Fair Haven Union Middle School

Dear Middle School Students & Families,

What a wonderful start to the 2025-2026 school year!

Next week we will be having a number of drills: bus evacuation practice, fire drill and our first Options-Based Drill. All of this drills are done thoughtfully and in ways that are developmentally appropriate. We practice these early on and as students are settling in to this environment to ensure that students know what to do in a variety of emergency situations.

I realized there is a word we are using in two different ways and I wanted to provide some clarity. Each grade has an advisor. This advisor will help the class do a fundraiser or two to begin building some funds for their 8th grade end of the year trip. This years 7th grade class - The Class of 2031 - has Justin Merrill as an advisor. This years 8th grade class - The Class of 2030 - has Erin Haley as an advisor. You may receive communication from your child's advisor at some point throughout the year regarding fundraising experiences. When each of these grades enter high school, they will have a new advisor that likely follows them through their 4 years. Those 4 years involve fundraising experiences to support their Senior trip.

Additionally, Period 1 of your students day is TA or Teacher Advisory. This is the time of day where we spend some time working on executive functioning skills (such as: flexible thinking, self-control, attention, planning, organization, task initiation, and time management) as well as managing our emotions and how to make positive peer and adult connections. This person can be your point of contact and connection here in school if you are not sure who to go to with a question. This adult is the person that your child starts their day with almost every day. Sometimes we alter the schedule on Early Release days or if there is a delay.

I aim to send these Middle School Family Newsletters 1-2 times a month depending on the amount of information we need to share out with families. If you have a question or topic you would like to see addressed in the Newsletter, please send me an email with your suggestion!

Here is a link to a short, 4 question survey we would love to have families fill out so we know how we are doing so far: https://forms.gle/MtgueNjCzPhvhSnt8

Jennefer Paquette

FHUMHS Co-Principal

The rafting trip started years ago (15 +/-) at FHGS as a middle school team-building activity. It weathered the transition to a district middle school and after reflection and input from students and staff here at FHUMHS, we happily decided to continue it for 7th grade students as a way to kick off middle school. The activity allows for a chance to talk about how students in an advisory can 'row together' to complete a goal. It also allows us to get outdoors, move our bodies and have a new experience (for most). 7th Grade Students will be going rafting on September 12th.

Academic Success is a program offered to all students. It is a supervised space after school where students can get school work done. This year it will be supervised by Chris DeSimone. It will be offered M-F from 3:15-4:30.

The FHU Middle School PTO will be meet on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 5pm in the FHU library. All Middle School parents are invited to join! The PTO fundraises in various ways to be able to support our Middle School in a variety of ways.

In the 24-25 school year, the PTO:

sponsored and chaperoned middle school dances,

provided support, materials and time to help decorate the MS hallways for Slaterbration,

recognized teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week in May,

provided funds to support our 8th Grade trip at the end of the year.

The first meeting is September 9th at 5pm in the FHU Library.

We provide numerous eligibility checks. These eligibility checks do not result in removal from an extra-curricular. However, if a student is failing (less than 2.5) two or more classes, at the time of the eligibility check, they will be expected to attend Academic Success for 8 days in order to continue participating in the extra-curricular. Our goal is to support student participation while placing a priority on academics. There is more information in the Athletic and Co-Curricular Handbook (linked below).

The dates of the Eligibility Checks are: Sept. 26th, Oct. 31st*, Dec. 12, Jan 23rd*, March 6th, April, 3rd*, May 8th and June 15th*. The four dates with asterisk's are the end of Quarter 1, 2, 3, and 4. You will receive a MS Report Card in the mail shortly after the end of a Quarter. We will remind you, and students, of these as they come up. However, it it important to get this on your radar early.

We want to help students develop the consistent habits and routines that allow them to maintain a steady level of success. We hope to avoid the "let it slip and then scramble' when an eligibility check is coming up.

At the end of last year, we had a committee that included middle and high school students as well as staff members update our Dress Code. Please see the updated Dress Code Procedure below.