Looking forward to another successful week! Please remind your students there are only two weeks left in the first semester - let's finish strong Panthers.

Sincerely,

Melanie Kray

STUDENT PASSWORDS WILL BE RESET JAN 9TH @10:00 PM

We wanted to make sure families are aware that the district is resetting passwords for all students in the Henry Cluster at 10:00 PM on Monday, January 9th. On Tuesday morning students will receive their new passwords from their teachers during their first period class.

SPRING ROBOTICS PARENT MEETING ON ZOOM THIS MONDAY @6:00 PM

Applications for the Spring Season of the Pershing Robotic Panthers Robotics Club will be available starting Tuesday January 3rd in the front office. Applications will be due January 13th.

Due to high interest, a parent/student informational meeting will be held via zoom on Monday, January 9th @ 6pm.

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/9954586416?pwd=K2lXSHowc1hwcmY0T0JOUndhM1FZQT09
Meeting ID: 995 458 6416
Passcode: 6T2r28

TOBACCO USE PREVENTION EDUCATION (TUPE) PARENT MEETING RSVP

Our district is participating in a Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE) grant this year. The goal of TUPE is to reduce tobacco use among young people and educate students and parents about the dangers of tobacco use. Althought tobacco use and vaping has not been an issue at Pershing this school year, we still wanted to take advantage of this opportunity and offer our parents a chance to get additional information about tobacco products and vaping, given that there has been exponential growth in young people using these types of products across the United States.

We have invited Say San Diego to come in a provide a TUPE Information Night for our Parents on Thursday, January 26th. In order to effectively plan for this event we are asking for families who would like to attend to complete this RSVP form before January 16th.

PERSHING FOUNDATION MEETING @6:30 PM

We hope you will be able to attend this week's Pershing Foundation meeting. We hope you will be able to join us in person in the library but we understand that that format may not work for eveyrone so the Foundation has also provided a zoom link in case you would like to join the meeting virtually.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://sandiegounified.zoom.us/j/86583088405

Meeting ID: 865 8308 8405

8TH GRADERS LEARN ABOUT 9TH GRADE ELECTIVES AT HENRY HIGH

This Thursday, January 12th, representatives from Henry High School will be meeting with our 8th graders through their PE classes to discuss elective options when they move to high school. We will share the presentation students view with our families later this week.

CLEARING ATTENDANCE

We are requesting that if you have to pull your child out of school early for a medical or dental appointment that you provide written documentation (such as a doctor's note) in order to clear the absence upon the student's return. Without the written documentation the absence will remain unexcused.

PHOTO ID REQUIRED FOR STUDENT PICK UP

A friendly reminder that students can only be released to people listed on the emergency contact list in PowerSchool and the person must have photo ID to verify their identity when picking up students. Student safety is a top priority and we take that responsibility seriously at Pershing. Thank you in advance for your support.

PERSHING FOUNDATION UPDATE - STAY CONNECTED

There a lots of a ways to stay involved and support Pershing Middle School starting with our fabulous Pershing Parent Foundation. Be sure to check out their website: https://pershingmiddleschoolfoundation.org/ and visit them on facebook @parentsofpershingpanthers. On their facebook page they have information on how to sign up for Amazon Smile so that a portion of your amazon purchases support our school.

PERSHING SCHOOL WEBSITE

https://pershing.sandiegounified.org/

Do you have suggestions for our school website? CLICK HERE to complete our website feedback survey.

Dear San Diego Unified Families,

The tryout times at your middle school for the week of January 9, can be found on this middle school tryout practice schedule. If you do not see your middle school listed, it means there were not enough sign ups to field a team. If you see a box with an “X” in it, that indicates there is no practice on that day.

Please have you students meet their coaches in the PE area. Students should wear comfortable attire and closed toed shoes. Please have your students bring a water bottle as well.

Based on the adjusted timeline, the announcement of teams will be posted on the SDUSD Middle School Athletics website at https://sdusdathletics.com/middle-schools/ on Monday, January 16th.

The full season of scheduled contests with times and locations will be released January 16th with our first contests taking place on Saturday, January 21st.

There are 15 spots per volleyball team & 20 spots per soccer team thus finalizing a roster is always a challenging time for every coach. We encourage you to have your student attend both days next week thus giving the coach a chance to assess each player’s ability.

We are looking forward to an exciting year of Middle School Athletics.

Best,

Lonnie Jones

SDUSD Middle School Athletics Coordinator

COVID-19 cases are on the rise in our area, with San Diego County recently entering the Medium COVID-19 Community Level. Other illnesses such as the influenza virus (flu), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and the common cold also remain highly prevalent and easily transmissible. Practicing good health hygiene habits – washing hands, staying home when sick, and considering wearing a mask indoors and in crowded areas – can help prevent the spread of illness and is especially important during this time when many will be traveling or gathering with family and friends.

The district is providing all students and staff with at-home COVID-19 test kits to help our school communities have greater peace of mind about returning to school safely on Tuesday, Jan. 3 after the winter break.

The California Department of Public Health now recommends self testing for COVID-19 the day before coming back to school and two or three days after returning. We encourage students and staff to test on Monday, Jan. 2 and again on either Wednesday, Jan 4 or Thursday, Jan 5.

Testing before returning to school is recommended but not required. Additional test kits for students and staff are available at the Ed Center COVID-19 testing facility. If you test positive for COVID-19, please do not attend school and report your illness here.

Please do not send your child to school if they are feeling sick or experiencing symptoms of any cold-like virus, until those symptoms start to improve and there is no fever for 24 hours (without use of fever-reducing medication). Keeping your sick child home will be a great benefit for the health and wellness of our students and staff.

What Symptoms to Look For

• The flu and COVID-19 are both spread from person-to-person, especially indoors and in crowded places. Symptoms for both viruses can include nasal congestion, fever, headache, and muscle and joint pain, as well as a sore throat and coughing.
• RSV is a respiratory virus that has been detected in previous cold and flu seasons. Symptoms of RSV include cough, runny nose, and fever. Treatment consists of managing symptoms.

Tips to Avoid Getting Sick [English | Español)
Public health officials offer these tips to prevent getting sick:

• Consider wearing a well-fitting, good-quality mask, especially indoors or in crowded spaces
• Wash hands thoroughly and often
• Use hand sanitizers, if unable to wash hands
• Stay away from sick people
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth
• Clean commonly touched surfaces and/or wash/sanitize your hands after using them.
• Stay up to date on COVID-19 and flu vaccines

Jan 11 - Pershing Foundation Meeting @6:30 PM in the Library

Jan 16 - MLK Day: NO SCHOOL

Jan 18 - Coffee with the Principal @8:30 AM via zoom

Jan 19 - Henry Cluster Meeting @5:00 PM via zoom

Jan 20 = Semester 1 Ends

Jan 23 & 24: Feeder Elementary School 5th Grade Tours

Jan 23: SGT (Governance) Meeting @3:00 PM in the Library

Jan 24 - SSC Meeting @3:00 PM in the Library

Jan 26 - Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE) Parent Presentation @6:00 PM in the Auditorium