Scarborough Middle School

Hello Scarborough Middle School Families,

Welcome back to school! We are excited to kick off the new school year next week and cannot wait to meet our new students and reconnect with our returning ones.

At Scarborough Middle School, we are dedicated to creating a positive and productive environment that ensures the physical and emotional safety of everyone in our school community. In the first week, we will focus on team-building activities during CREW time and familiarizing everyone with important procedures and protocols.

We look forward to working closely with you throughout the year. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. Together, we can ensure that your child has a positive and enriching school experience.

Please take a moment to review the announcements and attachments listed below to ensure you are well informed about the start of the 2025-2026 school year.

Respectfully,

Kathy Tirrell, Principal

Chris Murphy, Assistant Principal

Thank you to the 387 families who have already submitted their PowerSchool forms!

Scarborough Public Schools will once again be using eCollect for all of the beginning of year forms! For example, the student profile sheet, laptop agreement and fee, medical and health information and many more are ready for parents and guardians to complete online. It is so important to fill out all of these forms so we have the most up to date information in our systems.

If you have not yet done so and need to set up PowerSchool, here is a link to the website - click the red button at the bottom titled "Online Forms Guide" for directions.

School Laptop Fee & Chromebook Information

It is strongly encouraged that parents/guardians pay the school laptop fee of $15.00 at the beginning of the school year. An explanation of what the fee covers can be found in the Chromebook Care, Use, & Responsibility Guide. This fee cannot be paid later in the year and/or when damage occurs. You may decline the fee, but in doing so you accept full responsibility for the entire cost of repair or replacement, regardless of whether the damage is accidental. Should you lose or cause non-warranty damage to your device or any peripherals, you will be billed on the following schedule: All chargers $47.92; All cases $25.00; MS Chromebook $457.00. Again, paying the $15.00 laptop fee is strongly encouraged.

• Chromebook Care, Use, & Responsibility Guide: Must be signed in the Parent PowerSchool Portal by all families prior to students receiving a laptop.

• 2025-2026 Scarborough Public Schools Laptop Information Session

Students who have submitted their paperwork will receive laptops on Thursday, August 28 and Tuesday, September 2. Please note that all laptop paperwork needs to be completed by 11:00 pm the day before laptop deployment for your student to get their laptop on time.

Morning Drop Off: Please note if you are dropping your student off at school, building doors will open at 7:40am. If there is an occasion where you need to drop your student off prior to 7:40am, they may wait directly outside the doors or in the Main Entrance vestibule.

Bus Drop Off: Our buses will drop off students using the bus loop lane closest to the Main Entrance doors. They will line up upon arrival in those lanes and dismiss students from the bus at 7:40am.

Car Pool Drop Off: If you are dropping your child off in the morning, please enter the middle school campus and move to the left traffic lane upon arrival. You will turn into the visitor parking and outer loop. There will be staff there directing traffic to assist you and to support your child in safely crossing the crosswalk to the Main Building where doors will open at 7:40am.

To ensure the safety of all, please adhere to the following:

• Do not pass other cars in the lane.

• There will be no parent traffic allowed behind the 6th grade portables, between the middle school and the 6th grade portable, nor in the lot between Wentworth School and the Middle School.

• Due to safety concerns, 6th grade students are not allowed to be dropped off in front of the 6th grade portable. Please only drop off 6th grade students in the designated area above.

To ensure the safety of our students, staff and families, please use extra caution and patience when dropping off students. You can view a copy of the arrival and dismissal map here.

Thank you for helping to ensure that all students are dropped off safely at our school.

When students enter the building, students will go directly to breakfast or their CREW. Any student arriving after 8:00 am will need to stop at the Main Office to check in.

We understand that the start of the year involves new routines being set and we will work to support students.

In the afternoon, students who are riding buses will be dismissed first, beginning at 2:20pm. We ask that parents and guardians who are picking up students do not arrive until 2:30pm so that we can safely manage traffic patterns. Once buses have departed, both traffic loops will be open for parent pick up. Students being picked up will wait at the entrance of the main building for their parents to enter the traffic loops.

Dismissal Plan:

2:20pm - Bus Students

2:30pm - Walkers & students being picked up

2:40pm - SMS Athletes and SMS Activities Participants

Your patience with the middle school dropoff and pickup is greatly appreciated!

If families need to dismiss a student at SMS during their in-school day, they should come to the main office lobby to contact the office staff. Anyone dismissing a student will be required to show identification before students are dismissed.

Parents/Guardians do not need to sign their students in. When students arrive late, have your student stop at the main office and check in with the office staff. Grade 6 students must come to the main office first before entering the 6th grade community building.

Our expectation is that students come to school prepared for the day. We are asking families to refrain from bringing items to students during the school day unless it is an essential item. If an essential item needs to be dropped off, families should come to the main office lobby. Office staff will ask the name of the student and about the item being dropped off. Please clearly label items dropped off.

Here is the 2025-26 Bus Stop Sequence

Please make sure click on the 6-12 bus stop sequence tab at the bottom so you are looking at the Middle School routes.

Students are not allowed to use personal electronics (defined as, but not limited to, cell phones, smart watches, earbuds) during school hours or after school activities. Upon entering school, personal electronics must be turned off and out of sight. Students must place their personal electronics in their backpacks, lockers, or in an electronics holder (sleeves) in their classrooms. Personal electronics cannot be used to take pictures on school property or at any school-sponsored event, including events that happen beyond the school day. If a student must make a call while at school, a phone is located in the office area for student use. Students using personal cell phones to contact a guardian for dismissal will be cited for violating the SMS Electronics Expectations. Students are allowed to use personal electronics at 2:20 p.m.

Due to ongoing issues with spills, carpet stains, and damage to electronics, open drink containers (such as takeout cups with lids or straws, pop top cans) are no longer permitted in the school building. Students may bring beverages only in closed-lid, screw-top containers. Please see below for examples. Anyone entering the building with a takeout cup, open-lid drink, pop top can, etc. will be asked to either transfer the contents to an approved container or finish the drink before coming inside.

There are various companies (Mojo, GR1NDS, NZE) who create caffeinated, energy packets and containers that closely resemble nicotine pouches and containers (ZYN, Skoal, etc.). These packets are placed in students’ lips to provide them with a caffeine boost. To ensure a safe and healthy environment for all students, caffeine/energy pouches and their containers are not allowed at SMS or at any SMS-sponsored events.

We also strongly discourage students from consuming energy drinks or other caffeinated products on school grounds. As part of our commitment to student health, our cafeteria does not sell any caffeinated beverages. We believe this helps support students in making safe and healthy choices during the school day.

Thank you for your partnership in promoting the well-being of our students.

We have had a few staff changes this year, please see Powerschool for the teacher updates. All students will be provided a printed schedule, and their Powerschool login and passwords, on the first day of school.

In addition, please see below for the Crew assignments to help determine your child's teams.

CREW is the name given to our advisory groups here at Scarborough Middle School. This year each student will be part of a group of up to 14 students who will work with a staff member. The intent of this time is to provide all students with the opportunity to develop a relationship with a caring adult to support and encourage them, to foster positive interactions with peers, and to build a stronger sense of community and belonging for all. CREW takes place everyday from 8:00-8:10 and on Monday and Friday in the middle of the day.

Students will be provided time during every full school day to have a movement break. During this supervised, outdoor movement break, students will be provided equipment to play games, appropriately socialize, and get moving! Movement has been shown to relieve stress, improve concentration, and increase student’s ability to retain information during academic classes. We are very excited to provide this opportunity to our SMS students!

Medical orders for the fall may be faxed directly to the clinic at 730-4834. Medications to be stored in the clinic for the 2025-26 school year may be dropped off by an adult starting on August 25th from 8am-2:00pm.

Parent permission form is linked here, as a reminder this must be filled out each year.

Sincerely,

Amanda Eason and Laurel Rothermel

Scarborough Middle School Nurses

The Board recognizes that responsibility for the dress and appearance of students rests with individual students and their parent(s)/guardian(s). The Board will not interfere with this right unless the personal choices of students create a disruptive influence, per the criteria outlined below, on the school program or affect the health or safety of others.

Students are encouraged to use sound judgment and reflect respect for themselves and others in dress and grooming. In keeping with the goals of the school unit to provide a safe, healthy and non-discriminatory environment for educating students for maximum academic and social development, the following restrictions on dress shall be enforced

The following are prohibited as it relates to clothing, footwear, and accessories:

• Items that promote the use of tobacco, alcohol or other drugs;

• Items that are intended to identify the wearer as a member of a particular gang;

• Items with displays that are sexual, vulgar, lewd, violent, indecent or include insulting words (e.g., racial/ethnic slurs). The school administration has the authority to prohibit other logos, pictures or messages which they determine to be in violation of the Board’s nondiscrimination or harassment policies, or disruptive to the school’s learning environment.

• Items that are destructive of school property (e.g., cleats, pants with metal inserts that scratch furniture).

Students are required to wear footwear at all times. Footwear should be appropriate for the school setting.

School administrators or teachers may require special clothing for health and safety reasons for students participating in physical education, certain extracurricular activities, work with or around machines or other activities. However, no particular brand may be required.(Adopted and revised by the Scarborough Board of Education 07/21/22– Policy JICA)

Scarborough Public Schools uses the Raptor Visitor Management System in all of our schools to strengthen our program of campus safety for students and staff. Part of keeping students and staff safe is knowing who is in our buildings at all times, and the Raptor system allows us to do that. The Raptor system assists in screening visitors, contractors, and volunteers in our schools and provides a safer environment for our students and staff.

What to Expect:

• Upon being allowed through the exterior door of a district building, visitors will be asked to present a photo ID such as a driver’s license.

• Your ID will either be scanned or manually entered into the system by office personnel at the transaction window.

• Once cleared, you will receive a pre-printed badge with your photo on it.

• You will then be directed to the appropriate location that you are going to.

• This badge must be worn at all times when in the building.

• When in the building, you are only approved to go to the specific location requested. You should not go to any other area of the building without returning to the main office for approval.

• When leaving the building, return to the main office and sign out with office personnel.

What does the Raptor System do?

• The Raptor system checks to ensure that registered sex offenders are not entering our school campuses without our knowledge. It checks the visitor’s name and date of birth for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders. The registered sex offender database is the only official database. No other data from the ID is gathered or recorded, and the information is not shared with any outside agency.

• The Raptor system will check for court issued custodial orders, restraining orders and other custom alerts as established by the School District.

• Once entry is approved, a badge that identifies the visitor, the date, and the purpose of his/her visit will be printed and given to the visitor to wear.

The safety of our students is our highest priority, and the Raptor visitor management system allows us to quickly identify those that may present a danger to our students. Thank you in advance for your understanding and your support in enhancing the school safety protocols in our district.

As a reminder, all breakfast and lunch meals for all students in Scarborough Schools are free for the 2025-2026 school year. You can view the breakfast and lunch menu online at the School Menus Page or using the Nutrislice app.

A la carte options are available in the cafeteria for purchase at an extra cost. To add money to a lunch account. Go to the School Payment Portal Information website.

Please email Brenda Franklin at bfranklin@scarboroughschools.org if you have any questions or need assistance obtaining your students ID#.

Picture Day is coming on Friday, September 5

You can place your order on mylifetouch.com using your Picture Day ID: EVTSZR2G4. Order before midnight on Picture Day to get FREE shipping!

Your child can also bring their completed flyer with cash or check on Picture Day.

Orders after Picture Day must be placed online only on mylifetouch.com.

Grade 6 and 8 will be held on Wednesday, September 10 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Grade 7 will be held Thursday, September 11 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm

More information will be shared closer to the event date.

• AUGUST:

  First Day of School - Grade 6

  • Wednesday, August 27

  First Day of School - Grade 7 & 8, Day 2 for Grade 6

  • Thursday, August 28

  No School

  • Friday, August 29

  
  

  SEPTEMBER:

  No School

  • Monday, September 1

  Fall Pictures at SMS

  • Friday, September 5

  Early Release - Wednesday, September 11

  • Dismissal at 12:55pm

  Fall Open Houses at SMS

  • Wednesday, September 10- Grade 6 and 8 from 6:00pm-7:00pm

  • Thursday, September 11- Grade 7 from 6:00 to 7:00pm

  MAY

  6th Grade Dance-

  • Friday, May 1 from 5:00pm-7:00pm

  7th Grade Dance-

  • Friday, May 15 from 5:00pm-7:00pm

  JUNE

  8th Grade Celebration and Dance

  • Friday, June 5

Families should report their middle school student's absence from school by calling the SMS main office at 207-730-4800 or by email at msoffice@scarboroughschools.org. A reason for the absence must be stated, otherwise SMS office staff will reach out to determine the reason for the absence.

Excusable reasons for an absence:

• illness
• appointment
• religious holiday
• family emergency
• planned absence

For Planned Absences (a day out of school which is not illness or medical appointment related), families should fill out the Scarborough Middle School Planned Absence for which is found here.

For questions about attendance, please contact the Scarborough Middle School main office at 207-730-4800 or email us at msoffice@scarboroughschools.org

Email: msoffice@scarboroughschools.org
Website: https://sms.scarboroughschools.org/
Location: 21 Quentin Drive, Scarborough, ME, USA
Phone: (207) 730-4800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarbmeschools/
Twitter: @scarbmeschools