HPMS Weekly Update - 10/7/22
Updates and resources for the families of HPMS students!
Dear Families,
We had another great week at HPMS! Please note that Friday, October 14th of this coming week is a PD day for teachers and staff. Students will not attend school on this day.
The HPMS FFA had an extremely successful fall plant sale, and I want to thank all of you who helped spread the word and those who purchased flowers. Thank you also to our outstanding FFA and Ag students who worked hard to prepare for this event, and thank you to Mrs. Candler for the hard work in organizing everything! Also, our FFA officers had a great time attending the annual Farm Day event at BHP. I've included some photos below.
Our 8th graders had a great experience this week as they attended the 2022 AOP Career event at the Anderson Civic Center. The trip was a success, and our students represented our school very well among other students from around the area. I've included some photos below.
The volleyball team will have one final home contest next week against Starr-Iva Middle at 5:30! Please note that this is 8th grade night as we recognize our awesome 8th grade students and their hard work this season. The cost is $5 for admission.
8th Grade Car Wash Fundraiser
There will be a car wash fundraiser held at HPMS on Saturday, October 8th from 10AM-12PM to help students raise money for the 8th grade field trip that will take place in May. $10 tickets are being sold, but drive-ins are also accepted. There is a flyer posted below.
Spirit Week
HPMS will celebrate a Spirit Week during the week of October 17th-21st! The football team will have its final home game against Belton Middle on Thursday, October 20th. We hope that you will encourage your students to participate and show school spirit! The spirit day themes are listed below:
Monday: Jersey Day (Wear your favorite sport's team jersey.)
Tuesday: Country/Western Day (Dress like a cowboy/girl or country)
Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday (Dress in wacky/ mismatched clothes.)
Thursday: School Colors Day (Wear HPMS colors/apparel; red, white, and blue)
Friday: Dress for Success (Dress nicely for picture day)
Fall Pictures
Picture day will take place on Friday, October 21st. Make-ups, if needed, will be taken on Friday, November 18th.
Schooldigger.com Rankings
Please CLICK HERE for the state-wide middle school rankings.
Please CLICK HERE for our school's profile and data breakdown.
We also need your help in maintaining our morning procedure for students. We hold them in the hallways before 7:45AM each day, and during that time, they should be sitting silently and reading or silently and eating breakfast. We have told students they are expected to have a book of their own. They have gone to the library with teachers at this point, so they should have one. If not, please have them get a book that they enjoy for the mornings so that they are prepared. Overall, students have done a great job with this procedure, but we want to make sure that we maintain it properly as the year progresses.
Additionally, students were provided more information regarding our procedures for dress code, safety, discipline, the handbook, and many other aspects of our school environment for HPMS. We thank you in advance for working with your student to be familiar with how things are done here to make this a focused and safe school environment. I do want to ask also specifically for your help with dress code this year. Overall, everyone has done a truly great job with this; however, the main issues we have seen so far are shorts that are too short, shirts that are too short with leggings, and holes in pants that are above the inseam. Please speak with your students about this this weekend so that they can be in compliance with our procedures.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE HANDBOOK (DRESS CODE ON PAGES 8-9)
State Department Tutoring Resource
This is a great resource from the state for students and parents. The link below is a quick Screencastify video that shows how to go to the Tutor.com program through discus. (No audio)
https://watch.screencastify.com/v/xXFJ54tuo7maIx8GiJDr
Grade Level Newsletters/Agendas
Click Here for the 6th Grade Newsletter/Agenda
Click Here for the 7th Grade Newsletter/Agenda
Click Here for the 8th Grade Newsletter/Agenda
Free and Reduced Lunch Application
Please remember that lunch and breakfast are no longer provided free at this time for everyone; however, we do encourage everyone to fill out this form, regardless of your previous form status. Please view the application, fill it out, and have it returned to HPMS if you haven't already completed one!
Free and Reduced Meal Application Link
Thank you,
John Michael Hall, Principal of Honea Path Middle School
2022 AOP Event
Farm Day 2022
8th Grade Car Wash Fundraiser
Sports Schedules
Media Center Updates
Chromebook Reminders
Tutor.com Information
The flyers above explain how students can utilize Tutor.com for free through scdiscus.org. Also, the link below is to a video tutorial that explains how it works and what features it offers. This is an excellent resource and we want to make sure all of our students have the information needed to access it.
General Information
Arrival and General Procedures
Please continue to assist us in the mornings with drop offs. It is very helpful to us and the other parents in line if you will pull forward, at least until the end of the brick flowerbed wall out front to let your child out if you are in the front of the line. We ask that other cars behind the lead car to pull forward as well. This adds only a few extra steps for your student, but it goes much faster for everyone and helps everyone get to class on time if we can unload 4 or more students at a time out front. Students must be in the building by 7:57 in order to be counted as on time.
Dress Code Information
We appreciate in advance your help with our updated dress code for this year. I ask you to please review these for yourself and with your students. They have been covered in school with the teachers, but we greatly appreciate your help at home. The most common issues we see are holes in pants that are far too large or too high, shorts that are too short, shirts that are too short or cut too low, exposed undergarments, and shirts/tops that aren't long enough over leggings. Please also note that we also don't allow blankets/pillows to be carried or hats/hoodies worn in the building.
CLICK HERE AND SCROLL TO PAGES 8 AND 9 FOR 22-23 DRESS CODE INFORMATION
PTO
If you’re interested in volunteering to help with the PTO, or if you're just interested in finding out ways to help support our students and teachers, please contact the PTO at hpmspto@gmail.com for more information! We would love to have you involved!
COVID Contact/Positive Test Procedure
It is critical that you let us know if someone in your household has been diagnosed with COVID or your student has been named a close contact due to a contact that occurred outside of school. If you become aware of this after school hours or on the weekend, please feel free to email me at jmhall@asd2.org AND Nurse Snipes at msnipes@asd2.org. We also encourage you to call during school hours ASAP and hold your student out of school until you receive more information from us based on our guidelines from DHEC. Your help with this is critical to keeping the school safe for everyone.
HPMS Parent/Student Handbook
This is our updated version and we ask all parents to familiarize yourself with our policies and procedures.
CLICK HERE FOR THE 22-23 STUDENT HANDBOOK
Links to Information (You may have to right-click on some links to open them)
Car Rider Dismissal Procedures
If you have more than one student attending HPMS, we ask that you follow the procedure for the eldest student. If you are carpooling, we ask that you follow the procedure for 8th graders.
6th Grade - 6th grade students will be dismissed to the front car line, and we will continue to have parents pull forward until you reach your child. 6th graders will be waiting down at the end of the sidewalk in front of the 4K building (except in cases of severe weather). We ask 6th grade parents to approach the school from the Main Street side of Central Avenue. This will keep us from backing up on to 252 from Brock, and it should require very little driving out of the way to get in line. We ask that you do not attempt to turn left from Brock into the front of the school as this is against the traffic laws on that road during school hours.
7th Grade - 7th grade students will cross the road to get in cars which will be on Park Ave. on the right side of the road. Please do not block the entrance/exit to the parking lot in front of the school when you are in line. Park Ave. is wide enough that if you will pull to the right, it will still allow traffic through on Park as needed. Once you pick up your student, please turn left onto Brock Ave. to help us keep that crosswalk cleared. We also prefer that you would get in line from the part of Central Ave. that runs behind the football field to avoid backing up traffic on Park. We realize this may not be practical for all.
8th Grade and Carpooling Students - 8th grade students will go to the parking lot across the street for dismissal. To make leaving easier for you, please park in the center column of spaces in the lot. We are also asking that you turn left out of the parking lot when you leave. We realize that this is less convenient for those of you who normally turn right, but it will keep from having two sets of traffic turning onto Brock Ave. at the same time and creating a bottleneck. If you are picking up two or more students, you are welcomed to use this lot as well, regardless of grade level.
We ask that you drive carefully around the school because there will be several different valves of traffic going to and from the school.
Google Classroom Cheat Sheet for Parents and Students
Upcoming Events
- 10/8 - Car Wash - 8th Grade Field Trip Fundraiser - 10AM-12PM
- 10/12 - PSAT
- 10/12 - Starr-Iva Middle v HPMS Volleyball - HOME - 5:30 PM
- 10/13 - Football @ Starr-Iva - AWAY - 5:30 PM
- 10/14 - PD Day - No School for Students
- 10/17-21 - HPMS Spirit Day
- 10/19 - End of Quarter 1
- 10/20 - Belton Middle v HPMS Football - 5:30 PM
- 10/21 - Fall Picture Day
- 10/26 - Quarter 1 Report Cards
- 10/27 - Football @ Liberty Middle - AWAY - 5:30 PM
- 11/7-11/8 - Fall Break
- 11/18 - Fall Picture Make Ups
- 11/23-11/25 - Thanksgiving Break
- 11/28 - Quarter 2 Progress Reports
- 12/15 - 6th Grade Roper Mountain Field Trip
- 1/19 - 7th Grade Roper Mountain Field Trip
- 3/24 - Spring Pictures