Happenings @ the Hill
Volume 2, Issue 2
Meet the Teacher Night @ GHMS
Wednesday, Aug 14, 2019, 06:00 PM
1025 Dave Gibson Boulevard, Fort Mill, SC, USA
Please join me in welcoming our new Assistant Principal, Mrs. Caryn Scroggs!
As a graduate of Fort Mill High School and resident of Fort Mill since 1997, Caryn Scroggs is familiar with our community's history and tradition of academic excellence. After graduating Winthrop with degrees in Psychology and School Counseling, she began her career as a school counselor at Fort Mill High School, working primarily with 9th-grade students. Upon her husband's promotion to assistant principal at Fort Mill High School in 2012, she transitioned to a new role that still allowed her to serve students and the community at large as the Executive Director for the Foundation for Fort Mill Schools, a nonprofit organization providing thousands of dollars in grants and scholarships to the Fort Mill School District. She returned to school counseling in 2014 when she was offered a position at Nation Ford High School, where she served as the counseling department chair. When Pleasant Knoll Middle School opened in 2017, Caryn was afforded the unique and exciting opportunity to transition to the middle level, where she would help open a new school, establish a positive school culture, and build a counseling department from the ground up. Experiencing the joy and excitement that comes from working with middle-level students was the icing on the cake. The next year she became a member of the Pleasant Knoll administration, where she served as the assistant principal overseeing 6th and a portion of 7th-grade students. She has truly found a passion for supporting middle school students as they make the transition to young adulthood, build their character, and maintain a love of learning. Caryn and her husband, Gales have been married for 14 years and have two children, a second-grader, Quinn and a Kindergartener, Boone. Mrs. Scroggs will be replacing Mr. McCallum as the 7th grade level administrator and share 6th grade with Mr. Eppes. Mr. McCallum will be joining the Pleasant Knoll Middle School family. We are excited to welcome Mrs. Scroggs and we wish Mr. McCallum a wonderful year as he transitions to PKMS.
Parents of Rising 8th Graders - Field Trip Meeting
Student Schedules - Parent Portal Opens August 9 (Until then, you cannot login.)
Use Parent Portal - access the link below to learn how to use this tool.
http://fortmill.ss11.sharpschool.com/parents_summary_from_fmsd/parent_portal
If you are having any issues with Parent Portal, please notify Dawn Fite @ fited@fortmillschools.org.
Your student's schedule should reflect the format as seen in the image below. All students should have a homeroom listed as well as lunch.
6th grade core classes will be labeled as:
Lang Arts 6 or GT Lang Arts 6
Science 6
Social Studies 6
Math 6 or GT Math 6
7th Grade:
Lang Arts 7 or GT Lang Arts 7
Science 7 or GT Science 7
Social Studies 7 or GT Soc Studies 7
Math 7 or GT Math 7
8th Grade:
Lang Arts 8 or English 1-H*
Science 8 or GT Science 8
Social Studies 8 or GT Soc Studies 8
Math 8** or Algebra 1 H*
*These are high school credit/GPA classes.
**Math 8 is Pre-Algebra.
Why are the core class periods listed as two periods on the schedule/ (i.e. 1A/4B, 2A/5B, 4A/1B, 5A/2B, 1A/6B, 2A,7B, 6A/1B, 7A/2B, 3A/6B, 4A/7B, 6A/3B, and 7A/4B?
A denotes first semester - first half of the year or 18 weeks
B denotes second semester - second half of the year or last 18 weeks
Message for our WEB Leaders
Our 6th Grade WEB day is fast approaching along with the other beginning of the year activities for our WEB leaders. Here are some dates and reminders:
Our training dates for WEB Leaders are:
August 7 and August 8 from 8:00am-1:00pm.
Please plan to meet in our gym. Remember that dress code does apply. Be sure to eat a good breakfast that will hold you through each day. We will provide light refreshments.
WEB Day is August 14th. Our WEB leaders are expected to arrive by 7:15am and stay until 1:00pm. Please bring a lunch with you for this day to enjoy with our 6th graders.
Our Meet the Teacher event is the night of August 14th. Our WEB leaders are expected to be here to help with that event from 5pm-7:30pm (and, yes you will get to meet your teachers, too).
We are looking forward to a great WEB leader program this year!
For 6th Grade Students - WEB Day (Where Everybody Belongs)
See attachments below for more information.
Middle School Ends at 3:10pm. Our Academic Day Begins at 8:10am.
The first bell will ring at 8:02. Tardy bell will ring at 8:10. All students are expected to be in their homerooms (CHromerooms) seated and ready to begin the day by 8:10. The main hall door will lock each day at 8:10. Students not in CHromerooms and seated by 8:10 will be counted tardy. Parents do not need to sign in their tardy students. These students may sign themselves in when they arrive after 8:10 or arrive too late to be in CHromeroom seated and ready to learn by 8:10.
Homeroom Donations Requested
Tissues
Paper towels
Lysol/Chlorox Wipes
Colored copy paper
#2 pencils
Hand Sanitizer
6th Grade Supply List
7th Grade Supply List
8th Grade Basic Supply List
Basic Items:
3-ring binders with dividers (1 binder per core class (4 needed) ; with 4 dividers per binder (16 total dividers needed)
Notebook Paper
Pencils
Colored Pencils
Highlighters
Earbuds (for chromebook)
Ruler
Glue Sticks
Combination Lock
Subject-Specific Items:
Composition Notebook (1 for ELA and 1 for Science)
2 pocket folder (Science)
3 x 3 Post-it Notes (Science)
Graph Paper (Math and Science)
Red Pen (Math)
Lined Index Cards (Social Studies)
Graphing Calculator (TI 83 or newer graphing calculator for Algebra 1 H (GT Math in Grade 8) and TI 30X IIS scientific calculator for Pre-Algebra (Math 8)
FLEX Period
FLEX is a 30 minute period where students are able to receive additional instruction, complete make-up or missing work, study, read, complete enrichment and exploratory projects/assignments. This period of time is used for scheduled literacy and math enhanced instruction/remediation, our whole school read (One Book, One School), and meetings as well (Beta Club, Student Council, WEB, House).
A typical week for FLEX looks like this: M/F = Literacy or Math Focused; T/Th = Academics Focused; W = Meetings on a rotational basis. (i.e. Junior Beta Club, WEB, House, Student Council)
Cafeteria News
Our cafeteria serves breakfast and lunch each school day. Menus, nutritional, and allergen information are available on our district website and posted on television screens in the cafeteria. There is also a free App available for your smart phone called Mealviewer. The cafeteria offers extra items for purchase if money is available on your student’s meal account. All foods served by our cafeteria meet state and federal guidelines and the kitchens are tree nut and peanut safe.
There are three easy ways to pay for meals and extras:
1) Online via the district website’s Pay Fees lunch card feature. You are also able to see meal purchases and balances. You can set up email alerts for balances on Parent Portal.
2) By a separate check made out to GHMS cafeteria. The check should not include other school fees. Please note the child's cafeteria account number on the check. If the check is written for more than one child, each child's account number and the amount to credit to each child should be noted on the check. Include a phone number.
3) Cash is also accepted as payment; but, it is strongly discouraged as it can be lost.
*Transfer of funds from one sibling to another is also available via the Student Nutrition tab on the website.
The meal costs for students are:
· Breakfast=$1.35 Reduced Breakfast Price $ 0.30
· Lunch=$2.50/3.00 Reduced Lunch Price: $0.40
The price for adult breakfast is $2.30. Adult lunch is $4.00.
Applications for free and reduced-price meals are available at all times in the school office, in the cafeteria and on the district website and you can apply online at www.lunchapplication.com. Parents must reapply each year.
Our cafeteria does not deny students meals. We allow students to charge meals up to $15. Automated calls, emails and letters are sent out weekly for students who owe the cafeteria money. If your student owes more than $15.00, a charged alternate meal will be provided until payment is received or a payment plan is established. (Board Policy AR EF.)
At GHMS, parents/guardians are permitted to come eat lunch with their students but must sign in at our front office (using a driver's license) and obtain and wear a visible visitor's badge at all times.
What is the House System?
On opening day (first day of school), all 6th grade and brand new students will be sorted into their respective HOUSES at our closing ceremony of the day!
If you have a sibling at GHMS, you will be placed into that HOUSE.
Student Dress @ GHMS
The Fort Mill School District’s Student Policy JICA Student Dress/Uniforms states “Although the responsibility for the dress and appearance of students rests with each student and his/her parent/guardian, students are expected to show pride in themselves and their schools by having their dress and appearance in accordance with good acceptable standards. The school administration and board discourage extreme styles of dress and grooming. Students will dress in appropriate attire. Students are expected to dress in clothing that abides by the district dress code policy. Logos or clothing that promotes alcohol, drugs, tobacco, racism, hate, gang affiliation, nudity, or profanity is not allowed. No clothing or accessories are allowed to disrupt the educational process. The administration reserves the right to determine what is appropriate for school.”
Gold Hill Middle School students are expected to adhere to these administrative dress guidelines:
- Proper shoes must be worn at all times for safety reasons. Shoes with cleats may not be worn inside the building. Bedroom shoes/slippers are not appropriate for school.
- Shorts, dresses, skirts, etc. whose length is shorter than four inches above the knee are not appropriate for school.
- All tops/shirts must have sleeves that cover/conceal the underarm area.
- Tops/shirts must be long enough that they can be tucked into pants or shorts and shall cover the belt line when the arms are raised above the head.
- Tank tops, halter tops, crop tops, strapless tops, and see through garments are not appropriate for school.
- Sports jerseys must be worn with a sleeved shirt underneath that covers/conceals the underarm area.
- Underwear must not be visible.
- Pants/jeans with holes or tears/rips or that are tattered to the extent that undergarments are visible or that skin is visible higher than mid-thigh are not appropriate for school.
- Pants are to be worn around the natural waist line (no sagging).
- No headwear (hats, bandanas, caps, hoods, etc.) or sunglasses may be worn in the building by students upon arrival until dismissal.
- Long chains and jewelry which could be deemed a safety hazard or a distraction to the learning environment should not be worn.
- Accessories that distract from the learning environment will not be allowed.
If there is a disagreement between students and/or parents/legal guardians and the staff regarding the appropriateness of clothing, the principal will use his/her discretion to make the final decision.
Disciplinary action regarding the enforcement of this dress code policy is listed below:
Violations will result in the following:
- First offense – change clothes/in-school suspension (ISS) until clothes are brought
- Second offense – parent conference/ISS remainder of day, regardless; change clothes
- Third offense – ISS and/or detention, regardless; change clothes
- Subsequent offenses – suspension
Bus Riders
'routes"), not the animal. The student should know his/her bus number (black and white # signs on front and rear of the bus).
http://www.fortmillschools.org/departments/transportation
On this webpage: To find your student's route/bus number, please click Bus Transportation Routes from left hand column. Then, scroll the page to find Gold Hill Middle School. Select our school. This will download a pdf file of the routes. This document will have dates posted on them regarding how current they are to the route.
Food and Beverages @ GHMS
Food/Beverages: All food and beverages must be consumed in the cafeteria or other designated area as determined by administration.
Water may be brought to school for “during the day consumption.” It must be in a container that has a screw top (no straws) to prevent unwanted spills or damage to personal or school items. Teachers reserve the right to determine where these beverages are to be stored in their classrooms in order to protect electronic devices and other school property. Students who violate this rule will be asked to dispose of their food/beverages.
New Technology Plan - We are 1:1 for the 2019-2020 school year!
Cell Phones/Smart Watches Policy
Cell phones may be brought to school and used before or after school to communicate with parents. They must be turned OFF during the school day. Cell phones should be kept in lockers from 8:05am until dismissal. A cell phone may not be used during the day unless an employee at GHMS gives permission. The student may NOT use a cell phone to call or text parents during the school day without an employee’s permission. Devices may be used in the classroom for educational purposes while under the supervision and permission of a teacher.
· 1st violation – warning and confiscation of the phone until the end of the day.
· 2nd violation – ISS lunch detention and confiscation of the phone until the end of the day.
· 3rd violation – 1 day of ISS and confiscation of the phone until the end of the day.
· 4th violation – 1 day of ISS and confiscation of the phone until the end of the day.
· 5th violation and beyond – 1 day of ISS for each offense and a plan for future cell phone use at school involving a conference with the parent.
*Additional consequences may be added by discretion of the administration based on the severity of the infraction. Violation and refusal to give school employee the electronic device will also result in additional consequences.
Smart Watches: Smart watches may be worn to school; however, these devices will be treated like cell phones and must be kept in lockers from 8:05am until dismissal.
What clubs/extra curricular activities are we planning to offer our students?
- Student Council
- Academic Challenge Team
- First Lego League/Robotics/VEX
- UpStanders
- Book Club
- Chess Club
- Disc Golf
- All Inclusive Book Club
- Junior Beta Club
- Golf Squad
- Let Me Run
- Girls on the Run
Gold Hill reads! And, you can too!
Do you want an opportunity to be involved in your middle schooler's experience at GHMS? You can sign up to be a guest reader in one of our homerooms! We are reading and discussing I Will Always Write Back with all of our students this fall. This non-fiction book tells the story of how one letter changed the lives of two teenagers worlds apart. It is told in alternating chapters, so you would be responsible for reading approximately 1-2 chapters for the date you sign up for. If you'd like to preview the chapter(s) you will read aloud, have your student bring home the book prior to your date. You should plan on arriving to sign in at the front office with identification by 8:10 A.M. on your selected date(s). You are welcome to sign up for more than one date. We are excited for the opportunity to share this story with our students and discuss how everyone can be a difference maker. #bulldogsbuildabetterworld
6th Grade Sign Up Genius Link https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050945AFAF2FA5FF2-ghms
7th Grade Sign Up Genius Link https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050945AFAF2FA5FF2-ghms1
8th Grade Sign Up Genius Link https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050945AFAF2FA5FF2-ghms2
BBEL Academy
https://www.facebook.com/BBEL-Academy-367384486737986/
If you know of a business, or if your family, would like to be a sponsor for our annual BBEL Walk on September 6, 2019, please contact Angie Harms @ harmsa@fortmillscbooks.org. For $500 we would be proud to put your business logo/FAMILY NAME on our shirts, or for $300 we will list your business name/family name on the t-shirts that we will wear during the walk, sell to GHMS students and families to raise funds, and give to the students at BBEL Academy in Uganda. You might see your sponsored shirt on their facebook page this year!
Nurse's News
Our School Nurse: Mrs. Staci Hyde hydes@fortmillschools.org 803-548-8313
Any student who is not feeling well or has been hurt will be sent to the health room. The health room does not give any medication unless it is brought to the health room by a parent. Written instructions on how the medication is to be administered must accompany the medication. Aspirin can only be given with a doctor’s note. Parents are notified if the student is running a fever, vomiting, or is involved in an accident. It is absolutely necessary that we have current home and work information on file at all times. The nurse must be able to reach a parent or a contact person at all times during the school day.
Who is my student's Guidance Counselor? Administrator?
Ms. Ross serves as the 6th grade guidance counselor. Mrs. Dimaggio serves as the 7th grade counselor. Mr. Wesseling serves as the 8th grade counselor.
Mr. Eppes and Mrs. Scroggs will work together as assistant principals for 6th grade.
Mrs. Scroggs will serve as the 7th grade AP.
Mr. Eppes will serve as the 8th grade AP.
We also have a Mental Health Counselor (Mrs. Rachel Norris), School Psychologist (Mrs. Elizabeth Jackson) and a Behavioral Interventionist (Mrs. Brandi Ruth) on our staff.
Message from our PTA
- Stop by our table during Meet the Teacher to check out new spirit wear and pick up a flyer with our upcoming events, loyalty programs and much more.
- Our new PTA website will be launching soon! It's the only place you can rent the spirit rock, order Bulldog Ice and join the PTA. Plus, you will be automatically entered to win a $100 VISA gift card just for joining the PTA.
Woot! Woot! Wagon! needs donations...
Drop off some store bought items in our front office. Let them know the items are for the Woot! Woot! Wagon! A team will assemble to deliver these items to our staff as a staff appreciation surprise (includes all of the people we appreciate from our custodial staff to our cafeteria staff to our support staff to our teaching staff and paraprofessionals - all the folks that help GHMS to be the best!!!).
Items to donate include: bottled waters, juices, soft drinks, chocolate, candy, snack cakes, granola bars, fresh fruit, muffins, breakfast bars, k-cups, hot chocolate, beef jerky, cookies, etc. (anything that they can grab and go and consume on their short breaks). You may donate anytime of the year or as many times as you would like.
We will include your child's name on the cart as a sponsor so be sure to include his/her name on the item(s) you donate.
These sponsors are helping GHMS get a digital marquee this year!
Need access to your student's grades, attendance, meal balance, and other info?
Use Parent Portal - access the link below to learn how to use this tool.
http://fortmill.ss11.sharpschool.com/parents_summary_from_fmsd/parent_portal
Please note that we do not send home written progress reports. An email alert and this newsletter will include progress report dates encouraging you to check Parent Portal.
If you are having any issues with Parent Portal, please notify Dawn Fite @ fited@fortmillschools.org.
It's going to be a great year!
Christine V. McNeil, Principal
Website: http://ghms.fortmillschools.org/
Location: 1025 Dave Gibson Boulevard, Tega Cay 29708
Phone: 803-548-8300
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GHMS1998/
Twitter: @GHMSBulldogs