The Riflemen Review

A Message from DMMS

Interim report cards were sent out to parents/guardians via email on Wednesday, September 9th. Please reach out to your student's teachers if you have any questions or concerns.

Just a few reminders -

Car Rider Dismissal - When picking up students at the end of the day, please stay in the car rider line and pull forward as students are picked up. DO NOT park in the parking lot to pick up. This leads to many students walking through the parking lot which could lead to a dangerous situation.
Arrival - Car riders and walkers will enter through the 7/8 athletic doors, these doors will be closed at 8:15am to allow teachers time to get ready for class. All students need to be here by 8:15am in order to get breakfast, head to their homerooms, and be ready for instruction to begin. Your student is tardy if they are here after 8:25am. After 8:15, if they are a car rider or walker, they need to report to the main entrance on the 5/6 side to get a pass for class.
Dismissal - Dismissal is at 3:20pm for students. We will not allow transportation changes after 2:30pm and parents should not pick up after 3pm to allow for a safe dismissal.
We still have a no cell phone policy in place per the governor of Virginia. If cell phones are on campus, they are to be off and away in a backpack. The first offense is the phone taken from the student for the day, the second offense is to have parents come pick up the phones. Therefore, we should not have headphones or earbuds since we have nothing to listen to. Please help us keep our instruction cell phone free so we can make sure students have all the information needed to be successful.
Dress code is still the same and is being enforced. Please review here. We are seeing a lot of students with bare midriffs and will be offering shirts for the day as needed.
Here is the 26-27 Parent Student Handbook for WPS.

Please feel free to call the office if you have any questions or concerns.

Lisa Pluska

Principal, Daniel Morgan Middle School

(540) 667-7171

pluskal@wps.k12.va.us

Referendum Parent Meetings

Join Dr. Van Heukelum and the Winchester Education Foundation to learn about the capital needs of WPS and the Foundation's initiatives prior to the referendum vote in November.

Tuesday, September 29, 2026 / 12:30-1:00 p.m. / Douglas School, 598 N Kent St
Thursday, October 8, 2026 / 6-6:30 p.m. / Douglas School, 598 N Kent St

Winchester Public Schools does not advocate for or against ballot measures. Our role is to share clear, factual information so community members can understand the referendum and the capital needs of the school division.

Academics

Students should have Chromebooks unless the forms have not been filled out or charges are outstanding. Assignments are given on Canvas on a regular basis. Please make sure your student is checking. We are working hard to make sure the students have what is needed to be successful on end of semester assessments.

Attendance

Attention Parents and Guardians:

We are aware that some families are having trouble submitting absences through the new attendance reporting tool in the PowerSchool Parent Portal. We are working with the software company to fix the issue.

If you are having trouble submitting an absence, please try:

Updating your current web browser, or
Using Google Chrome as your web browser.

These steps have worked for some families while we continue to address the issue.

We will share updates as they become available. Thank you for your patience!

One of our priorities this year is attendance. Keep in mind that chronic absenteeism is missing 10% of the school year whether it is excused or unexcused. Please send your students to school unless they are sick. When you miss a day, there is a lot of instruction that is missed and difficult to regain. We will have after school to help make up absences this year starting after Labor Day.

PBIS

This is a way to celebrate when students are following the rules and showing PRIDE. Please view the matrix and see what we are teaching students as far as behaviors are concerned. We will be asking students what PRIDE stands for and if they know, there will be prizes. Let us know if you have any concerns.