JMS Weekly Update
February 27, 2022
Dear JMS Families,
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new guidance for masking related to transmission levels in the community.
The CDC has identified Allegheny County at the low level. Therefore, in accordance with the CDC guidance, the District will no longer require masks indoors, but wearing a mask remains optional for any individual. Know that some of our faculty and staff may choose to remain masked. We encourage staff and students who prefer to wear a mask to continue to do so.
At JMS, we are prepared to respect our families decisions about masking. We expect this decision will vary from family to family. We also expect that our families and our students will respect everyone's decision regardless of where your family stands on this matter.
We encourage you to have a conversation with your child regarding this update. Suggestions for discussions are below:
Talk to your child about if/when you want them to wear a mask.
- You may want your child to wear a mask all the time.
- You may want your child to wear a mask at certain times throughout the day.
- You may not want your child to wear at all.
The decision to wear/not wear a mask is personal.
- Your child should not worry about the decision their friends make.
- Your child should do what feels most comfortable for them.
- Your child should be kind and not judge anyone for their choices.
- Your child should not ask others why they are making a choice that is different than theirs.
It is important to us that all students feel safe, comfortable and accepted at JMS. We will be having a similar conversation with the students on Monday morning.
This week's Update contains information about the following:
- Removal of Masks
- PSSA & Keystone Testing Dates
- Club Lebo Update
Please complete this FORM if anyone in your family has tested positive for COVID-19 or has been experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. We want to keep the children here and we want to keep them safe. This information is critical to the safety of the students and staff at JMS.
Take Care,
Dr. Sarah Shaw, Principal
Ms. Katelyn Deet, Assistant Principal
Weekly Schedule
Tuesday - Day 2
Wednesday - Day 3
Thursday - Day 4
Friday - Day 5
Monday (3/7) - Day 1
New News
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new guidance for masking related to transmission levels in the community.
The CDC has identified Allegheny County at the low level. Therefore, in accordance with the CDC guidance, the District will no longer require masks indoors, but wearing a mask remains optional for any individual. Know that some of our faculty and staff may choose to remain masked. We encourage staff and students who prefer to wear a mask to continue to do so. We will continue to have well-fitting masks available.
Thank you for your continued support to keep our students, faculty, staff, and administrators safe.
PSSA/Keystone Testing Schedule
The district will be administering the PSSAs and the Keystones this year. The results we achieve on these exams provide us with valuable information that can be used to assess our students knowledge of grade level standards, our teaching, and our educational programing.
Our testing schedule for the Spring of 2022 is as follows:
- April 26-28 - English Language Arts (ELA) PSSA - Grades 6-8
- May 2 & 3 - Math PSSA - Grades 6-8
- May 4 & 5 - Science PSSA - Grade 8 only
- Keystone Algebra 1 - May 23 & 24 - Grade 8 only
Please understand that during the testing window, pre-approved absences will not be approved.
We will be hosting the next Club Lebo at the Mt. Lebanon Rec Center, 2nd floor, instead of at the High School Pool, due to lifeguard availability. We will be celebrating Mardi Gras and taking over the whole second floor of the Rec Center! The event will still be held from 7:00-9:00 and pre-registry is encouraged! In addition to music with our DJ, we will be playing board games and bingo! Foosball and Ping pong will also be set-up.
Club Lebo provides middle school students with an unstructured, yet supervised environment to hang out with friends. Club Lebo is a “lock-in” program. Students must remain at the event until 9 p.m. unless signed out by a parent.
Other Information
JMS is taking part in the Pennsylvania School Climate survey provided by The Pennsylvania Department of Education.
The survey asks questions about school climate and measures four main domains:
- Social/Emotional Learning
- Student Support
- High Expectations/Academic Rigor & Challenge
- Safe and Respectful School Climate
This survey is important to us as it is intended to provide our school with formative and summative climate data for use with our needs assessments, program development and short and long term improvement planning.
Participation in this survey is voluntary, but encouraged!
The survey is designed to protect your privacy. You will not put your name on the survey. Also, no student will ever have his/her individual responses reported. The survey is available via the following link - Middle School School Climate Student Survey. The survey will be available until the end of February 2022.
We appreciate your participation in this survey and your thoughtful responses to the survey questions.
Technology
Families In Need of Technology
As we prepare to start the 2021-2022 school year, we are asking families who need to borrow student technology to please complete the form linked below:
Be sure to list every student for whom you need to borrow a device on this form. Once you have submitted your form, you will receive status emails including device pickup details from an @mtlsd.net email address. Please also be sure to whitelist @mtlsd.net email addresses with your email provider to ensure that you receive these communications from us.
Please direct any and all questions regarding loaned equipment to our support address: RemoteSupport@mtlsd.net
Athletics
Middle School Athletics
You can learn everything you need to know about Middle School Athletics, including starting dates, by visiting the MS Athletics Webpage.
JMS PTA Information
SHOPPER & SCHOOL REWARD PROGRAMS
Amazon
If you haven’t used AmazonSmile Before:
- Go to smile.amazon.com and sign in with your regular Amazon username and password.
- You will be prompted to choose a charity. You should enter "Jefferson Middle School PTA Inc” into the search box that appears. It will say "Pittsburgh, PA" as the location for the charity.
- Make sure whenever you check out, you always go to smile.amazon.com on your browser.
If you already use AmazonSmile:
- Go to smile.amazon.com and sign in with your username and password
- Make sure the charity you’ve selected is "Jefferson Middle School PTA Inc." This information is located under the search bar where it says “supporting”.
- If it isn’t, you can change it by clicking on the charity and selecting “change”
- This will bring you to a page where you can search for “Jefferson Middle School PTA Inc” and allow you to switch charities.
Make sure whenever you check out, you always go to smile.amazon.com to checkout.
If you shop on the Amazon app. Please activate Amazon Smile on your mobile app by opening the app and finding ’Settings’ in the main menu (☰). Tap on ‘AmazonSmile’ and follow the on-screen instructions to turn on AmazonSmile on your phone.
Box Tops
Scanning Box Tops is an easy way to earn money for our school. See Box Tops for more information on how to scan Box Tops and to download the app. Receipts must be scanned within 14 days for the Box Tops to be scanned electronically.
Office Depot/Office Max
Office Depot/Office Max has a school rewards program. When shopping, remember to ask the cashier to tag Jefferson Middle School. For online orders, enter our school ID (Thomas Jefferson Middle School ID:70088453 Pittsburgh, PA) on the Thank You Confirmation page.
Resources For Families
The following resources provide information to help Mt. Lebanon School District families and staff navigate the complexities of COVID-19 and the impact the pandemic it is having on our daily lives. These resources will be updated as more information becomes available.
The MTLSD School Counselors in partnership with The Allegheny Children's Initiative Inc., have compiled a list of social services resources that may be helpful to you and your family. Please take a look and reach out to these organizations. They are here to help with any of the following:
- Food
- Rent/Mortgage
- Utilities
- Pets
- Abuse
- Mental Health
- General Assistance
Safe2Say Something is a youth violence prevention program run by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. The program teaches youth and adults how to recognize warning signs and signals, especially within social media, from individuals who may be a threat to themselves or others and to “say something” BEFORE it is too late. With Safe2Say Something, it’s easy and confidential to report safety concerns to help prevent violence and tragedies.
Here’s how it works:
- Submit a report through the Safe2SaySomething system
- Crisis center reviews, assesses and processes all submissions
- Crisis center sends all submissions to school administration and/or law enforcement for intervention
- If needed, crisis center may contact tipster anonymously through the app
Jefferson Middle School
The Jefferson Middle School learning community has an exceptional reputation for its dedicated teachers, staff and parents working together to provide learning experiences for our children that include high expectations, a challenging curriculum and a shared commitment to provide the best education possible for each and every student.
Email: sshaw@mtlsd.net
Website: https://jms.mtlsd.org/
Location: 21 Moffett Street, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Phone: (412) 344-2120
Facebook: facebook.com/jmslebo
Twitter: @JMSMTLSD