Week of September 14, 2025 Newsletter

At West Jackson Middle School, our mission is to empower students, educators, and our community for success. We bring this to life through our Three Panther Pathways: Achievement, Collaboration, and Engagement.

Each week, we’ll highlight how our students, teachers, and families are demonstrating these pathways—whether it’s through academic excellence, teamwork, or innovative learning experiences.

How Can You Get Involved?
We’d love to hear from YOU! If you see a great example of the Panther Pathways in action—whether it’s your student showing leadership, a teacher going above and beyond, or a community member supporting our school—share it with us! Email rhawk@jcss.us or tag us on social media using #PantherPathways to be featured in an upcoming newsletter.

Together, we make WJMS a place where every Panther thrives!

School Announcements

September 19th: Picture Retake and New Student Picture Day
September 20th: Fall Fest
October 2nd: End of 9 Week Grading Period

Upcoming Dates

Claws up everybody! Our school is partnering up with the Athens Rock Lobsters to offer a free ticket to an ice hockey game. All your student has to do is log their reading minutes for each month until January 1st. When they reach 1,000 minutes, they have earned a free ticket to a game! See the flier for more information and remind your student to check their Canvas announcements and Clever page for their Google form to log their reading!

What an awesome opportunity for our students of JCSS and their families! Take a look at how you can help build our community and get watch the Falcons!

Pencil in September 19th for student retakes and new students to have their pictures taken.

Our WJMS Fall Fest will be on Saturday, 9/20 from 11am-3pm. Tickets can be purchased via the link below. If you purchase the tickets ahead of time, they are $8 and if you pay at the door, it's $10. This is a community-wide event so please share with your friends & family outside of WJMS as well.

Purchase Tickets here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/fall-festival-9

(adults get in for free)

Also, we would love your help. Please consider volunteering using this link: https://evite.me/V6PUMSGvRT

School Updates

Please download the Box Tops App using our referral code TD9F6SH7 or by scanning this QR code and our school will get $5. Each time you shop, just scan your receipt in the box tops app and money will go back to our school.

Shop for you and help our school! Link your Kroger card to our school and each time you shop, our school will get a percentage back.

Get the apps! Stay up to date on our school's communication, your student's course work, and your student's course grades.

Click the links below to learn about logging in to the apps and further navigation.

If you need further assistance, contact Ms. Hawk at rhawk@jcss.us

Needing to drop your student off at school early? Enroll for our Before School Care which opens every instructional day at 6:30AM.

School Information

WJMS Families, it is incredibly important that students are coming to school each day with their Chromebooks and that the Chromebook is fully charged. When students do not have their resources, it puts the student behind in daily assignments which have to be completed at a later time. Please help us by reminding your student to have their supplies and be best prepared for the day!

As a reminder, students should not bring in any outside food from restaurants. This will help with concerns about food safety, potential disruptions in the classroom, managing food allergies among students, and maintaining the cleanliness of the school environment.

🔗Click here for the current lunch menus for your school.

Thank you for your help!

Families, please remember that 1st period instruction begins promptly at 8:45 AM each day. To ensure students are in class and ready to learn on time, they need to be in the building no later than 8:40 AM. This allows them time to get to their classrooms and prepare for the day ahead.

Thank you for your help in supporting a smooth start to the school day!

Your best school supply is a library card! JCSS has partnered with the Piedmont Regional Library System, and conveniently, your student ID number acts as a library card for your public library! The public library provides free access to books and online resources to help you succeed, as well as fun resources that help develop a lifelong love of reading.

To view the 2025-26 calendar, click here.

Get involved at WJMS!

Birthday Shout Outs

Give your student a birthday shoutout on our digital signage. Click here to order your shoutout!

Boost your business and sponsor our school!

We are looking for dedicated families and businesses to sponsor our school. This is a great chance for you to give back to the community of students that becoming great leaders! Email wjmspantherspto@gmail.com for more information.

Snapshots From Around WJMS

Learning About Literacy

Ms. Steele’s classes are making connections using the Plot Diagram. It has sparked creativity and curiosity in students! They are using hexagonal thinking to find relationships between ideas and terms used in narrative writing. This critical thinking strategy allows students to explore familiar concepts in a new way and ignites their Pathway to Engagement!