March 18, 2022
Dear HMS parents, guardians, and caregivers,
We hope this update finds you well and enjoying the beautiful spring weather that nature has provided us today! To start this update, we are excited to share the painting here titled,“Untitled,” by Ella Cameron. As part of Youth Art Month, this painting is featured in the Portland Youth Art Month exhibit. For more information about Youth Art Month, visit Portland Art Museum’s site linked here. Congratulations, Ella!
In this update you will find information about the following topics:
YEF Board of Directors - Information
Optional Masking - Procedural Updates
Spring Sports Information
Second Trimester Grades/Ratings
Alex Myers Presentation to Yarmouth Families
HMS Update #17 will be sent on April 1, 2022. Please continue to reach out with any questions.
With gratitude,
Mandy Lewis and Tom McDowell
HMS Administrative Team
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Join the Yarmouth Education Foundation (YEF) Board of Directors!
What is YEF? YEF is a community member-led nonprofit dedicated to enriching the overall educational experience of students in the Yarmouth School Department. YEF awards grants so that educators and students across all grade levels and schools can bring their innovative ideas to life. Recent YEF grants include: Black Student Alliance Learning Trip to Boston (YHS), Microscopic Engineering (HMS), Life Cycle of Frogs and Amaryllis Plants (YES), and Math Manipulatives for Remote Learners (Rowe & YES). Through emergency COVID grants, YEF provided KN95 face masks and covered the cost of background checks for up to 70 new volunteers and substitute teachers. Read more here.
We invite you to get involved!
Are you inspired by the opportunity to share Yarmouth schools’ innovation through compelling words and images? Join the YEF Board and put your social media and marketing interests to work.
Do you have creative fundraising ideas to engage community members through events, individual giving, and corporate donations? Join the YEF Board to sustain and build donor outreach.
In addition to specific Board opportunities for those with an interest in marketing and fundraising, YEF is always excited to hear from any and all community members who are interested in volunteering. Please email info@yarmoutheducationfoundation.org to express your interest and to learn more.
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Optional Masking - Procedural Updates
Students and staff have shown significant resilience as we transitioned to optional masking on March 7, 2022. Thank you for your help and support! We will be going through some additional changes next week, and we wanted to share the following information with you:
Start and end of day procedures will remain the same: Students should continue to head right to the cafeteria for breakfast or directly to their advisor’s classroom/space, and students will continue to be dismissed in waves to help with the number of students transitioning at one time.
Lunch procedures will change on March 22, 2022: Beginning on Tuesday, we will be moving away from assigned seats during lunch, and students will have a chance to choose their own seat. For 7th and 8th grade, we will still have two homerooms per grade level eating in the classroom in order to provide social distancing during lunches. For 5th and 6th grade, we will still have one homeroom per grade level eating in the classroom. In order to support this transition for our 5th graders, they will be choosing their seats within a group of tables in the cafeteria. We are emphasizing our core values of responsibility, respect, and empathy as we make this change. Thank you for your support!
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Spring Sports Information (7th and 8th graders)
We will be hosting Spring Sports Information Night in early April, and we will share information about the date and time as soon as it is available. HMS spring sports include the following sports for our 7th and 8th graders: outdoor track, boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse, baseball, and softball.
We are still in need of coaches for some of our spring teams. If you are interested in viewing the coaching vacancies, please visit the school website linked here.
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Second Trimester Grades/Ratings
The second trimester ended earlier this week. Grades and standards ratings are a work in progress until the end of the day on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, when they will be finalized. Please keep this in mind while you view Powerschool in the next few days.
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Alex Myers Presentation to Yarmouth Families
Alex Myers is an award-winning transgender advocate, author, educator, and speaker who currently teaches at Phillips Exeter Academy. Alex works with schools and communities to help them create gender inclusive communities. On March 23rd at 7:00 p.m., Alex will be presenting a virtual session for Yarmouth families as part of our work to be a more inclusive community. To learn more about Alex, visit https://alexmyerswriting.com. The Zoom link for the virtual event is here: https://zoom.us/j/93251790000?pwd=cGtOcm9UWTdGa01aUEZUTXMzZXJqUT09
View this flyer for more information:
https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1gs17TE1iaYXfCxQXCi5-Hy5qC-39DYjnRT0iaiJsgsg/edit
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