St. James Middle School

9775 St. James Rd

Myrtle Beach, SC 29588

Phone: (843) 650-5543

Ms. Toggas, Principal

650-5543 ext. 2101

Ms. Jacobs, 7th Grade Asst. Principal

650-5543 ext. 2103

Mr. Plaza, 8th Grade Asst. Principal

650-5543 ext. 2104

Ms. Shade, Instructional Coach

650-5543 ext. 2119

Mrs. Lowery, Guidance Director

650-5543 ext. 2109

Mr. Ledford, Guidance

650-5543 ext. 2110

Ms. Dambman, Guidance

650-5543 ext. 2213

Mrs. Hazen, Nurse

650-5543 ext. 2200 & 2108

Mrs. Watkins, Attendance/Data

650-5543 ext. 2111

Ms. Bradley, Bookkeeper

650-5543 ext. 2105

Mrs. Wells, Front Desk Secretary

650-5543 ext. 2107

Officer Rivera, SSO

650-5543 ext. 2121

Ms. Bryant, Cafeteria Manager

650-5546

Important Dates

April 9 - Return from Spring Break

April 9-May 7 - MAP Testing

April 9-20 - SS Benchmark #3

April 10-20 - Book Fair

April 10 - District-wide TDA Writing

Assessment for the 3rd Quarter

April 12 - PTO Meeting

April 20 - Celebration of Success

April 17 - 7th Grade Career Day

April 18 - Grade Level Meetings

April 19 - Muffins for Mom

April 20 - Doughnuts for Dads

April 21 - Band/Orchestra Perfor-

mance at Carowinds

April 21 - National History Day State

Competition

April 25 - 8th Grade Career Day

April 25 - HCS Board Visit

April 25 - SIC Meeting

April 26-28 - Lion King Jr. Produc-

tion

May 1-2 - 8th Grade Meeting with

Mr. Pernell and Mrs. Ross

May 2 - PTO Meeting

May 2 - 4th Interim Ends

May 2 - TDA Writing Test for

English I

May 3 - Chorus Spring Concert

June 1 - 8th Grade Dance

June 4 - 8th Grade Celebration of

Success

June 5 - 7th Grade Celebration of

Success

April 2018

St. James Middle School Newsletter

Principal’s Corner

Dear Shark Family,

Thank you for joining us during our Celebration of Success to celebrate 168 al-phas and 217 betas, a total of 385 students, for the third quarter at St. James Mid-dle School. We also celebrated 286 students who have earned a Superb Shark award from a staff member this year for moments when they demonstrated strong pillars of character and life skills that are part of the Profile of a South Carolina graduate. We feel so fortunate to have your support as our teachers continue to work hard to help all students do their best.

Working together with parents is a key strategy in why we were able to be present-ed with our Schools To Watch® banner at our third quarter assembly. The Schools To Watch® Award is not one that can be earned overnight. We are fortunate to earn this re-designation by learning from the St. James Eagle Alumni who defined “The St. James Way,” and we were especially fortunate to have had members of our Eagle Alumni faculty join us, as well as the leaders of the legacy, Mr. Wendell Shealy, the founding principal of St. James Middle School in 1988, and our most recent legacy leader of 19 years, Dr. Dwight Boykin.

Our students are amazing and we will continue to strive to stay sharp, work hard, inspire a generation, and move forward to maintain national recognition as we prepare to “Celebrate 30 Years of St. James Middle” in the 2018-2019 school year. Thank you for making St. James Middle School such a special place to learn and grow.

Olga G. Toggas Principal

St. James Middle School Newsletter

Horry County Schools does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, nation-al origin, age, disability, immi-grant status, English-speaking status, or any other characteris-tic protected by applicable fed-eral or S.C. law in its programs or activities.

The following people have been designated to handle inquiries regarding nondiscrimination

We need you! PTO The SJMS Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) sponsors many projects which ben-efit the school. All parents are strongly encouraged to join. Officers are nominated and elected prior to or at the beginning of the school year.

Next meeting: Thursday, May 2nd, 7:15 am - 8:00 am in the OCR

Spring Book Fair The SJM Library Learning Commons will be hosting a Bed-ford Falls spring book fair from April 10 to April 20. The hours will be from 7:45am – 4:00pm each day.

The book fair will also be open after the Celebration of Success on April 13 and during Muffins for Moms and Doughnuts for Dads on April 19 and 20.

We will also have a representative from the Surfside Public Library to discuss their summer reading program and opportunities. Students will also be able to sign up for their own library card.

We look forward to seeing you at the Book Fair!

Celebration of Success Assembly Mark your calendars! Our 8th Grade Celebration of Success Assembly will be held at 9:00 a.m. on June 4th. Our 7th Grade Celebration of Success Assembly will be held on June 5th. We look forward to having our families attend the celebration.

Spring Musical Performance SJM Musical Theater & Chorus presents Disney’s The Lion King Jr. Show times will be Thursday, April 26th at 6pm; Friday, April 27th at 6pm and 8pm; and Saturday, April 28th at 1pm in the SJM Auditorium. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for students, and ages 0-3 are free.

School Improvement Council The School Improvement Council was initiated by the S.C. School Improvement Councils (SICs) through legislation, as a means of assuring the influential voice of parents and community members in the education of our children.

If you are interested in becoming a SIC member, please contact Cindy Wells at cwells@horrycountyschools.net.

Next meeting: Wednesday, April 25th, 3:45pm - 4:45pm in the OCR

Wednesday, May 9th, 3:45pm - 4:45pm in the OCR

State Testing Schedule These are the dates and times of our state testing schedule for St. James Middle School. Thank you for flexibility in helping us protect these dates and times for stu-dents. Abbreviated schedules will be in place on these dates.

May 2nd TDA Writing Test English 1 ONLY May 8th TDA Writing Test SCREADY May 9th Reading Test SCREADY May 10, 11,14th Writing and Reading Make-up Testing May 15th Math Test SCREADY May 16th SCPASS Science or Social Studies May 17,18, 21 Math, Science, and Social Studies Make-up Testing May 22th English 1 EOC Reading Test (8th graders in English 1) May 24th Algebra 1 EOC (7th and 8th graders in Algebra 1) May 25th-June 1 Make-up EOC Testing (7th or 8th graders in Algebra 1/ English 1) May 25th Honors Geometry Final Exam for SJM

Section 504

Coordinator

(Students)

Section 504

Coordinator

(Employees)

Title IX - Sexual

Harassment

(Students)

Title IX - Sexual

Harassment

(Employees)

Title IX - Athletics

Race, color, na-

tional origin, reli-

gion, age, immi-

grant status, Eng-

lish-speaking sta-

tus, or any other

characteristic pro-

tected b y law

Ruth Lilly

Special Education

Coordination

843-488-6989

Valerie McNeill

Director for Human

Resources

843-488-7225

Ben Hardee

Director of Career

& Technical Edu-

cation

843-488-6990

Janet Lawrence—

Patten

Principal Specialist

IV

843-488-6733

Roger Gray

Director of Human

Resources

843-488-6702

Velna Allen

Chief Officer for

Student Services

843-488-6767

Kenny Generette

Staff Attorney

843-488-6765

Individuals are located at the following

address: 335 Four Mile Rd, PO Box

260005, Conway, SC 29528-6005

Easy Ways to Contribute

If you shop at Lowes Foods, please go online and register your Fresh Rewards Card with SJM. Each

year, the schools are cleared from the Cart to Class program. Lowes gives back to schools through this program. It is a great way to earn money for the school.

Enroll at:

https://rewards.lowesfoods.com/

Account/SelectCard?

mode=CartToClass

Make sure to con-nect your BI-LO’s

Bonus Card to St. James Middle School. You help us earn Com-munity Educational Rewards by shopping at BI-LO with your Bo-nus Card!

ID: 55185

We are a Labels for Education school!

It works a little differently than Box Tops. We col-lect labels from various products like: Campbell’s, Pace, Pepperidge Farm, Swanson, and V8. As our points accumulate, the administra-tion will help decide items to be purchased with our points to ben-efit the entire student body. Stu-dents can turn in the labels for educations to room B-1 in the col-lection box or to the office.

Clipping Box Tops is

an easy way for our

school to raise money.

Look! Clip! Send!

SJM 2017-2018 Business Partners The Partners in Education (PIE) program is an opportunity for local businesses to connect with and support academic programs and activities here at St. James Middle School. We would love to have your business added to this list!

For more information, please contact: Sharon Bradley at 843-650-5543.

Mad Signtist Dunes Realty Lowes Foods

Krispy Kreme Godfather’s Pizza Beach Side Electrical Designs

MyPayment Plus We are proud to inform you that our school will now offer My Payments Plus, an online service that provides you the opportunity to pay online for the yearbook,

field trips, and PDL fees and fines.

There is no cost to you. All you must do to sign up is visit https://www. mypaymentsplus.com and click on “Register Now.” You will need the student’s ID number to complete registration. Use the same ID# for your student that is in the PowerSchool Parent Portal. Once you finish, you may log-in to begin your pay-ment process.

If you have any questions, please call Sharon Bradley at 843-650-5543.

Yearbook Orders Remember this year of your SJMS Journey! Yearbook sales have been extended for one week only. Final order deadline is Friday, April 13. There are only 100 books for sale. Once these have been purchased, no other books will be available. This is "first come, first purchase.

Purchase your yearbook through mypaymentsplus.com.

HCS Board Visit Planned On April 25th, SJM will welcome the HCS Board Members, Superintendent, and District Office Leadership Team for a visit to showcase how our SJM sharks lead the way in learning “The St. James Way.”

Visitors Parents/Guardians are welcome to visit school at any time, but teachers appreci-ate knowing in advance of their desire to visit. The procedure for visiting SJMS is as follows:

1. Parents/Guardians who wish to visit a class must make an appointment through the grade level administrator.

2. Visits to classrooms must be timed to begin at the start of a class period. Clas-ses may only be interrupted in cases of an emergency.

3. Conferences may be set up by contacting your child’s teacher or by contacting

the assistant principal.

St. James Middle School Counselor’s Corner 7th Grade Goal Setting Conferences

Our counselors will be offering individual conferences with all 7th grade students and parents. The conference usually lasts about 30 minutes. Topics include re-viewing current grades and test scores, profile of a SC Graduate, high school GPA and uniform grading scale, scholarships, SC graduation requirements, Horry County Schools high school program options. We will also discuss both academic and exploratory course selections for 8th grade. Students will share their digital portfolio with parents. We look forward to meeting with all of our 7th grade parents. Please look for an email from Barry Ledford, jledford@horrycountyschools.net to sign up or call any counselor to sign up for a conference.

Good Morning Day Camp

This free camp is a part of Tideland Community Hospice Foundations Children’s Bereavement Program. The loss of a loved one, friend, or family pet through death or life situations affects each of us differently. Children and adults cope differently. This camp is offered free for children and adolescents, ages six to fourteen living in Horry and Georgetown, and Williamsburg counties.

Camp will be held from 9 AM until 2 PM on Saturday, April 21st.

Pre-Registration is required and applications can be picked up in the guidance office. Registration deadline is Monday, April 9, 2018.

Counseling Staff Gale Lowery – Guidance Director & Counselor Last names M-Z 843-650-5543 Ext. 2109 glowery@horrycountyschools.net

Colleen Dambman – 504 Coordinator .5 Counselor 843-650-5543 Ext. 2213 cdambman@horrycountyschools.net

Barry Ledford– Counselor Last names A-L 843-650-5543 Ext. 2110 jledford@horrycountyschools.net

We can

help you

put it all

together!!

2018 Summer Scholars Registration Registration opens March 30!

Horry County Schools’ Summer Scholars Program is a special experience that provides academic enrichment opportunities to students in grades 3-11. Summer Scholars recognizes the importance of allowing gifted and high-achieving young people the opportunity for critical thinking and learning through creative exploration.

You can apply at https://www.horrycountyschools.net/Page/352.

Summer Scholars Program Schedule

Week 1: June 11 – 14 Week 2: June 18 – 21

Summer Scholars Pricing

1 class - $125 2 classes - $225 3 classes - $325 4 classes - $425

*Specialized classes require an additional $10 for each class

Shark Life Calendar April

9-May 7 MAP Testing

9-20 Social Studies Benchmark #3

9 Return from Spring Break

10-20 Book Fair LibraryLC

10 7:30am - 8:00am FCA Auditorium

8:10am - 10:05am 3rd Quarter District-wide TDA Writing As- sessment

3:30pm - 4:30pm Art Club E9

3:45pm - 6:00pm Cheerleader Tryouts SJHS

11 3:45pm - 6:00pm Cheerleader Tryouts SJHS

12 7:15am - 8:00am PTO Meeting OCR

7:30am - 8:00am Rise and Shine Club Auditorium

8:00am - 4:30pm ELA Tutoring

3:30pm - 7:00pm Chorus SCMEA Performance Assess-ment & Choral Competition Columbia

3:45pm - 6:00pm Cheerleader Tryouts SJHS

13 9:00am - 10:30am 3rd Quarter Celebration of Success Gym

5:30pm - 7:30pm BTeam Baseball vs Waccamaw SJHS

17 7th Grade Career Day

7:30am - 8:00am FCA Auditorium

3:30pm - 4:30pm Art Club E9

18 3:45pm - 5:00pm PTO Dance

19 7:00am - 8:00am Muffins for Moms Library LC

7:30am - 8:00am Rise and Shine Club Auditorium

20 $1 Hat Dat for St. Jude’s

7:00am - 8:00am Doughnuts for Dads Library LC

8:55am - 2:33pm MAP Incen- tive Day

Get Involved! Fellowship of Christian Athletes

FCA’s morning gatherings will be held EVERY Tuesday morning of each month from 7:30am - 8:00am. Youth from St. James High School will be leading the devotions and activities. We will have monthly themes for the FCA “ONE” curriculum. This non-denomination organization accepts all of God’s people.

All are welcome and goodies will be served! Spread the word, set your clocks, and create a carpool!

Drop off is on the car rider side. Please DO NOT drop off at the front office! If you are a bus rider, come on! What a way to start your day in God’s Word before school!

For any questions or concerns: Whitney Ann Lewis or Brandi King, Huddle Lead-ers for SJMS WLewis@horrycountyschools.net or BKing001@horrycountyschools.net

Rise and Shine Club

Rise and Shine Thursday!

Faith, fellowship and fun with local youth pastors sharing God's

Word through devotion and worship.

Sunrise with God is every Thursday at 7:30 in the auditorium.

Fund Raiser Dance

There will be a dance this afternoon from 3:30 - 5:00 for ALL students with DJ Ryan from our winter Pep Rally. There will be free admission for fundraiser partici-pants, students who met all 3 MAP goals this year, and students who earned alpha or beta for Quarter 3. All other students need to pay $3. All students attending the dance must have on their wristband.

Student Council

There will be an informational meeting at 7:30am in Mrs. Gilman’s room, D9, on Tuesday, April 17th for all 7th grade students interested in running for 2018-2019 SCA office of President or Vice-President.

Math-A-Thon

The SJMS Math Department is once again sponsoring the St. Jude Math-A-Thon. This wonderful and worthy fundraiser raises money for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The goal in holding the Math-A-Thon is to help the children of the world who are stricken with diseases like cancer, AIDS, and Sickle-Cell Anemia. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is a world leader in the fight against these diseases, and they have made great progress, but only because of the help of young people like the students at SJMS! Math Students, please be collecting sponsors at this time. All collection envelopes and Fun books will be due April 30th. To date, we have raised over $40,000 at SJMS for the children at St. Jude’s. To help with the Fundraiser, students and staff members will participate in a Jean and Hat Day on Friday, April 20th.

Shark Life Calendar cont. April cont.

21 5:00am - 11:00pm Band/ Cho- rus/Orchestra Performance Carowinds

8:00am - 3:30pm State Nation al History Day Competition Columbia

24 7:30am - 8:00am FCA Auditorium

3:30pm - 4:30pm Art Club E9

25 8th Grade Career Day

9:30am - 12:00pm HCS Board Visit

3:30pm - 5:00pm SIC Meeting OCR

26 7:30am - 7:55am Rise and Shine Club Auditorium

3:30pm - 4:30pm Beta Club Meeting Cafeteria

6:00pm - 7:15pm Lion King Jr. Production Auditorium

27 6:00pm - 7:15pm Lion King Jr. Production Auditorium

8:00pm - 9:00pm, Lion King Jr. Production Auditorium

28 1:00pm - 2:15pm Lion King Jr. Production Auditorium

May

1 7:30am - 8:00am FCA Auditorium

3:30pm - 4:30pm Art Club E9

2 4th Interim Ends

Throwback Thursday - Wear your Eagle gear

TDA Writing Test—English I Only

7:15am - 8:00am PTO Meeting OCR

3 7:30am - 7:55am Rise and Shine Club Auditorium

6:00pm - 8:00pm Beta Club Meeting Cafeteria

6:00pm - 7:00pm Spring Cho- rus Concert Auditorium

March MAP Madness

MAP Incentive Day will be Friday, April 20th. Students reaching two or three of their Spring to Spring Goals will be rewarded with the following:

Ice cream during lunch

45 minutes of social time with concessions to purchase during exploratory time to be located outside on the grassy area between A and D Halls.

8A - 8:55am

8B - 10:35am

7A - 1:03pm

7B - 2:33pm

Students reaching all three of their goals will receive all of the above PLUS prize drawings during 7th and 8th grade lunches and free admission to the Fund Raiser Dance on Wednesday April 18th.

Shark Athletics Cheerleading Tryouts Open practice will be Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:45pm - 6:00pm during the month of March. Tryouts will be held April 10th-12th from 3:45pm - 6:00pm. Stu-dents must have a physical on file to participate in all of these.

Sharkies Dance Team All rising 8th-12th graders interested in trying out for the Sharkies Dance Team must pick up a tryout packet available at the front desk. Tryouts will be held May 2nd, 3rd, 7th, and 8th in the SJHS Cafeteria from 3:45pm-5:30pm.

Football Meetings All current and prospective football players need to meet with Coach Adkins in the

Commons Area on Tuesday, April 17th, at 8:00 am.

Also, there will be a parent meeting at SJHS on Thursday, April 19th at 7:00 pm in

the cafeteria for any rising 9th grade student who is interested in playing football at

St. James High School. All interested players and students are encouraged to

attend.

Shark Life National History Day Alli Beyersdorf, Grace Leonard and Allison Moore have qualified for the State National History Day competi-tion. The girls were in the top two for their Group Perfor-mance category out of Horry and Georgetown Schools competing at Coast Carolina University. Their perfor-mance was titled “The Rise of the Flapper” and was based on South Carolina women who lived during the 1920’s and rejected the traditional roles of previous gen-erations. Please wish them luck as they will be compet-ing in Columbia, SC on April 21 for a chance to qualify for the national competition.

Allison, Alli, and Grace dressed as flappers.

Shark Life cont. Orchestra Rates Superior The St. James Middle School 8th Grade Symphony Orchestra performed at the South Carolina State Concert Performance Assessment on Friday, March 23rd, 2018. These young musi-cians rehearsed tirelessly since the beginning of the spring se-mester, and it sure did pay off! The SJMS Symphony brought home the highest rating of "Superior" and earned a trophy with the ensemble's name on it!

The Symphony will performing their music again at their Spring Concert on May 11th, 2018, at 6pm in the SJMS gymnasi-um. Please come out and support these talented young musi-cians!

Fine Arts Day at SJE On Thursday, March 29th, SJM Art club students and the SJM Chorus and Musical Theatre classes participated in the St James Elementary Fine Arts Day. Art Club members paint-ed faces for Kindergarten-2nd grade students. SJMS Chorus and Musical Theatre classes performed for the students. They performed 3 choral selections & 3 songs from The Lion King Jr. Musical. Our students did awesome! Thanks to their teachers for an amazing job leading them! It was a great way for students to represent our school and community!

Celebrating Student and School Success On Friday, April 13th, SJM students and staff celebrated both student and school wide success at the 3rd Quarter Celebration of Success. During the ceremony, 385 students were recognized for their academic success (168 alphas and 217 betas), as well as 286 students who were recognized as Superb Sharks for their demonstration of character. The staff and school was also presented with St. James Middle School’s Schools to Watch® banner. On hand to join in the celebra-tion were numerous former SJM staff members and alumni; HCS’s Superinten-dent, Dr. Rick Maxey; 2 former principals, Mr. Wendell Shealy and Dr. Dwight Boykin; and parents. Students and staff were rewarded with a special treat of cookies after the event provided by Lowes Foods. Thank you to all who came to the ceremony and to all who help make SJM great!

SJM Orchestra brings home the trophy.

Inspiring a Generation …. The St. James Way!

Need More?

Please remember, there is more St. James Middle School news available on

the school website:

http://sjm.

horrycountyschools.net

and find us on

Facebook.

Scenes from SJE Fine Arts Day

Geography Bee Tanner Buck represented SJMS

well in the state National

Geographic Bee on April 6th in

Columbia, SC. We are so proud of

Tanner.

Tanner Buck at the state National Geographic Bee.

St. James Middle School - School Improvement Council

If you are interested in serving on the School Improvement Council for the 2018-2019 school year, please fill in the form below: (3 applicants will be elected to serve).

Name

__________________________________________________________________________

Student Name

____________________________________________________________________

Relationship to Student

_____________________________________________________________

Why do you want to serve on the SJM- School Improvement Council? (100 words or less)

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Please return this form to Ms. Cindy Wells(cwells@horrycountyschools.net) no later than

3PM on May 14, 2018 A Ballot with the applicants names and reason for wanting to serve will be available on line for voting on May 18, 2018. These ballots must be returned to SJM no later than 3PM on May 25, 2018 The slate of SIC Members for the 2018/2019 school year will be announced by May 30, 2018.

Timeline:

Application due May 14, 2018 by 3:00 PM

Ballot due May 18, 2018 by 3:00 PM

Voting due May 25, 2018 by 3:00 PM

Results will be published May 30, 2018

Applications and ballots will be available in the office and on-line.