EMS

May has arrived and we have about 25 days of school left! While the warm air, outdoor sporting events, and beginning vacations is exciting and happening for everyone, we still have 25 more days of school this year and I hope to end this year with great things for our students. Please make sure your child is at school every day as we end and cross the finish line for the 2023-24 school year.

Our month of May will be full of academic review in our classes as teachers are preparing for and enriching the learning before the SOL tests. Please make sure your child is getting rest and breakfast before their SOL tests. As a school, we have set the goal to improve our overall scores by 10% and I hope to reach that goal with the support of our families!

We will have our end of the year dance for all students on Friday, May 31 from 6-8pm. This event is only open to EMS students and all who attend must be in good standing for Elkton Middle School as a student.

This month also includes many club banquets and activities sponsored by clubs or our PTO. Please watch for information in the daily announcements of upcoming events to plan for! We want all of our families to be involved.

Lastly, as we close out the last full month of school, remember there is no school on Monday, May 27 for Memorial Day. I hope all of you have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with families and friends!

As always, please contact me if you have any questions or concerns and watch for important EMS information on daily announcements to stay informed and involved!

Have a great month of May!

Emily Holloway, Principal

School Lunch Hero Day is Friday, May 3rd. Join us in celebrating the heroes that work in our cafeteria every day! We appreciate our cafeteria staff for all they do to provide our students and staff with healthy and delicious meals. It is clear that they put much care into their work and offer a friendly face each day in the cafeteria line. Thank you Lisa, Becky, Kellie, Peggy, and Donna!

Attention: Current 6th, 7th and 8th graders! Have you ever wanted to help your community but get stuck trying to figure out how? Come spend a week with us, during the Helping Hands Service Camp, June 10–15, 2024, from 9:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. at Wilbur Pence Middle School.

This camp will be filled with fun and fulfilling service projects. We will help feed the hungry, make and deliver items to a local animal shelter, build and paint bookshelves for a local service group, and make blankets for people in need (just to name a few). We’ll even host a cleanup at the river, and of course, enjoy a splash or two ourselves!

There are so many opportunities, we can’t list them all here, but we can guarantee it will be a great week if you join us! Sign up at https://forms.gle/zBU2j2DtDzqHiFuo9. Email jlmiller@rockingham.k12.va.us with questions.

Here we are in May, the month that brings us all the beautiful blooming flowers!

As we move on into May we are starting to see the pollen all over our vehicles and really aggravate those that it bothers. Please continue doing all the things that I’ve continued to share with you each month as a reminder to help your family stay well. Make sure to continue checking your child before sending them to school if they are not feeling well. Check temperatures and keep them home if they truly are sick due to some illnesses. If it’s your normal seasonal issues (because it's that time of year, give your child their allergy medication daily if they take something for that) please be sure to treat your child at home if you have not provided things at school for them so they can be ready for their day once at school and ready for class. If they need to see their doctor please make an appointment and take them in to be seen. Make sure they are getting plenty of rest, staying hydrated and eating well so once they are at school they're ready for learning and not exhausted from their after school activities.

MEDICATION

OTC medication is the same policy as last year. All parents have to bring in what they want their child to take and fill the “permission to give medication” form out. The bottles have to be brand new, sealed unopened and brought in by the parent/guardian. I still have many students coming wanting to take things and I don't have anything unless a parent/guardian has supplied it for them. Reminder towards the end of the year you will need to pick up those items as we are not allowed to keep those medications over for next year according to RCPS policy. So whatever is not picked up will be discarded.

LUNCH TIME

I have a lot of medical needs this school year. We have numerous students with health needs that need to be in the clinic at certain times for assistance, numerous daily medications and other health emergencies that can arise. So they do take priority. Lunch time is super busy with these daily medical needs, so I do ask that unless a student is actually physically sick or has an emergency during the time of 11-1pm that they’re not sent during those lunch shifts. Please understand why that time is allotted for this and know that emergencies will still be addressed as needed for ALL students.

CARE PLANS

Care Plans and knowing things about our students. I am still continuing to work on putting all care plans into the system as I get new information from you, making teachers/admin aware of needs. As a reminder if you do not make us aware of your child’s medical needs, we are not aware of them! If they have asthma, allergic reactions, are diabetic, take daily medication and so on we will need paperwork from their physician with orders regarding this and how they are to be treated at school. The parent/guardian is to bring this information from the doctor along with the emergency medication and talk with me so we can get things updated for your child. PLEASE DO NOT EVEN ASSUME WE KNOW FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR! Things MUST be updated each year as information can change over the summer. **Please continue to do this as things change and need to be updated throughout the school year as well!**

PHYSICALS AND IMMUNIZATIONS

This is your continued reminder to start thinking about any physicals you will need for sports. For all rising 7th graders you need to have those immunizations done or if you choose not to vaccinate to have the paperwork filled out for your other options. **We must either have the vaccination record for your child or the proper paperwork for your child if your choice is not to vaccinate.** NOW is the time to be scheduling those appointments. Please do not wait or you will not get an appointment in time and be at the last minute trying to get things done before registration for next year.

**VACCINATION CLINIC AT ERHS FOR RISING 7TH GRADERS ***

The Virginia Dept of Health will be hosting a vaccine clinic for RCPS middle and high schools to help ensure students in 7th and 12th grades have the required vaccines prior to the start of the new school year. Rising 7th graders will be transported to their respective high school for the vaccines.The vaccination clinic for ERHS & EMS will be on Friday, May 3, 2024 beginning at 1:10pm

EMS students will go first and should plan to arrive at ERHS between 1-1:10.

* Consents WERE due by Monday, 4/15; per VDH they WILL NOT accept late consents due to ordering the vaccine.

**The above is scheduled and sign ups are closed**

Parents/guardians please know that our local health dept has vaccine clinics each Wednesday and Thursday to accommodate student needs. Required vaccines for school are free. Parents should call early as they are currently booking into late April (540-574-5100).

During the summer, Harrisonburg-Rockingham Health Department will have expanded Wednesday evening hours to help parents who work daylight. Also during the two weeks prior to school starting, the health department has blocked off each day for vaccine appointments. Parents should call now to schedule appointments if they choose to wait or their student cannot attend the vaccine clinic at their school.

As always thank you for hanging with me through all of the information.

If you have any questions about any of the above please feel free to call the school and ask for me, Nurse Julie between the hours of 8-4. If I am unavailable please leave a message and I will return your call as soon as possible. If you need to drop off medication for your child and would like to work a time out with me to do so around schedules just give me a call and we will work together to figure something out. (p) 540-298-1228.

You may also email me @jshifflett@rockingham.k12.va.us