Dear AMS Cougar Families,

I remember when my boys were young that there were two time periods of the school year that seemed the most hectic, and the last week of school before winter break was definitely one of them. (The other time period was the last few weeks of the school year.) Well, looking at the calendar for Asheville Middle School this week, I see that this week will not disappoint in terms of activities. Here are a few highlights that I want to mention:

• Tuesday, December 13- Is Holiday Spirit Day. Whether your family celebrates Boxing Day, Christmas, Diwali, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, St. Lucia's Day, Three Kings Day or just enjoys thinking about the possibility of winter weather, students are encouraged to celebrate holiday spirit day with festive clothing that meets the dress code.
• Tuesday, December 13- Any 8th grade student interested in playing football at Asheville High School/SILSA should meet with the high school coaches in the AMS gym at 8:20.
• Tuesday, December 13- In conjunction with our United Way Community Night featuring Homework Diner, we also have a parent information event led by our Digital Lead Teacher, Stuart Annand. The session is entitled, "Parenting in the Digital Era: Tools to Keep Kids Safe and Healthy Online." Please consider joining our Digital Lead Teacher for a discussion on the various tools available to help parents establish safe and healthy digital habits for their children. Learn how Asheville Middle School laptops are monitored, best practices for teenage technology use at home, and apps that can assist parents as they promote and monitor safe and healthy cell phone usage by their kids. I encourage you to bring your family for the free meal in the cafeteria at 5:00 and then move over to the media center for this event at 5:30. We will also be hosting basketball games that evening, so even if you can not attend the Homework Diner, but are attending one or both games, I encourage you to step away from the games for a few minutes to check out this information. All families in the district are welcome to these events, so please share with other folks you know.
• Wednesday, December 14- Malaprop's will be donating 20% of all in store sales from 6-9pm to the ACS parent teams. Please consider stopping by to make some purchases.
• Thursday, December 15- This day will be full of music! At 6:30 PM at AHS/SILSA our Jazz Band will have its Winter Holiday Concert, while our Winter Chorus and Strings Concert will be held in the AMS gym at 7:00 PM.
• All week we are celebrating Educator Appreciation Week at AMS. Both the AMS PTO and the AMS PBIS/Traditions Committee have put together different events to celebrate the amazing educators that we have here.

The one thing that you may notice is not on this list is the Holiday Lunch that I mentioned last week. It was originally supposed to be this upcoming Tuesday, which is what we had published in the family calendar at the beginning of the year and on our website, but the date was changed districtwide to a week earlier and I missed that this shift was happening. Please accept my apology for this oversight.

Finally, I do have two other important announcements. First, the AMS School Improvement Team met this past week and approved two changes to the student dress code. Students may no longer wear full facemasks or sunglasses in the building. Students with a medical reason to wear sunglasses with a doctor's note will be allowed to do so. These updates were made based on safety concerns and the need to be able to identify whether or not someone is a student on our video cameras. We will begin actively enforcing this the week after the winter break. The second announcement is also about safety. I wanted to remind folks that the only safe place to pick up and drop off students is in the main car line. We have had several instances where there have almost been accidents when family members have tried to short cut carline by going into the parking lot or stopping on South French Broad. Please help us prioritize safety and use the car line for drop off and pick up.

Here's to another great week at Asheville Middle School!

Sincerely,

Jo Landreth

Principal

Asheville Middle School

• Students are not allowed to bring outside beverages to school in the morning. Examples: iced coffees, hot chocolate, Gatorade. They will need to finish these before they come in to the building. These items are also not permitted on school buses. Students entering school with them will be asked to throw them away.
• The dress code prohibits wearing pajamas to school.
• Cell phones should be in lockers from 8:30-3:30.

Please remind your student(s) of these expectations.

The AMS Capstone Trip Fundraising Committee is looking for items from local businesses that they can use in a silent auction to support our eighth-grade students on the Washington, DC Trip. If you are able to provide any items of value that could be used to raffle off/auction at Coverfest II in January, please contact Joe Hooten, at joe.hooten@acsgmail.net

Mark your calendars for an amazing evening of music at the Grey Eagle on January 15. This event will generate scholarship money for the AMS Capstone Trip to Washington, DC that our eigth grade students will be taking this spring. Click here to buy your ticket. If you are on Facebook, please share this event on your page.

Tryouts:

12/7 3:30-5:15 media center sixth-grade students only

12/13 3:30-5:15 media center seventh & eighth grade students

Students must attend tryouts.

Pickup is from 5:15-5:30 in front of the school.

If you have questions, please reach out to sponsors, Geoff Warren (geoff.warren@acsgmail.net) or Glenn Grizzard (walter.grizzard@acsgmail.net).

Asheville Middle School is returning to the Speech and Debate scene after a break during the pandemic. Sixth grade teacher Guinevere Hartman, in collaboration with student leaders from the Asheville High School/SILSA Speech and Debate Team, will be coaching. All students are welcome and encouraged to participate. The club will meet on Thursdays from 3:30-4:55 in Ms. Hartman's classroom. Pickup will be in front of the school at 5:00. If transportation is a barrier to participation, reach out to Mrs. Landreth, and she will work on a plan. Practice started on Thursday, December 1, but the team is still open to additional members.

We love volunteers! Please get prepared now so that when the opportunity arises you can jump in to support our students. In order to work with a student or go on a field trip at AMS, you need to be a Level II Volunteer. That requires a one-time volunteer training AND an annual background check. Please go ahead and register for a training today. Spots are limited!

ACS Volunteer Training Schedule for 2022-2023

All level II volunteer training will be held virtually for the 2022-2023 school year. There are 20 slots available for each session. The sessions last 30 minutes. Please register at the Sign-up Genius link below

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090F4BA5A92BABFB6-acsvolunteer1

You will need to attend the entire session in order to receive credit for the training. Once the training session starts, you will not be allowed into the Zoom session. Attendance will be taken at the end of each session.

Wednesday, December 14, at 12:00 PM (Virtual)

Friday, January 13, at 12:00 PM (Virtual)

Monday, January 23, at 12:00 PM (Virtual)

Monday, January 30, at 12:00 PM (Virtual)

Link to the Background Check form: https://bib.com/secure-volunteer/ASHEVILLE-CITY-SCHOOLS/home

Just a reminder from the AMS Family and Student Handbook:

Requests for educational leave should be completed and submitted to the principal at least two weeks in advance of the planned travel. No more than five days will be approved, and families must submit this form and students must submit the assigned work to have the absence coded as educational leave.

In order for an absence to be considered educational, the student must meet educational goals and standards as outlined in the Standard Course of Study. All standards are available here on the NC Department of Public Instruction website. These standards must be listed out on the form.

Educational Leave Form

Please complete this form if your student tests positive for COVID-19. Once this is completed, our COVID Coordinator, Josh Rigsby, will reach out to you about next steps.

School Health Program

A Division of the MAHEC Family Health Center

When to Keep Your Student Home from School

There are times when your student should not attend school. Keeping your student home at these times will prevent the spread of illness to other students at school. If you have questions, please contact your School Nurse, Lina Lam at 828-708-5328.

ILLNESS WHAT TO DO?

Difficulty breathing or other signs of serious illness - Keep student home. See Healthcare Provider.

**See COVID-19

Chickenpox

Keep student home until they have no new sores for 24 hours AND all sores are dried and crusted.

**During an outbreak of chickenpox, students who are NOT vaccinated for chickenpox (Varicella) and have been in close contact with someone sick with the infection will not be allowed at school for 21 days after they were last exposed to chickenpox, even if not sick.

COVID-19 (positive antigen or PCR/molecular test)

Keep student home until:

• It has been at least 5 days after the first day of symptoms (or specimen collection date if asymptomatic); AND

• It has been at least 24 hours since the student had a fever (without using fever reducing medicine); AND

• Other symptoms of COVID-19 are improving

**Student should wear a well-fitting mask for 10 days after the first day of symptoms to minimize the risk of infecting others, unless an exemption to mask use applies. The student may remove their mask sooner following 2 sequential negative tests 48 hours apart.

COVID-19 symptoms, including: • Fever or chills • Cough • Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing • Fatigue • Muscle or body aches • Headache • New loss of taste or smell • Sore throat • Congestion or runny nose • Nausea or vomiting • Diarrhea

Keep student home until:

• Student has received a negative PCR/molecular test for COVID 19 OR an alternate diagnosis from a healthcare provider AND: o It has been at least 24 hours since the student had a fever (without using fever reducing medicine); AND
• They have felt well for at least 24 hours

OR

• It has been at least 5 days after the first day of symptoms AND It has been at least 24 hours since the student had a fever (without using fever reducing medicine); AND Other symptoms of COVID-19 are improving

**Unless student has received a negative PCR/molecular test or alternate diagnosis, they should wear a well-fitting mask for 10 days after the first day of symptoms to minimize the risk of infecting others, unless an exemption to mask use applies. The student may remove their mask sooner following 2 sequential negative tests 48 hours apart.

Diarrhea that cannot be controlled and/or has blood/mucus in it or with a fever

Keep student home. See Healthcare Provider.

**See COVID-19

Fever with oral temperature 100.4 F or higher and not feeling well enough to participate in class. Keep student home until fever-free for 24 hours without using fever- reducing medicine such as Motrin or Tylenol

**See COVID-19

Head lice

If lice are first found at school, student may stay until end of the day but may not return until treatment has been started and all live lice are gone.

Illness that prevents the student from taking part in class activities easily - Student may return to school when able to take part in activities.

Impetigo

Keep student home until 24 hours after antibiotics have been started.

MRSA

Keep student home if sore is draining and cannot be covered with a clean, dry bandage. Keep student home if they cannot keep from picking at sore.

Pink eye with white or yellow discharge or eye pain - Keep student home until seen by a healthcare provider and 24 hours after 1st dose of medicine, if prescribed.

Rash with fever or behavior change - Keep student home until seen by a healthcare provider and treated if needed.

Ringworm

If ringworm is first found at school, student may stay until end of the day if it can be covered. Student may not return until treatment has been started. Area must remain covered until completely healed.

Scabies

Student must stay home until after treatment is complete.

Strep throat

Keep student home until 24 hours after antibiotics have been started.

Vomiting 2 or more times within 24 hours- Keep student home until able to tolerate regular diet.

**See COVID-19

Monday, December 12: Wrestling @ AC Reynolds (4:30 PM)

Tuesday, December 13: High School football interest mtg in gym (8:20-8:50 AM)

Tuesday, December 13: French Broad Players Drama Team 7th & 8th tryouts in MC (3:30 PM)

Tuesday, December 13: Basketball v. AC Reynolds @ home (4:30 PM Girls followed by Boys)

Tuesday, December 13: United Way Cougar Community Night Featuring HW Diner (5:00 PM)

Tuesday, December 13: Parenting in the Digital Era: Tools to Keep Kids Safe and Healthy Online in the media center (5:30 PM)

Wednesday, December 14: Basketball @ North Buncombe (4:30 PM Girls followed by Boys)

Wednesday, December 14: Wrestling v. North Buncombe @ home (4:30 PM)

Wednesday, December 14: ACS Parent Team's Fundraiser @ Malaprops (6-9 PM)

Thursday, December 15: MATHCOUNTS practice (7:45 AM)

Thursday, December 15: Speech and Debate (3:30 PM)

Thursday, December 15: ACS Board of Education Regular Mtg @ 85 Mountain St. (5:00 PM)

Thursday, December 15: AHS/AMS Jazz Band Concert @ AHS/SILSA (6:30 PM)

Thursday, December 15: Winter Strings and Chorus Concert (7 PM)

Monday, December 19-Sunday, January 1- Winter Break; No School for Students. (OFFICE CLOSED 12/20-1/1)

Monday, January 2: Back to schools for students and staff

Tuesday, January 3: School Improvement Team Meeting in 219 (3:45 PM)

Tuesday, January 3: AMS PTO meeting in 219 (5 PM)

Wednesday, January 4: Basketball v. Erwin @ home (4:30 PM Girls followed by Boys)

Wednesday, January 4: Wrestling @ Erwin (4:30 PM)

Beyond two weeks, but worth looking ahead at:

Tuesday, January 10: AMS tours for prospective families (5:30-7:00 PM)

Thursday, January 12: Kindergarten Magnet School Night @ AMS (5-7:30 PM)

Sunday, January 15: Coverfest II: Fundraiser for AMS @ Grey Eagle (5-10 PM; Doors open @4))

Monday, January 16: MLK Holiday (No school for students or staff)