Eagle Eye JMS Parent Newsletter #14

We wonder if you are keeping up with the lovely weather changes this October! Our climate seems to parallel the diversity of our learning and activities this past week! We have some new updates below, and we encourage you to carefully review all the pieces of our weekly newsletter. We strive to inform, celebrate, build community and bring awareness as we work together for your child. Be sure to take some time this week to pause, enjoy some cider or explore a nature path. Be filled with gratitude. We are certainly so grateful for our families!

Term 2 is moving swiftly, with 6.5 weeks to go and with Thanksgiving square in the middle. Students need to be engaged with their academics throughout, and we encourage parents having the conversation about engagement often. No one wants to look up with 6 days to spare and realize grades may have slipped. To that end, please reach out if you need assistance accessing Skyward and Canvas.

The JMS administrative team is here to support students, teachers, and families. If you need anything, please reach out to us. As always, we thank our parents and our staff for what they do to help our students be the best they can be.

Phil Cox, Principal, pcox@ortn.edu

Ben Fowler, Vice Principal, bjfowler@ortn.edu

Jacob Quilliams, Dean of Students jrquilliams@ortn.edu

Elizabeth Leavitt, Instructional Technology Coach, ealeavitt@ortn.edu

Monday, October 30 A Day

• Chess Club Library 3:00-4:00

• Atomic Eagles Meeting Science Wing 2:45-4:30
• RadioActive Brix Meeting Rm 223 2:45-4:30
• Master Builders Meeting Rm 102 2:45-4:30
• Basketball Foothills Tip-Off Classic (Varsity ONLY) @ Eagleton 2:30 Boys vs. Alcoa, 4:30 Girls vs. Alcoa

Tuesday, October 31 B Day

• Cheer Practice 3:00-5:00

• Atomic Eagles Meeting Science Wing 2:45-4:30
• Master Builders Meeting Rm 102 2:45-4:30
• RadioActive Brix Meeting Rm 223 2:45-4:30

Wednesday, November 1 A Day

• Basketball Pictures Gym 1:00

  Basketball Foothills Tip-Off Classic (Varsity ONLY) @ Eagleton

  6:00 Boys vs. Ambassadors, 8:00 Girls vs. Union Grove
  

Thursday, November 2 B Day

• Basketball Foothills Tip-Off Classic (Varsity ONLY) @ Eagleton

  5:00 Girls vs. Heritage, 7:00 Boys vs. Alcoa
  

Friday, November 3 A Day

• Girls Basketball Practice TB
  

Saturday, November 4

Basketball Foothills Tip-Off Classic (Varsity ONLY) @ Eagleton

TBD

Sunday, November 5

Basketball Foothills Tip-Off Classic (Varsity ONLY) @ Eagleton

TBD

Chess team for Jefferson middle school will begin Monday, October 30, and preparation for the tournament will be after school on Friday, November 3rd.

It’s Turkey Trot time again! This year’s event will be on Tuesday Nov 14th at A.K. Bissel Park from 4-6 pm. It is for Prek-5th grade students. Attached you will find the flyer and registration link/QR code

ALL 5th and 6th graders will be going to the JPAC/Auditorium entrance.

All 7th and 8th graders will go to the picnic tables/main lobby area.

We will dismiss to breakfast like we normally do from these locations. The JMS admin team will be out front to redirect students to the correct location. We apologize for the construction, but we will work to keep things going smoothly. We think we have ONE more week of this current change.

Holiday Food Drive

For well over 30 years, Jefferson has carried out a food drive to aid our Oak Ridge families in need. This year, the food drive runs from November 1-10. We encourage all students to consider donating non-perishable food to the cause. All of the contributions go to three Oak Ridge food pantries. In the past, we have collected more than 50 boxes of food! Here is how to help:

• ·Food pantries can only accept non-perishable foods
• Canned goods: fruit, vegetables, soups; boxed food mixes, cereal, condiments, spices.
• ·Please check to make sure food is not expired
• ·Bring donation to your homeroom
• Homeroom reps will keep track of number of items donated
• Homeroom with the most donations receives a Chick-Fil-A breakfast!

Please consider participating in this worthy cause. If everyone brings in just one item, we will have donated over 700 items!

The Eagles and Lady Eagles are playing in a pre-season tournament at Eagleton this week through Sunday and will begin regular season play next Monday at home against Lafollette. Girls JV will begin at 5pm, followed by girls varsity at 6pm and boys varsity at 7pm. Tickets are $5; kindergarten and under is free. Please make plans to come out and support the Jefferson basketball teams and cheerleaders this winter! Go Eagles!

Please make plans to come out and support the Eagles this winter! Please see the attached schedule below!

Charli Henry

Connor Lemmon

Lesther Tobias Funez

Vansh Patel

Tommy Sauer

Scarlett Smith

Camila Ramirez

Bodie Craven (Beto)

The links below contain resources for setting up and accessing Skyward and Canvas, an updated calendar, along with a welcome message from our ITC coach and a link to district and school websites.

• Elizabeth Leavitt, ITC: Welcome Message

• School Calendar

• ORS District Website

• Jefferson Middle School Website

• Canvas Parent Account Setup.docx
  
• Skyward Family Access Account SETUP .docx
  

Please reach out to Elizabeth Leavitt at ealeavit@ortn.edu

Oak Valley Baptist Church- Christmas Store:

Oak Valley Baptist Church is holding their fifth annual Christmas Store on December 16, 2023. This is not the same as the ORS Angel Tree. This is for families who can pay a small amount for brand new gifts for their children. If you are interested in this program please complete the attached referral form. Oak Valley looks forward to helping out!

You have received many communications this summer from the district about registering for the Bus through Skyward. If you have, but are not sure what bus your student is riding, here is how you check it.

FIRST! Log into Tyler's Versatrans E-Link https://transportation.ortn.edu/elinkrp/Login.aspx

Username: (use student’s name) firstname.lastname This is case sensitive–example: john.smith
Password: (use student birth date) in this format 03122007 for March 12, 2007

Click on Students, then View My Students. If you see a bus route there, you should be good. If you DO NOT see a bus route, you will need to update bus service! You will not have bus service on the first day of school.

To get bus service, log into Skyward and click on Forms. There is a bus request form. Transportation is working to move quickly to add new students to the bus, but it will take a few days before your student can be added to bus service.

First Student Transportation is working hard to get routes assigned to all students who requested bus service.

Once you are registered for transportation, you will be able to track your child's bus using the app information detailed below. Please see information on how to register for MyStop below.

MyStop - Parent/Student Login (You may click on the MyStop Picture to the left!)

• Username: (use student’s name - case sensitive) firstname.lastname
• Password: (use student birth date) in this format 03122007 for March 12, 2007

MyStop Phone App Available In Your App Store

Go to: Versatrans My Stop™ provides mobile access to bus information. This app displays the location of the user’s assigned school bus, as well as the estimated time of arrival to their stop. Students can plan for late or on-time arrival, and prevent missed pick-ups or being left outside in inclement weather.

Can’t Access the MyStop App?

If you are having difficulty accessing the MyStop App please take the following steps:

1. Please confirm the following:
2. You have downloaded the App from Tyler Technologies.
3. You are using the legal student name as listed in Skyward.
4. You have selected all lower case letters.First Student Transportation is working hard to get routes assigned to all students who requested bus service.

   
   

Coming back from a break always brings a cycle of illnesses. Good hand washing, strong diets, and excellent sleep habits will always help; yet still, students will get sick. As always, we want your student to be present. However, if they are sick, we also understand them staying home until they recover.

Any time a student is absent, they can always work on the classwork they missed by checking Canvas. Students will always have time to submit assignments when they return. Students are allowed 7 parent notes throughout the year. You may email them to us or your student can drop them off when they return. Often students will hand the note to an administrator standing at the front door, and we will make sure it gets to Ms. Langford, our attendance coordinator.

Be safe and be well!

The local news has reported a small rise in COVID cases over the last couple of weeks. Below is a screenshot of the Isolation Guidance from the TN Department of Health (last updated 11 October 2022). The full document is linked below: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/health/documents/cedep/novel-coronavirus/Isolation-QuarantineRelease.pdf