HPMS Weekly Update - 8/28/26

We had a great week at HPMS!

Our ProTeam will be having hat day starting Friday, Sept. 4th through the end of Sept. to help raise money for Disabled American Veterans. Students can bring in $1 to their homeroom teacher and wear a school-appropriate hat throughout the day.

Please also note that this coming Friday, 9/4 is Quarter 1 Progress Report day! We do not send home physical progress reports; however, we encourage you to review your child's grades on that day to celebrate successes, and if needed, work on a plan for how to improve before the end of Q1.

Read with the Gamecocks is an incentive-based reading program developed by South Carolina Athletics to promote literacy among elementary and middle-school students. Every student who reaches their 400 page goal will receive a voucher for two tickets (one student, one guardian) to one Gamecock men’s basketball game and one Gamecock women’s basketball game. Please see the flyer posted above for additional information!

Reminder: 6th graders should be waiting on the sidewalk in front of the two-story building at the far end of our front parking lot (unless there is bad weather), 7th graders should be picked up along Park Avenue across the road, and 8th graders should be picked up in the parking lot across the street. Please avoid u-turns in the car line to make sure everyone is being safe. Also, please make sure your car rider is picked up by 3:35PM at the latest. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns!

• We ask that all parents and guardians take time to review the dress code policies we have in place. To be proactive, it is best to make sure these items work within the dress code before students wear them to school. The most common issues we see this time of year are tops that are too short over leggings or holes that are too high on the leg or too large to be appropriate for school. We also see a lot of pants that give the appearance of being pajamas which are not allowed here at HPMS. Additionally, we ask that parents are mindful of shorts and skirts that do not meet the length requirements. Please see the dress code on pages 7-9 of our handbook for more information: CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE HANDBOOK!

• The Free to Focus education law went into effect across South Carolina in January 2025. Students are prohibited from using phones, smart watches, and all other personal devices that can connect to the internet or utilize WiFi at school.

If you are interested in purchasing this year's cheer shirts, please use the link! The team store will close next Friday, 9/4. Go Cubs!

https://mvpscreenprinting.printavo.com/merch/cubs_cheer

• Friday, 9/4 is Q1 Progress Report Day! There will be no physical report sent home, but we would like you to review grades with your student online to see how they've been doing so far this year!
• Friday, 9/4 is the first hat day of our September fundraiser for Disabled American Veterans! Students can pay $1 to wear a school-appropriate hat for the day!
• Volleyball has away games on Monday and Wednesday next week! Go Cubs!
• Football is taking part in the AOP Jamboree next Wednesday! Go Cubs!
• If you are interested in purchasing from our Cubs Team Store online, please use this link! CLICK HERE FOR HPMS CUBS MERCHANDISE!

Morning Minutes

If your student is in need of some academic assistance, please see the information regarding the weekly study sessions that we offer each week. This is available from 7:30AM-7:45AM, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays each week. This is a great, focused time to get on track each week!

Thank you,

John Michael Hall, Principal of Honea Path Middle School

CLICK HERE for the 6th Grade Newsletter

CLICK HERE for the 7th Grade Newsletter

CLICK HERE for the 8th Grade Newsletter

HPMS School Counseling Website: https://hpmscubscounseling.weebly.com/

Read with the Gamecocks is an incentive-based reading program developed by South Carolina Athletics to promote literacy among elementary and middle-school students. Every student who reaches their 400 page goal will receive a voucher for two tickets (one student, one guardian) to one Gamecock men’s basketball game and one Gamecock women’s basketball game.

On page 2 of our handbook, we have asked that family members refrain from dropping off food, money, clothing, or other random items for students. Food and gifts in particular often create a disruption and more students requesting this from their parents. We appreciate your help in keeping our students focused.

We also ask that parents help us to remind students that they are to utilize the proper procedures for contacting home if needed. Student phones are to be turned off and put away throughout the day.

Once students have gotten permission from teachers or staff, we have phones available throughout the school for students to contact home in case of emergency, and our front office staff allows students to use personal devices if needed to contact home as long as they have gotten permission from office staff.

We appreciate your help in making sure students wear clothing that meets our dress code. The most common issues we typically see are shorts that are too short, tops that are too short and do not cover the buttocks when leggings are worn as pants, and tops that expose the midriff. The dress code can be found on pages 7-9 of the handbook. I have linked the handbook here!

Page 9 of the handbook covers items that are prohibited from school, including wireless earbuds and other objects that are disruptive to our learning environment. Many more things have been covered with your students over the past two days regarding the handbooks, and we highly recommend you review these with your students as well as the school year begins!

As always, I am happy to go into further detail if more is needed regarding the policies above. We are very blessed to have such supportive and understanding families who appreciate our efforts to provide a safe and focused learning environment for your children.

Please see this important message from ASD2 by clicking this link. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

Please be aware of the following expectations have been shared with students regarding Chromebooks:

1. These Chromebooks are for school use. If you transfer out of the school the Chromebook and charger must be returned to the school.

2. The hard plastic cases must remain on the Chromebook at all times.

3. Please do not put any stickers anywhere on the Chromebook, charger or case.

4. Do not write on the Chromebook, case or charger.

5. Make sure there are not ANY objects between the screen and keyboard when closing the lid.

6. Please do not eat or drink over your Chromebook.

7. Charge your Chromebook at home every night and leave your charger at home.

8. Keep all of your usernames and passwords secure. DO NOT share them with others.

9. The first accidental damage is covered by the technology fee. Any additional damages or intentional damage will result in a bill being sent home.

10. Report any problems to your teacher who will send you to Mrs. Totman and Mr. Faulkner as needed.

We want you to be aware of these as well so that you can reinforce these expectations with your students to avoid fines or other complications with these devices.

This is a great resource from the state for students and parents. The link below is a quick Screencastify video that shows how to go to the Tutor.com program through discus. (No audio)

https://watch.screencastify.com/v/xXFJ54tuo7maIx8GiJDr

Visit our online MySchoolBucks School Store! Create your free account today to easily pay for your student’s fees online or on-the-go with the mobile app. With MySchoolBucks you’ll be able to quickly pay registration fees, browse school items, be notified when fees are due, and make payments from anywhere!

Get Started Today:

1. Go to myschoolbucks.com or download the mobile app
2. Create your free account and add your students using their school name
3. Add school items or invoices to your cart
4. Check out using your credit / debit card or electronic check

Please continue to assist us in the mornings with drop offs. It is very helpful to us and the other parents in line if you will pull forward, at least until the end of the brick flowerbed wall out front to let your child out if you are in the front of the line. We ask that other cars behind the lead car to pull forward as well. This adds only a few extra steps for your student, but it goes much faster for everyone and helps everyone get to class on time if we can unload 4 or more students at a time out front. Students must be inside their 1st period classroom by 8AM in order to not be counted tardy.

We appreciate in advance your help with our updated dress code for this year. I ask you to please review these for yourself and with your students. They have been covered in school with the teachers, but we greatly appreciate your help at home. The most common issues we typically see are holes in pants that are far too large or too high, shorts that are too short, shirts that are too short or cut too low, exposed undergarments, and shirts/tops that aren't long enough over leggings. Please also note that we also don't allow blankets/pillows to be carried or hats/hoodies worn in the building.

If you’re interested in volunteering to help with the PTO, or if you're just interested in finding out ways to help support our students and teachers, please contact the PTO at https://www.remind.com/join/hpmscubpto for more information! We would love to have you involved!

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE 26-27 STUDENT HANDBOOK ONLINE

All HPMS students have been given a physical copy of the handbook, and they've all been asked to share this with you and have you sign the student behavioral contract/celebration contract.

Dress code and prohibited items list can be found on pages 7-9.

Discipline information, including cell phone policies, can be found on pages 18-25

If you are unclear about the dismissal procedures, I have them listed along with a map below. We do ask that you follow them as they are listed to help us keep things running smoothly and safely. We normally average a 7 minute dismissal each day which is fantastic for a car rider dismissal, and we appreciate your help in keeping it running smoothly.

Please make sure your car rider is picked up by 3:35PM each day at the latest.

The flyers above explain how students can utilize Tutor.com for free through scdiscus.org. Also, the link below is to a video tutorial that explains how it works and what features it offers. This is an excellent resource and we want to make sure all of our students have the information needed to access it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5vseB8vIXI

If you have more than one student attending HPMS, we ask that you follow the procedure for the eldest student. If you are carpooling, we ask that you follow the procedure for 8th graders.

6th Grade - 6th grade students will be dismissed to the front car line, and we will continue to have parents pull forward until you reach your child. 6th graders will be waiting down at the end of the sidewalk in front of the 4K building (except in cases of severe weather). We ask 6th grade parents to approach the school from the Main Street side of Central Avenue. This will keep us from backing up on to 252 from Brock, and it should require very little driving out of the way to get in line. We ask that you do not attempt to turn left from Brock into the front of the school as this is against the traffic laws on that road during school hours.

7th Grade - 7th grade students will cross the road to get in cars which will be on Park Ave. on the right side of the road. Please do not block the entrance/exit to the parking lot in front of the school when you are in line. Park Ave. is wide enough that if you will pull to the right, it will still allow traffic through on Park as needed. Once you pick up your student, please turn left onto Brock Ave. to help us keep that crosswalk cleared. We also prefer that you would get in line from the part of Central Ave. that runs behind the football field to avoid backing up traffic on Park. We realize this may not be practical for all.

8th Grade and Carpooling Students - 8th grade students will go to the parking lot across the street for dismissal. To make leaving easier for you, please park in the center column of spaces in the lot. We are also asking that you turn left out of the parking lot when you leave. We realize that this is less convenient for those of you who normally turn right, but it will keep from having two sets of traffic turning onto Brock Ave. at the same time and creating a bottleneck. If you are picking up two or more students, you are welcomed to use this lot as well, regardless of grade level.

We ask that you drive carefully around the school because there will be several different valves of traffic going to and from the school.

• 8/31 - Volleyball @ Dixie - AWAY - 5:30PM
• 9/2 - Volleyball @ Palmetto/Belton - AWAY - 5:30PM
• 9/2 - Football @ AOP Jamboree - AWAY - 5:30PM
• 9/4 - Progress Report Q1
• 9/7 - Student Holiday - No School
• 9/7 - Volleyball @ BHP - Belton/Palmetto - 5:30PM
• 9/10 - Football v - Riverside - HOME - 5:30PM
• 9/14 - Volleyball v Dacusville - HOME - 5:30PM
• 9/16 - Volleyball v Starr-Iva - HOME - 5:30PM
• 9/17 - Football v Gettys Middle - HOME - 5:30PM
• 9/21 - Volleyball @ Belton - AWAY - 5:30PM
• 9/23 - FCA See You at the Pole
• 9/23 - Volleyball @ Liberty - AWAY - 5:30PM
• 9/24 - Football @ Palmetto - AWAY - 5:30PM
• 9/28 - Volleyball @ West-Oak - AWAY - 5:30PM
• 9/30 - Volleyball @ Dacusville - AWAY - 5:30PM
• 10/5 - Volleyball @ Starr-Iva - AWAY - 5:30PM
• 10/6 - Volleyball v Liberty - HOME - 5:30PM
• 10/7 - Volleyball v Belton - HOME - 5:30PM
• 10/7 - End Q1
• 10/8 - Begin Q2
• 10/8 - Football v Liberty - HOME - 5:30PM
• 10/14 - Q1 Report Cards Posted Online
• 10/14 - Volleyball v West-Oak - HOME - 5:30PM
• 10/15 - PSAT for Select 8th Grade Students
• 10/15 - Football @ Pickens - AWAY - 5:30PM
• 10/17 - Volleyball Tournament TBA
• 10/22 - Football v West-Oak - HOME - 5:30PM
• 10/29 - Football @ Starr-Iva - AWAY - 5:30PM
• 11/5 - Football @ Belton - AWAY - 5:30PM