Dear Parents and Guardians,

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone that came out for our Open House this month. We had a great turnout and it’s always great to see our students and parents in our school building.

We want to congratulate eighth grade math teacher, Ms. Moore on the birth of her daughter, Scottie. Scottie joined the world on October 10th as a healthy and adorable baby. We are so excited for Ms. Moore and can’t wait to meet Scottie in person.

On October 11th we held our first, and hopefully annual, Fall Adventure Day.

Students rotated through several stations throughout the day. Tanglewood was here doing team challenges, Belfast PD, Fire and Ambulance gave students opportunities to spray water, sit in the police cars and ambulances. You might have heard some sirens going off. We also made caramel apples, painted pumpkins, tie dyed THMS t-shirts, played games and made cider. It was a successful day and students really enjoyed all the activities. We also had thirteen subs in the building supporting our kids throughout the activities and we are so thankful for each of them and their willingness to work with our kids.

Our schedule this year added a new thing called exploratories. Our amazing staff

have risen to the challenge and have added some student inspired learning activities.

In many ways this has been very successful even though the scheduling has been

hard. As we head into the next quarter of the year we find we need to make some

changes in the exploratory schedule to meet the needs of both students and staff. We are working hard to ensure that there is minimal impact and that students still get multiple opportunities to learn and work together in non-traditional ways as well as to have some choice in these opportunities. Please note that some students' schedules may have to be tweaked a bit before the beginning of the second quarter. Again, we are working to make the impact minimal.

Finally, A prevalent and pervasive problem that we are having with our students and really students nationwide is the use of racist and inappropriate comments, slurs and words. Our students are seeing and hearing these comments through TikTok, YouTube and memes and bringing them to school. These words are absolutely not acceptable at our school or in our society today. We are working with individuals and within our entire school community to educate and stop these types of racist and inappropriate comments. To tackle this issue, we are implementing a multi-faceted approach:1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Education and Awareness: We will conduct workshops and discussions that focus on the impact of language, the history of racial slurs, and the importance of empathy and

respect in our community. These sessions will involve students, staff, and parents to create a unified understanding.

Support Systems: Establishing safe spaces where students can express their feelings and experiences related to racism will help build trust and encourage open dialogue.

Clear Policies: We will reinforce our code of conduct regarding the use of language, ensuring that all students understand the consequences of racist comments and the importance of accountability.

Engagement with Media Literacy: Integrating media literacy into our curriculum can empower students to critically analyze the content they consume online, helping them understand the implications of the language they encounter on platforms like TikTok and YouTube.

Community Partnerships: Collaborating with local organizations and experts will provide additional resources and support in our efforts to combat racism and promote inclusivity.

By committing to these initiatives, we aim to cultivate a school culture where respect and understanding prevail, ensuring that all students feel valued and safe. Together, we can make a significant impact and work towards creating a space where all students feel a sense of belonging and safety. The more we talk about these issues the more educated we all become.

This is not just a school problem it is a societal problem and together we can make a change. You can help us with this by becoming more aware of what your children are viewing on these social media platforms and talking about why they are seeing them. These platforms move quickly from an innocent and appropriate video/meme to more inappropriate things. If anyone spends just seconds viewing a video, while often innocently trying to see what it’s

about, it triggers the platform's algorithm to show more of these types of things. You all know when you search for a new lawnmower online how your own social media becomes loaded with lawnmowers. We need to help our children to understand how to navigate these invasive videos, reels, and memes without allowing themselves to become deeply ingrained in the message. And to empower them to trust their own thinking and knowledge of what’s right and

wrong. The parents, families, schools, and community are the strongest forces when we work together for the betterment of our students and school community.

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to reach out.

Best regards,

Alta K. Seekins, Ms. Ed.

Troy Howard Middle School Principal