Dear HKMS Families,

Thank you to all the families who turned out to last night's open house! I asked many parents how the night was going, and my favorite answer was, "it's a whirlwind!"  When I dug in a little further, this parent explained that the changing of classes, finding a path to the next room, navigating the crowd, and coming into a new classroom is a lot to take in.   One of the byproducts of a "back to school night" is a newfound appreciation for how well your children adjust to the complexities of middle school life.  What is a whirlwind to some is just a day in the life to our students.

For those who were not there, Mrs. Mohr and I lead off the night focusing on the anxiety and depression epidemic not only raging through young people today, but also among parents.  According to an APA study cited by the surgeon general, "41% of parents say that most days they are so stressed that they can’t function, and 48% of parents say that most days their stress is completely overwhelming" (APA,  Report to the Surgeon General, 2023). I hope the big takeaway from our presentation was "never worry alone."  These three words were the basis of our message, and we plan on living by those words this year.  In conjunction with the PTO, we will be starting a book club reading "Never Enough" by Jennifer Wallace as part of our monthly parent coffee series. Whether you actually read the book or not, we'd love it if you all attended! We will be adjusting our usual 9:30am time some months to include some evening times so we can accommodate working families as well.  Our counseling department, teams of teachers, and our administration team are all here for one thing, to help your children learn, develop, and grow in the most healthy ways possible. We know the best way to be successful in this mission is by partnering with parents.  So please consider joining the PTO/SEPTA, coming to book clubs, calling for a team meeting if you have any concerns, or connecting with a counselor or administrator if you have a "bad feeling" about something.    Trust your parental instincts, we do! If you need a little boost, check out the article below this message which reminds parents to look for and remember those amazing "glimmer" moments we have the privilege to experience as parents.  We have included our open house presentation as well as lots of pictures of the night in the Happenings section below. 

This week also featured walkthroughs with ER9 Admin Council as part of our school improvement goal to increase student exposure to "high impact instructional strategies" (or HIIS).  HIIS are strategies like effective feedback techniques, developing tasks and questions that lead to high levels of cognitive engagement, and purposeful discourse, as well as intellectual risk taking.  The administrative council, made up of twenty-three administrators from all five schools and central office, went on "trend walkthroughs" to measure the implementation of these HIIS which helps the building principals set goals for the year.    As you check out the "Classroom Peeks" section this week, you'll notice Dr. McKinnon and other admins from around the district in our classrooms with your children.  These learning walks are very informative and help guide our next steps in our improvement process.  They also help me calibrate expectations as I spent most of my time during other school visits in 5th grade and 9th grade classes.  It was also delightful to see what kindergarteners and seniors are learning, simply amazing! 

The Easton PTO kicked off their one and only fundraiser last night with the theme of "Celebrate the Past, Invest in the Future."  This fundraiser is better from all others in a few ways:

1. They are not contracting with a 3rd party to run their fundraiser.  The PTO leadership is doing it themselves and have basically eliminated all overhead and administrative costs.  Other fundraisers run by outside organizations collect as much as 30-50%  of the funds raised.  Knowing 100% of your donation goes directly to the PTO, who turns it right back to the students, is a tremendous value for your generosity.

2. The funds collected are spent on our students to enhance their experiences here at HKMS.  In the past the PTO has installed a sun shade on the outdoor classroom, purchased picnic tables for outside dining (and classes), purchased both indoor and outside recess equipment, and provided grants to teachers who want to add experiences to their classroom that the annual budget does not cover. 

3. They have built in some competitive incentives for the classes with the highest's participation rates, and school goals for participation.   I love this as it is not about the amount a family can give, but the fact a family gives at all.  So whether you donate $20 or $200, your donation counts toward our child's participation rate.  See the list of incentives/goals in the "Celebrate the Past, Invest in the Future" section below.

4. The drive is only two weeks and it will be the only fundraising drive from the PTO this year! 

Check out and share (grandparents love this stuff) the promotional video below this message.  We will be keeping you posted with updates and leaderboards as the campaign progresses!

With all the scary and divisive rhetoric in our modern life, it is so wonderful to be part of a community that values our children, their schools, and each other as much as we do in Easton. Your trust, support, and partnership in helping us to help you and your children navigate these tricky years is never under-appreciated.  Our whole staff know what a special place this is to help students learn and grow.  Thank you for all you do to help us make this the world-class experience our kids deserve, we couldn't do it without your support! 

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,

Steve Clapp, Ed.D.

The ceiling and walls of the HKMS cafeteria will once again be adorned with flags that represent the various ethnicities, nationalities, and heritage of all our students and staff.  Last year we had 44 flags flying!  With new students and staff joining HKMS we want to update our flags to represent the 2024-25 HKMS community.  Please fill out the form  below and indicate what nationality is important to your family's heritage (even if you have in the past, to be sure we keep the right flags up). Thank You!