EJMS Jaguar Weekly Aug. 11 - 15

This is our first EJMS Jaguar Weekly for 2025 - 2026. Welcome back to our regular readers and hello to folks who are new to our EJMS community. We are excited about another great year at EJMS! You should receive this communication weekly through your e-mail that you used for Infinite Campus during Online Registration; it can also be found on our school website and our social media. In the EJMS Jaguar Weekly, you can find out what's been happening during the week at school and school events as well as the upcoming week's calendar. We will share important announcements and opportunities for students to get involved and for you to share your voice and opinion through school surveys and family events. For instance, this Jaguar Weekly is jam packed with beginning-of-the-year information to get you and your student(s) started out right!

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EJMS Families,

We are so excited to get this school year started and look forward to welcoming your kids to East this week! We got to spend half a day with our 6th grade students at Middle School 101 this past week and had a great time meeting our newest group of Jaguars. We are all getting excited for a new school year with the students and their families!

We will continue sending information and parent updates throughout the year through Parent Square as well as on Social Media. If you have not followed or liked our Facebook or Instagram page you can do so @EastJessamineMiddleSchool.

Student Schedules

All student schedules will be available in Infinite Campus (student and parent portal) beginning Monday, August 11th. Please know that we will not be making changes to student schedules unless there are extenuating circumstances. If you believe there are exceptional circumstances that need to be addressed, please reach out to the counselors directly so we can discuss potential solutions. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.

Online Registration Needed

All students (both new and existing) MUST complete Online Registration (OLR) for the 25-26 school year. Please click on the link below and then follow the instructions on the web page. It only takes a few minutes to check and update any information. Note: all athletes will be required to have OLR completed before attending any practices this summer. Visit to complete your OLR: https://www.jessamine.k12.ky.us/o/jcs/page/olr

STEPS:

1. Click the link above.

2. Click "Existing Families"

3. Log into Infinite Campus

4. On the menu click "More"

5. Click the last option is "Online Household Registration"

6. Complete the process there. When completed it will give you a confirmation number. No need to save that unless you want to!

Phone Number Updates in IC

Parents/guardians can go into OLR and update their own phone number, the phone number of an emergency contact(s), or add/change their child's phone number (essentially any phone number in the system). To do this, parents will do the following:

1. Go to Parent Portal in Infinite Campus

2. Scroll down on the menu list to "More"

3. Locate the Family Information section and click on that

4. Find the contact/student phone number they want to update

5. If you are updating multiple students, keep scrolling down until you find your next student

6. Log out

Notes: this information will be updated the next day following an overnight update.

This information HAS to be updated by the parent/guardian - students cannot login and update their own phone number.

On Wednesday for the first day of school we will have staff members throughout the hallways directing students where to go. All grade levels will have an extended Homeroom to review school wide expectations and to get acclimated to the building. We will be serving hot breakfast this year each morning and the first day is no exception. If any student would like breakfast whenever they arrive in the morning they will need to report to the cafeteria and immediately enter the serving line. As soon as students finish eating breakfast or if they choose not to eat breakfast they will report to the following locations:

6th grade - 6th grade students will report to the library between 8:30-8:40. At 8:40 if they already know who their Homeroom teacher is and they know how to get there because they attended Middle School 101 we will release them to go to their class. New students who did not attend Middle School 101 or anyone who needs further assistance finding their homeroom will report to the library. Once students get to Homeroom they will get a new copy of their schedule that morning
7th and 8th grade students will report directly to the gym to get their schedules. They will leave the gym and begin their day with homeroom teachers.

Students will receive a copy of the Code of Conduct and Handbook through Google Classroom. Teachers will be spending the first two weeks of Homeroom reviewing expectations and information from both of these documents. Please make sure you follow the links for the District Code of Acceptable Behavior and student handbook for EJMS:

Please review specific information from the handbook including:

Visitors and Food drop off - All visitors must scan in with a valid state issued ID or Driver’s License to enter our school. Please remember that food or drinks (fast food included) from outside sources is not allowed at any time. This includes food being dropped off by parents (other than lunch boxes) and delivery services such as GrubHub.
Cell phones and electronic devices - all cell phones, earbuds/Airpods, watches are not to be used from 8:40-4:00 each day. It is now Kentucky law that schools establish a policy prohibiting the use of cell phones during instruction. Please review the electronic device policy (located in the EJMS Parent and Student Handbook) with your child to make sure everyone understands the expectation.
Field Trip & Dance eligibility - Please note that there are behavior and attendance guidelines for students to participate in field trips, dances and extracurricular activities. Please see details in the Parent and Student Handbook and note that OLR must be completed and school fees must be paid in full in order to participate.

We hope to begin issuing Chromebooks to students during the first full week of school August 18-22. In order for students to receive a Chromebook, we must have the following items completed or turned in:

Online Registration must be complete https://www.jessamine.k12.ky.us/o/jcs/page/olr
School Fees must be paid in Infinite Campus. This includes the current $50 school fee as well as any outstanding fees on the account.

There will be a $50 school fee per student for the upcoming school year. If enrolled in reduced lunch the cost will be $25 and if enrolled in free lunch there will be no fee (for more information see section below - How do I apply for Free/Reduced Meal Eligibility). All students will have access to a Chromebook in each period throughout the day. Students will be responsible for any damages that occur while in their possession. This school fee will act as insurance for the devices and will cover the cost associated with one incident up to the amount of $50 (such as screen or keyboard replacement).

The 25-26 School Fees have been added to Infinite Campus as of 7/23/25. Any outstanding fees associated with Chromebook damages from last year will be posted on the account. Please login to IC Parent Portal to pay these fees.

How do I apply for Free/Reduced Meal Eligibility

Jessamine Co. is very fortunate to be able to continue participating in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). This allows all students to receive one (1) BREAKFAST and one (1) LUNCH at NO COST every day school is in session. Students living in a household that receives government benefits such as SNAP, income eligible Medicaid, or TANF automatically are assigned a Free Meal Eligibility. Each month, School Food Authorities (SFA) receive a Direct Certification (DC) download file from the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) which identifies students who are automatically eligible for benefits. Students identified on the DC list are not required to take any further action. Eligible student fees are automatically waived for these students without request from their parent/guardian.

If you feel your household is INCOME ELIGIBLE, there are 2 ways you may apply for a Free or Reduced Meal Eligibility.

Complete the Meal Benefit Application found in the Infinite Campus Parent Portal. Once completed, the application will be send electronically for approval/denial.
Complete the Educational Benefit Form (click here). This form may be completed electronically. If you choose to use this "fillable" form, you will then need to download and email the completed form to allison.banks@jessamine.kyschools.us

Why should families complete one of these forms when students don’t have to pay for meals?

Students who have a Free or Reduced Meal ELIGIBILITY:

Have school technology fees waived or reduced
Have Field Trip Fees waived or reduced
Have Athletic Fees waived or reduced
(Students with a FREE Meal Eligibility have these fees waived 100%, students with a REDUCED Meal Eligibility have these fees reduced by 50%)

Please see medical information from our nurse, Erin Banks, regarding physicals, immunizations and health conditions requiring medication:

With the upcoming school year we will need your students updated physicals and immunizations (this is for all grade levels). Please contact your child's pediatrician to see if they need to be updated.
Medications: If your child has a medical condition that will require any daily medications (inhalers, ADHD meds, migraine meds, epi pens, seizure meds, diabetic meds, etc) that will need to be at school with them, or given by the nurse you will need to have an updated authorization to administer form filled out and given to the nurse along with the medication. If you want the child to carry their over the counter medications (such as Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Midol, etc) the doctor must check that box on the form for them to carry. Otherwise the nurse will have to keep it in her office for them. The parent fills out the front page and the doctor fills out the back page. This is for all medications. Not just prescription medications.
6th grade only: A 6th grade physical exam and an up-to-date Immunization Certificate are required for all in-coming 6th grade students. Please make sure that you turn in the 6th grade physical examination form and the up-to-date Immunization Certificate to the District Nurse's Office located at 847 Wilmore Road ( the Annex - located on the right hand side of the Early Learning Village). You can mail the health records to the District Nurse's Office or you can bring them. There is a drop box for Health Records on the wall outside the entrance to the Annex. Please do not send or take your child’s health records to the middle school. Please make your appointments as soon as possible. There will be hundreds of students needing doctor appointments to fulfill the needed health records requirements by the time school starts in August. If you have questions, please contact Health Services at 859-887-9274, ext. 3057 or 3058.

The nurse will be in her office to accept medications on August 12th, and on the first day of school August 13th. If you have any questions please feel free to email our nurse, Erin Banks at erin.banks@jessamine.kyschools.us.

Here are the links to all of the necessary medical forms:

Physical Exam Form

Authorization to Administer Medication Form

Religious Exemption Form

2025 - 2026 EJMS School Supply Lists (click here)

Car Line Information

Morning Drop Off:

Cars must enter through the Red Oak entrance (see map below). Our safety officer will block entrance from Union Mill Road.
If you are the first car in line please pull all the way forward to the sign on the sidewalk (represented with a star image below).
Cars need to pull forward until they reach the car in front of them or arrive at the starting point to form the car line.
Students should exit out of the car at any point where there is a sidewalk.
For safety reasons please use the car line for drop off (instead of dropping off in the parking lot).

Afternoon Pick Up:

Cars must enter through the Red Oak entrance (see map below). Our safety officer will block entrance from Union Mill Road.
Please pull forward to begin the car line or until you reach the next car.
Students will get in their car when it stops at the curb.
Once your child is in the car, please move to the left side of the car line and continue exiting out of the parking lot.
Note: we will not allow any student to cross the crosswalk to go into the parking lot until all cars have moved through the car line. We encourage all parents to get in line for pickup and use the system we have in place. If you still choose to pick your child up from the parking lot please know that they will not be released until all traffic is clear from the car line pickup area.