Good afternoon,

Fall Parent Conferences will be held on Wednesday, November 15, from 1:00-5:00 and Thursday, November 16, from 1:00-7:30. We have planned our conferences to provide meaningful feedback on your child's progress both socially and academically. You will have the opportunity to meet with your child's teachers who will provide an overview on your child's progress on both their Achievement, how a student is progressing on skills and standards within their content classes, and on their Habits of Success, skills we value as essential to student engagement and learning.

Families will receive an email via Parent Square from each of their child's individual teachers to sign up for a 5 minute time slot for each class. E-mails and information regarding Parent Teacher Conferences will be sent out to families at 3:00 P.M. on November 7, 2023 . Conference sign-ups will close at 3:00 P.M on November 13, 2023. You may sign up to meet with one, a few, or all of your child’s teachers.

Parent conferences are optional, but we welcome all families who would like to meet with their child’s teacher. If you do not plan to attend conferences in November, please fill out the form below to specify you will not be participating. You can include your child/children's name(s) in the notes. Due to scheduling and the necessary preparation required for conferences, teachers will not be able to accommodate “Drop-Ins” during Parent Conferences.

Virtual conferences will also be available for families who may need that option. If you need to schedule a virtual conference, please reach out directly to your child’s teacher. These conferences may be held at a mutually agreed upon time between individual teachers and parents and may fall outside of the 15th and 16th.

As always, whenever a concern arises, please reach out to your child's Team Leader. The following are the contacts per grade level:

Team 6 contact: Ms. McCabe - tmccabe@easthamptonct.org

Team 7 contact: Mrs. Parsons - kparsons@easthamptonct.org

Team 8 contact: Mrs. Amaral - camaral@easthamptonct.org

We can accommodate a team meeting at any point of they year to ensure we are best supporting your child and family. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Emily or myself.

Best,

Christina & Emily

Mon., Nov. 6th: Start of Second Quarter Specials Rotation

Tues., Nov. 7th: No School - Teacher Professional Development

Fri., Nov. 10th: No School - Veteran's Day

Wed., Nov. 15th: Early Release at 12:30 - Parent Conferences 1:00 - 5:00

Thurs., Nov. 16th: Early Release at 12:30 - Parent Conferences 1:00 - 7:30

Each team will share an update on current happenings throughout the team each month.

Below are Team November Newsletters! Enjoy!

Winter Registration is now open on familyid.com. This is for boys basketball, girls basketball and cheerleading only! Deadline is Sunday, November 5th.

EHMS students across all grade levels took part in fun Halloween literacy activities on Tuesday. Activities included analyzing ghost stories, writing spooky stories, and having Halloween fun!

Below is one of our 6th graders who won a Positive Office Referral. He was able to pick some friends and a staff member to play a board game during FLEX!

Students from EHMS and EHHS were able to attend a future workforce opportunities fair. This fair was created to make students aware of the broad opportunities and careers available in the local aerospace industry. Students were able to meet with over 90 local aerospace firms and learn about the difference careers associated and see leading-edge technologies modern manufacturers are using. Our students had a great time! Below are some pictures of the morning.

Pictured below is our whole band ensemble preparing for their winter concert. Mr. Groves, the band director from East Hampton High School, comes by to help our students practice along with Mrs. Rahusen and Mr. Shilansky. We are looking forward to the Winter Concert on Wednesday, January 17th at 6:30 at EHHS.

MathCounts is a popular national middle school mathematics competition. Our EHMS MathCounts has begun, but there is still time for interested students to join! Students practice, perform and learn tips and skills to solve a variety of math problems. Critical thinking, problem solving and communication skills are developed through a competition setting. If your child is interested, please have them join the google classroom with the code: bwn5vw7.

All meetings will occur in Mr. Kiser's classroom Room 12 from 2:35 until 3:30. The next meeting will be on November 21st.

Our students will transition to their second quarter specials on Monday. On Powerschool Monday, their schedule will show the new course. We follow the acronym 'MATH' so students know what special comes next.

Music - Art - Technology Education - Health

It is hard to believe that we are already talking about your child's transition to East Hampton High School, however, please save the following date - In the evening of Thursday December 7th, all current 8th grade parents and guardians are invited to East Hampton High School. More information, including time, we will sent out via Parentsquare.

Looking for a way to give back? Want to help make the world a better place? Then please join the EarlyAct Club at any of our upcoming events and opportunities to spread compassion! ALL are welcome and no previous club experience is required. Check out our rolling monthly agenda to see where you can help us to make a difference!

When & Where

Mark your calendars and save the date. On Saturday, November 4, 2023 the 14th Annual East Hampton Turkey Plunge will be held at Sears Park at 9:00 a.m.

What & Why

People of all ages are invited to take the plunge and participate in the "coolest" event of the season. The event is open to the public; it's free, and it's loads of fun for the entire family.

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Because many of our friends and neighbors are struggling during this challenging time, it's critical we help to raise funds in support of our local Food Bank. Through the East Hampton Rotary Club, we have online registration! Also back this year - virtual plunging - plungers can register, dip on their own, and send us their plunge video.

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Please be part of this worthwhile event, whether it's being a plunger, sponsoring your favorite plunger, or making a donation. Everyone can be part of Turkey Plunge! Because so many of you have come back year after year, we can help so many families in our Belltown community who need a helping hand.

How

For this event, we have our own club team that you can join, or if you would like, you may simply offer a donation for the cause.

Student participants must also complete the Turkey Plunge EHMS sign-up & permission form.

The East Hampton Board of Education and the school community as a whole promote a secure and productive school climate, conducive to teaching and learning that is free from threat, harassment, any type of bullying behavior, and teen dating violence. Therefore it shall be the policy of the Board that bullying and/or teen dating violence committed against a student by another student is prohibited. The Board believes that a school environment in which students feel safe, supported, engaged and helpfully challenged is optimal for learning and healthy development. The Board seeks an environment in which students and adults feel socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically safe; an environment that is free of harassment, intimidation, teen dating violence and bullying. Our website provides links to various policies and reporting forms including our Safe School Climate Plan. Hard copies are also available in our main office. If at any point you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to building administration for further assistance.

In order to promote strong attendance habits and maximize learning, the East Hampton schools urge all parents to make sure that their children attend every day unless they are ill. Teachers work to pace instruction on a uniform schedule, so good attendance really matters in every child’s learning. As a result, parents should expect strong connection between success in school and good attendance. This year, as we continue with the second year of

new programming in grades K-5 math and implement new math programming in grades 6-7, please note that attendance matters!

Per the East Hampton Board of Education’s Attendance Policy and Connecticut statute, parents and guardians may only approve the first 9 absences of the school year with a parent note. Absences 10 and above can only be excused with further documentation and under specific circumstances.

In addition, if a student has four unexcused absences in one month or 10 unexcused absences in a year they are classified as truant. If a child misses 18 or more days in a school year – excused or unexcused absences – the student is classified as chronically absent. Access to the East Hampton attendance policy is available HERE.

To increase the ease of reporting an absence and documenting parent approval of the absence for a student’s first 9 absences, the East Hampton Public Schools has created email addresses that parents can use to contact their student’s school and report an absence. Effectively immediately, the following email address for EHMS (EHMS_Attendance@easthamptonct.org) can be used by parents to report and document their approval of an absence. Below are links to each school's email address:

Note: Between the school name and the word Attendance is a underscore ( _ )

Memorial_Attendance@easthamptonct.org

Center_Attendance@easthamptonct.org

EHMS_Attendance@easthamptonct.org

EHHS_Attendance@easthamptonct.org

If you have successfully emailed the school, you will receive an autoreply that notifies you that the absence communication has been received and recorded. This process is effective for your student’s first 9 absences. After your student has more than 9 absences, additional documentation or communication will be required to excuse the absence. Please use the email to continue to notify the school that your child will not attend. You may call your child’s school at any time to report an absence, as well.

Unfortunately, it is that time of year when the germs are going to be making their way around! Let’s work together to stay healthy. Below are a few reminders.

Illness: A fever is 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. A student will be sent home and may not return the next day if they have a fever while in school. They may return to school if they have been fever free for 24 hours WITHOUT fever reducing medications.

· COVID: Currently, there are no changes to the districts policy for guidelines. We recommend a student be out of school for 5 days from start of symptoms. Please provide a physician note to the office as this is needed for attendance purposes.

· Students may bring their own supply of cough drops to use throughout the school day. They may carry them with their belongings but may NOT share with others due to allergies throughout the building.

Medications: Every medication that is brought into school requires a “Medication Authorization” form to be signed by the student’s doctor and parent/guardian. Please use a large ziplock bag for the medication plus the medication order and label the bag with your child’s name before dropping off. Any controlled medications will need to be counted and signed off with the RN and parent so please allow for a few extra minutes at drop off.

**Beginning in 6th grade, your student may carry their own inhalers and EpiPens, IF approved by physician, parent, and nurse**

Health Concerns: If you have any specific concerns that arise during the school year (such as stitches, concussions, broken bones, etc.) it is best that you send in a doctor’s note with dates and guidelines, so we can all be on the same page.

**Please remind your students to bring in their water bottles. Hydration is important!**

As always, please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. Email is best and is below for your reference.

Regards,

Nurse Krystle

Krystle Hafele, BSN,RN

School Nurse

East Hampton Middle School

Office: 860-365-4060

Fax: 860-365-4064

Khafele@easthamptonct.org

If your child is having any Chromebook or technology issues please click on the link below to do some troubleshooting: EHMS TroubleShooting Tips

If the troubleshooting doesn't work click on the link below to submit an IT work ticket:

Chromebook Trouble Ticket

Please encourage your child to take pride and care in their device. Below is a video to review the proper care of Chromebooks with your child.

We understand that often families are seeking assistance in supporting their children through outside counseling or therapy. We are proud to have partnered with School Based Health in order to be able to provide those services within the school. Megan Donnelly is our School Based Health Center Counselor here at East Hampton Middle School who is here 5 days a week. More information is below include a link to their website. Feel free to call the main office if you would like to speak with Megan.

Board of Education Statement on School Safety: The East Hampton Board of Education is committed to a safe and secure learning environment that honors and celebrates the diversity of our students, our community, and our nation. The Board of Education in partnership with the school community will not tolerate any threat of violence in the schools or any hate speech that targets any race, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. Each student is held to the highest standards of responsible decision making within a culture that is expected to foster compassion, caring, and empathy.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement of the East Hampton Public Schools: The school community of East Hampton is committed to the mission of honoring and celebrating the diversity of our students, our community, and our nation. We strive to guide our students to conscious, deliberate, individual and collective actions that cultivate the respect of all races, religions, and social backgrounds. Our school community endeavors to produce graduates who are equipped with a greater understanding of the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Nondiscrimination Statement of the East Hampton Public Schools: The East Hampton Board of Education, in compliance with federal and state law, affirms its policy of equal educational opportunity for all students and equal employment opportunity for all persons. It is the policy of the District to promote nondiscrimination and an environment free of harassment regardless of an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, ancestry, disability (including but not limited to, intellectual disability, past or present history of mental disorder, physical disability, or learning disability), genetic information, marital status, or age or because of the race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, ancestry, disability, genetic information, marital status, or age of any persons with whom the individual associates. The District shall provide to all students without discrimination, course offerings, counseling, assistance, employment, athletics, and extracurricular activities. The District shall provide equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The District shall make reasonable accommodations for identified physical and mental impairments that constitute disabilities, consistent with federal and state statutes and regulations.

Email: camaral@easthamptonct.org
Website: https://www.easthamptonps.org/o/ehms
Location: 19 Childs Road, East Hampton, CT, USA
Phone: (860) 365 4060