Good afternoon, JMS Parents and Families! We hope this message finds you and your family healthy, well and safe during this continued time of uncertainty. We wanted to provide you an update, as we are at the end of Spring Break and our schools continue to be closed through April 24, 2020, per Governor Lee’s directive.
We would like to start by letting you know how much we miss our students! Although most of us have not experienced a pandemic before, the Jefferson Middle School family of teachers, staff and stakeholders have quickly risen to the occasion and are working to provide support for our students and families. We would like to thank everyone for your patience, kindness and support. As we continue to navigate through this time, our utmost priority will always be the well-being of our students, families and staff!
We are excited to be moving forward to provide remote learning opportunities for all students beginning April 6, 2020. You will receive further, more in depth information in this Sunday’s (March 29) Parent Newsletter about our plan for remote learning for your child. Our teachers will be posting daily lessons to their Canvas pages in the Announcement section beginning April 6th. Students will be able to see their daily assignments along with any resources available for the lesson. Please check Canvas Announcements daily for these remote learning opportunities in all of your child’s classes. Please keep in mind that these lessons/assignments are not required and no grades will be issued during this time. If you have questions or concerns about a particular class, please do not hesitate to email the teacher as we are all here to patiently support our students and you throughout this challenging time. We understand there may be some issues with your students device and/or with accessing Canvas. Please reach out to Mr. Ben Fowler (Instructional Technology Coach) at bjfowler@ortn.edu and/or Mr. Chris Layton (Vice Principal) at calayton@ortn.edu for support.
We will continue to communicate to you via our amazing weekly Parent Newsletter. This newsletter, which will be sent out weekly on Sunday evenings, will provide you with updated information regarding resources, Canvas Access, family resources, and updated information from ORS about Covid-19 and extended school closures. In addition, please follow us at @JMS_Eagles for up to date information. You may also visit the district website at https://www.ortn.edu/information-regarding-coronavirus/. The website allows you to view the information in any language, just click on the “Translate to My Language” tab that will be on the bottom center of the main page.
Aramark will continue to provide free “Grab & Go” meals to all students to ensure all students have access to healthy meals throughout this period of closures. Meals will be available at the following locations: Glenwood Elementary, Oak Ridge High School, Robertsville Middle School and the new Oak Ridge Pre School daily from 10am – 1pm. In addition, beginning Monday, March 30th, there will be food distribution sites at Teller Village Apartments, Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, McKenzie Apartments and Manhattan Apartments daily from 12-12:30pm. If you are unable to find transportation to any of the sites above, please reach out to Ms. Jenifer Laurendine at jllaurendine@ortn.edu. We will set up a delivery time, as we have a team of amazing JMS staff members that are volunteering to deliver “Grab & Go” meals to your home, if needed.
We also want to ensure we are supporting our students socially and emotionally during this time. Please feel free to reach out to our School Counselors if you need assistance or are looking for a particular local resource. In addition, you and your child can continue to utilize the JMS Online Counseling Form by clicking on this link: https://www.ortn.edu/jefferson/academics/counseling-center/. Once you click on this link, please click on I need to see a counselor online form. Our School Counselors are monitoring these submissions as they are received. You can also reach out to our counselors for support directly: Mr. Magee at ajmagee@ortn.edu and Mrs. Castle at mccastle@ortn.edu.
If your child receives Special Services and/or EL services, our Case Managers will be reaching out on an individual basis to discuss meetings, services and support moving forward in this remote capacity. Again, please feel free to reach out to your child’s Case Manager at any time, via email, with any questions you may have.
We encourage you to reach out if you have any concerns or if we can assist you, your child or family at any time. Please see contact information for our admin team below:
Mr. Phil Cox – pcox@ortn.edu
Mr. Chris Layton – calayton@ortn.edu
Ms. Jenifer Laurendine – jllaurendine@ortn.edu
Mr. Ben Fowler – bjfowler@ortn.edu
In closing, we are sending well wishes and positive thoughts to you and your family constantly! Please continue to follow the CDC guidelines using social distancing and hygiene protocol. We are here to support and serve our JMS students and families in any way and are confident we will get through this time together!
Stay well and safe, Eagles!
Mr. Cox, Mr. Layton & Ms. Laurendine
