Dear HMS parents, guardians, and caregivers,
Welcome to fall! As we welcome a new season, we wanted to share our new Welcome Mural one more time for all to see. At the end of last school year, the ArtX group, helped by members of the Civil Rights Team, painted a Welcome Mural, designed by Leah Carroll. It now greets all who enter with the words "Welcome" in many languages spoken in our district. We hope this new addition to our school entrance will help all members of our school community feel welcome and connected.
In this update, you will find information about the following topics:
School Photos (reminder)
Medications at School
Health and Safety Reminders
Pooled Testing - Update
Open House
Gary Groves, Yarmouth Interim Athletic Director
Bike Safety and Traffic
Extracurricular Activities - Update
YEF Information
Student Accident Insurance
HMS Update #5 will be sent on October 7, 2021, just before the four-day weekend to recognize Indigenous People's Day; October 8 and October 11 are non-student days. Please continue to reach out with any questions.
With gratitude,
Mandy Lewis and Tom McDowell
HMS Administrative Team
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School Photos (reminder)
Our School Photo Day will be on Wednesday, September 29th. To order photo packages online, go to www.geskusprint.com and use code N7US3RKP. Paper flyers were sent home this week.
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Medications at School
Kristina Truesdale, HMS School Nurse, is responsible for providing students with medications while at school. Students with specific medical conditions may carry insulin and glucagon, an inhaler or epipen on their person. Based on our school department policy (linked here), all other medications must be stored with Nurse Truesdale. The medication must be brought to school by the parent/ guardian in its original pharmacy container labeled using a specific protocol, as detailed in our school department policy.
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Health and Safety Reminders
As a mask-mandated school, all students and staff members must be fully masked when indoors. The only times of day that students and staff may be unmasked is when actively eating or drinking. Please send your child to school with a mask that fits your child well, and include a backup mask in your child’s backpack. Masks must cover both the nose and mouth. Take a few minutes to review this expectation with your child at home, and we will continue to remind all members of our school community when at HMS.
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Pooled Testing - Update
We encourage all parents and guardians to consider enrolling their student in pooled testing. For more information, view Superintendent Dolloff’s letter here. Specific details about our testing procedures will be shared soon. If you want to sign your child up for pooled testing programming, parents/guardians must sign up by the end of the day on Thursday. Families may opt in at any point; if registration happens on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, the child would not participate until the following week of pooled testing due to the time needed to add the child to a pool. For families who would like to get some sense of what testing might look like, here is a short video developed by a testing service provider (linked here).
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Open House Details
Thank you to the parents, guardians and caregivers who have attended 5th, 6th and 7th grade virtual Open Houses! HMS Open House for 8th grade will be held virtually on Tuesday, 9/28. Teams will be sharing specific details.
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Gary Groves, Yarmouth Interim Athletic Director
We are excited to welcome Gary Groves back to Yarmouth Schools! Gary has 21 years of experience as an athletic administrator and events coordinator for public schools and large scale venues, including stints as the athletic director for Portland High School, Deering High School, and Westbrook High School. Gary served as Interim Athletic Director in Yarmouth in the spring of 2007. We are so excited to have him back with us this year.
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Bike Safety and Traffic - Reminders
It is great to see so many bikers at HMS each day! Many of our bikers are doing a wonderful job following the rules of the road; recently we have received reports from community members that HMS students on bikes have veered suddenly into the road on West Elm and McCartney Streets. Please talk with your child if he/she/they bike to school and remind them about the importance of staying on sidewalks on these streets during congested times.
We also wanted to share that some community members have noted traffic concerns during YES pickup times (3:30 - 3:45). Please be careful if you are arriving at HMS during that time and avoid McCartney Street, if possible.
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Extracurricular Activities - Update
The HMS Activities page of our website has been updated and is linked here for your convenience. We are still hoping to hold drama opportunities for students in grades 5-8; unfortunately, we have not yet been able to find an instructor to lead this activity. Are you interested or know someone who might be? Please reach out to us.
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Yarmouth Education Foundation
Looking for ways to volunteer to support our school community? The Yarmouth Education Foundation (YEF) is a nonprofit organization made up of parent and community volunteers. YEF has awarded nearly $500,000 in grants to Yarmouth schools for innovative projects -- such as outdoor classroom space, 3D printers, school weather stations, a community shellfish nursery project, an electric car building project, staff, and student mindfulness lessons, and hundreds of other projects. YEF is always looking for new volunteers. Click here to share your interest in volunteering. Visit www.yarmoutheducationfoundation.org to learn more.
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Student Accident Insurance
If parents/guardians need an opportunity to purchase student accident insurance, here is a brochure from First Agency.
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