive Case
Hodges Bend Middle School
Website: https://www.fortbendisd.com/hbms
Location: 16510 Bissonnet Street, Houston, TX, USA
Phone: 281-634-3000
Twitter: @HBMS_Warriors