Warrior Beat
#worldchangingwarriors
Teachers' Day Song
Word for the Warrior....
We made it to the LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL!
YOU ARE APPRECIATED! If I HAD a way to pay you all a billion dollars, I would! Since I can't, instead, for Teacher Appreciation Week, EVERYONE is getting a JSMS MASK! You get a mask! And YOU get a mask! EVERYONE gets a mask! YAY!! They are SUPER cute and we will have those for you as you re-enter the building. Julia Blair made these, with love. See picture below.
This memo is full of information so please read it carefully.
As we close out this year, I really do want to thank you and convey how MUCH you matter. Every year when we end school, I get a little sad for a while because I know the impact you have on our kids (AND...I genuinely miss you all, too!). Even though we are closing school differently this year, the connection that you have continued to have with our kids online makes it seem a little more heartbreaking to say goodbye. Our kids have needed you now more than ever and you have met the challenge and risen to the occasion. THANK YOU for being a stable force and constant in the lives of our kids.
I cannot wait to see you all as we close out the school year (even if it is from six feet away)! I have missed our sense of togetherness and spirit. It will be great to see you, soon!
Proud to be a Warrior!
Holly
JSMS JAM...
End of Year Checklist
Teachers,
It is an exciting time when we can say we have distributed the
End of the Year Checklist and watch some of you race to finish
first!
There is no prize (lol) to finish first except for bragging rights!
JUST FYI:
--Teachers will need to come to school to complete end of year check-out procedures. We will adhere to social distancing and we will provide gloves and masks for all employees.
--We will use the honor system this year instead of signatures. No need to get signatures.
--There will be no professional activity and logs turned in.
--You will have no professionalism rubric needed either.
--Locks-Please take up the locks that are still on your lockers and use a hole-punched notecard and write the combination down and lock the combination to the lock to save for next year. For students who have already come to Sevier to clean out their lockers, we have collected those locks with combinations. When we return to school, teachers can come and get the number of locks that they need for their homeroom class.
--There will be a box in the office where you can put IEPs at a Glance and 504s that need to be shredded.
We need volunteers!
A-D: Monday, May 18, 8 am - 4 pm
E-K: Tuesday, May 19, 8 am - 4 pm
L-Q: Wednesday, May 20, 8 am - 4 pm
R-Z: Thursday, May 21, 8 am - 4 pm
We need volunteers (or IAs who have previously been doing telework) to help us make this happen. We understand completely that no one likely wants to sit outside all day. The more volunteers we have, the easier we can make this for everyone! If you can be present to help in our "Drive Through," please email Erika and let her know!
Friday, May 22--The Great Locker Clean Out
All Sevier and RNR teachers are asked to be present at school next Friday, May 22. Middle School is in a unique position because our students use lockers. Next Monday through Thursday, our students will be coming for a "Drive Through" in order to return items and retrieve items such as awards, yearbook, pictures, etc. Many studnets have already come to Sevier to retrieve items from their lockers, but we suspect many will not. Our custodians spend many days during a TYPICAL year cleaning lockers. In order to assist them in this process when we expect many lockers won't be emptied, we are asking that teachers help clean out the lockers this year. We will provide garbage bags to each teacher. For all lockers that have not been emptied, we need teachers to bag up the contents of each full locker and label the bag with each student name. Then, we will take student bags to the gym and line them up by homeroom. We will then make a call to families and we will ask that students pick up their belongings within two weeks. After that time, what is left will be discarded.
Below is information we received from Dr. May (Health Dept) that was communication to Jim Nash:
Ms. Johnston talked with Dr. May at the health department today. He confirmed 3 days is the standard to let items "sit" to allow time for the virus to die on the surface. The best method would be for items to sit and then clean/disinfect.
Please remind your staff that are involved with collection of items to wear appropriate PPE. (We will have gloves and masks for you.)
--Jim Nash
You can feel free to come that day to "check out" as well. You are free to come do your "check out" prior to that day as well, but if you like, feel free to do it all on Friday, May 22.
Teachers, KCS is asking that all of us complete the training below by May 29th.
It is a free course to us until that time and so we have to have completed this trainging by that date. It is 6 hours long. It is a variety of modules, so it is not necessary to complete it in one sitting.
Below is the email that was sent to you earlier. I just wanted to make sure eveyrone was aware that it needed to be completed soon.
I want to share a training opportunity with you that you may have already heard about and some of you have likely already completed. This is one of the trainings our instructional assistants have completed as a telework activity and everyone in our district who has participated (teachers, administrators, counselors, support staff) have all raved about how wonderful this training is. I'm planning to complete this as well. All teachers are being asked to complete the training before we begin the 2020-21 school year. --Rhonda Stringham
Trauma-Informed Training
Directions for Access: go to https://store.starr.org/Course/view/trauma-informed-resilient-schools and click Create an Account at the top using your email address and create your own password. Once you receive an email from them, you can login, select the course, add it to your cart, and at checkout type TRAUMAINFORMED (all caps) into the coupon box and click Apply Changes. Total Due will show $0.00. When you log back in, click My Learning and begin the course. There are 24 videos to watch and a guidebook for you to review. Once you have completed the videos, please take the TIRS final test to receive your certificate. Send your certificate to Erika Williams.
This N That
- Grades are due Friday, May 22, at 3:30 pm. All grades must be finalized by May 22. Related Arts teachers, remember that you must enter pass or fail for Q4. Academic teachers should not have grades entered in Q4. Directions for grade finalization will be sent by LeAnn Franklin in the coming days.
- Report cards will be distributed Wednesday, May 27. They will be posted to the Parent Portals or mailed for those without portals.
- Obligations need to be turned in to LeAnn by Monday, June 1. This includes library books, lost textbooks, missing locks,etc. It will NOT include missing chromebooks or repairs.
- Please remember that Q1, Q2, and Q3 grades are stored. If you make any changes in PowerTeacher, please notify me so I can update in PS. Also, only make changes if the grade would be higher.
- All parent/student portals will be disabled at 3:30 pm on Friday, June 5.
- PowerTeacher will be disabled at 3:30 pm on Thursday, June 11.
Professionalism Conferences
From Jennifer Guthrie...
This is to let you know that the SafeSchools annual training is now available. This is the set of online training modules that are typically sent out during the summer to be completed at the beginning of each school year. We decided to proceed with making this available during the closure period to allow some additional time to complete the training. This will count as completion of annual training for the 2020-2021 school year.
*If you have turned in retirement or resignation notice for the end of this school year, then you do not need to complete this training.
DUE DATE: Training must be completed prior to the start of August 3, 2020 (start of the school year) by all employees. (*Please note below for non-certified staff where completion may be assigned as part of telework.)
You may note that Human Trafficking Awareness was added to the training. This is now required by state law to be an annual training.
You can login directly to your SafeSchools account through the SafeSchool link under the staff tab on the Kingsport City Schools website. You will use your k12k email address and last 4 digits of your SSN to login. Or, you should be receiving notification via email of your training within the next 24 hours and you can access your account through the link sent to you in that email.
WHAT IF I ALREADY COMPLETED SAFESCHOOLS TRAININGS AS PART OF TELEWORK?
You still need to complete the annual trainings.
If you completed SafeSchools training earlier in March as part of the telework during the close of school, your trainings did not include these specific training modules with the exception of a few people. If you are one of those people who has already completed a specific training module in March, you do not have to do it again. The SafeSchools system already recorded your completion and you will receive credit for that training. For example, there were a few people who already took the Youth Suicide Awareness and Prevention training. You do not have to do it again.
CAN THIS ANNUAL TRAINING COUNT TOWARDS TELEWORK I AM DOING THROUGH THE END OF SCHOOL?
If you are doing telework in lieu of on-site work, this training may count as your telework depending on your work assignment.
For 10-month Non-Certified staff, this will serve as telework for the week of March 18th, unless otherwise directed by your supervisor.
Transportation, Maintenance and Custodial, SNS and Nursing: Please work with your supervisor on the completion schedule for this training.
DO I COMPLETE TRAINING DURING WORK HOURS?
Yes- For non-exempt (hourly) employees, training is expected to be completed during established working hours such that you do not have to incur additional hours to complete training. By making this available now, we hope to allow more opportunity to complete training during available work hours. Certain departments who are currently working on-site during their regularly scheduled hours, (such as SNS and Transportation), please follow the direction of your supervisor on the completion schedule.
For exempt employees (salaried), please complete training by the due date noted above as your schedule allows.
DO I NEED TO TURN IN CERTIFICATES OF COMPLETION?
No.
The SafeSchools system tracks completion. We do not need copies of certificates.
IF I PASS THE QUIZ, DO I STILL NEED TO COMPLETE THE VIDEO?
Yes.
The system will not log completion of training until you watch the videos and take the assigned quizzes.
Thank you and please reach out if you have questions or need assistance.
What I said to parents in the Warrior Connection (JUST FYI)....
Hello Families,
I have had several emails recently about student retrieval of items and return of items. I have also had questions about grades. I will answer those questions below, but am also pasting the prior communication that has gone out that includes a link with many of the questions that may be coming to mind. It is located on the KCS link at www.k12k.com
This week is our LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL! It is certainly, not how we would have chosen to end our school year. We miss the students and the lack of sense of closure is hard!
We look forward to seeing you next week! We will have a CELEBRATION TENT for students where they can pick up award certificates, promotion certificates and eighth Graders will receive a special promotion gift!
We appreciate your continuation of support and connection with us during this closure! We miss you all and wish the end of the year could have been the celebration with which we are familiar! For those of you who will return, our Back to School Bash will be better than every! For our eighth Grade students, we will certainly continue to follow your path and be your biggest cheerleaders!
Please know that even though the year is reaching an end, we are still here for you! Please reach out and call us or email if we can help you with anything! We are a Sevier Family and that never ends!
Proud to be a Warrior!
Holly Flora
Q: I have items that I need to return to or get from school. How/when should I do that?
Robinson and Sevier will hold a drive-thru pick-up/drop-off event at school, based on the first letter of the student’s last name (entry into the school will not be allowed during this event):
A-D: Monday, May 18, 8 am - 4 pm
E-K: Tuesday, May 19, 8 am - 4 pm
L-Q: Wednesday, May 20, 8 am - 4 pm
R-Z: Thursday, May 21, 8 am - 4 pm
Items that may be dropped off:
School-owned musical instruments (8th grade only...6th and 7th graders will keep instruments over the summer)
Library books
Textbooks
Athletic uniforms
Laptops and chargers (8th grade, those with a loaner device, and 6th/7th graders who wish to turn in their device for the summer)
Loaned calculators
Payment of outstanding financial obligations
Classroom library books
Items that may be picked up:
Yearbooks
Awards & certificates
Medications in the school clinic
Spring pictures
Other end-of-year information:
Refund checks will be mailed to the student’s home address.
Anyone needing to clean out a student locker should call the school to schedule an individual time.
An in-person promotion ceremony will not take place, due to health department regulations. Robinson and Sevier are preparing videos to honor our 8th grade students. These will be shared out via parent newsletters and social media.
Final Report Cards will be communicated through the PowerSchool Parent Portal or mailed to the home address (for students without a Parent Portal account).
Q: How will students in grades 6-8 have academic progress communicated to them during the COVID-19 closure?
A: Academic feedback will be provided in PowerSchool using the following three designations:
- Work is complete (with feedback provided)
- Work is incomplete (started, but not finished)
- Work is missing (no work attempted) (4/14)
- Related Arts Classes will be Pass/Fail. If students complete work, they will receive a passing grade. Fail will only be given if no work is completed.
Past Information Sent...
Dear KCS Families,
As we approach the end of the 2019-20 school year, a Frequently Asked Questions document has been developed to provide a wide variety of end-of-year information of which you need to be aware. The FAQ can be found online at www.k12k.com or by clicking here.
We continue to hope that you and your family are healthy and well! Have a great weekend.
School Pictures Have Arrived!
School pictures have arrived and are in the JSMS office conference room. If you ordered a school picture of your child and would like to come to the JSMS office, you may pick it up any workday between 8:00-3:00 each day. Also, pictures will be available for pick up the week of May 18th at your assigned up pick up day if you would like to pick them up when you pick up everything else.
Sports Pictures Have Arrived!
Yearbooks!
STREAMWORKS Virtual Camps K–8
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, June summer camps are going virtual! Join us for thrilling, fun, and exciting activities led by your favorite STREAMWORKS staff live from the STEM Gym via video teleconference (Zoom). K–4th grade students will meet M–F, 10 am –12 pm and 5th–8th grade students will meet M–F, 12–2 pm. Choose from several different summer camps (or attend all!) covering computer-aided design (CAD) Space Camp, Engineering Camp, and Coding Camp. Also, expect a few celebrity Zoom pop ins during the camps.
7th Grade Immunizations
TO ALL FAMILIES OF RISING 7th GRADERS:
Students entering 7th grade this fall are required to provide proof that they have had a booster dose of tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis vaccine (known as Tdap) by 7th grade.
Students are NOT ALLOWED to begin school on the first day of school and go to class if an immunization form has not been submitted to the school office.
As your child recieves these immunizations, please either mail immunization forms to Sevier or come by the front office of the school between 9:00-1:00 each day.
John Sevier Middle School
1200 Wateree St.
Kingsport, Tn. 37664
Please CLICK HERE to see a sample of the TN Immunization Certificate.
Physicals
All JSMS athletes must have a physical form filled out and signed by a doctor before participation in sports can begin. This includes practice.
Each athlete must have a new physical each year. Currently, physicals are good through the end of June. Beginning July 1, to practice or participate in any sport at Sevier, we must have a copy of your child's updated physical form.
Students may not practice during the month of July or begin practice the first week of school without an updated form. Fall sports that are immediately necesssary for updated forms are: football, cross-country, volleyball, cheer, dance.
You may either mail the physical form to our office, have the doctor fax it to our office, or turn it into our office any work day between 9:00-1:00.
Please CLICK HERE to access the Physical Form.
Summer Reading Choices for RISING 6th Graders
Summer Reading Choices for RISING 7th Graders
Summer Reading Choices for RISING 8th Graders
Free Childcare for Essential Workers
PLEASE respond to the 2020 CENSUS-When You Shape Education, You Shape Our Future
A Challenge from our own SS Teacher, Chris Carr!
I hope your quarantine time is going well. Yesterday, I had an idea. In our 7th grade class, we read lots of primary sources about the major events we cover in our curriculum. I thought it would be interesting to create a student book of primary sources from this unprecedented time we are in right now. After thinking about it some more, I thought it would be important to document the thoughts and actions of ALL KCS families, not just my own students.
What I am envisioning is a collection of diary entries, essays, poems, drawings, photographs, etc. showing the daily activities of our students, while we are waiting this out. Students and parents would email me their submissions, which I would compile using an online publisher, and then have printed into a hard copy, or copies. The result would be a book of primary sources by KCS families, that would give future students insight as to the fears, concerns, and daily life our children are experiencing right now. This could also give children a creative outlet to alleviate the stresses of isolation.
I'm asking each teacher to make mention of this in his or her Canvas or Google Classroom (or whatever platform you are using) lessons. Depending on the grade level, hand-drawn pictures or a few sentences would be great; you know the ability levels of your children. If you wouldn't mind telling parents to email their child's submission directly to me (ccarr@k12k.com), or if you could forward them to me, I can begin compiling them. I would like for the work to include the student's name, and age.
I'm sending this to everyone, because I want your submissions as well! This is your chance to tell future generations how you spent your time during the spring of 2020. Get creative! I'd like to have May 1 as the deadline for submitting work. That way, I can assemble the book, and hopefully have a hard copy, or copies, by the start of the next school year. Thank you in advance for your help with this endeavor. If I haven't made myself clear, or if you have any questions, please feel free to email me. Stay safe, and stay sanitized!