Miners in the Middle

We're back to a full five-day week at HMS, and our calendar is a little quieter this week — which gives us a great opportunity to settle into our routines and focus on the work happening in our classrooms.

Thank you to all of the parents and guardians who joined us for Parent-Teacher Conferences last week. We appreciate you taking the time to connect with our teachers and be part of your student's education. If you weren't able to attend, please know that you don't have to wait until our next conference day to reach out. Our teachers are always happy to answer questions or discuss concerns, and all teacher email addresses can be found on the staff pages of our district website.

We're proud of the Miners who represented HMS at the Pittsburg County Free Fair last week! I know several of our students came home with some exciting results and awards. I'm working to gather all of those results so we can recognize everyone together, so watch next week's newsletter for a full Fair recap and plenty of Miner Pride!

We're just over a month into the school year now, and this is a great time for students to keep building good habits — completing work on time, monitoring their grades, and asking for help when they need it.

Have a great week, Miners! 💙🤍

— Mrs. Green, Principal

Thank you to KTC McAlester and everyone who helped make Career Quest 2026 possible for our students!

As we move further into the semester, this week's Handbook Highlight is an important reminder about assignment completion and late work.

Our goal is for students to develop the habit of completing assignments on time. We understand that unexpected circumstances happen, and there are times when grace is appropriate — but late work is intended to help students recover from an occasional missed deadline, not to become an extension of the original due date or a routine practice.

A few important reminders:

• Late work must be approved by the teacher. Not every assignment may be eligible for late submission.
• When late work is approved, the district's late-work deductions are 10% the first day, 20% the second day, 30% the third day, and 40% the fourth day.
• Unless there are approved extenuating circumstances, late work must be submitted within four school days of the original due date. Work submitted after that time may not receive credit.
• Students with excused absences receive one day to complete make-up work for each day of excused absence.
• Waiting until the end of a grading period to turn in multiple overdue assignments is not an acceptable practice.

With eligibility now being checked each Friday, students should be monitoring their grades, completing assignments on time, and talking with their teachers early when they need help.

Academic success is a shared responsibility, and we appreciate our families partnering with us to help students develop the responsibility and work habits that will serve them well beyond middle school.

Mr. Lindley's 8th-grade Pre-Algebra students will complete their beginning-of-year STAR Math benchmark on Monday.

This will wrap up our beginning-of-year STAR Math benchmark testing at HMS. Thank you to our students for taking these assessments seriously and giving their best effort!

Monday, September 14
📊 8th Grade Pre-Algebra — STAR Math Benchmark
🥎 HMS Softball — HOME | Time TBD
🏈 HMS Football — HOME | 6:00 PM - Only One Game

Wednesday, September 16
✝️ FCS — 7:35 AM | Old Gym

Parents/Guardians: Stay connected to your student's progress!

Sylogist is an important tool for monitoring your student's grades and attendance throughout the school year. We strongly encourage every parent/guardian to have an active parent account and check it regularly.

If you do not have access to your account or need assistance logging in, please contact the Middle School office and we will be happy to help.