It’s a Great Day to be a Tiger!
What a fun week celebrating Homecoming 2021! Thank you to all the classes from previous years that tailgated and/or attended the game. Congratulations to the Winona High School Homecoming Queen, Miss Cassie Thomas. Also, a shout out to our Tiger football team for the win over Humphreys County.
ACADEMIC PROGRAMMING Parents, did you know that there is a tab on the Mississippi Department of Education website just for families? You can find a wealth of information on topics from “What to look for in PreK/K Classrooms” to “Graduation Requirements” and “Family Resources” to “Support for Struggling Students.” Check it out today at mdek12.org.
OPERATIONS The football team will travel for the next two weeks with the game Friday, October 22nd at Amanda Elzy and a Thursday night game at Ruleville Central on October 28th. Volleyball completed their season as district champs. Way to go, Lady Tigers! The volleyball team, which was just formed last school year, was eliminated from playoff action by a tough opponent.
Basketball season has begun with a great turnout at Tuesday night’s opening junior high games. Check out the district calendar at winonamontgomerycsd.com for dates, times, and locations of events. Game schedules and results can also be found on SBLive.
This week is National School Bus Safety Week. The theme is “Be Safe, Know the Danger Zone.” We would like to take this opportunity to thank our WMCSD Transportation Director Jeff Davis and all of our school bus drivers and monitors as they safely transport students to and from school each day throughout the school year. Drivers - Mark Austin, Susan Brassfield, Megan Brock, Brad Cook, John Paul Davis, Joshua Davis, Jimmie Forrest, Vanessa Garron, Cleve Hawthorne, Steven Helms, Trent Holly, Norman James, Bernard Jones, Michelle Milling, and Joey Tompkins. School bus monitors are Jacqueline Clay, Ashley Davis, Shireener Easterwood, Darlene Ford, Shawanda Loggins, Cherry Sanders, Callie Smith, Beverly Townsend, and Joanne Woods.
COMMUNICATIONS Monday, October 18th was the second meeting of the Superintendent’s P16 Advisory Council. The meeting was well attended. Information was shared with the group of students, parents, community members, teachers, and administrators on the topics of Academic Programming, Operations, Family & Community Support, Health & Safety, Communications, and Technology/Learning Management. Concerns were heard regarding the availability of ACT prep for students involved in extracurricular activities. Those students’ schedules conflict with the ACT prep offered in the after-school program. Principal Donna Bishop is working on ideas for hosting additional prep classes.
HEALTH AND SAFETY COVID-19 report for the week of October 11th was good with no employees quarantined and three students at WES quarantined with none of those students being positive.
Important message regarding P-EBT cards from the Mississippi Department of Education. “Please do NOT throw away your P-EBT card, even if you have used all the current benefits. Additional benefits to eligible students may be issued on those same cards for the 2021-2022 school year, if approved by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service.” “Families across Mississippi have begun to receive P-EBT cards for their eligible children. The Mississippi Department of Human Services is reminding parents of the process to activate their child’s card. To activate the P-EBT card for each child, please call 1-866-512-5087. This phone number is printed on the back of the card. Information regarding how to PIN each child’s card is also available in the document that arrived in the envelope with the child’s P-EBT card. Parents do not need to call the P-EBT call center to activate the card. If families have other P-EBT related questions, please call the P-EBT Call Center at 1-833-316-2423. For more information about P-EBT, please visit the Department’s website at: https://www.mdhs.ms.gov/pandemic-ebt-p-ebt/p-ebt-schools-2/.”
Also from MDE, there are anti-bullying events coming up next week. More information is shared below.
October 26, 2021, at 2 pm CST, the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse is hosting an informational webinar on bullying awareness and prevention resources, tactics, and strategies to create safer school environments. This session will provide information and resources to the kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) school community. Please see the attached flyer for more information and to register.
October 27-28, 2021 the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention will host an exciting event titled, Understanding and Preventing Youth Hate Crimes and Identity-based Bullying: A Virtual Symposium. This symposium will address important topics including current trends and research on identity-based bullying, cyberbullying, youth-related hate crimes, and how hate groups use social media and technology to reach, recruit, and radicalize youth. It will also provide programs and best practices from experts in the field on how schools, families, law enforcement, and communities can work together to build protective factors in youth and help youth resist and disengage from extremist hate groups. The website below has the link to register for the event https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/events/virtual-symposium-understanding-and-preventing-youth-hate-crimes-and-identity-based-bullying
TECHNOLOGY Parents must stay involved with their children’s use of technology. Although the internet opens up a world of educational information for students, it is vitally important that we protect our students from potential dangers. For ideas on how to keep kids safe on the internet, visit the following websites:
- Department of Justice - https://www.justice.gov/corona...
- Kids Health - https://kidshealth.org/en/pare...
- Federal Trade Commission - https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/t...
Stay healthy and choose joy! We are TIGERStrong!