Husky Families,
We are so excited to welcome our students back to school tomorrow morning! Please continue reading as we have several important announcements for you as you plan for the first week of school.
First Day of School: The first day of school is Monday, August 26. Students may arrive to school beginning at 7:15 am. When students arrive, staff will be available to help guide them to the correct location. All students arriving at school prior to 7:40 am will report to the gym and sit with their grade level. After 7:40 am, 6th grade students will report to the cafeteria.
Our 6th grade teachers will meet students in the cafeteria and walk them to homeroom at 7:55am.
7th and 8th grade students will be dismissed from the gym to their respective homerooms at 7:55am.
Students arriving after 7:55am will report directly to their homeroom teacher’s classroom.
Student Schedules: Schedules are available in PowerSchool. Students will receive a paper copy of their schedule in Homeroom tomorrow morning. Student schedules are considered final at this point unless there has been a scheduling error. Schedule changes are not permitted for switching teachers or personal schedule preferences.
Bus Route Information: Listed below are the morning and afternoon routes for Hawfields students. Take a moment to look through the route information to identify your student's bus number and approximate stop times.
For the morning route, please be at the bus stop 15 minutes prior to the listed stop time. For both morning and afternoon routes, allow a grace period of 15-20 minutes after the stop time before contacting the school. If your student should be riding a bus but you do not see your address or location listed, fill out the BUS FORM and email it to audrey_mcbride@abss.k12.nc.us.
Please check your email daily for bus updates. We will send a nightly email around 8:00 PM with the morning route information. Around 2:00 PM each afternoon, we will send out an afternoon route information. If you are not receiving any updates please check to make sure that a) you have completed the transportation forms in PowerSchool and/or b) that your contact information (email and phone number) is correct in PowerSchool.
Car Rider Drop Off and Pick Up Information: When dropping off your child in the morning, do not stop in the middle of the drop-off zone. Instead, pull forward so that 10 or more drivers can drop off their student at the same time. This will make the process more efficient for all families and keep cars off of 119. Please review the image below.
Although we will have a Traffic Director on 119 to assist with the flow of traffic in the mornings and afternoons, we know that our car rider line will be much longer during the first few weeks of school as new students and families learn our traffic patterns. Please see the image below for our afternoon car rider traffic pattern. Thank you in advance for your patience and following the directions of HMS staff members helping with the traffic flow.
A staff member will ask for your student’s name as you enter into the car rider loop. That name will be called into the cafeteria where our car riders will be waiting to be dismissed. When their name is called, students will exit the cafeteria to the student loading zone.
There will be an interior and exterior line near the loading zone. Please follow the staff members directions as to which line you should be in.
Once all cars in both lines have come to a complete stop, a staff member will allow students to load up. Do not waive your student to the car before our staff member tells them to “load up”.
Do not stop in front of the loading zone, even if you see your student. Pull all the way forward as we will not allow any student to load into cars until directed by a staff member.
Once students have entered the car, the staff member at the front of the loading zone will dismiss one car line at a time. Please do not drive away unless directed to do so.
It is critical that your student knows if they are going to be a car rider or bus rider each day. If your student does not come out to the car rider line after their name is called, we will ask you to park in an empty parking spot and wait until the car line is complete before we are able to locate your student.
ABSS Mobile Learning Handbook: Please read the linked ABSS Mobile Learning Handbook. In order to receive a laptop, all students must return a signed Student/Parent Mobile Device Agreement form. That form can be printed off from the mobile learning handbook. We will also send copies home with your student this week.
Laptop Insurance Plan: To help protect against costly repairs, the Board of Education has approved an optional $25 insurance plan for student laptops. This premium is good for one instance of unintentional breakage (lost or intentional damage is not covered) and will help protect you from higher costs. You may elect when to apply your premium. Once used, the family would have the option to replace the optional insurance premium for an additional $25. Please use this link to purchase the optional insurance. *Note- you must click the box signifying you agree to the user agreement before purchasing insurance.
Cell Phone Policy: Please review ABSS Board Policy 4813 - Use of Wireless Communication Devices. Although students are permitted to possess such devices on school property, the devices are not allowed to be activated, used, displayed, or visible during the instructional day. Cell phones & Air pods must be turned off and put in backpacks for the duration of each school day. Staff may immediately confiscate any wireless communication devices that are on, used, displayed, or visible in violation of this policy.
Free & Reduced Lunch Application: Breakfast and lunch are not universally free for all students. If you would like your child to eat meals at school, you will either need to put money on their online account or you will need to secure a free/reduced lunch status by filling out the required form. The form is available in the HMS main office or you can fill it out online: https://www.lunchapplication.com/ More information is available here. This year, we ask that all families complete and return the form, regardless of whether your student will eat a meal at school. Having all parents complete this form helps us minimize lunch debt that accumulates throughout the school year.
Canvas: Parents can sign up as an observer in Canvas. Observers can link their Canvas account to their student’s account so they can see assignment due dates, announcements, and other course contect. Observers can view the course but cannot participate in the course. Follow the steps in this document to sign up as a Parent Observer in your student’s canvas courses.
Athletics: All student athletes must complete a DragonFly waiver to play in the 2024-2025 school year. If you have done this in the past, you must do it again for this school year. This must be completed before you are eligible to try out or participate in any athletics this school year. You can find the directions here.
Fall Athletic Schedules are located on the HMS website under the Athletics tab.
Football: Practice will begin on Monday, August 26 from 4:00 - 6:00 pm.
Boys Soccer: Tryouts will be held on Wednesday, August 28 and Thursday, August 29 from 3:45 - 5:30 pm.
Girl’s Volleyball: Tryouts will be held September 3 - 5 from 4:00 - 5:45 pm.
Cross Country
: Practice will begin on Wednesday, August 28th from 3:45 - 4:45 pm.
If you have any questions regarding athletics, contact our Athletic Director, Lavar Marsh at lavar_marsh@abss.k12.nc.us.
Upcoming Calendar Events:
Monday, August 26: First Day of School
Monday, September 2: Labor Day Holiday. No School for Staff & Students
Tuesday, September 17: Boys Soccer vs. Turrentin at Home - 4:45 pm
Tuesday, September 17: Girls Volleyball vs. Turrentine at Home - 4:45 pm
Wednesday, September 18: HMS Football at Western - 4:45 pm
Thursday, September 19: Boys Soccer vs. Graham at Home - 4:45 pm
Thursday, September 19: Girls Volleyball vs. Graham at Home - 4:45 pm
Tuesday, September 24 - Boys Soccer at Southern - 4:45 pm
Tuesday, September 24 - Girls Volleyball at Southern - 4:45 pm
Wednesday, September 25: HMS Football vs. Turrentin @ Home - 4:45 pm
Thursday, October 10 - Fall Picture Day
Friday, October 25 - End of Quarter 1.
Friday, October 25 - School Dance - 4:00 - 6:30 pm. More information to come.
Monday, October 28 - Teacher Workday. No school for students.