Husky Howl

Hello Homer Huskies!

This newsletter has a lot of important information, please please take a few minutes to read it! I ask that you take a moment to please provide us with feedback! There are QR codes at the bottom of the newsletter you can use to provide feedback on me (Principal Redmond), a teacher, or our school as a whole! You can fill these out as often and whenever you want to!

Please take a few moments to follow HMS on Facebook and Instagram (@hmsalaska), as we keep these very up to date with pictures and announcements about what is happening at HMS. You can also check out our school website (https://kpbsd.org/schools/homer-middle/), although it is updated far less often. You can also join our HMS Public Google Calendar to help you keep up to date too (Google Calendar Link Click Here) As always, if you need anything at all during the school year, please do not hesitate to reach out. You can email me at mredmond@kpbsd.k12.ak.us or call the office at 907-235-5700.

-Principal Redmond

FEBRUARY EVENTS

February 7- early release at 2:20

February 7- last day to buy candy grams/roses

February 10- mid-quarter progress reports emailed to parents

February 11- 8th grade ice skating

February 12- 8th grade mock interview day

February 13-14- P/T Conferences- No School (Please see below for instructions on signing up)

February 17- there IS SCHOOL THIS DAY to make up for our snow day from December

February 18- site council meeting 4 pm in library

February 21- Valentine's Dance (HMS and Connections 7th and 8th graders)

Congratulations to all of the students who participated in our spelling bee this year! Here are the top 3 spellers!

1st Place- Maria Henandez-Zamora

2nd Place- Kyla Palin

3rd Place- Isaiah Kincaid

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District requests input from staff, parents, and community members at the districtwide KPBSD budget development meeting, scheduled at the following locations:

• Homer Community – Tuesday, February 11, 2025 at 6:00 PM Homer High Library
• Central Peninsula - Wednesday, February 19, 2025 at 6:00 PM Kenai Central High Library
• Seward Community – Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 6:00 PM Seward High Library

As new budget information becomes available, it will be posted here: http://www.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/departments.aspx?id=38. If you have questions, please call Natalie Bates at 714-8888.

We are going to be holding a jointly planned Valentine’s Day dance with Connections! Here is all the info you need to know!

You are invited to:

What: Valentine’s Day Sadie Hawkins Dance

When: Friday, February 21st 6:00-8:00 PM

Where: Homer Middle School

Who: all HMS and Connections 7th and 8th graders

Entry fee: $5 (pizza, soda and baked goods will also be for sale)

Dress: Middle School Formal (Dress must be appropriate, with no offensive or illegal topics. Dresses must have straps. Hats and cell phones are allowed.)

Activities: Dance in the gym and movie in the library

The Rules:

• Students must be at school all day on Friday to be able to attend the dance, unless they have a documented doctor/dentist appointment. A doctor’s note is required to be submitted to the office if this is the case.
• If your child had any suspensions during the 3rd quarter of school, they are ineligible to attend the dance.
• No outside guests are allowed to attend.
• Students must have a signed permission slip to attend the dance.
• Students will not be admitted to the dance before 6:00 or after 7:00 pm.
• A student who leaves the building will not be readmitted. Students must be picked up promptly at 8:00 pm.

Parent Volunteers Needed: We are also in need of parent volunteers to make this event a success! Please reply to this email if you can help with any of the following. (must have an approved KPBSD Volunteer application on file).

• Pick up pizza order at Sav-U-More (5:30 pm)
• Make and drop off baked goods donations
• DJ (6:00-8:00 pm)
• Set up (5:00-6:00 pm)
• Supervise (6:00-7:00 pm, 7:00-8:00 pm, or both)
• Concession Stand (6:00-7:00 pm, 7:00-8:00 pm, or both)
• Clean up (8:00 pm)

Please reach out if you have any questions at all! We are looking forward to an evening of fun and celebration together, and hopefully making new friends!

Meghan Redmond- Homer Middle School Principal

Doug Hayman- Connections Principal- dhayman@kpbsd.k12.ak.us (907)714-8880

Hello Homer Husky Families! It is time to book fall parent/teacher conferences! Parent Teacher conferences will be held Thursday, February 13th and Friday, February 14th following the schedule below.

Thursday, February 13th

9:00-12:00- by appointment

1:00-4:00- by appointment

5:00-7:00- by appointment

Friday, February 14th

9:00-12:00- by appointment

Because of the number of students in our building, we are very limited on the times we can offer conferences. This is why appointments are required.

To make a conference appointment, click on this link. https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/appointments/AcZssZ2wlQuFuzJUFY0F2ZgqdDAI9FN2fv1BxnGgYJg=. At this link, you are reserving a 30-minute time block (Please make sure to pick the correct grade level time blocks!) that works for you and telling us up to 3 teachers you want to meet with, and we will create your conference schedule for you. Once a time slot is filled, it will be removed from the form. There are 3 time slots per grade available, so if the time you want is not available in the slot you picked, please click BACK and try a different booking slot.

You will receive a confirmation email shortly after booking with the start time of your conferences. You will pick up your specific schedule when you arrive to conferences. We ask that you please arrive about 5 minutes before your scheduled start time to ensure we stay on schedule throughout the day! **A word of warning to please check the time zone your confirmation email shows, as that was an issue for a handful of people during the fall conference.

This year, we highly encourage you to bring your child with you to the conference! We want our students to be actively involved in every aspect of their education, and this is a great way to do that!

If you need any help or have any questions, please email Principal Redmond at mredmond@kpbsd.k12.ak.us or call the office at 907-235-5700.

• Volleyball (Schedule https://docs.google.com/document/d/10UcrexmmRjTud-7R_FJXAcicLxiyY79efcmkD5oKIGs/edit?tab=t.0 )
• Nordic Ski (Schedule https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l1zBefiWA554QTtMP6AGWWdazf6L-7KgqCrBsPkB3KU/edit?tab=t.0)
• Wrestling (Schedule https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oznuVM4JqLaZRo_LHMTRfmBHbUU_1TZQdguJAC-7gn8/edit?tab=t.0)

If parents or students have any photos they want to be considered for the yearbook such as; sports, activity night/dances, concerts, etc. they can email me at harmony.davidson1@g.kpbsd.org or use the QR code to the left.

You can purchase your yearbook now by using the QR code to the right.

Hello Homer Community Members,

Happy New Year! It is time again for the Homer Middle School 8th grade to hold our annual Mock Interviews. You are on our list of previous participants so we wanted to give you the first opportunity to join us again.

The 2025 interviews will be held at Homer Middle School on Wednesday February 12 from 9am – 11 am. Each interviewer will meet with six different students during that time. The interviews will be approximately 15 minutes in length and we will provide you with the questions. More information will be provided when we finalize our list.

The Mock Interviews have been a positive and empowering experience for our students and we cannot do it without you. We hope you will consider joining us again for this fun event. Please reply to this email to accept or decline the invitation and do not hesitate to reach out with any questions. Additionally, we have a large 8th grade class this year which means we will need more hands on deck. Feel free to share this email with other community members who might be interested in helping.

Best,

Jen Booz and the 8th grade team.

Fill out the form at this link to give a staff member a shout out in our next newsletter! You must enter your name and email to complete the form, but when shout outs are included in the newsletter, they will be anonymous.

https://forms.gle/FnSrYzRN1LrXjTHu8

Ms. McKinstry- Thank you for teaching knitting in 8th grade art class! My daughter is really enjoying it, and I’m enjoying seeing her have another alternative down-time activity that doesn’t involve a screen!

Ms. Joy- Ms. Joy is the bomb! she rocks, because she's the best! we all love you Ms. Joy!

I would like everyone to take a moment to review the HMS electronic device policy before returning to school. A specific issue we are currently having is students texting from the restrooms. To help us curb this issue, I ask that if you receive a text during school hours you either ignore it or tell the student to go to the office and call you. I do appreciate your help with this....If you have any questions or concerns please just reach out and let us know.

Here is the exact policy from our handbook....

The use of electronic devices, such as cell phones, bluetooth headphones, smart watches, etc., not provided by the school for student use, is not allowed in school by students. If students bring these items to school, they must turn them off when entering the building and leave them off and out of sight until the last bell rings. The school is limited in resources and will not assist in searching for lost electronics. The only exception to this rule is if a teacher gives permission for a student to use a device for a specific activity in class.

• All students are warned of this rule explicitly at the beginning of the school year.
• 1st offense- Device is taken away and given to the office. Student may get device back at the end of the school day.
• 2nd offense (and each offense thereafter)- Device is taken away and given to the office. A parent or guardian will be called and the parent/guardian or designee must pick up the device.

All students (new and returning) are required to have registration paperwork completed every school year. You can complete your child's paperwork at this link https://forms.kpbsd.org/. If your child is a returning student, nothing is required to be completed in person. If your child is a new student, you will need to drop off a copy of their birth certificate and physical form.

There is also a $25 band/choir fee and a $10 art fee for each student. If you have not paid these fees yet you may do so by sending cash/check to school or logging into PowerSchool to pay online with a credit card.

Regular attendance at school is a vital part of student success. Parents/guardians are expected to call or email the school by 9:30 am whenever their child will be absent.

Phone Number: 907-235-5700

Email: tshafer@kpbsd.k12.ak.us

• Excused Absence- a parent has notified the school that their child is or will be absent from school.
• Unexcused Absence- a parent has not notified the school that their child is or will be absent from school.
• A student is considered absent from a class period once they are 15 minutes late.

When a student will be absent from school for 5 consecutive days or more, a prearranged absence form must be completed and submitted to the office in advance of the absence. The student is expected to be responsible for completing this form and following up with his or her teachers about missing work once he or she is back from the absence.

If a student will be absent more than 10 consecutive days, the parent is required to meet with the principal to discuss the absence and determine next steps.

If you need info about bussing, please contact Apple Bus at 907.235.0124.

Students are required to have a bus note if they need to get off the bus at a different stop than usual. Parents/guardians must do the following by 2:00 PM to request a bus note for their child.

• Step 1: Call First Student at 907-235-0124 to find out the bus number and bus stop name you are requesting for the bus pass. You also need to verify that there will be space on the bus for the bus pass to be accepted by the driver.

• Step 2: Call or email the HMS secretary before 2 PM to request the bus pass and provide all info needed. (bus number, stop name, destination contact name and phone number, dates for pass).

See our full student handbook here. A reminder that the signature page must be turned in to the office for a student to be permitted to attend the dance. https://kpbsd.org/schools/homer-middle/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2024/05/Homer-Middle-School-Handbook-2024-2025.docx-3.pdf

Have you updated your registration for this year yet? If not please do so here https://forms.kpbsd.org/guardian/login?returnUrl=%2Fguardian .

Add funds to your child's lunch account here https://kpbsd.revtrak.net/

Check your child's grades and see if you still owe any course fees in PowerSchool here https://kpbsd.org/students-parents/powerschool/

Are you interested in volunteering at Homer Middle School? Complete the KPBSD volunteer application at this link https://kpbsd.org/departments/assistant-superintendent/instructional-services/hr/volunteer/. Once you are approved, reach out to the office and we can find a way for you to help!

Please take the time to complete the surveys below. They can be filled out at any point in the year and as many times as you would like! We value your compliments and constructive feedback!

• Morning tutoring- 8:00-8:30 am every day in the library

• Morning library- 8:30-8:50 am every day the library is open for work time

• Enrichment- set up a time to meet with a teacher in advance

• Enrichment- the library is open every day to work on class work

• Advisory- most Tuesdays will be study hall. Study hall time may be available other days in advisory as well.

• After school tutoring- Monday-Thursdays 3:50-5:00 in Ms. Booz or Mr. Olson's classroom.

• Work on school work when I am at home!