HMS Connection

This week's Connection is packed with useful information and tips to help parents and caregivers understand some of the procedural aspects of our school. I encourage you to take some time and look it over carefully with your middle schooler. Whether it's late buses, reporting absences, or insuring your Chromebook, we have the information you're looking for in this issue!

Have a great weekend!

Bus Passes

Bus passes will be distributed to those 7th & 8th grade students who have registered and paid the associated fee next week during lunch. (Our 6th grade students do not require passes to ride the bus.) Students should keep their pass in a place that is easily accessible when they prepare to board the bus, as they will be required to scan them when boarding the bus in the near future.. We have seen many students attach their passes to clips or lanyards on their backpacks and find that this works well!

Haven't Yet Registered?

If you have not yet registered your seventh or eight grader for the bus, and would like to, it's not too late! Simply click here to navigate to the Transportation page of the HPS website. From there it is a two step process.

First, pay the transportation fee in Unipay system.

Second, register your student in Aspen.

Late Buses

We will begin our Late Bus routes on Monday, September, 14, for those students remaining after school to participate in clubs, activities, intramurals, or receiving after school help with a teacher. These buses will run Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and depart HMS at approximately 3:10 each day.

These bus routes and numbers differ from our 2:00 ones, so please review the information in the attached file with your middle schooler prior to their first time taking a Late Bus home, in order to find the bus that will bring them closest to their home.

Staff will be on hand to make sure students know which bus they should take.

And speaking of Clubs and Activities . . .

As a reminder, all families are asked to pay the HMS Activity Fee each year. These funds help to defray costs associated with after-school clubs and activities.

You can complete this process by clicking here to find the Unipay site.

While we encourage all students and families to make every effort to be in school and on time every day, we know that there will be occasions where this is not the case. To help you better understand what to do on those days, please see the information below.

Absences

To Report an Absence:

• Call the Middle School Phone Number, (781) 741-1550, and press 1 for the Absence Line; OR
• Hingham Middle School Homepage, on the top menu bar, there is an option to Report an Absence

Dismissal Procedure

• Send student in with a note including dismissal time/reason.
• Student brings the note to the LMC first thing in the morning and will receive a dismissal pass.
• Student gives dismissal pass to teacher at the beginning of block being dismissed
• Parent comes into office to sign student out, student will meet parent in office.
• If someone other than the student's caregiver is dismissing them, they must be a contact listed in Aspen, or identified in the dismissal note sent in with the student.

Tardy Procedures

• Students arriving tardy before the end of A block (8:20) should go to the LMC for a late pass with a tardy note. (If a student does not have a note, this is recorded as an "unexcused" tardy)
• After A block they can come to the office with either a parent or a tardy note.
• New this year: Caregivers of students who are marked "tardy" will receive the following email notification:

Dear Parent/Guardian,

You are receiving this email because your child was marked TARDY to school today. According to our records, we did not receive a note or call. TARDY means the student arrived late to school, or arrived on time to school, but was late arriving to their homeroom class. Please discuss this with your child to make sure they are on time for school and homeroom each day. If your child needs to arrive late, please send them in with a note from you or a medical professional.

If you have ongoing concerns about your child's attendance, please reach out to their School Counselor / Assistant Principal:

Class of 2033 - Christine Sherman/

Alison Janulewicz

Class of 2032 - Nina McGrath/David Riordan

Class of 2031 - Michelle Woodard/

Alison Janulewicz

Thank you.

Please note that students with excessive absences, tardies, or dismissals will be referred to the appropriate school administrator, and families will be contacted in order to find a way to improve attendance.

In order to keep our Aspen information accurate and up-to-date, we ask that ALL families either register (for students new to HPS) or re-register (for returning students) following one fothe two procedures below.

Returning Student Re-Registration (OLRR)

Families with students currently enrolled in Hingham Public Schools must complete the Online Re-Registration (OLRR) process each school year.

• Instructions for Returning Student Re-Registration (OLRR): [View HERE]

Families NEW to the Hingham Public Schools

If you are enrolling for the first time in the Hingham Public Schools, please refer to the New Student Registration Instructions before beginning the process.

• Instructions for creating an Aspen Family Account:[View HERE]

• Instructions for New Student Registration (OLR): [View HERE]

Current Hingham families should not use New Student Registration unless they are enrolling a child who has never attended Hingham Public Schools. Selecting New Student Registration for an existing student may create duplicate records.

The first Adventure Club trip of the year is to TreeTop Adventures on Thursday, September 17th from 2:00 pm - 5:45pm.

The permission slip and waiver can be found on our website at https://sduncan756.wixsite.com/hms-adventure-club/blank-1

The first 30 students to fill out the waiver and bring in the permission slip and fee DIRECTLY to Mrs. Duncan (217 - 7th grade) or Mrs. Giordani (206) will be able to join us.

School Pictures

School Pictures are scheduled to be taken after dismissal on Wednesday, September 23rd, beginning at 3:00 PM. Students should go home and return to school for their pictures. Please plan to have your middle schooler attend during their scheduled time.

• LAST NAMES: A-D 3-4pm
• LAST NAMES: E-K 4-5pm

• LAST NAMES: L-O 5-6pm
• LAST NAMES: P-Z 6-7pm

Open House

The HMS Open House is planned for the evening of Thursday, September 24th. More details regarding times and programs will follow, but please save the date.

Please note that we are aware that South Elementary School has their Curriculum Presentations for grades 1 and 5 that evening, and are working together to make it possible for those parents with students at both schools to make it here in time for ours.

Important Dates

• September 14 - Late Buses Start
• September 16 - Early Release Day. 11:00 AM Dismissal. No lunch served.
• September 17 - Adventure Club Trip: Treetop Adventures, 2:00 PM
• September 23 - School Pictures
• September 24 - Back to School Night
• October 1 - Cyber Sense Parent Presentation, HMS Distance Learning Theater, 7:00 PM