Sugar Land MS Titan News
Week #6 - September 21, 2020
Greetings Titan Families,
I hope this message finds you and your family doing well, and that Tropical Storm Beta does not cause you to suffer any hardships. As stated in last week's newsletter, we continue to prepare for the upcoming transition to Face to Face learning. The campus leadership team and counselors worked all day Saturday and Sunday this weekend, in addition to working late into the night several days last week, mapping out the significant intricacies of a brand new schedule with two learning models. We still have considerable work to do, and we know that you may have many questions about it. Our goal is to keep students with their teachers as much as possible, but unfortunately, we know that there will be schedule changes due to limited classroom capacity with social distancing, identifying online and face to face teachers, and the various student enrollments for each class. It is a complex matrix of decisions that involves countless hours of planning and preparation by campus leadership and counselors. Please understand that this week the counselors and some of the administrative staff will be largely unavailable to take calls and return emails because of the level of work required to get student schedules ready for the upcoming transition. The good news is that this is only temporary. Of course, we are also ensuring that the building itself is ready to receive our staff and students, and a tremendous amount of work has been and continues to be done in that regard.
Teachers return to campus this week, as well, to start preparing for the return of students to campus. Therefore, please be sure to read the information below related to the asynchronous learning days scheduled for September 23, 24, and 25.
Much like we did before the start of the school year, we are looking to schedule some type of virtual orientations (repeated offerings) for the transition to our new schedule. This would likely occur the week of September 28. Look for more information about that in the next edition of this newsletter.
Please take time to check out the district's "Relaunch" website by clicking on the "Relaunch" logo at the top of this newsletter. This website goes into great detail about the transition into the two Learning Models (F2F and online).
Congratulations to 8th grader Addison M., for being named SLMS' Citizen of the Month by the Sugar Land Exchange club! She was nominated and voted on based on her academic successes, her hard work, good character, good sportsmanship, and other amazing qualities.
This newsletter contains the following topics:
- Week At-A-Glance
- Information Related to Asynchronous Learning on Sept. 23-25
- Timely Arrival to Online Classes
- Preparing to Return to SLMS In Person
- Immunization Update - IMPORTANT for Sports and Face-to-Face Students!
- Gifted and Talented (GT) Referral Information
- Attendance Information from Mrs. LaVergne
We continue to ask for grace and patience as our plans take shape. Thank you for your time and support of our school. Our priority is to serve our community in the best way possible.
Sincerely,
Keith Fickel, SLMS Principal
#GracePatienceOptimism
#BetterTogether
#InfinitePossibilities
#TitansOwnIt
The Week At-A-Glance
*Asynchronous means no Microsoft Teams meetings
Upcoming Dates
- September 25 - Progress Report 2
- October 2 - End of Term 1
- October 5 - start of new F2F / Online Schedule (more detailed info forthcoming)
- October 5 - Sixth grade students who selected F2F Learning Model return to campus (seventh and eighth graders continue working online but using the the F2F schedule)
- October 7 - Seventh grade students who selected F2F Learning Model return to campus (join the sixth graders already on campus; eighth graders continue online)
- October 9 - Eighth grade students who selected F2F Learning Model return to campus
- October 12 - Start of Term 2
TBD: Virtual Orientations to prepare students and parents for the transition back to school and into the two learning models. These will occur sometime mid-week the week of September 28
All Classes Will Be Asynchronous on September 23, 24, and 25
This is a reminder that on September 23, 24, and 25, all learning will be asynchronous in order to allow our awesome Titan teachers and staff time to prepare for the return of students to campus. On these three days, students will be required to complete coursework found in the Schoology folders for their classes on each of the given days, according to this schedule:
- Wednesday, September 23 - Periods 1 - 7 (no period 8
- Thursday, September 24 - Periods 1 - 4
- Friday, September 25 - Periods 5 - 8
Attendance will be recorded based on students' completion of the assignments found in Schoology for each day. Students will submit their work by for each course by 11:59 PM each day. See the chart below for specifics.
Keep in mind that Friday, September 25, is also the date for Progress Report 2. The assignments completed during the asynchronous days will count toward the grade for PR2. Student athletes will want to pay particular attention to their grades, because PR2 is also the six-week grade check required by the state of Texas in order to determine academic eligibility to participate in extracurricular events like football and volleyball games. Students who are failing any course at PR2 will have a prescribed time period of academic ineligibility, but may regain it later.
Preparing to Return to SLMS In Person
With the implementation of new health and safety protocols on all FBISD campuses, parents should start now to prepare their students for the return to in-school instruction. We have included useful guides that may be helpful to families, the “10 Ways to Prepare Your Child for School” one-pager, and an educational video PSA targeted to elementary students to help start the conversation about COVID-19 precautions being taken at your school. The health and safety of our FBISD students and families remain to be our highest priority. For more information on how the district is fulfilling our mission during the COVID-19 Pandemic go to www.fortbendisd.com/reimagined. Even though the video is an elementary video, it fits perfectly with what we are doing at SLMS.
Immunizations Update From Nurse Lincoln
This is a reminder from our nurse that all students must have their shots up-to-date or have a valid exemption on file. This is regardless of whether instruction is online or in person.
All immunizations must be up-to-date before your student may return to face-to-face instruction or participate in any extracurricular activities per the State of Texas immunization requirements. Please send records to angela.lincoln@fortbendisd.com or fax records to 281-327-8745. Nurse Lincoln has emailed noncompliant letters so that you are aware of the immunizations your child needs, if any.
To find out more information regarding immunizations, visit the Texas Department of State Health Services web page.
Timely Arrival to Online Class
- Between 1 and 19 minutes late - students are marked with a Tardy (T)
- 20 minutes and beyond - students are marked with Late (L)
Please ensure your child logs into his/her Microsoft Teams synchronous sessions on time. Note that certain classes, such as high school credit classes, could have a denial of credit issued due to chronic tardies (T) and lates (L).
Gifted and Talented (GT) Referrals Through September 30
If you would like to refer your student to receive gifted and talented services in FBISD, please review this PowerPoint presentation, and refer to the link included to submit your student’s information. The last day to submit a referral is September 30th. If you have any questions, please contact Kimberly Seright, 7th Grade Counselor and Gifted and Talented Testing Liaison for the SLMS. You may reach her at (281) 634-3085 or by emailing her at kimberly.seright@fortbendisd.com.
Attendance Information for Parents
Parent notes are required for all absences within five days from the absence date. Notes must include full student name as well as the reason for the absence (including technical difficulties). If a student misses a synchronous engagement, they are counted absent.Please email all absence notes to AttendanceSLMS@fortbendisd.com. Contact our attendance clerk, Mrs. LaVergne, at (281) 634-3089 if you have questions.
Student-Led Pledges and Moment of Silence
We want to include all SLMS Titan students in the opportunity to lead the school in our daily pledges. We will do this using Flipgrid to record students reciting the US flag pledge, the pledge to the Texas flag, and our moment of silence. We will use one video per day, and students will view it at 9:00 AM in their first class of the day when their teacher shows the video. Students must use their Fort Bend ISD student email address for this project. All of the instructions are included in the Flipgrid topic. Click this link to go to Flipgrid to record your contribution. Select "Join with Microsoft" after clicking this link.
Important Contact Information
- Assistant Principal - Dr. Dawn Rogers (dawn.rogers@fortbendisd.com)
- Counselor - Eleni Smith (eleni.smith@fortbendisd.com)
Seventh Grade
- Assistant Principal - Luster Goodwin (luster.goodwin@fortbendisd.com)
- Counselor - Kim Seright (kimberly.seright@fortbendisd.com)
Eighth Grade
- Associate Principal - Monika Martin (monika.martin@fortbendisd.com)
- Counselor - Nafecia Brinson (nafecia.brinson@fortbendisd.com)
Attendance - Mary Beth LaVergne (mary.lavergne@fortbendisd.com)
Registrar - Tandi Phillips (tandi.phillips@fortbendisd.com)
Nurse - Angi Lincoln (angela.lincoln@fortbendisd.com)
Campus Secretary - Mary Connealy (mary.connealy@fortbendisd.com)
Counselor Clerk - Carmen Brantley (carmen.brantley@fortbendisd.com)
Assistant Principal Secretaries
- 6th and 7th Grade - Tina Garcia (diamantina.ibarragar@fortbendisd.com)
- 8th Grade - Sherri Woodcock (sherri.woodcock@fortbendisd.com)
Sugar Land Middle School
45 Years
1975-2020
Inspiring and equipping the young men and women of our community for futures beyond what they can imagine since 1975.
SLMS Campus Mission Statement
Working collaboratively, the Sugar Land Middle School Professional Learning Community will commit to creating a safe environment with high expectations leading to physical, social, emotional, and academic success for all Titans.
#TitansOwnIt
#BetterTogether
#InfinitePossibilities
#GracePatienceOptimism
- 8:00-4:00 Monday-Friday
Email: keith.fickel@fortbendisd.com
Website: www.fortbendisd.com/slms
Location: 321 7th Street, Sugar Land, TX, USA
Phone: (281) 634-3080
Twitter: @SLMSTitans