Stallion News

Dear Stallion Community,

Welcome to the home of the Mighty Slider Stallions. I am Brandon Rios, the proud Principal of William D. Slider Middle School. On behalf of our campus we would like to invite you to journey the many opportunities provided to our Stallion scholars and school community. Some of these opportunities include AP & Honor courses, Career & Technical electives, Synergi4, Mariachi, Orchestra, Band, Athletics and much more. We offer student leadership opportunities through Student Council, the National Junior Honor Society, Robotics, Art Club, UIL & through our Career & Technical Student Organizations. Our goal is to provide our school community with great customer service and our students a top-notch educational journey from grade levels 6 to 8. Our amazing educators and personnel have created a safe and supportive learning environment for our scholars to thrive.

William D. Slider Middle School has been:

• Designated as a Purple Star Campus &
• Nationally recognized as a Texas School to Watch by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform and the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals.

At William D. Slider Middle School, we believe that it takes a community to raise a child. We do expect our Stallion scholars to be:

• Respectful at all times.
• Attend school daily and be on time for all classes.
• Follow all dress code expectations.
• Complete all assignments and take initiative to attend our Saturday & extended learning camps to include our October & March intersession camps.
• Participate in our daily Stallion Academy (super school).
• Share their school experiences with you so that you are aware of their school life and
• Get involved in the numerous student leadership programs we have to offer.

Parent/guardian commitments:

• Make every effort to provide for the physical needs of our Stallion scholar.
• Strive to prepare our Stallion scholar emotionally and socially to be receptive to learning and campus wide expectations.
• Ensure our Stallion scholars compliance with school attendance requirements and promptly report the reasons for absences and tardiness.
• Help our Stallion scholar to develop proper study habits.
• Participate in parent-teacher conferences and school events.
• Be informed of the policies and regulations stated in the Student Code of Conduct.
• Ensure that our Stallion scholar is appropriately attired at school and at school-sponsored activities.
• Discuss report cards, progress reports, student data trackers and other communications from our campus with our Stallion scholar.
• Bring to the attention of school personnel any problem or condition that may relate to our Stallion scholar’s education.
• Cooperate with Slider Middle School personnel in their efforts "to achieve and maintain a quality high performing campus”.
• Arrange for drop-off and pick-up of students so that they are not left at school during unsupervised hours.
• Serve as appropriate role models for our Stallion scholars.

We would like for you to consider joining our school volunteer programs. Our Parent Liaison, Mrs. Edita Machin is available and can be reached at emachi@sisd.net or at 915.937.5421.

Our Stallion scholars will begin the school year on Monday, July 31, 2023. Our Stallion scholars first period class will be posted outside the front window by Friday, July 28th at 5:00 pm. Once students get to school on Monday, July 31st, they will report to their first period class to receive their schedule for the school year. Please note that any student not in class for first period on the first day of school will be dropped from our system, we need all Stallion scholars in class, every day for each period.

Breakfast in the classroom (embedded into first period class) is from 7:45 am to 8:00 am and first period begins at 8:00 am. Our school day ends at 3:30 pm and buses will depart the campus by 3:38 pm.

Orientation for both parents and student will be on:

• 6th graders: Wednesday, July 26th at 5 PM inside the gym
• 7th &8th graders: Thursday, July 27th at 5 PM inside the gym

We will have open house on Monday, October 23rd beginning at 4:30 pm. Campus administration, counselors and teachers will be on campus to meet families and answer questions. Please make plans to join us.

Our campus counselors, Mrs. Butler and Mrs. Dieter will be working closely with our faculty, students and school community to incorporate SEL lessons during Stallion Academy each Wednesday. With Project Vida on campus, we look forward to working closely with those students and their families who may require additional services.

The amazing Stallion faculty and I are humbled to be part of this school community. I will be sending weekly newsletters through blackboard & Thrill Share to ensure that we keep you informed. We would also like for you to follow us on Twitter @Slider_Middle. We look forward to another successful school year at William D. Slider Middle School! Thank you, Stallion community, for your help and support!

Respectfully,

Brandon Rios

mrios11@sisd.net

#PrideInEveryStride

#StallionsUnited

#StallionsLeadTheWay

#TeamSISD

#Excellence

Stallion community, below is detailed information regarding our bell schedule and campus expectations.

Class Start Time: 7:45 am

Breakfast In The Classroom: Students will have daily breakfast in the classroom beginning at 7:45 am and finishing at 8:00 am.

Class Time: Each class is 45 minutes.

Stallion Academy: Built in intervention and acceleration time to assist all Stallion scholars with their academics. Daily from 8:53 am to 9:23 am (Campus Wide Initiative)

Zero or 9th Period: Only for Stallion scholars who are enrolled in their CTE class with Ms. Benavidez or Mr. Varela.

Transitions: All student transitions are 3 minutes.

A Lunch: 6th grade lunch time, 30 minutes, 11:00 am to 11:30 am, students first report to the cafeteria to eat, after 10-15 minutes students will be released to play in our backyard, visit the library or stay inside the cafeteria to listen to music. No food deliveries allowed.

B Lunch: 7th grade lunch time, 30 minutes, 11:48 am to 12:18 pm, students first report to the cafeteria to eat, after 10-15 minutes students will be released to play in our backyard, visit the library or stay inside the cafeteria to listen to music. No food deliveries allowed.

C Lunch: 8th grade lunch time, 30 minutes, 12:36 pm to 1:06 pm, students first report to the cafeteria to eat, after 10-15 minutes students will be released to play in our backyard, visit the library or stay inside the cafeteria to listen to music. No food deliveries allowed.

Class End Time: Classes end at 3:30 pm daily, students are not allowed to stay on campus if they are not participating in a campus activity such as: extended learning camps (tutoring), athletics, fine arts, student council, NJHS, cheer, etc. Security and campus administration clear the building afterschool & buses depart daily at 3:38 pm.

Activity Bus: An activity bus is available to students who normally take the bus. The bus is available Monday thru Thursday and departs Slider at 4:45 pm. The activity bus is not available on Friday's.

Dear 7th and 8th grade Slider Stallion's parents/students,

My name is Gustavo Hernandez and I am the athletic coordinator here at William D. Slider Middle School. Here is a breakdown of the upcoming sports schedule for the 2023-24 school year. Please be aware that all students must have a physical form on file and that their Rank one online sports documentation must be completed for a student to take part in 7th and 8th grade sports. We are attaching the physical form and the instruction to rank one sports. Completed physicals can be turned into the school beginning next week, July 17th. I will clear all student physicals as soon as I return from summer vacation.

1st Nine Weeks (Season 1 July 31st – September 27rd)

Baseball, softball, and soccer will start off our new school year. The first day of school, July 31st, will also be the first day of the tryout period. All students must have their physical on file and their Rank One online sport form completed to tryout/practice. No student will be allowed to take part without these forms on file.

Baseball/Softball

The tryout will begin the first day of school and will only last a few days. Student athletes will be set to compete beginning August 8th.

Soccer

According to the upcoming schedule, the first soccer games of the season will begin on August 5th versus Ensor Middle School.

2nd Nine Weeks (Season 2 October 11th – December 15th)

Cross country, football, and volleyball will be played during this new time period. For volleyball, will be the first day back from October break and the tryout period will begin at that point. Again, any student without their sports physical and Rank one documentation will not be allowed to take part.

For football, we will have practice October 11th and 12th during intercession

3rd Nine Weeks (Season 3 January 2nd – March 1st)

Basketball is scheduled to be played during this time period. The first day of practice/tryouts will be January 2nd. Again, any student without their sports physical and Rank one documentation will not be allowed to take part.

4th Nine Weeks (Season 4 March 13th – May 4th)

Track season will be upon us. Track will end the sports seasons for the 2022-23 school year. Again, any student without their sports physical and Rank one documentation will not be allowed to take part.
Please remember, students must have their physical on file and that the Rank One online documentation must be completely fulfilled. If any part of the Rank one documentation is not complete the student will not be allowed to participate. I hope this helps and if you should have any questions, please feel free to contact me at gherna20@sisd.net

Again, this only pertains to students that will be a 7th and/or 8th graders this upcoming 2023-24 school year.

Thank you,

Gustavo Hernandez

We wanted to remind our Stallion community about our cell phone/ear pods policy. Our policy states:

• Cell phones must be TURNED OFF at 7:45 a.m. and should remain off during the entire instructional/afterschool tutoring portion of the school day. Any cell phone out and visible during the school day including lunch time will be confiscated and must be picked up at school by a parent, regardless of how or if the student is using the phone.
• 1st Offense: Phone will be confiscated. Parents may pick it up on Friday after 3:15 p.m.
• 2nd Offense: & any time after: Phone will be confiscated. Parent may pick it up after school Friday a $15 fine is paid as per SISD Board Policy on the second offense and any offense thereafter.

It is the philosophy of the Socorro Independent School District and William D. Slider Middle School that all students should maintain high standards of dress. A committee of parents, students, and teachers adopted a uniform policy for Slider Middle School.

Shirts & Required Colors:

• Students will wear a white, navy blue, or forest green collared polo shirt with or without a Slider school logo.
• White, navy blue, or forest green T-shirts will be allowed only if they have the Slider school uniform logo.

Pants/Shorts/Skirts/Skorts Required Colors and Style:

• Students will wear khaki, tan, blue or black pants in good repair. No other colors permitted.
• Slim, regular, and relaxed-style pants and joggers are acceptable.
• Wide-leg and baggy-fit pants are not acceptable.
• The length of the pants must not touch/drag along the floor, and they must fit according to the waist size of the student.
• No military style cargo pants are permitted.
• Walking style/Bermuda style is allowed.
• NO ragged edge, daisy dukes, spandex or stretch pants (leggings), hot pants or short shorts are permitted.
• Shorts may not be rolled up. The length of skirts, skorts, and shorts must extend below the student’s fingertips when the student’s arms are extended at his/her sides.
• Capri style pants are permitted.
• Torn and slits of any kind are not permitted.

Jackets/ Sweaters Required Colors and Style:

• These must be zippered or button down and can be worn as seasonably appropriate.
• Jackets/coats must not cover the Slider logo while in the building.
• Thermals, turtlenecks, or solid school colored long-sleeve shirts may be worn under the Slider logo shirts during cold weather.
• Pull-over must be a white, navy blue, or forest green color with a Slider school logo.

Accessory Dress Requirements/Restrictions:

1. Caps, hats, bandannas, headbands, stocking caps and hoods etc. may not be worn. All of these accessories need to be left at home.
2. For reasons of health and safety the following will not be allowed: sunglasses worn inside the building, and jewelry/ piercings in lips, eyebrows, nose, tongue, chin etc.
3. No weapon like or oversized jewelry is allowed, including studded leather bracelets, oversized chains, or chained wallets. Beaded jewelry that uses fish line is particularly unsafe.
4. Shoes must be worn at all times. Closed toe and closed heel shoes are required. Shoes must have hard soles and be specifically designed for outside wear. Platform shoes (greater than 1 ½ inches) are not permitted for reasons of safety. Crocs (clogs) are not allowed on campus.

P.E. Uniform

The Physical Education Department at Slider Middle will require students to wear a P.E. uniform that has been approved by the Dress Code Committee.

• Students taking Physical Education classes are required to wear our Royal Blue PE Shirt.
  • The shirt can be purchased at: Pen Art Tee 11426 Rojas Dr, STE A 915-920-7588 or at Classroom Uniforms 11985 Pellicano Drive 915-855-7400.

Athletic bottoms (i.e., running shorts, leggings, joggers, or sweatpants in any color)

• NO SPANDEX
• Coach Brown, Coach Harder and Coach Munoz will provide our students a 3 week grace period to work on getting their PE shirts. All 3 coaches will share additional information with our students during the first few days of school.

Jeans and free dress are only approved through incentives provided by campus administration. Announcements will be done through our weekly newsletter.

Safety is a top priority at Slider. Please make sure to ONLY use the left lane to pass slowly and the right lane for picking up or dropping off our scholars. We want to keep our scholars and school community safe.

Stallions, below is the Stallion summer supply list to help you prepare for the 2023-2024 school year. Our Stallions are also provided a laptop as we are a DNA 1 to 1 campus. Many of the instructional resources we use are enabled by Schoology but a few of our programs/department require additional resources/items which will be shared with our Stallions the first few days of school by their teachers. The items listed below will assist our Stallions with getting a jump start for the 23-24 school year.

Stallion community, do you need to get a hold of one of our educators or office personnel? Below is a copy of our campus directories. Note: Teachers are currently on summer vacation and will return for staff development on July 24th, 2023. Our summer office hours are from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm and you can reach us at 915.937.5400.

Stallion community, if you are not receiving our weekly newsletters, please contact our PEIMS specialist, Ms. Amber Barajas at 915.937.5400.

We are always available to assist you.

Home of the Stallions

Website: https://www.sisd.net/williamdsliderms
Location: 11700 School Lane, El Paso, TX, USA
Phone: 915-937-5400
Twitter: @WDSlider_MS