Eagle Eye JMS Parent Newsletter #17

We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health and spirits. We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for your continued support and involvement in your child’s education. We are proud of the achievements and progress that our students have made so far, and we look forward to celebrating their successes with you. We have a very short week due to the holiday, but many activities still taking place, alongside of learning.

We also want to wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday break. We hope you enjoy this special time with your loved ones and reflect on the many blessings in your life. Thanksgiving is a time to appreciate the people and things that matter most to us, and we are thankful for having you as part of our school community.

As we resume classes on Monday, November 27, we would like to remind you of some important academic matters. Please make sure that your child completes any assignments or projects that are due before or after the break. Also, please encourage your child to review the materials and concepts that they have learned so far, as we will have our Winter benchmark in early December. These assessments will measure your child’s mastery of the standards and skills that we have covered in the first semester in our core classes. If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s academic performance, please do not hesitate to contact their teachers or counselors.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. We wish you a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday break.

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

• PE Classes in JPAC 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
• Secret Innovation Meeting Rm 219 2:45-4:15
• Girls Basketball Practice Gym 3:00-5:00
  

Wednesday, November 22- Friday, November 23

NO SCHOOL! Thanksgiving Holiday!

• We will do what we say we are going to do.
• We will use data to make decisions.
• We will own our mistakes and learn from them.
  

Congratulations to the following Jefferson Middle School students for having their artwork selected to be included in the Eighteenth Annual East Tennessee Regional Student Art Exhibition. Founded by Oak Ridge Art Teacher Jim Dodson, in cooperation with the Knoxville Museum of Art the exhibit will run from November 24, 2023 – January 7, 2024. The following Oak Ridge students will have their artwork displayed with some winning major awards:

Ellie Linthicum

Hayden Nelson

Heidi Mohamed

Ruby Melton

Tucker Campbell

Macy Ball - Honorable Mention in 8th Grade

Polina Maltseva - Honorable Mention in 6th Grade

and last but not least...

Kate Pickel - Middle School Best of Show! Her work "Mice and Cheese" is below.

Oak Ridge Schools Turkey Trot:

Oak Ridge Schools Coordinated School Health hosted the annual Oak Ridge Schools Turkey Trot on Tuesday evening. Multiple JMS 5th graders competed in the race and two JMS 5th graders won the 5th grade race! Congratulations to Reese Tiller and Halden Mehaffey for winning the girls and boys 5th grade races! Great job to all JMS students who participate in the run!

Thanks to Jefferson's upper grade students who helped staff the event!

Athletic Update for Newsletter:

The Eagles basketball teams are off this week for Thanksgiving, but will be back in action with a busy week of games next week! On Monday, November 27th, the Eagles will travel to Norris for a boys JV game at 5pm, girls varsity game at 6pm and boys varsity game at 7pm. On Thursday, November 30th, the Eagles will travel to Holston for a girls JV game at 4:30pm, girls varsity game at 6pm and boys varsity game at 7pm. On Saturday, December 2nd, the Eagles will host the Rams in the first of the City Championship basketball games. The games will be played at the ORHS Wildcat Arena—boys JV at 1pm; girls varsity at 2:15pm and boys varsity at 3:30pm.

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

5th grade

Molli London

Brycen Stott

6th grade

Duncan Smith

Lewis Roberts

Ahna Connery

7th grade

Jenna Brown

Genevieve (Gabriela) Davis

Dylan Manley

Eli Wolz

8th Grade

Selah Smith

Kyndall St. Hill

Kennedi Honas

We are so proud each week, of our Eagle Character Winners for Students of the Week! Congratulations!

Additionally, Ms. Kala's Jefferson Jumping Beans Coffee is in full swing as the cold mornings brings a need for warm refreshment.

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.

   
   

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