Dixon- Smith Bulldog Bulletin

🏑 Congratulations to our Field Hockey team for winning the County Championships. Our girls basketball season is underway with the first game occurring on November 13 at Poole Middle School.

Take a look at the infographics below regarding Fidgets.

👀 Check out our new social media accounts above, click the images to take a look and follow!

💚 Remind your student to turn in their IMPACT AID Form. The green form helps our school collect federal funds and connect our military and military-connected families!

🚗 Car riders need to be picked up by 4:15 PM

✅ Just a reminder that a possible discipline step when students violate a Code of Conduct Expectation is a Loss of Privilege. This could include opportunities to attend after school events, field trips, clubs, sporting events, and/or dances. Please remind your students to keep this in mind for our upcoming dance on November 6.

🎽 👟 Track and Field Team Members from SY 25-26: If your child was a member of the track team last school year, 25-26, please look to see if you still have your school issued track uniform. Many boys uniforms were not returned last school year. This has left our inventory very low. If we can not get our missing uniforms returned, it could effect our ability to field the size team we have fielded in prior years. Thank you in advance for your effort.

📆 Upcoming drills this month: fire drill and lockdown drill

Mark your calendars:

• Band Together to Fight Hunger, Monday November 2nd, 6:30 PM MVHS

• November 9 - Veterans Celebrations, sign up below!

• November 10 Intermediate/Advanced Band Concert at DSMS, 7:00. Intermediate report at 6:15, Advanced report at 6:30

• November 12 - Intermediate and Advanced Chorus Dress Rehearsal (4:00 - 5:00 at DSMS)

• DSMS Spelling Bee - November 13, 2026 at 9:30 am in the Library - only for students who have signed up; families received email invitations

• November 13 - Beginning Chorus Dress Rehearsal (4:00 - 5:00 at DSMS)

• Fall Chorus Concert: November 16 at Stafford High School - Singers report at 6:30 and the concert begins at 7:00

• November 16 - CGS Table available during all lunch shifts

Our staff had fun celebrating Halloween with our students! Check out the Staff Group pictures below! The winning team this year was the Specialists: Disney Villains!

Retakes are ONLY for students who were absent on picture day or those that bring in a note from their parents. Students will not be permitted to take a retake without a note if they had pictures taken on the original picture day.

High School Discovery Nights! will return for the 2026-2027 school year. This is an opportunity for rising 9th-grade families to learn about high school curriculum, Specialty Centers and Regional Schools, as well as provide an opportunity for current high school students to explore secondary travel programs and offerings unique to each high school. The following dates have been reserved at each school.

High School Discovery Nights are 6-8 on the following dates: Please attend your zoned HS or program of interest host school. School counselors will share this information with all 8th graders through their World Geography classes in November.

• Nov. 17- Academy of Technology and Innovation at UMW 5-6:30

• Dec. 1- Stafford High School- EPIC, CGS, + many more

• Dec. 2- North Stafford High School- ASCENT + many more

• Dec. 3- Brooke Point High School- CHAMP + many more

• Dec. 9- Colonial Forge High School- BIT + many more

• Dec. 10- Hartwood High School- AMP

Breakout sessions will be scheduled for each night to include: AMP Center, CHAMP Center, EPIC Center, LEAPS Center, BIT Center, ASCENT Center, the Academy of Technology and Innovation at the University of Mary Washington (ATI-UMW), and Commonwealth Governor’s School (CGS). Other secondary programs, core and elective courses, and student services specific to each high school will host information tables.

Visit our DSMS homepage and scroll to the bottom to view our school calendar. There you will find our sporting events, club meeting dates and times, and other good to know info!

If you have a question about a club, reach out to the sponsor for more information.

Congratulations to these eight students for successfully auditioning for the SCPS Middle School All-County Band! They performed at the event at Mountain View High School on October 23-24.

🤼 🏀 Wrestling and boys basketball tryouts - Tryouts are Jan 7th through the 11th. All students will need a VHSL physical that has been completed by a doctor in the prior 14 months on file with the school.

Tickets for our basketball games are $3, cash only.

Tickets are sold at the door, no tickets are available for pre-purchase.

Students who plan to attend the game, should go home on the bus or as a car rider and return with a parent/guardian that plans to enter the game with them. The parent/guardian will support a positive game experience for their student charges.

Read more about SchooLinks - SCPS’ College and Career Readiness Platform. School Counselors will use this site with all students again this year.

👥 Counseling Team Support

Our counseling team will be meeting with students through classroom lessons throughout the school year. If you need to reach out to your student’s counselor, please use the alphabetical breakdown below to find the correct contact:

• Tiffany Donadi, counseling director, last names A - F: donaditm@staffordschools.net

• Janet Gardon, last names G - O: gardonjk@staffordschools.net

• Andrea Swank, last names P - Z: swankak@staffordschools.net

• Julie Dixon, counseling registrar: dixonjb@staffordschools.net

November 13 is our next scheduled Digital Citizenship Day. Students will be learning about Artificial Intelligence across each grade.

6th Grade - What is AI

7th Grade - AI Chatbots: Who’s Behind the Screen?

8th Grade - AI Algorithms: How Well Do They Know You?

While the division’s AI Policy supports AI education, it also states that middle school students should only use these tools during teacher-led instruction or through approved software help bots, such as Milo on MathSpace. If you have not heard about Milo, ask your student what they think of it! Our goal is to foster a healthy, informed understanding of AI technology. To continue this conversation at home please see this Toolkit for Talking to your Kids About AI from Common Sense Education. This toolkit has conversation starters and informational videos!

The Sneaker Ball is this week!

The dance is for 7th and 8th Graders only. 6th Graders will have a 6th Grade Social on January 29th!

Ticket Sales: Dance ticket sales are in person- Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning - $5 cash only. If purchasing in person- each student must have a signed permission slip. Ticket sales will happen in the counseling hallway.

You can purchase a ticket online until November 4th at 11pm. If you purchase a ticket online, you do not need to send in a paper permission slip.

Purchase a dance ticket

We are in need of snack donations and volunteers! Sign up here:

Volunteer and/or donate

• Canvas: https://staffordschools.instructure.com/login/canvas
• StudentVUE/ParentVUE: https://psp.staffordschools.net/
• LightSpeed Parent Portal Sign Up Info: Directions can be found here. You will opt in through ParentVue.
• ParentVUE(NEW) - app
• My Ride K-12 - app
• DSMS Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61594405348227
• DSMS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dixonsmithmiddle/

Some Dixon-Smith students may be affected by redistricting. Remain informed using the information and links below.

The School Board is scheduled to review the proposed boundaries and community feedback during the following meetings:

• November 10, 2026 — School Board Work Session and Public Hearing
• December 8, 2026 — Anticipated School Board Adoption of 2028-2029 Middle School Boundaries