Banks Trail Middle School

Happy Friday, Timberwolf Families! Congratulations to our football team on their big win this week marking the end of the regular season! We are so proud of the hard work, dedication, and teamwork these athletes have demonstrated throughout the season! Thank you to Coach Massey, Coach Wilke, Coach Young, Coach White, and Coach Young (younger one) for all of their efforts with the boys on and off the field. We encourage everyone to come out and support our Timberwolves as they take on Gold Hill in the FMAC District Championship game on Wednesday, November 4th at 5:30 pm at the Gold Hill stadium! Let's pack the stands and show our Timberwolf pride!

As we get ready to kick off winter sports, please see below for important information regarding basketball tryouts. We are excited to get the winter sports season underway and look forward to cheering on our Timberwolves!

A huge thank you to Mrs. Blocker, Mrs. Feemster, Mrs. Brand, and everyone who helped make last weekend's Touch a Truck or Treat fundraiser for Special Olympics such a tremendous success! It was wonderful to see children and members of our community come together for such a meaningful event. We are grateful to everyone who volunteered, participated, and supported this special cause. Events like these remind us how fortunate we are to be part of such a caring and supportive community!

Just a reminder, Tuesday, November 3rd is Election Day, and there will be no school for students or staff. We encourage everyone who is eligible to get out and vote and make their voice heard!

Thank you so much,

Marc Pyrc

Principal, Banks Trail Middle

Please click here for the weekly Parent Trail Guide to see the updates from your student's teachers. Teachers will update each week by Monday afternoon, so please make sure to check each week to stay up-to-date on classwork and assignments for each class.

November 2-November 12-BTMS RAK Food Drive-See Below for more information and needs!

November 3-No School for Election Day

November 4-Middle School Football Playoffs-Banks Trail vs. Gold Hill 5:30 pm GHMS Stadium / Girls basketball try-outs 5:30-7 pm

November 5-Middle School Unified Games @FMMS / 7th Grade Art Field to Columbia Art Museum / Girls basketball try-outs 5:30-7 pm

November 7-Cheer Competition @ Colonial Life Arena

November 9-7th grade Field Trip to Greenway / Beta Club Induction 6pm BTMS Media Center / Brixx PTO Fundraiser Day (Fort Mill location-Dine-in and Take-Out-must have flyer for BTMS to receive credit. Flyer sent home and below in newsletter.)

November 9-10-Boys Basketball Try-outs 3:30-5 pm

November 11-Veteran's Day Assemblies (Wear Patriotic Clothing/Red, White, and Blue or Camo) / Beta Club Meeting 3:15 pm / Boys Basketball Try-outs (if needed)

November 12-Club Day / Unified Field Trip to GHMS / 8th grade Theater and Chorus Field Trip

November 13-8th Grade Job Shadow forms due (Google form-see packet sent home 10/22) / National School Psychologist Appreciation Day

November 14-Girls Basketball Scrimmage Showcase @ Rock Hill High

November 18-Angel Tree Family Responses Due

November 20-Trail Ticket Exchange / National Assistant Appreciation Day

November 21-Boys Basketball Scimmage Showcase @ Rock Hill High

November 23-Angel Tree Sponsors Pairings

November 24-8th grade Job Shadow Day

November 25-29-Thanksgiving Holidays

November 30-Boys Basketball @ FCMS / Girls Basketball VS. FCMS

Our BTMS Random Acts of Kindness Club is sponsoring a food drive for the Fort Mill Care Center! We are collecting items from November 2-November 12th! Items desperately needed are all varieties of canned soups and stews. Other non-perishable items are appreciated, but please no peanut butter. Your student can drop items off in Room B120! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

On Monday, October 26th, we hosted our BTMS Spelling Bee! After a grueling 28 rounds, our top four spellers rose to the challenge! Congratulations to our 2026 BTMS Spelling Bee winners:

4th Place: Meenakshi N.
3rd Place: Meredith B.
2nd Place: Rylee Kleine
BTMS Spelling Bee Champion: Sanjay S.

All four students demonstrated incredible skill, focus, and perseverance. We are so proud of each of you! All 4 of these winners will represent Banks Trail at the Fort Mill District Spelling Bee! Way to go, Timberwolves!

7th & 8th Grade Girls

Try-outs: November 4th and 5th 5:30-7 pm

First Day of Practice: November 9th 5:30-7 pm

7th &8th Grade Boys

Try-outs: November 9th and 10th 3:30-5:00 pm (November 11th if needed)

The Athletic Department at Banks Trail Middle School now hosts their Pre-Participation Athletic Forms online with Arbiter.

NO Athletic Forms may be sent into the school or to the coaches! Students WILL NOT BE ABLE TO TRY-OUT if they do not have their physical and documents uploaded.

https://students.arbitersports.com/programs/banks-trail-middle-school-athletic-form-requirements-26-27

For your planning purposes, the full Boys and Girls 2026-2027 Basketball Schedules are below.

Angel Tree Sponsor Form

We finished our One School, One Book this week...American As Paneer Pie. Please ask your student about it. Thank you to all of our readers and to everyone that made this a success!

We are going to reschedule Cultural Literacy Night for February 25, 2027! Please mark your calendars now!

Please visit our Media Center Website for information about events and happenings in our space!

https://sites.google.com/fmsdmail.org/btms-media/home

Happy Reading,

Mrs. McCloskey

Attention 8th grade parents...8th grade Job Shadow Day is Tuesday, November 24th! 8th graders had an assembly on October 22nd to learn about this opportunity and a packet went home. Please ask your student about this and remember that the form is due by November 13th!

If you have a child at Banks Trail Middle School then you are automatically a member of the PTO. Our mission is to encourage communication between parents, teachers, administration and the community. We also want to enrich our children's educational, social and developmental experiences.

Stay in the know on all things happening with the PTO and get involved! Visit our website at https://btmspto.wixsite.com/btmspto

Email: ptobtms@gmail.com

Social Media: "BTMSPTO" on Facebook & "ptobtmsfortmill" on Instagram

Spirit Rock 2026-2027

Please consider signing up for the Spirit Rock to celebrate your child's special day.

Spirit Wear Store is Open! Perfect to get started on some holiday shopping!

https://bsnteamsports.com/shop/ZmVtGV1Y7C

Names

Please make sure to write your students name on all items brought into the school (lunch boxes, water bottles, sweaters, jackets etc.).

Start and Finish Times

School starts at 8:10 am and dismisses at 3:10 pm daily. A half-day will start at 8:10 am and release at 11:35 am. Two hour early release days will start at 8:10 am and release at 1:10pm. Students may enter the building at 7:45 am each morning.

TARDY / TIME AND ATTENDANCE

If your student arrives late to school - 8:10 or after, or is Returning from an Appointment - a parent or adult must come into the office to sign them in. Students are not allowed to sign themselves in. Please remember to put both first and last name on all doctors, tardy and absent notes. If you have any questions, please email Ms. Brown at brownds@fortmillschools.org.

EARLY DISMISSAL

If you are picking up your student for early dismissal, please be cognizant of class times (each grade level's schedule is below.) The fewer times we have to interrupt our classrooms, the more instructional time our students receive. The cut-off for students being picked up by a guardian is 2:40 pm. The FMSD policy for dismissal states that there are to be no dismissals within 30 minutes of that school's dismissal time, so for middle school that is between 2:40 and 3:10 pm.

Guidance Counseling Staff

If you or a family, you know, are in need of school supplies, food, or additional resources, please reach out to your grade level counselor.

Counseling Staff:

Mrs. Middleton– 6th Grade middletonr@fortmillschools.org

Mr. Smith– 7th Grade smithd@fortmillschools.org

Mrs. Knight-8th Grade knighta@fortmillschools.org

Transportation

Bus transportation is provided and set up through the FMSD transportation. Please visit the FMSD website and click on transportation website. You can sign your student up for bus transportation through this website. As a reminder it takes approximately 36 hours for processing.

Students must ride their assigned bus and cannot change buses unless it is a change of address. All changes must be made through the transportation department.

Lunches

Student lunches are no longer free, so please make sure that your student has funds on their lunch account. Food delivery services, like Doordash, Grubhub, and UberEats are not permitted for students. Parents, please be aware of your student's lunch account balance and discuss it with them. There are many times students are unable to purchase the snacks/drinks they have selected due to a balance that is too low. This can sometimes be embarrassing for students as they have to return the items. Please note that students can ALWAYS get a complete breakfast and lunch. This is in reference only for snacks, special drinks and extra food. Thank you

STUDENT REMINDERS

When bringing items into the school for your students, please have the name of the student on the item and leave it with Mrs. Giametta in the office. Please note that instructional time will not be interrupted for the delivery of forgotten items.

Section 504 Plans

Please Click Here for More Information on Section 504 and the Fort Mill School District including the District 504 handbook.

CHANGE OF CLOTHES

Guidance Counselors recommend that you send a change of clothes for students to keep in their possession for any accidents or dress code issues. We cannot guarantee that we have clothes to offer your child and a change of clothes is needed more than one may think so it's best to be prepared.

Breakfast

Breakfast is now free for all FMSD students. No payment is required and no sign-up is needed. Breakfast menus can be found on the school district website.

Thanks to Mrs. Blocker for all of her hardwork in helping to get us this national recognition! Thank you to Coach Donovan, Mrs. Barringer, and everyone else that made this possible! We are so thankful for our unified buddies and all that we do to demonstrate inclusion and love in our school!

'Tis the season! We are seeing a lot of confirmed cases of the flu and students out with flu-like symptons in our building...please make sure you are taking the proper precautions and washing hands. Students who have had a fever or have experienced vomiting or diarrhea should be symptom-free for at least 24 hours before returning to school WITHOUT USE OF ANY MEDICATION. We appreciate your help in keeping our students and staff healthy!

If your child needs an over-the-counter (OTC) medication available at school, parents/guardians must provide the medication in a new, unopened bottle and complete the appropriate medication authorization form before the medication can be kept at school and given as needed.

Please join us on November 9th for Brixx Fundraiser Night for BTMS! The flyer above will be sent home with your child, but please mark your calendars for this night! We look forward to seeing everyone at Brixx in Fort Mill!

Every week, we want to celebrate the amazing and staff members who make a difference in the lives and learning adventures of our Timberwolves! Do you know of a teacher or staff member that has gone above and beyond for your child? Maybe they made your child feel seen, helped them overcome a challenge, sparked a love of learning, or simply made their week a little brighter. We want to hear about it! Use our Teacher and Staff Shout-Out Form to give our teachers and staff a little extra love and recognition. Take a moment to say “thank you” to someone who is making a difference. We can't wait to celebrate our incredible Banks Trail family! We thank you for being part of what makes the TRAIL so special!

Please complete this form to give a shout-out: https://forms.gle/qb4vSRP689ZJ2UTk6

Please see below for the full season schedules for the boys and girls basketball teams! Mark your calendars now!

You don't want to miss your chance for the BTMS 2026-2027 Yearbook! Click Here to order.

8th grade Parents ONLY! Please see below if you are interested in purchasing a Yearbook Ad for your Timberwolf!

We want to give a big thank you to The Houser Group. They are so generous in their kindness and sponsorship shown to our teachers and staff throughout the year. They provide gifts for our Teachers of the Month, coffee/tea/all needed accoutrements for our staff breakroom, and other needs/wants that arise. We can't thank them enough for their support of The Trail!

www.thehousergroup.com

Email: giamettab@fortmillschools.org
Website: http://btms.fortmillschools.org/
Location: 861 Fort Mill Parkway, Fort Mill, SC 29715 USA
Phone: 803-578-2990