Harwood Middle School update, September 13, 2019

HUMS 8th graders at the top of Stowe Pinnacle
Ending the day with a stop at Ben and Jerry's.  Perfect Day! 
 

Harwood Hosts a day for students and families about bullying.

Mr. Halligan (www.RyansStory.org) will hold a presentation for the Harwood Union High School Students on the morning of September 19, 2019, followed by a middle school presentation in the afternoon.  An evening parent presentation, on September 19th at Harwood Union’s auditorium from 6 - 7:30pm, will be held to hear John’s story for themselves and have a forum to talk about this difficult issue with other parents of teenagers.  John will also share his own technology use recommendations, based on his insight. John will be visiting CBMS on September 20, 2019. Because of the sensitive nature of the topic, we wanted to inform you about it in advance. We encourage you to ask your child about the presentation and discuss it together. If for any reason, you would prefer that your child not attend this presentation, please send a written note to Harwood Union c/o Shannon Tremblay at  stremblay@huusd.org, before September 17, 2019.   Should you have further questions, please feel free to contact Duane Pierson at dpierson@huusd.org. 

HUMS 7th Graders
Taking advantage of the amazing weather for their
Stop Drop and Read Time.
Ask your 7th grader what they are reading. 

Brain Breakers hard at work.
As part of our Responsive Classroom Training ,
HUMS teachers are utilizing Brain Breaks during class to
help reset and refresh the mind to improve student engagement.
Ask your HUMS student what Brain Breaks is their favorite?  

Dear HUMS community, 

We enjoyed meeting everyone who made it to our open house event last evening.  It is one of many opportunities for our school to connect with our families throughout the school year.  If you would like to follow up on anything from last night, or if you could not make it and have questions, please contact Duane Pierson at dpierson@huusd.org.  We heard from some parents that they were seeking some advice on screen time and setting good habits for their middle school students.    We placed 7 tips from an outline publication “Your Teen for parents” that may be able to assist a bit with this struggle. No one strategy is perfect,  however a continued approach, that includes your teenager in the discussion has a better chance of developing healthy habits.  Be Connected, Curious and Caring. Be HUMS.

Seven strategies that may help manage screen time for teens.  

1. Model good habits.

My first recommendation is a tall order, but important — model good habits.  No screens during meals. When another adult is speaking to you, put the phone down and make eye contact. Be mindful of your own use and try to limit it throughout the day. Remember, your kids are watching.

2. Add structure.

As for your kids, I would recommend adding structure to their screen time. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that kids spend less than two hours a day in front of screens of any kind. It’s a good idea to set a block of time each day or on weekends that your kids are allowed to use devices — but that’s the limit. Try to keep it consistent so they know when they can expect to enjoy the privilege.

3. Be willing to take screens away.

If they can’t follow the rules, take away the devices for a period of time you can tolerate, let’s say a day to a week. They may—they will—have a tantrum or throw a fit, but if you stay strong with a neutral and firm attitude the protest will subside.

4. Don’t allow screens after bedtime.

When it comes to screen time recommendations, the experts are unanimous about screen time and sleep. Devices should be out of your kids’ rooms. Even charging a device in your room can disrupt sleep patterns and certainly the compulsion to text has kids staying up too late or even waking in the night to connect with friends. Also, screens should be shut down an hour before bedtime because the stimulating blue light can make it harder to fall asleep.

5. Remain neutral.

Parents often think that simply expressing disdain for their children’s attachment to electronic devices will solve the problem of too much screen time for kids. This tactic doesn’t work. It could actually increase the desire to use the devices, and it comes off as antagonistic to children who value their screen time. Maintain a neutral tone when you deliver your message. Be validating while setting limits. For example, you could say something like, “I understand how much you enjoy this (game/show/etc.), and I notice between this morning and this afternoon that you have already used your two hours of screen time. It’s time to stop for today.”

6. Be consistent.

Try not to swing between extremes—I see parents doing that a lot. One day it’s—”No screens! They are all going!” Then the next day, it’s back to no limits, and then the pendulum swings back again.

7. Know what your kids are doing online.

Always be aware of the content. Talk about being a responsible digital citizen,” and using appropriate language and decision-making. Screen use should be in communal areas of the home and you need to know what they are watching. There are many apps that allow parents to control access to websites, YouTube, etc. You wouldn’t let your school-age child walk off a bus in the middle of Chicago on their own; they need adult supervision in the digital world as well.

In summary, when it comes to managing screen time for kids—model screen etiquette, schedule a consistent block of screen time daily or weekly (after homework), take control by limiting or taking away devices outside of the scheduled blocks, use a neutral tone and language when you are setting limits, and discuss content and digital citizenship.

Good luck! You may not arrive at a “perfect” solution, but you can make progress.

What is Jump Rope all about?

Harwood Union uses JumpRope as our online academic progress reporting system.  Student learning is continually being reported and can be viewed in the student/parent portal organized by courses.  This view is useful to students in their work with teachers and current course scores can be seen there. Please note that a course will not be visible until the first score of the year is entered.

The student home page has a navigation bar on the left as well as three quick click boxes: Missing Assessments, Upcoming Assessments, and Courses with Scores.  When you click on Courses with Scores, you will see a list of current HU courses and the overall course score for each. You can click on the course name to expand the view for further information and then a click on any Performance Indicator will show the assessments scored.

Login information was sent to students via their school email last week.  This welcome note included their username and password. Parents/guardians and students use the same log in information.  An additional message with this same information will go out to parent/guardian email addresses next week.

In addition, a student progress report organized by Learning Expectation will be emailed home four times during the school year. Please note that this email is generated through JumpRope and does not come from a huusd.org email.  Progress Reports will be sent out on November 5, January 24, April 7, and following the last week of school.

If you have further questions please concern ltherrien@huusd.org.

Dear members of our six town community,

First - upcoming events:

• Community engagement and conversation around PreK-12 redesign. Hear a presentation about the change models being considered and then share your thoughts in small group conversations led by school board members.  
• Tuesday, October 1st, 7-9pm at Harwood Union
• Monday, October 7th, 7-9pm at Crossett Brook

At our last meeting on September 11, 2019, the Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD) Board took action on the four (4) items below (listed in order of the time in the meeting when the vote occurred):

• Adopted: Approved the new HUUSD vision statement
• Adopted: Approved the SY2019-20 Board Goals as amended
• Approved the following items as part of the consent agenda:  Approved: Minutes of 6/26/19 and 8/28/19; Accepted: Vouchers 1295, 1302, 1303, 1304 and 1306 for FY 2018-19 equaling $677,653.26; Accepted: Vouchers 1018, 1022, 1023, 1024, 1036, 1037, 1046, 1048 and 1056 for FY 2019-20 1009 equaling $2,045,144.60; Approved: HUHS overnight field trip to Burlington, VT on November 4th; Approved: Waitsfield Elementary School overnight field trip to Hosmer Point in Craftsbury, VT on September 25th
• Adopted: A motion that James draft an Op Ed to communicate why we are doing this PreK-12 work at this time and use the Board’s communications process to finalize and share was seconded and adopted.

Additionally, the Board discussed possible Board Operating Protocols; our fall community engagement schedule; reflections on the process used thus far in preK-12 decision-making; and our evolving process for agenda requests.

Our next meeting is Wednesday, September 25th at 6:00 pm in the Harwood Union School library. 

Please visit https://huusd.org/huusd-board to confirm time and place of meetings. You’ll also find all board and committee agendas, packets and minutes, and the link to board meeting videos. The direct link to watch this and other recent meetings is: https://mrvtv.com/category/school-board-meetings/. An archive of older meetings can be found here: https://archive.org/search.php?query=Harwood+Unified+Union+School+Board&sort=-date 

Thank you for your continued support and engagement.

Respectfully,

The HUUSD Board

Community Announcements

Please note that the opportunities/events listed below are not specifically endorsed or screened by school staff. As always, families should use their own standards and review processes to determine appropriate activities.
 

Fencing Lessons: Adult and Teen Classes,Stowe, VT, Tuesdays and Thursdays September 17 - October 17, 6:30 PM-8:00 PM, Stowe Elementary School Gym. All classes start promptly at 6:30 PM and go until 8:00 PM.  Adult cost is $125.00, Student/teen, cost is $50.00 - $10 additional for non-Stowe residents.  (EACH Fencer must complete a USFA $10 membership (https://www.usafencing.org/membership) and bring proof of registration to class - or email Digger - this is a one time/yearly national organization fee).   You may use your own equipment, if I feel it passes a brief safety check. Pre-Registration is REQUIRED for Stowe Fencing.  Please visit the Stowe Rec Department’s Stowe FALL/WINTER PROGRAM GUIDE at: https://www.stowerec.org/program-guide/fallwinter-program-guide/ to pre-register.  Teen class participation is limited to 6-10 Fencers and Adult class participation is limited to 4-8 Fencers. Contact Digger at midvtfencing@gmail.com

Come Join Cub Scouts Pack 798 and Scouts BSA Troop 700! Boys, girls, and adults are all welcome! You are invited to an information and sign-up night at the Waitsfield United Church of Christ, Wednesday, September 18th, 6:00-7:00pm. Cubs are ages 5-10: mrvpack798@gmail.com
 and Scouts BSA are ages 11-18: beckysingr@gmavt.net .

MAD DASH: October 13th, 10am start, Route 100 and Meadow Road, Waitsfield.  There will be a 5K and 10K race, 5K Fitness Walk and a Kids' Fun Run. Information and registration: www.madriverpath.org.  For more information and to volunteer contact: dash@madriverpath.org or 802-496-7284.

Pottery Classes for Kids: Wednesdays, 3-5pm, Sept. 25-Oct 23, at the Blockhouse Studio, 5031 Main Street Waitsfield. Please visit www.Blockhousestudio.com for information and registration.

Woodchuck Golf Kids Clinic: September 22, 11-1:00pm, 265 Palmer Lane, Waitsfield.  The Harwood High School Golf team will be leading the clinic.  Parents are encouraged to watch from the club house. There are no fees.  Please call Mary Jane Potter 802-496-2415 if you would like to sign up.  No golf experience is necessary.