HPMS Weekly Update - 5/2/25
Updates and resources for the families of HPMS students!
My School Bucks Account Info
Dear Families,
Additionally, this coming week is Teacher Appreciation Week! I want to personally invite you to reach out and thank your child's teachers this week for the work they have done with your students this year. Even something as simple as an email message means a lot!
Congratulations to the following ladies who competed in the 2025 SC Miss Discovery FFA Pageant last Friday. Mattie Wilson received 2nd Runner Up, Ella Arnold received Miss Congeniality, and Alana Walfield received top application. We are proud of this group for participating and doing an outstanding job of representing HPMS!
I want to take a moment to personally invite you to please take a look at our district's website that details information regarding how the district plans to address the facility challenges at each of our district's middle schools. You can access the website and a great deal of information regarding the project here:
- Our 8th graders will be going on a field trip to Charleston and Savannah this coming May, and we are raising funds to assist with some of the costs associated with this awesome experience. If you are interested in another great opportunity to help with this effort, please CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO! Thank you for your support! If you have questions or concerns, please contact Mr. Clay Shirley at cshirley@asd2.org.
- Please be aware that the new Free to Focus education law went into effect across South Carolina this month. Students are prohibited from using phones, smart watches, and all other personal devices that can connect to the internet or utilize WiFi at school.
- We ask that all parents and guardians take time to review the dress code policies. The most common issues we see this time of year are tops that are too short over leggings or holes that are too high on the leg or too large to be appropriate for school. Please see the dress code on pages 8-9 of our handbook for more information: CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE 24-25 HANDBOOK FOR YOUR REFERENCE!
BHP SUMMER SOFTBALL CAMP
BHP will be hosting a summer softball camp this year, June 16-19, for interested 1st-6th graders. Please fill out the Form if you are interested in having your child participate. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to Coach Jennings at jjennings@asd2.org.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdgIk22VxSLyY5v73xiv7rYxg0XxrW6gRL5c48wh2MDh8Tk2g/viewform
HPMS Football Weightlifting
Any 6th or 7th grader interested in playing football for Honea Path Middle School is invited to join weightlifting sessions with Coach Hunter and Coach Smith. Sessions will take place every Tuesday and Thursday in the gym from 3:30 to 5:15 PM unless stated otherwise.
If your child is interested, please have them see Coach Hunter in his room to pick up a required form. This form must be signed by a parent and returned before the student is allowed to participate.
If you have any questions, please email Coach Hunter at chhunter@asd2.org.
The Days and Weeks Ahead
- SC Ready continues this week with the writing test on Tuesday, 5/6 and the math test on Thursday, 5/8! Please help us by reminding your students to be present, be on time, come prepared with a fully charged chromebook, and come with their absolute best effort over these coming testing days! Thank you in advance for your support!
- Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week! Please join me in showing your appreciation for our awesome HPMS teachers!
- We will have our next 2:30 early dismissal at HPMS on Wednesday, 5/7. This will occur every Wednesday throughout the school year. If your child is a car rider and you are able to pick them up at this time, we ask that you please make plans to be at HPMS by 2:30. We will run dismissal like we normally do for the first 10 minutes after the bell. After that, we will move students who have not been picked up to another location to wait for their ride. Athletes who play sports at BHP can be picked up at 2:30 rather than riding the bus; however, they cannot be dropped off at BHP until 3:35. They can also stay at HPMS until the shuttle to BHP arrives at 3:15.
On Wednesday, May 14th , Honea Path Middle School is offering students a chance to job shadow aparent, friend or someone that has a career your student may be interested in. Students must find their own job shadowing opportunity outside of the school.
If your student participates in job shadowing and completes all assignments, Wednesday, May 14th will be an excused absence for your student.
In order to receive the excused absence students must submit the completed form that they will receive soon, ALL State testing must be completed (students will not be allowed to participate if they have make-up testing to complete), and each student must complete the assignment (packet will be provided to the student) and returned to the Career Specialist, Jan Taylor, no later than Tuesday, May 20th. If you have questions or concerns, please submit those to Mrs. Taylor at jtaylor@asd2.org.
For all who are interested in viewing BHP's graduation (5/15 at 6PM), here is the link for this year's graduation livestream: https://boxcast.tv/view/2025-belton-honea-path-high-school-graduation-mm1htawlytkyyvv3cvll
8th Grade Chromebooks will be collected on the afternoon of Monday, 5/19 for students who are not going on the 8th grade field trip. All other Chromebooks will be collected on the Tuesday, 5/20 in the morning. Students should bring their chargers to turn in as well. They will be charged $25 if the charger is not returned. Invoices will go out on the 21st for any missing Chromebooks or chargers.
Morning Minutes
If your student is in need of some academic assistance, please see the information regarding the twice weekly study sessions that we offer on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week. This is available from 7:15AM-7:45AM, Tuesdays and Thursdays each week. This is a great, focused time to get on track each week!
Thank you,
John Michael Hall, Principal of Honea Path Middle School
Grade Level Newsletters/Agendas
General Procedural Notes
On page 3 of our handbook, we have asked that family members refrain from dropping off food, money, clothing, or other random items for students. Food and gifts in particular often create a disruption and more students requesting this from their parents. We appreciate your help in keeping our students focused.
We also ask that parents help us to remind students that they are to utilize the proper procedures for contacting home if needed. Student phones are to be turned off and put away throughout the day.
Once students have gotten permission from teachers or staff, we have phones available throughout the school for students to contact home in case of emergency, and our front office staff allows students to use personal devices if needed to contact home as long as they have gotten permission from office staff.
We appreciate your help in making sure students wear clothing that meets our dress code. The most common issues we typically see are shorts that are too short, tops that are too short and do not cover the buttocks when leggings are worn as pants, and tops that expose the midriff. The dress code can be found on pages 8-9 of the handbook. I have linked the handbook here!
Page 9 of the handbook covers items that are prohibited from school, including metal water bottles, wireless earbuds, and other objects that are disruptive to our learning environment. Many more things have been covered with your students over the past two days regarding the handbooks, and we highly recommend you review these with your students as well as the school year begins!
As always, I am happy to go into further detail if more is needed regarding the policies above. We are very blessed to have such supportive and understanding families who appreciate our efforts to provide a safe and focused learning environment for your children.
Please see this important message from ASD2 by clicking this link. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.
Chromebook Procedures
Please be aware of the following expectations have been shared with students regarding Chromebooks:
1. These Chromebooks are for school use. If you transfer out of the school the Chromebook and charger must be returned to the school.
2. The hard plastic cases must remain on the Chromebook at all times.
3. Please do not put any stickers anywhere on the Chromebook, charger or case.
4. Do not write on the Chromebook, case or charger.
5. Make sure there are not ANY objects between the screen and keyboard when closing the lid.
6. Please do not eat or drink over your Chromebook.
7. Charge your Chromebook at home every night and leave your charger at home.
8. Keep all of your usernames and passwords secure. DO NOT share them with others.
9. The first accidental damage is covered by the technology fee. Any additional damages or intentional damage will result in a bill being sent home.
10. Report any problems to your teacher who will send you to Mrs. Totman and Mr. Hufham as needed.
We want you to be aware of these as well so that you can reinforce these expectations with your students to avoid fines or other complications with these devices.
State Department Tutoring Resource
This is a great resource from the state for students and parents. The link below is a quick Screencastify video that shows how to go to the Tutor.com program through discus. (No audio)
MySchoolBucks Accounts
Visit our online MySchoolBucks School Store! Create your free account today to easily pay for your student’s fees online or on-the-go with the mobile app. With MySchoolBucks you’ll be able to quickly pay registration fees, browse school items, be notified when fees are due, and make payments from anywhere!
Get Started Today:
- Go to myschoolbucks.com or download the mobile app
- Create your free account and add your students using their school name
- Add school items or invoices to your cart
- Check out using your credit / debit card or electronic check
BHP Booster Club
If you are interested in volunteering for the BHP Booster Club, please see this linked slide show (it launches from Google Slides). CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE PRESENTATION.
You can also contact Kelli Satterfield at boosterclubbhp@gmail.com for more information. This is a great opportunity if your student will be or is already participating in athletics at BHP!
Arrival
Please continue to assist us in the mornings with drop offs. It is very helpful to us and the other parents in line if you will pull forward, at least until the end of the brick flowerbed wall out front to let your child out if you are in the front of the line. We ask that other cars behind the lead car to pull forward as well. This adds only a few extra steps for your student, but it goes much faster for everyone and helps everyone get to class on time if we can unload 4 or more students at a time out front. Students must be inside their 1st period classroom by 8AM in order to not be counted tardy.
Dress Code
We appreciate in advance your help with our updated dress code for this year. I ask you to please review these for yourself and with your students. They have been covered in school with the teachers, but we greatly appreciate your help at home. The most common issues we typically see are holes in pants that are far too large or too high, shorts that are too short, shirts that are too short or cut too low, exposed undergarments, and shirts/tops that aren't long enough over leggings. Please also note that we also don't allow blankets/pillows to be carried or hats/hoodies worn in the building.
PTO
If you’re interested in volunteering to help with the PTO, or if you're just interested in finding out ways to help support our students and teachers, please contact the PTO at https://www.remind.com/join/hpmscubpto for more information! We would love to have you involved!
Handbook
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE 24-25 STUDENT HANDBOOK ONLINE
All HPMS students have been given a physical copy of the handbook, and they've all been asked to share this with you and have you sign the student behavioral contract/celebration contract.
Dress code and prohibited items list can be found on pages 8-9.
Discipline information, including cell phone policies, can be found on pages 15-22.
Dismissal Procedures
If you are unclear about the dismissal procedures, I have them listed along with a map below. We do ask that you follow them as they are listed to help us keep things running smoothly and safely. We are averaging a 7 minute dismissal each day which is fantastic for a car rider dismissal, and we appreciate your help in keeping it running smoothly.
Please make sure your car rider is picked up by 3:35PM each day at the latest.
Chromebook Reminders
Tutor.com Information
The flyers above explain how students can utilize Tutor.com for free through scdiscus.org. Also, the link below is to a video tutorial that explains how it works and what features it offers. This is an excellent resource and we want to make sure all of our students have the information needed to access it.
Car Rider Dismissal Procedures
If you have more than one student attending HPMS, we ask that you follow the procedure for the eldest student. If you are carpooling, we ask that you follow the procedure for 8th graders.
6th Grade - 6th grade students will be dismissed to the front car line, and we will continue to have parents pull forward until you reach your child. 6th graders will be waiting down at the end of the sidewalk in front of the 4K building (except in cases of severe weather). We ask 6th grade parents to approach the school from the Main Street side of Central Avenue. This will keep us from backing up on to 252 from Brock, and it should require very little driving out of the way to get in line. We ask that you do not attempt to turn left from Brock into the front of the school as this is against the traffic laws on that road during school hours.
7th Grade - 7th grade students will cross the road to get in cars which will be on Park Ave. on the right side of the road. Please do not block the entrance/exit to the parking lot in front of the school when you are in line. Park Ave. is wide enough that if you will pull to the right, it will still allow traffic through on Park as needed. Once you pick up your student, please turn left onto Brock Ave. to help us keep that crosswalk cleared. We also prefer that you would get in line from the part of Central Ave. that runs behind the football field to avoid backing up traffic on Park. We realize this may not be practical for all.
8th Grade and Carpooling Students - 8th grade students will go to the parking lot across the street for dismissal. To make leaving easier for you, please park in the center column of spaces in the lot. We are also asking that you turn left out of the parking lot when you leave. We realize that this is less convenient for those of you who normally turn right, but it will keep from having two sets of traffic turning onto Brock Ave. at the same time and creating a bottleneck. If you are picking up two or more students, you are welcomed to use this lot as well, regardless of grade level.
We ask that you drive carefully around the school because there will be several different valves of traffic going to and from the school.
Upcoming Dates
- 5/5-5/9 - Teacher Appreciation Week
- 5/5 - BHP Senior Parade - 6PM
- 5/6 - SC Ready Writing State Test Day 3
- 5/8 - SC Ready Math State Test Day 4
- 5/13 - SC Ready Science Test - Grade 6 Only
- 5/14 - Job Shadowing
- 5/13 - Algebra I EOC Test - Algebra I Students Only
- 5/15 - BHP Graduation - 6PM
- 5/16-19 - 8th Grade Field Trip
- 5/19 - 8th Grade Chromebook Collection Day 1
- 5/20 - 8th Grade Chromebook Collection Day 2
- 5/20 - HPMS Field Day
- 5/21 - HPMS Awards Day (Full Day)
- 5/22 - Final In-Person Day of 24-25 (Full Day)
- 5/23 - eLearning Day
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