Hello HMS Families!

We are excited to welcome back the over 800 students currently scheduled to return to full-time face-to-face instruction starting tomorrow. For those families who have chosen to remain in remote learning, we will continue to do our best to support your kids until you are ready to have them return physically to school. If your circumstances change and you want to request to change your group, please contact your Counselor, Assistant Principal, or me. Your current election of face-to-face or remote is in effect for the remainder of the first semester.

A message for all families: The Fulton County Board of Health and Fulton County Schools have developed an on-line portal for FCS parents/guardians to report student COVID-19 related cases.  Please make a report to the FCBOH when your student is COVID-19 positive, has a pending COVID-19 test result, or has been in direct contact with a COVID-19 positive person.   Also, please use this resource for official reporting rather than alerting the school and/or teacher.  If you choose to engage the school, please contact your student’s counselor or Assistant Principal, but please do so only after you have made an official report to the FCBOH.  Lastly, to ensure the protection of our school community, please do not allow your child to attend school or school-sponsored events when he/she is ill and/or has any of the above COVID-19 concerns.  Please reference the attached flyer and consider posting it in a visible location for easy access should you need it.

I wanted to communicate a few other important pieces of information to each group.

For Full-Time Remote Learners:

• Your student should continue to follow the Remote Learning Schedule that has been utilized for the past several weeks
• Remember that Wednesday is the first day of the second nine-week period, so your child may have some new Connections classes and, therefore, a new Microsoft Team or two.
• Students should log into their live classes throughout the day, and if they are unable to participate due to illness, appointments, or other reasons, please email Vickie Pavane at pavane@fultonschools.org with the reason.
• Remote learners will not be asked to “attend” Homeroom every day, they should use some of this time to complete iReady Math or Reading. They should be logging at least 45 minutes every week in iReady Math and Reading.

For Face-to-Face Learners:

• Remember that Wednesday is the first day of the second nine-week period, so your child may have some new Connections classes. 6^th grade schedules will be given out during HR, 7^th grade schedules will be given out during 2^nd period, and 8^th grade schedules will be given out during 1^st period.  We will post and share some lists around the Connections hallway for 8^th grade students indicating what their first period class is, since many will be changing.
• If you are new to HMS this year or haven’t done carpool in the past but will be now, please click https://www.fultonschools.org/domain/6545 for directions for morning and afternoon carpool procedures. Here are a few other specific requests regarding carpool:

• Biggest thing, no one should be stopped and blocking the exit from Cogburn Woods to Cogburn Road in the afternoon until after 4:08. If you are here before that and the carpool line at HMS is already backed up, go down to Cogburn Woods and wait in their carpool line until 4:08.
• Under no circumstances should any non-staff members use the bus side of the lot in the morning or during dismissal.      
• Parents should drop off and pick up along the curb in the carpool line, not in the parking lot. Please remain in your car while you wait for your student(s).
• Also, please follow the directions of the staff members once you arrive on campus.

• Students should attend school every day, and if they are unable to attend due to illness, appointments, or other reasons, please email Vickie Pavane at pavane@fultonschools.org with the reason. Face-to-Face learners are welcome to attend online sessions if they are unable to be at school, but they will still be marked absent.  Attending virtually is recommended so they are able to keep pace with the class.

Have a great evening!

Sincerely,

Michael LeMoyne - HMS Principal

Attachments:
messages/attachments/e92e0823ce6e71440832ea7d6d6a6b2e/ReportingPortalFlyer_Final.pdf (88.7 KB)

Hello HMS Families!

I am sending this to give you some updates as we continue to move forward with our re-opening plans.

We have successfully navigated Phase 3 of our Return-to-School plan and are ready to move on to Phase 4 starting Monday.  Here are some things you need to know:

1. Days of Attendance for Phase 4:
1. Groups 1 and 3 should attend school on Monday and Thursday
2. Groups 2 and 4 attend on Tuesday and Friday
3. no students attend on Wednesday
2. We are committed to maintaining as much social distancing as possible based on the numbers of students attending face-to-face instruction.  During Phase 4 and beyond, there will be instances where students are not able to be seated 6 feet apart.  We will minimize instances where students in closer proximity will be facing each other and continue to expect and enforce mask-wearing by all.  A recent clarification has been made to masks and what is and is not appropriate.  Moving forward, bandanas and neck gaiters are not considered appropriate face coverings, based on CDC guidelines.  Beginning on Monday, we will ask any student wearing one of these types of face coverings to replace it with a mask that meets CDC guidelines.  We are prepared to provide students with an appropriate face covering if they do not have their own.
3. During Phase 4 and beyond, students will eat lunch in the cafeteria and in classrooms on a rotating basis.
4. If necessary, during carpool, we may move some students waiting for their parents into the cafeteria to allow for greater social distancing.  We would encourage parents to call or send a text message to their student as they approach the curb for pickup.
5. Phase 4 is tentatively scheduled to only last one week.  We are targeting October 14^th as the date we will welcome all students choosing face-to-face instruction five days per week (October 12^th is a holiday and the 13^th is a Teacher Workday and a day off for students).  Families still have the option to select Remote Learning for the remainder of the semester.
6. At present, the data indicates that about 30-35% of our families will opt to remain in a remote learning environment full-time during Phase 4 and the remainder of the first semester.

Thanks for your support!

Thanks,

Michael R. LeMoyne

Principal ï Hopewell Middle School ï Fulton County Schools
13060 Cogburn Road ï Milton, GA 30004
470-254-3240 ph ï 470-254-3250 fax
lemoynem@fultonschools.org ï HMS Website ï FCS Website

       

Follow me on Twitter - @MichaelLeMoyne

Follow HMS on Twitter - @HMSMustangPride

 

Hopewell Middle School - Teach~Inspire~Empower

September 18, 2020 

Hello HMS Families! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  Please remember to be safe, practice social distancing, wash your hands, and wear your masks! 

I know many of you are anxious about your kids returning to school.  I understand and can appreciate how you’re feeling.  Please know we are feeling it here, too.  Our staff has worked so hard to prepare for your kids to come back, and while I will not promise perfection in all aspects, I am promising that we are stretching ourselves as far as we can to make students’ experiences positive, whether they are learning face-to-face or remotely.  I would encourage you all to reach out and thank your teachers, they have been asked to do things none of us ever imagined, and they continue to step up to the plate every time! 

If we could ask you to do one thing before sending your kids to school, please make sure you have checked on how they’re feeling, and if possible, do a temperature check before they leave for school. 

We have sent numerous emails this week in preparation for our Phase 3 re-opening next week!  If you think you might have missed something, visit the HMS website and look for the “Phasing Back to Face-to-Face” link.  You will find copies of my emails this week, along with other helpful information, including the schedules that will be used moving forward.  Please note, the schedule has changed for students continuing with Remote Learning as well. 

A couple of questions that people have asked that you might be wondering about: 

• Our front doors open at 7:45.  Between 7:45-8:15, students will wait in the cafeteria.  After 8:15, all students will report directly to their first period class.  Students should be in school and in their first period class by 8:50. 
• Now that students have the option to be in school face-to-face one day a week, we will no longer be doing Wednesday appointments with teachers.  There will not be any students in the building on Wednesdays. 

Here are some additional updates and news items: 

1. The first Counseling Newsletter for this school year is available to check out at this link: https://bit.ly/3jNtiiM.  We’ve included information about upcoming programs and how counselors are connecting with students during URL. Check it out! 
2.  Please click here to access resources to support Suicide Prevention Week/Month. 
3. Starting the week of September 21st, HMS will become a foodstop for our families.  All students are eligible to pick up free meal packets on Wednesdays from 11:00am-1:00pm.  The pickup spot will be at the corner of the building near the basketball courts and the cafeteria patio.  If families would like to access this service but are unable to pick meals up on the Wednesday 11-1 pickup time and date, or if you have any questions, please email our Cafeteria Manager, Crystal Smart, at Smartca@Fultonschools.org to arrange food to be sent home with your student at the end of the day on a different day that week. Please make sure if you choose this option that your student has extra bags to carry the food home.  If you would like to pre-order, please click here. 
4.  If your district-issued device is not working properly, close and exit all applications and restart it (maybe a couple times).  If that doesn’t fix your issue, call the Remote Learning Hotline.  The number is 470-254-2300.  We are not staffed to manage student device issues in this environment, that support is provided at the district level.  This includes both physical damage or device performance issues.  
5. The yearbook staff is crowdsourcing photos for our yearbook this year!  If you have any photos of your student participating in remote learning that you would like to submit to the yearbook, please scan the QR code below or go to this link: https://images.jostens.com/415465807.  Thank you!  
6. Are your kids in need a physical book to read? Hopewell students may put books on hold through Destiny (online library catalog). Once a book is put on hold, parents will be notified when it is ready for a contactless pickup from the school. For directions on how to put a book on hold,  go to bit.ly/hmsbookcheckout to watch the video. If you have any questions about how to get access to books while at home, please reach out to Whitney (Beem) Beck at beemw@fultonschools.org.  
7. September is Attendance Awareness Month... please click here to learn more about the importance of attendance!  Speaking of attendance, here are expectation for ULR attendance:--We expect students to attend their live class sessions every day. --If they miss the live session, they can find a recording of that session on the Teams site for their class, they should watch that and follow the directions for submitting any “assignments.”  We would also suggest that they email the teacher to let them know they watched it. 
8. From the PTA: 

•  This year's REFLECTIONS theme is: I Matter Because... The Reflections Program is a National PTA and Georgia PTA cultural arts competition.  The purpose of this program is to provide an opportunity for students to use their creative talents by expressing themselves through their own original works. The six art areas are: Visual Arts Photography, Literature, Music Composition, Dance Choreography, and Film Production. The deadline for turning in entries is Monday, October 26, 2020. Please see http://georgiapta.org/reflections for rules and entry forms. If you have any questions please contact June Swift at Juneswift3@gmail.com  Good Luck Everyone! 
• HMS PTA presents Virtual Family Trivia Night featuring Xtreme Gaming on October 2 at 7pm! More details coming soon. 
• Are you reading the Mustang Mailer, the weekly HMS PTA electronic newsletter? Register on our PTA website to stay informed about exciting activities at HMS! Registration is FREE so join today!  
• Mustang Saddle Up! Campaign is our only fundraiser for the year! Memberships start at $30 and any support is appreciated. Visit www.HopewellPTA.org to make your purchase!  
• 9. You may have seen recent advertisements or signs around town promoting the U.S. Census. That’s because the U.S. Census is preparing to close at the end of this month. If you have not already responded for your household, September 30 is the deadline. The online process takes only a few minutes and is very straightforward.  

 
Why is the Census so important? Federal, state and local funding, as well as how geographic districts are drawn for elected offices, are determined by population. As communities grow or become smaller, knowing the size of the population becomes important for planning the future. This affects our school’s funding and the resources we receive for special education, classroom technology, teacher training, after-school programs, school lunch assistance, and more. Funding for other community resources, such as healthcare, law enforcement and social agencies also is impacted by Census data. 
 
Fulton County Schools has a special webpage at www.fultonschools.org/Census2020 that may answer general questions you have about the Census and our school system’s involvement. If you have not yet responded to the Census, there is no better time than now. Be counted!The Hopewell debate team is looking for new debaters for the 2020-2021 school year.  As of now, practices will be held virtually and debate tournaments will be virtual as well.  The team is open to students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade.  If you have an opinion and like to share it or you like to argue – this is the club/team for you!  Debaters do not have to speak in front of a large group. At tournaments, you will speak in front of another middle school debater and a judge. If you would like to join or have additional questions, please contact the coach, Karen Allen at allenk2@fultonschools.org  

 10. Hopewell’s marketing club, DECA is eagerly seeking new members for the 2020-2021 school year. Meetings will be virtual afterschool through Teams and Georgia DECA. Competitions are also offered virtually for those students who would like to complete. If your child likes the idea of a student-centered club, DECA is the club to be in! Please contact Lori Johnson at johnsonL5@fultonschools.org and additional information will be sent to you.  

 

As always, thanks for your support! 

Sincerely, 

Michael LeMoyne 

HMS Principal 

Hello HMS Families,

Earlier this afternoon, you should have received information about the group your child is currently scheduled for as we start Phase 3 on Monday.  There were quite a bit of additional items included with that message.

If you did not receive it, or you feel there is a mistake with the group your student or students were assigned to, please let me know.  The alpha breakdown for groups was as follows (if you have students with different last names in your household, your group might not match each child's last name, but they should all be assigned to the same group):

• Mondays - A-E 
• Tuesdays - F-K 
• Thursdays - L-P 
• Fridays - Q-Z 

In the emails I sent, the link to the transportation information didn't work, here's how you can access the transportation information - https://edulogweb.fultonschools.org/phase3wq/webquery/

Thanks for your support!

Sincerely,

Michael LeMoyne - HMS Principal

Hello HMS Families!

I wanted to provide some more information about Phase 3 and our gradual return to face-to-face school, which begins next week.

Group and Day 

Your HMS student(s) are assigned to Group __, which is scheduled to attend on ______ during Phase 3 (starting next week).  When we begin Phase 4 (anticipated start date is October 5th), they will attend on _____ and _____.

Survey 

If you have not yet filled out the survey indicating whether or not you intend to send your student(s) face-to-face during each of the phases, please click on this link (or copy and paste it) https://www.fultonschools.org/domain/7934 and reference my September 14th message.  Below is some additional information about the survey:

• Please have your student’s ID number (this is the same as their lunch number)
• You will have a choice for in-person or remote learning for each phase
• If you have multiple students, you will need to enter your choice for each child separately

Attendance 

If you elected to have your child return to face-to-face instruction, attendance will be based on whether or not a student is physically present at school.  If your child is not at school on a day they are scheduled to be here, they will be marked absent.  If they were ill, had an appointment, or were absent due to any other legal excuse, please send an email to our Attendance Clerk, Vickie Pavane, at pavane@fultonschools.org so she can code the absence correctly.  If your child’s teacher is teaching virtually during that class period, your child is encouraged to participate in the virtual lesson if they can, but they will still be marked absent.

Attendance processes will continue as they have been if your child is supposed to be learning virtually that day.

Transportation 

Please click here to determine your bus stop information using the WebQuery Bus Stop Tool.  Please note that for the first couple weeks, times may be a little inconsistent.  We would encourage families to arrive at the bus stop early in the morning and be prepared for students to be early or late in the afternoon (sometimes as much as 10-20 minutes).  The times will get more consistent once all students have returned and the drivers have gotten settled in with their routes.

Carpool 

You can find information about our carpool procedures on the HMS website under the “Our School” tab.  It is a little confusing, but we will have staff members outside to assist our families.  Please be patient and trust us, we know what we’re doing, even if what we tell you to do sounds crazy!  Parents should not pull into the parking lots to drop off or pick up, all cars should stay in the carpool line.  Also, we do not do carpool tags, our students need to know how they are supposed to get home and who is coming to pick them up at the end of the day.

AM Arrival

We will have staff members everywhere in the mornings the first couple weeks to help students find their way to their first period class.  The most important thing is which door they should enter:

• All students arriving before 8:15 – enter the set of front doors on the right side (cafeteria/carpool side) of the building
• 6th Grade students and students who are eating breakfast at HMS – enter the set of front doors on the right side (cafeteria/carpool side) of the building
• 7th Grade students (after 8:15) – go around the outside of the building on the left side (gym side) and head down the sidewalk to the 7th grade wing and enter there (if it’s raining too hard, they will enter the same doors as the 8th graders)
• 8th Grade students (after 8:15) – enter the set of front doors on the left side (gym side) of the building

Early Checkout 

If your student has to leave school early, please send them in with a note.  When they arrive at school, they can enter any of the doors in the front and let the staff know they have a note for the front office

Classroom Donations 

Teachers would more than welcome the following items (feel free to send them in with your student):

• Hand sanitizer
• Kleenex
• Extra pens/pencils

Finally, feel free to use this phrase with your kids - "Mask Up, Move Along, Move Apart, Mustangs!"

Thanks,

Michael R. LeMoyne

Principal ï Hopewell Middle School ï Fulton County Schools
13060 Cogburn Road ï Milton, GA 30004
470-254-3240 ph ï 470-254-3250 fax
lemoynem@fultonschools.org ï HMS Website ï FCS Website

       

Follow me on Twitter - @MichaelLeMoyne

Follow HMS on Twitter - @HMSMustangPride

 

Hopewell Middle School - Teach~Inspire~Empower

Hello HMS Families!

As promised, you will find a great deal of information about our return to face-to-face plans in the video linked below.  Please click on the link or copy and paste it into your browser.

https://fultonk12-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/lemoynem_fultonschools_org/EYyUqxCINNRIs7YzG6XabzQB-6FbjhEDLi6q0peJqVQRAA?e=RJMMka 

I have also attached the face-to-face and URL schedules that will be used starting next week.

Just a reminder, I sent an email on Monday evening with information about the parent survey indicating your decision to return to face-to-face or stay remote.  It is critical that all parents fill out this survey.

As always, thanks for your support.

Sincerely,

Michael LeMoyne - HMS Principal

Attachments:
HMS_Bell_Schedule_20-21_(with_warning_times).docx (20.4 KB)
HMS_Universal_Remote_Learning_Schedule_(aligned_with_F2F).docx (26.5 KB)

Hello HMS Families!

I hope everyone’s week is off to a good start!

As you may have heard, Fulton County Schools (FCS) has set target dates for returning to face-to-face instruction through a cautious and measured “phased in” approach. We are already in Phase I and if the COVID-19 data continues with the positive trends we are seeing in Fulton County, the remaining phases will begin for all grades as follows:

• Phase III – begins Sep 21 for one full day of in-person instruction per week
• Phase IV – begins Oct 5 for two full days of in-person instruction per week
• Face to Face – begins Oct 14 for full-time in-person instruction

What does that mean for your student?  You get to choose.

Participation in face-to-face instruction remains optional.  You will need to provide your choice so your school can plan accordingly.  Here is a link to a survey where you can enter your choice for your student.  Please complete the form for your children as soon as possible. You may come back to face-to-face or remain in Universal Remote Learning (URL) through the end of this semester on December 18.  Decisions for 2021 will be made and shared with you soon. https://fultonschools.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9tN1i9yUujA57rn.

To help you prepare, I will be sending out some additional information in the next day or two regarding our plans for face-to-face instruction at HMS.

Check list to complete the survey:

• Please have your student’s ID number (this is the same as their lunch number)
• You will have a choice for in-person or remote learning for each phase
• If you have multiple students, you will need to enter your choice for each child separately

For more information and answers to Frequently Asked Questions please visit the FCS website or contact HMS at 470-254-3240. You can click here to access the district’s Back to School Page.

Regarding the phased plan for the return of students with disabilities, parents are encouraged to contact student’s teacher to discuss student transition into the various phases.  The schedule for special program classes is slightly different than general education classes so please review the below plan.

 

	PHASE III	PHASE IV	FULL TIME Face to Face
Pre-K Inclusion & Grades K-2 Interrelated Resource (IRR)	9/21	10/5	10/14
Grades 3-12 IRR	9/21	10/5	10/14
Special Program Class Students	SKIPPING	9/21	10/5
	Students attend 1 full day a week	Students attend 2 full days a week	Students attend 5 full days a week.

 

Thanks for your support!

Sincerely,

Michael LeMoyne – HMS Principal