HPMS Weekly Update - 11/21/25

The mission of Honea Path Middle School in collaboration with the total community is to inspire lifelong learners who apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to become creative problem solvers, achieve personal success, and contribute responsibly as citizens in our diverse and dynamic world.

We had a great week at HPMS! I want to start by saying how thankful I am for your students and our school community here at HPMS! I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday, and I look forward to seeing your students on December 1st.

Please note that the week we come back we will have the Winter Choir Concert at 7PM at BHP on Tuesday, 12/2. I hope you will come out and support these talented students!

Also, on Thursday, 12/4, our students will take the math diagnostic test for the winter, and we will send out an additional reminder before the test takes place. Please help us in emphasizing the importance of this test to your students so that they will do their best!

Additionally, our basketball season officially starts on Monday, 12/1 at 5:30PM at Walhalla Middle. The girls and boys will have their first HOME games on Thursday, 12/4 at 5:30PM against West Oak. Please note that the cost to enter the game is $5 per person and the clear bag policy will be in effect. Go Cubs!

Career Education

I'm passing along the following update from our Career Development Facilitator Mrs. Janet Taylor:

The 6th grade students were presented with jobs in the Hospitality and Tourism career cluster. They explored these jobs; Hostess/Host, Barista, Referee and Cook. They learned about the skills needed for these jobs and how these jobs could help them earn money for college or open doors for better paying jobs in the this industry with a high school diploma.

Sixth grade also learned about the soft skill of team work. They were able to see how being a team player will make them a better employee in the future. Students participated in the human knot game. Students were in a circle and had to join hands with people across from them and had to figure out how to untangle without letting go of anyone's hand. It was an excellent way for them to see just how teamwork makes the dream work.

The 7th grade students explored a career of their choice and created a poster with interesting facts about the career. Their art skills were put to work as they created some amazing posters. The students are preparing to make a presentation on their career. This exercise allows the students to be hands on with learning about a career. It also teaches the students communication skills as they present and listen to others present. Communication is an important soft skill necessary for future employment.

Info for Joining HPMS Choir

1. for parents:

Auditions for Music IDEALS Choir This January!

Does your student love to sing and perform? Our middle school choirs are among the best in South Carolina — earning “Superior with Distinction” (the highest possible rating) at the State Choir Assessment two years in a row!

Travel Students perform throughout the district and Upstate, and each spring we travel to Carowinds for the Music in the Parks Festival, where we consistently earn Superior scores.

Positive Learning Environment! Choir builds confidence, teamwork, and lifelong friendships in a caring, supportive environment led by Mrs. Lauren Owens.

We keep after-school rehearsals to a minimum and coordinate with coaches so students can easily balance choir with other activities.

Be part of something amazing! The excitement continues in high school, where choirs perform across the U.S., at Disney World, and even in Europe!

Sign up for Auditions! Sign up now! Auditions are at the end of January, and students selected will have choir added to their 2026–2027 class schedule. Click this link or scan the QR code to get on the audition list! The QR Code is posted below this section!

BHP Wrestling Club

The club will focus on the fundamentals of wrestling for newcomers and continue to build muscle memory, mental toughness and determination for our returning wrestlers. The main goal is to have fun and fellowship while producing future Champions for BHP.

Eligibility – 2nd through 6th Grades (exceptions are on a case-by-case basis)

Practices – Every Tuesday & Thursday @ 6:00-7:30pm in the BHP Wrestling Room starting November 11th to March 3rd

*Practice information will be distributed via the “Game Changer” app.

Costs: Please use the link below to get your SCYWAY MEMWAY (insurance) $25 - card This is for insurance coverage.

https://memberships.sportsengine.com/org/memway/affiliation/team-bear-wrestling-club

*it will say $50 but will automatically change to $25 once you get to the payment page.

**mandatory to be able to participate in practice and tournaments

***tournaments are not mandatory

Club Fees $35 for individuals, $25 if multiple family members sign up. Checks need to be made out to “Team Bear Wrestling Club” and will be taken up the first week of practice.

Wrestling Attire:

Minimum of T-Shirt, shorts and socks (preferably with grips on the bottom)

Wrestling shoes are best but not required for practice. Head Gear is optional as well.

Please text Coach Jeff Taylor with any questions at 864-314-9003 or Email jt2005infantry@yahoo.com

Car Rider Families - If you're still somewhat unclear with the procedure, please check the map posted further below. We do ask that you please do not do U-turns while in line as it could create an unsafe situation for the other cars. We also ask that you avoid double-stacking cars on Central Avenue. We appreciate your help with our procedures!

Just a quick reminder: 6th graders should be waiting on the sidewalk in front of the two-story building at the far end of our front parking lot (unless there is bad weather), 7th graders should be picked up along Park Avenue across the road, and 8th graders should be picked up in the parking lot across the street. Please avoid double-stacking cars while waiting, and please avoid u-turns in the car line to make sure everyone is being safe. Also, please make sure your car rider is picked up by 3:35PM at the latest. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns!

Building for 2morrow

• The Free to Focus education law went into effect across South Carolina in January 2025. Students are prohibited from using phones, smart watches, and all other personal devices that can connect to the internet or utilize WiFi at school.
  
  
• We ask that all parents and guardians take time to review the dress code policies. The most common issues we see this time of year are tops that are too short over leggings or holes that are too high on the leg or too large to be appropriate for school. Please see the dress code on pages 7-9 of our handbook for more information: CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE 25-26 HANDBOOK FOR YOUR REFERENCE!
  

• Cubs girls and boys basketball will travel to Walhalla at 5:30PM to tip off the regular season on Monday, 12/1! Go Cubs!

• The Choir will have their winter concert at BHP in the auditorium at 7PM on Tuesday, 12/2! Come out to support these talented musicians!

• All students will take the winter diagnostic test for math on Thursday, 12/4! Please talk to your student about trying hard and doing their best on this important test!

• The girls and boys basketball teams will have their first home game against West Oak starting at 5:30PM on Thursday, 12/4! Go Cubs!

• We will have our next 2:30 early dismissal at HPMS on Wednesday, 12/3. This will occur every Wednesday throughout the school year. If your child is a car rider and you are able to pick them up at this time, we ask that you please make plans to be at HPMS by 2:30. We will run dismissal like we normally do for the first 10 minutes after the bell. After that, we will move students who have not been picked up to another location to wait for their ride. Athletes who play sports at BHP can be picked up at 2:30 rather than riding the bus; however, they cannot be dropped off at BHP until 3:35. They can also stay at HPMS until the shuttle to BHP arrives at 3:15. Athletes are not to walk home before returning to practice.

Morning Minutes

If your student is in need of some academic assistance, please see the information regarding the twice weekly study sessions that we offer on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week. This is available from 7:30AM-7:45AM, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays each week. This is a great, focused time to get on track each week!

Thank you,

John Michael Hall, Principal of Honea Path Middle School

CLICK HERE for the 6th Grade Newsletter

CLICK HERE for the 7th Grade Newsletter

CLICK HERE for the 8th Grade Newsletter

On page 3 of our handbook, we have asked that family members refrain from dropping off food, money, clothing, or other random items for students. Food and gifts in particular often create a disruption and more students requesting this from their parents. We appreciate your help in keeping our students focused.

We also ask that parents help us to remind students that they are to utilize the proper procedures for contacting home if needed. Student phones are to be turned off and put away throughout the day.

Once students have gotten permission from teachers or staff, we have phones available throughout the school for students to contact home in case of emergency, and our front office staff allows students to use personal devices if needed to contact home as long as they have gotten permission from office staff.

We appreciate your help in making sure students wear clothing that meets our dress code. The most common issues we typically see are shorts that are too short, tops that are too short and do not cover the buttocks when leggings are worn as pants, and tops that expose the midriff. The dress code can be found on pages 8-9 of the handbook. I have linked the handbook here!

Page 9 of the handbook covers items that are prohibited from school, including metal water bottles, wireless earbuds, and other objects that are disruptive to our learning environment. Many more things have been covered with your students over the past two days regarding the handbooks, and we highly recommend you review these with your students as well as the school year begins!

As always, I am happy to go into further detail if more is needed regarding the policies above. We are very blessed to have such supportive and understanding families who appreciate our efforts to provide a safe and focused learning environment for your children.

Please see this important message from ASD2 by clicking this link. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

Please be aware of the following expectations have been shared with students regarding Chromebooks:

1. These Chromebooks are for school use. If you transfer out of the school the Chromebook and charger must be returned to the school.

2. The hard plastic cases must remain on the Chromebook at all times.

3. Please do not put any stickers anywhere on the Chromebook, charger or case.

4. Do not write on the Chromebook, case or charger.

5. Make sure there are not ANY objects between the screen and keyboard when closing the lid.

6. Please do not eat or drink over your Chromebook.

7. Charge your Chromebook at home every night and leave your charger at home.

8. Keep all of your usernames and passwords secure. DO NOT share them with others.

9. The first accidental damage is covered by the technology fee. Any additional damages or intentional damage will result in a bill being sent home.

10. Report any problems to your teacher who will send you to Mrs. Totman and Mr. Faulkner as needed.

We want you to be aware of these as well so that you can reinforce these expectations with your students to avoid fines or other complications with these devices.

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

Visit our online MySchoolBucks School Store! Create your free account today to easily pay for your student’s fees online or on-the-go with the mobile app. With MySchoolBucks you’ll be able to quickly pay registration fees, browse school items, be notified when fees are due, and make payments from anywhere!

Get Started Today:

1. Go to myschoolbucks.com or download the mobile app
2. Create your free account and add your students using their school name
3. Add school items or invoices to your cart
4. Check out using your credit / debit card or electronic check

If you are interested in volunteering for the BHP Booster Club, please see this linked slide show (it launches from Google Slides). CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE PRESENTATION.

You can also contact Kelli Satterfield at boosterclubbhp@gmail.com for more information. This is a great opportunity if your student will be or is already participating in athletics at BHP!

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 inside their 1st period classroom by 8AM in order to not be counted tardy.

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 typically 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.

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 https://www.remind.com/join/hpmscubpto for more information! We would love to have you involved!

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE 25-26 STUDENT HANDBOOK ONLINE

All HPMS students have been given a physical copy of the handbook, and they've all been asked to share this with you and have you sign the student behavioral contract/celebration contract.

Dress code and prohibited items list can be found on pages 7-9.

Discipline information, including cell phone policies, can be found on pages 14-21.

If you are unclear about the dismissal procedures, I have them listed along with a map below. We do ask that you follow them as they are listed to help us keep things running smoothly and safely. We normally average a 7 minute dismissal each day which is fantastic for a car rider dismissal, and we appreciate your help in keeping it running smoothly.

Please make sure your car rider is picked up by 3:35PM each day at the latest.

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5vseB8vIXI

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.

• 11/24-11/28 - Thanksgiving Holiday - No School
• 12/1 - HPMS Basketball @ Walhalla - AWAY - 5:30PM
• 12/2 - Chorus Concert - 7PM @ BHP
• 12/4 - iReady Winter Math Diagnostic Test
• 12/4 - HPMS Basketball v West-Oak - HOME - 5:30PM
• 12/8 - HPMS Basketball v Gettys - HOME - 5:30PM
• 12/9 - iReady Winter ELA Diagnostic Test
• 12/9 - Jr. Beta Club Induction - HPMS Gym - 6PM
• 12/11 - HPMS Basketball @ Palmetto - AWAY - 5:30PM
• 12/11 - HPMS Band Concert - 7PM @ BHP
• 12/12 - Open Gym - 3:30-5:00PM
• 12/15 - HPMS Basketball @ Liberty - AWAY - 5:30PM
• 12/18 - HPMS Basketball v McCants - HOME - 5:30PM
• 12/19 - Half-Day for Students - 11:40AM Dismissal
• 12/19 - End Q2/Sem 1
• 2/12 - 8th Grade Step-up Day @ BHP