December 26th Edition

Byram Intermediate School

Our Core Values

Our Core Values

  1. Striving For Excellence - Push yourself to deliver a high quality performance in anything you do.

  2. Be Kinder than Necessary - "Because it's not enough to be kind. One should be kinder than needed." R.J. Palacio, Wonder

  3. Find Your Passion - it's okay to not know what your passion is yet, explore something new or build on what you are already passionate about.
Our Core Values

A Look Back on December

Acceptance Grows Here Art Contest Award Winners

The Sussex County Prosecutor's Office held an Acceptance Grows Here Art Competition. This competition's mission is to increase awareness of acceptance, tolerance and inclusivity. The contest had over 95 submissions within Sussex County and the winners were announced last week. Overall, Byram had 3 submissions by Isabella Pita, Nick DeSantis, and Mya Gajewicz. Out of the three, 2 of our students placed. Nick DeSantis earned Honorable Mention and our own Isabella Pita WON the competition! Congratulations to all those who submitted work on behalf of the Byram Twp School District.

December Spotlight

Congratulations to all of our award winners for the month of December. Keep working hard, strive for excellence, explore your passion, and be kinder than necessary!
Big picture

Governor's Educator Teacher of the Year and Educational Services Professional

Congratulations to Ms. Hooker and Mrs. Rafferty for being nominated as this year's Governor's Educator Teacher of the Year Award and Educational Services Professional of the Year, respectively. Ms. Hooker and Mrs. Rafferty play such a vital role in our students lives and in the community. I couldn't be more proud of how hard they work everyday and how they are able to help our students grow! Congratulations Deb and Jill! Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to the Byram School District!

Advisory - Gratitude and Door Decorating

Our Advisory Program is up and running. Students have been split up into Advisory gropus that are a mix of different grade levels. The goal is to get students comfortable with other students and staff in the building that they may not get to see or talk to during the course of the year. The past two Advisory sessions focused on Getting to Know one another as well as gratitude. We meet once a week during 0 period. Over the next couple of sessions, we will will working on our 3rd Core Value of Being Kinder than Necessary while completing our annual door decorating contest! Check out the pictures of some of our doors!

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

Students in Mrs. Randall's 8th Grade Science class explore the properties of air propulsion using a line and balloons. How much hot air did it take to run over grandma with a reindeer?!?!

Band and Choir Concert

The Holiday Band and Choir Concert took place on Wednesday, December 21st. Thank you to all of our students, parents Mr. Brummer and Mr. Swagger, for your continued effort in promoting the arts in our school and district! We are looking forward to an amazing show!


Additionally, our Choir performed at the Byram Shoprite on December 15th and did a fantastic job bringing Holiday spirit and joy to the ShopRite. Thank you again to Mr. Swagger, Mrs. Scaturo, our choir students, and families for your continued support.

Extra Curriculars and Grades

Finding your Passion is our 3rd Core Value here at Byram Intermediate and students are encouraged to try new activities and clubs to see what interests them and ignites their passion. With that being said, in order to participate in extracurriculars, students need to maintain a 70 or higher in all classes in order to be eligible. You can find a copy of the Extra-Curricular Policy here as a reference.

Marking Period 2 Midway Point - December 21st

Mid marking period is here! Please continue checking in on Parent Portal for assignments, grades, and updates on how your child is performing. I will be sending out frequent reminders to continually check in and contact your teachers with any questions or concerns.


If you notice your child is struggling, we have many supports to offer from Homework Help, tutoring, Success Skills (executive functioning & organization), and Intervention for Math and ELA. We can arrange a conference or phone call to discuss any details. Our new Response to Intervention Coordinator (RTI) is Maggie Hutchins. She has replaced Mrs. Porter, our new Assistant Principal, and will be coordinating services moving forward. Her contact information is below:


hutchins.magnolia@byramschools.org

Looking Forward to January

1/3/23 School Re-Opens

I hope everyone enjoys the holiday break and gets to spend some time with friends and family. This is a good opportunity for students to unplug, reflect, and set some goals for the new year. When we return on Tuesday, January 3rd, all grade levels will be having grade specific assemblies to remind everyone of the expectations for learning and behavior. During our meetings we will focus on the positives we are seeing here at school and in the building as well as reflecting on grade level concerns like bullying, bias related comments and concerns, classroom, bathroom, hallway and bus behavior to name a few.


We will also be discussing and reminding students of proper chrome book etiquette and care. We have seen a dramatic increase in damages of student chrome books as a result of improper care. As a reminder, per our chromebook contracts, students are responsible for any damages to their chromebooks, charges and cases. More information will be coming out when we return from break.

Welcome Elaine Benton!

I'd like to welcome Elaine Benton to the Byram Intermediate School! Elaine started with us on December 19th, replacing Ms. Kolonia for 7th and 8th grade Math. Elaine is a wonderful addition to our staff and I look forward to her working with our students and community! Please reach out with any questions.
First Ever International Night!

First Ever International Night!

Come celebrate all of our unique cultures and diverse families that represent our school and district. We will hosting our first ever International Night on Friday, January 13th, 2023. We are so excited for our Night Around The World- International Festival!. It will be a family event where families can represent different countries with posters, costumes, food, crafts and music. You can be as creative as you would like to be. Signups will be going out next week.
First Ever International Night!

1/16 - School Closed - Staff In-Service Day

As a reminder, school will be closed for students on January 16th for Martin Luther King Day. Staff will report for an In-Service day.

Board of Education Meeting will be on or close to the third Wednesday ofJanuary @ 7pm in the Lakes STEaM Lab.

Specific date to follow pending the January Re-Organization meeting.

In Other News...

Extra-Curricular Activities are up and Running!

Welcome Back! We have the following extra-curricular activities up and running:


Finding your Passion is our 3rd Core Value here at Byram Intermediate and students are encouraged to try new activities and clubs to see what interests them and ignites their passion. With that being said, in order to participate in extracurriculars, students need to maintain a 70 or higher in all classes in order to be eligible. You can find a copy of the Extra-Curricular Policy here as a reference.


Choir w/Mr. Swagger; Practices will be on Monday's and Wednesday's at 7:30am at BIS.

Contact: swagger.eric@byramschools.org


Student Council w/Mrs. Spring

Contact: spring.bonnie@byramschools.org


Boys Basketball w/Mr. Morales Grades 7-8

Contact: morales.samuel@byramschools.org & TBD


Band w/Mr. Brummer - Grades 5-8

Contact: brummer.john@byramschools.org


Girls Basketball w/Mrs. Vasquez & Ms. Stolzenberg

Contact: vasquez.linda@byramschools.org; stolzenberg.carmelina@byramschools.org

Girls Basketball Meeting Information


Drama Club w/Mrs. Spoer & Ms. Phillips

Contact: spoer.christina@byramschools.org; phillips.meaghan@byramschools.org


PEER Leaders w/Ms. Hooker

Contact: Hooker.Deborah@byramschools.org


STEM/Robotics Club w/Mrs. Boyer

Contact: Boyer.Dawn@byramschools.org


Rampage w/Mr. Clayton

Contact: clayton.james@byramschools.org

Traffic and Drop Off/Pickup

Please use the assigned lanes for drop off and pickup. As a reminder, any student being dropped off should wait to get out of the car until you have reached the drop off area under the solar panels. The left lane is exclusive for BIS families, while the right lane is exclusive for students being dropped off at both schools. Please do not lane switch as this presents safety concerns for students exiting vehicles and walking safely along the entrance route.


Secondly, only students thats live on Mansfield Drive are allowed to walk to school. Students that do not live on Mansfield are not permitted to walk to and from school. Please have your child take the bus or utilize the drop off/pick up procedure we have in place.


Lastly, the cutoff time for pickups through the main office is 2:15pm. All pickups after 2:15pm will have to wait until dismissal at 2:53. If there is an emergency, please let us know.

Charge your Chromebook!

All students are expected and required to charge their chromebooks each night. We are seeing a flood of students each morning coming to the main office with "dead" chromebooks that need to be charged. Please remind your child to charge their chromebook each night so they are prepared for class the next day.

Student Code of Conduct

As a reminder, please read our Student Code of Conduct. This Policy goes through the expectations of student behavior in school. Within the code are guidelines and examples of different infractions and how they are applied to your child's discipline tab in Parent Portal. Towards the end of the document you will leveled infractions, codes and point values for the Intermediate School.


You will also see positive incentive activities students can complete in order to earn points.


I shared this information out to students on the first day of school as well as during my Parent Academy on 9/19. You can find that video recording in the Parent Academy section above.

School Lunch Program

The school lunches are not free anymore unless you qualify through the free and reduced application process.The income guidelines have changed so if you didn't qualify in the past you may qualify now. Please complete an application and send it in an envelope to the Byram Board of Education office.Those families that qualify for reduced lunch will get it free this year under a state subsidy.The applications can be found on the Byram School website under the students tab and food service tab or by clicking here.
PTA Corner

PTA Corner


The PTA would like to wish everyone happy holidays and a happy new year! Thank you for your continued support. Thank you to all the volunteers and special thank you to Jenny our holiday shop chairperson for putting it all together. It was a huge success and the kids loved shopping during their lunch time. We are getting ready for an exciting new year filled with fun events. We will be bringing a lot more events to our BIS students this coming year. If you or your child have any ideas you would like to share with us please send us an email.


The Lego club will be back on January 9th. Please fill out the signup form here. Pick up will be at 4:20 and the program will run until May.


We are so excited for our Night Around The World- International Festival January 13th. It will be a family event where families can represent different countries with posters, costumes, food, crafts and music. You can be as creative as you would like to be. Signups will be going out next week.


Byram Township Links:


Byram PTA thanks you for all your support

PTA Corner
Byram Intermediate School

Byram Intermediate School

Byram Intermediate School
Tim McCorkle - Principal

Katie Porter - Assistant Principal

12 Mansfield Drive, Stanhope, NJ, USA mccorkle.timothy@byramschools.org 973-347-1047 byramschools.org/