Ram Report - Parent Newsletter

We have had an incredible successful start to the school year, and we are so excited about what the future holds for our students. It seems that the first two weeks have flown by! In our staff meeting last Wednesday we began with several celebrations that I think are important to share with our entire school community:

• We had nearly 70% of our RMS families attend the Back to School Bash and 5th Grade Orientation! That is truly incredible and we can't thank you enough for your involvement and support of our school. It was fun and exciting to see everyone!
• Students have already begun instruction in our classrooms with exciting and engaging lessons taking place across all grade levels.
• Attendance is off to a strong start and students are arriving to school on time! Please continue reinforcing this expectation at home. It is helping!

As we go into Week 3, please be sure to sit down with your student and look at Canvas and Skyward together. This truly helps build strong expectations for students in the classroom and reinforces student learning at home. Student TCAP results were sent home Friday. Check out the resources below to better understand their progress.

Finally, we will have our first PTSA Meeting on Tuesday afternoon at 4:30pm in the library. We encourage you to attend and be engaged in our school community.

Have a great week, and please don't hesitate to reach out if there is anything we can do to better support your student or family!

-Nick Corrigan, Principal, njcorrigan@ortn.edu

-Christy Free, Vice Principal, ccfree@ortn.edu

-Christopher Williams, Dean of Students, cewilliams@ortn.edu

Monday – Aug 7

Cross-Country Practice 3:00-4:15pm

Football Practice 3:30-6:00pm

Girls Basketball Workouts 5:00-6:30pm (Gym)

Varsity Volleyball vs. OS @ JMS 6:30pm

Board of Education Meeting 5:00pm (SAB)

Tuesday – Aug 8

PTSA Meeting 4:30-5:30pm (Library)

Cheer Practice 2:45-5:00pm (Gym)

Cross-Country Practice 3:00-4:15pm

Football Practice 3:30-6:00pm

Girls Basketball Workouts 5:00-6:30pm (Gym)

Varsity Volleyball @ Lake City 6:30pm

Wednesday – Aug 9

Football Practice 1:00-2:00pm

Girls Basketball Workouts 6:00-7:30pm (Gym)

Volleyball Practice 4:00-6:00pm (Gym)

Thursday – Aug 10

Cross-Country Practice 3:00-4:15pm

RMS Football vs. CAK 6:30pm @ Blankenship Field

Volleyball @ Norris JV 4:30pm, Varsity 5:30pm

Friday – Aug 11

GIVE Club 7:00-7:30am (Room 224)

Cross-Country Practice 3:00-4:15pm

Check out some of the exciting work taking place at RMS in just week 2 of instruction! Our math department is rocking it with clear student success criteria and focused work on standards. New bulletin boards were added to the STEM Hallway over the summer to help celebrate our students' work! Mr. Manning and Ms. Leftwich have already started adding updates and it looks incredible!

Student TCAP Reports went home on Friday, August 4th! The TN Department of Education has put together several informative resources to help navigate these reports. Please reach out to your child's teacher or school counselor with any questions about their progress.

RAM FAM, We wanted to share a few important announcements about the importance of a positive environment at our athletic events. We are tremendously proud of our student-athletes and their dedication to schoolwork while also balancing the demands of being an athlete! At RMS, there is a clear understanding & school culture that success in the classroom, excellent character, and good sportsmanship are top priorities. We are equally as proud of the environment our coaches and families have built over the years at RMS to ensure a positive environment for our students and families to enjoy watching games and athletic contests.

Recently, the TMSAA passed the following in their bylaws:

For fans ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct during a contest, the school will be fined a minimum of $250.00. In addition, other non-monetary disciplinary action may occur, including but not limited to probation and/or restrictive probation for the entire athletic program (equivalent to the minimum penalty for a fan invading the playing field).

We share this to reiterate the importance of positive interactions with game officials and positive sportsmanship as a player or spectator at our school sponsored athletic events. As always, inappropriate conduct & behavior by anyone attending a school sponsored event will simply not be tolerated. If there are ever any concerns, we encourage you to speak with our Athletic Director, Mr. John Spratling. RMS Administration (Mr. Corrigan, Mrs. Free, & Mr. Williams) is also available at any home game or event. Robertsville Middle School has built a strong legacy of good sportsmanship & a positive environment. Please help us support our hard-working student-athletes this school year!

The PDFs of the bus routes have been posted online and are available to families on the transportation website. They are also linked from the back-to-school website.

Additionally, families can log on to the Tyler Versatrans website and check their route information there. The directions for that are below.

Tyler Versatran Log In

Username: (use student’s name) firstname.lastname

This is case sensitive–example: john.smith

Password: (use student birth date) in this format 03122007 for March 12, 2007

Transportation Dept Information & Points of Contact can be found at:

https://www.ortn.edu/district/bus-routes/

Thank you to the extraordinary effort taking place to get students to school on time. We have been so impressed that the majority of students are dropped off prior to 7:35am. This allows them 5 minutes to get to class and start the day on time. Thank you and please continue to make getting to school on time and attendance a priority this school year!

Hello from your counselors – Mrs. Best and Mrs. Sanford! We’re so excited to welcome back our RMS students and to welcome and get to know our newest students! We hope you had a wonderful summer!

Schedule changes are only available for elective classes, and we do not make changes within the first week of school. There will be a form available in the counseling center to request an elective change beginning July 31st. Changes can only be made up to August 18th. Students can also request a schedule change form from their elective teacher, as they will also have them available. Forms must be turned in to the counseling center with appropriate signatures by August 18th.

Our fifth grade students will have an opportunity to sample all the elective options within the first two weeks of schools and will be asked to choose an elective on Wednesday, August 9th. They will begin in their elective class on Thursday, August 10th.

Need to See a Counselor - Student Request Form

If students need to see a counselor throughout the year for any reason, we ask that they complete the online “Request to See a Counselor” form located in Clever. Once students complete this form, the counselors will receive an email and will work to schedule students based on their availability. If the situation is an emergency, we ask that students please make note of this in the comments section. We ask that students please be patient and know that we will get them scheduled as soon as possible. If it will take more than a day, we will reach out to the student by email or through their teacher to let them know.

Parents are always welcome to reach out to us with any questions or concerns. Kristy Best works with 5th and 7th grades – kbest@ortn.edu. Tarah Sanford works with 6th and 8th grades – TASanford@ortn.edu.

7th Grade TDAP Booster - Required Immunization!

• All 7th graders Must have a record of their 7th grade Tdap vaccination on file at RMS to begin their school year. Please ensure this is completed ASAP. Contact our school nurse, Meg Evans with any questions or concerns at 865-425-9201.

Additional Medication Information

• The medication administration policy of the Oak Ridge School System states: every effort should be made to avoid the necessity of children being given medication at school. If under exceptional circumstances a student is required to take medication during school hours, only the school nurse or the principal’s designee may assist the student. It is the parent/guardian’s responsibility to bring this medication to school and remove any unused medication when treatment is completed. The medication form can be found here: Authorization_for_Medication_Administration.

Families asked for more engagement on our survey last Spring with specific requests for updates on the school's plans and progress, homework support, etc. In response, Mr. Corrigan will be hosting monthly Coffee & Conversation every First Friday at RMS. We hope that you will find it convenient to drop off your children at school and stay for an extra few minutes on these mornings before work to discuss some of these important topics together!

We also encourage you to attend our PTSA meetings which include an update from Mr. Corrigan, a grade level teacher update, as well as the many events that PTSA organizes throughout the year.

Athletics

The Rams had an impressive season opener against the Clinton Hawks at Blankenship Field last Thursday night with a final score of 34-14! The next game is against CAK at home this Thursday night. Go Rams!

Clubs

RMS has several school sponsored clubs! These clubs are sponsored by an RMS staff member and provide an excellent opportunity to interact with peers outside of the classroom. Check out the list below for more information. The RMS Club Fair is scheduled for August 22nd! Students will have the opportunity to learn more about the many clubs offered at RMS during their rotation class period that day.

About

The Robertsville Middle School Parent Teacher Association (RMS PTSA) is part of the RMS family. Our purpose is to support fun and educational programs, events, services, and opportunities to our children, to enrich their academic experience. We work closely with the school administration, faculty, and staff to help our students achieve all that they can.

Membership

The membership dues for the current year shall be set at $5.00. At the present time, the TN PTA portion is $2.00 and the National PTA portion is $2.25. RMS PTSA will keep $.75 to offset membership processing fees.

Volunteer

Research shows that students whose parents are involved in their school get better grades, do better on tests and have fewer disciplinary problems at school.

What is your talent? Community outreach, back to school activities, spirit gear, RAM Perks reward program, donation drive/fundraising, visiting author receptions, or providing items for events like our teacher/staff luncheons, intercessions, and State testing.

While you DO NOT need to be a member of PTSA to be a volunteer, we would like to invite all adults AND students with an interest in RMS to join and have a voice in how PTSA funds are used to support RMS. Volunteer forms are in the back-to-school packets or may be found on the Forms page of PTSA website.