Poca Middle School

Good evening 7th grade families. This is reminder that all 7th grade students must have received the T-dap and meningococcal (MCV4) immunizations. If you have shot records to turn in to the school, this must be done no later than Tuesday, September 7. If we do not have shot records for your student, showing proof these two immunizations have been administered, your student will not be permitted to return to school after September 7 until they have received both shots. These absences will not be excused. You may call the Putnam County Health Department or your student's pediatrician to schedule these shots. Shot records may be turned in to the main office or faxed to 304-755-8930. Thank you!

Good evening Poca Middle families. This is a reminder that the delayed schedule that we used on the first day of school was only for that day. Doors open at 7:15 and classes begin at 7:50 for students in all three grade levels. Buses will only run their routes one time in the morning for the remainder of the school year. Please make sure your student arrives to school prior to 7:50 so they are not marked tardy. Dismissal is at 3:05. All students that are walkers and parent pick-up will exit the building to the side parking lot. Parents, please park in a parking space and wait for your student in your car. Remember not to park in the fire lane or in the grass--you will be asked to move. If you have any questions about the starting or ending times for the school day at Poca Middle, please call the office.

We are looking forward to starting the new school year tomorrow! This is a reminder that we will have an alternate schedule for the first day of school. The buses will run their normal routes at normal times to pick up sixth graders and deliver them to school by 7:50 for WEB activities. There will be a delayed arrival time for all seventh and eighth graders. The buses will run their same routes again 3 1/2 hours later to pick up seventh and eighth graders and deliver them to school by 11:20. School will end at the regular time for all students at 3:05. Thank you!

Attention Poca Middle Students. This year, the Poca Middle School doors will open at 7:15 and classes will begin at 7:50; however, we will have an alternate schedule for the first day of school on Tuesday, August 24. There will be a delayed arrival time for all returning seventh and eighth graders. The buses will run their normal routes at normal times to pick up sixth graders and deliver them to school for WEB activities. The buses will run their same routes again 3 1/2 hours later to pick up seventh and eighth graders. School will end at the regular time for all students at 3:05.

Poca Middle School will be having Open House on Wednesday, August 18, from 6:00-8:00. Sixth grade students are encouraged to attend 6:00-7:00 and seventh and eighth grade students are encouraged to attend 7:00-8:00. The PMS Athletic Director will be available 6:00-6:30 to discuss Concussions, Sudden Cardiac Arrest and Heat illness. Student schedules will not be available at open house, but we encourage you to come tour the school and meet the PMS teachers and staff. We hope to see you there!

The last day of school for students is Friday, June 4. This day is a 3-hour early dismissal. Poca Middle will dismiss at 12:05pm.

8th Grade Step-Up Day is Friday, June 4. Students will ride their bus to Poca High. Parent's who drop off students in the morning will drop directly to Poca High. All 8th graders must be at PHS no later than 8:30am. Breakfast will be available. Students will be brought back to PMS on buses after step-up day events conclude around 9:15am.

Reminder—8th graders will begin state testing tomorrow morning. They will test Monday through Thursday of this week. Please remember to have laptops fully charged and bring the charging cable to school each day. Students need to be in the building by 8:15 so they have time to eat breakfast and we may begin testing on time. Have a great evening!

Reminder--7th Grade state testing begins tomorrow. Please make sure your student is in the building no later than 8:15am so they have time to eat breakfast and get started on their testing on time. If a student is tardy, they will not be permitted into the testing room. Students will be leaving their laptops in their testing classrooms each day to ensure they are fully charged. Students should come to school prepared with a quiet activity to complete once they have finished testing. This may include things such as a novel to read or paper and pencils to draw.

Reminder--Friday, April 16th is a 2 Hour Early Dismissal for Faculty Senate. PMS will dismiss at 1:05 pm. Please make sure your student knows how they are to get home that day if it is different than normal.

Friday, February 26, 2021 will be a Faculty Senate Day rescheduled from the original date of February 19, 2021. To enable our schools to hold the February Faculty Senate meeting, students will be dismissed two hours early. Again, February 26 will now be a 2 hour EARLY DISMISSAL for all students. Poca Middle will dismiss at 1:05pm.

PCS was notified by WV Joint Interagency Taskforce and the WVDE that we will begin the 2nd round of vaccinations this Friday, January 29th. To allow for staff to receive the 2nd round of vaccinations, all Putnam County Schools will operate on a REMOTE LEARNING schedule this Friday, January 29th. This means there will be no In-Person Instruction on Friday. Please plan for Remote Learning via Schoology this Friday, Jan. 29th. A daily meal will be available for pick up on Friday, January 29 from 11-12:30. If you need a meal delivered, please call the school at 304-755-7343 by Wednesday, January 27 at noon. Thank you!

FREE MEALS AVAILABLE FOR ALL PCS STUDENTS: This meal service is free of charge and available for ALL students, whether or not enrolled in the meal benefit program. Therefore, we encourage all families to take advantage of this opportunity. Daily pick-up times for meals are from 11:00 am - 12:30 pm at each school. Families will pick-up meals at their students’ home school location, curbside while remaining in the vehicle. If transportation is a problem, families may contact their home school to request meal delivery assistance.

If you would like a FREE 5 Day Meal Box for your student, please call the school by 12 pm (noon) on Friday, December 4th. The box will be available for pick-up on Monday, December 7th from 11:00-12:30 or it can be delivered, if needed. If it needs delivered to you, please make that known when you call. The school number is 304-755-7343.

Hello Poca Middle families. Please listen carefully to the information for the week of November 9-13, 2020. Putnam County is Orange on the WVDE metric map. This means all PCS students will be fully remote for the entire week. All students must check Schoology daily for TEAMS meetings and assignments (during normal class times, beginning at 8:15 am for Advisory). Meals will be available to all students this week. You may pick up meals in front of Poca Middle from 11:00-12:30 each day. If you cannot make it to meal pick up and need a meal for your student, please call the school no later than 9:30 AM so arrangements for delivery can be made. Boys Basketball tryouts will be 5:15-7:15 in the new gym. Girls Basketball practice will be 5:15-7:15 in the old gym. Wrestling will take place from 7-9 in the old gym--meet outside the gym prior to entering, as basketball will be finishing up. Cheer practice will be 3:15-5:15 in the new gym. Remember, all athletes must have a current physical packet on file to participate in any practice or tryout. If you have any questions, please contact the school at 304-755-7343.

Parents, If you want to change the instructional delivery model (Virtual/In-Person) in which your child is currently registered, please call the school and speak to Ms. Fisher or Ms. Chapman between October 19--October 23. Please understand, if you change platforms, this could possibly affect your child's schedule and they may not have the same teachers or the same courses in the order they have currently, as not all teachers teach virtually and vice versa with in-person learning. Requests made outside of this window cannot be guaranteed. We will not begin taking calls to change platforms until Monday, October 19. Students whose platform changes will begin with their new instructional delivery model on Wednesday, November 4 (Nov. 3 is Election Day--no school for students). As always, if you have any questions, please contact the school at 304-755-7343.

Hello Poca Middle families, As we begin this week, remember school begins at 8:15. It is important to arrive to school prior to this time. Over the past 2 weeks, many students came to school with very little or no power to their laptops. Students use the laptops during the day for instruction; for this reason, it is important they charge their laptops each night & bring the charging cord each day. If your student has a library book, either from the middle school or an elementary school, return it to Mrs. Longsworth this week. Continue to complete your daily student health screening and send them with a mask. Students should bring a refillable water bottle to school so they have access to water during the day. As of last Friday, any family with a 7th grade student was contacted by our school nurse requesting shot records if they were not on file. If they are not on file with the school nurse your student may not return to school until we have them to indicate the required shots were given. Since you are unable to attend school, both in-person or virtually without these shots, absences entered until those records are submitted are unexcused absences. If you have any questions about this, please contact Nurse Kearns. All families that chose virtual instead of in-person instruction should continue with their virtual coursework as normal this week. Students are locked in to this choice until the end the 9 weeks. The end of the 1st 9 weeks is November 2nd. If you plan to make a change to this choice, call the school during the last week of October. Thank you!

Parents, Please follow the staggered re-entry plan for all in person students this coming week. Last names A-K report to school M, W, F and last names L-Z report to school T, Th. If you have already made arrangements for your student to attend on a day that is not your assigned day, this is still the plan. All other students should report on their assigned day. All virtual students continue as normal. Students should continue to check Schoology for any updates, lessons or instructions from your teachers. Students should bring: fully charged laptops, charging cord, basic school supplies, masks, water bottle, earbuds and backpacks. We will not be using lockers this year so students will carry their backpacks to class. Sports bags will go to room 216. Doors will open at 7:45 and class begins at 8:15. All bus routes will run 30 minutes later this year. Students must wear masks on their bus and throughout the school day. If you don't have one, we will provide one upon arrival to school. Parent drop off is in the front of the building in the far left lane. Parent pick up will be in the side parking next to the old gym. Parents, do not park in the fire lane next to the sidewalk. You will need to park in an available parking space and wait in your vehicle for your student. If your student is ill, meaning running a fever of 100.4 or higher or has COVID-19 or flu-like symptoms, please stay home. They may return to school if they are fever free for at least 24 hours without fever reducing medicine and symptom free.

Hello Poca Middle Families, Putnam County is Red on the re-entry metric this week. This means we will continue with remote instruction for all students and there can be no sports practices of any kind. Please make sure your student logs in to Schoology, completes all class work and attends all TEAMS meetings for each class as well. It is very important for students to attend all meetings, complete and submit their work in Schoology in order for students to be counted present for class in remote and virtual status. For Related arts this week, students will have their second related arts class Monday, Wednesday and Friday and their first related arts class on Tuesday and Thursday. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to call the school at 304-755-7343 or you may also use the Putnam County Hotline Monday through Thursday from 4:30 to 8pm at 304-586-4946. We will continue with student meals from 10 to noon daily in front of the middle school. Thank you and have a wonderful afternoon!

Hello PMSl families, Since Putnam County remains Orange on the metric map, all of our students will continue with their instruction remotely. Instruction will occur every day this coming week, with no staggering. Every student will need to log in to Schoology to monitor TEAMS calls and assignments for each class. Students should check specifically under the ‘Materials’ section in each course for assignments and join TEAMS meetings through Schoology. All other apps are secondary to Schoology. Related arts classes will rotate every other day. Your student’s first RA class will take place on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of next week and their second RA class will take place on Tuesday and Thursday. If you are unsure which RA class is their first or second, please have your student message their RA teacher or ask their Advisory teacher for clarification. As a reminder, Advisory classes begin at 8:15 each day so, students should be logged in to Schoology prior to 8:15 to start on time. We will continue to provide meals to all PMS and PES students from 10-12 noon each day. Remain in your vehicle upon arrival and a staff member will assist you. If you are unable to attend meal pick up, but need meals for your student, please call the school at 304-755-7343 to request them and arrangements will be made to deliver them to you. Finally, any 7th grade family that needs to submit shot records for their student may still do so this coming week. Records may be faxed to the school at 304-755-8930. Remember, these are due no later than Friday, Sept. 18th. Thank you!