FROM AVIS NAJOR, MIDDLE SCHOOL ATHLETIC DIRECTOR:

The Middle School Winter 2 sports season will begin on Tuesday, January 22, with team meetings unless otherwise listed in the "notes" column of this season's schedule. Please contact the coaches with any team specific questions. Tryouts for 7th grade travel volleyball will begin on Tuesday, January 22. The 8th grade travel volleyball will begin on Monday, January 28. Intramural sports will begin on Monday, January 28.

All students must have a valid physical form on file with the BHMS main office before your student will be allowed to tryout/participate. You must use the MHSAA physical form as no other doctor's physicals forms or health appraisal forms will be accepted. The physical must be dated on or after, April 15, 2018, to valid for the entire 2018-2019 school year.

The physical form, the pay to participate fee instructions, coaches contact information, competition schedules, and other information can be found at this Middle School Athletic webpage.

7th & 8th GRADE BAND/ORCHESTRA PAJAMA JAM-IN PARENT VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! Parent volunteers are needed for the Pajama Jam-In on Friday, February 1. There will be 2 shifts: 3-6pm and 6-9pm. Feel free to sign up for one or both shifts at http://bhmspto.my-pta.org/content.asp?PageID=2

PAJAMA JAM-IN BAND/ORCHESTRA STUDENTS: Please bring a snack or drink to share (please, no popcorn or nuts). Students with last names A-M bring 1 snack item for 6-12. Students with last name N-Z bring 1 drink item (one 2-liter or equivalent). 

BAKERS AND SELLERS  DESPERATELY NEEDED: Music Boosters continues to need volunteers for the weekly Wednesday fundraising bake sales, which take place immediately after school in the Gateway Space. Volunteers are needed to donate baked goods and/or run sales. PLEASE REMEMBER that products must not contain or be cooked with nuts or nut products. Baked items can be dropped off in the main office anytime before 2:45 p.m. Sign up to donate baked goods and/or work at a sale by clicking HERE. Thank you for supporting the BHMS Music Boosters.

BHMS parents/guardians and staff, please save the date for the PTO Mix and Mingle, and evening of bombowling, food, silent and live bidding, and fun! The event is Saturday, February 2, at the HUB Stadium in Auburn Hills. Tickets can be purchased at the PTO's e-store at http://www.bhmspto.my-pta.org/content.asp?PageID=6.

STATE-MANDATED PSAT EXAM FOR 8TH GRADERS ON APRIL 9: For the first time, the State of Michigan is requiring that all 8th graders take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test, a paper/pencil assessment more commonly referred to as the PSAT. The state requires that the PSAT be administered on April 9, which is the Tuesday immediately following Spring Break.  It is very important for all 8th graders to be in school on April 9. Advance notice is being shared so families can plan their Spring Break vacations accordingly. This assessment will take the place of the math and ELA portions of MStep. Watch the Lancer Update and this web page for more information as the administration date approaches. If you have any questions, please contact BHMS 8th grade counselor, Mrs. Jaster.

INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY: For information about the IA and how students can apply to this school, please go to their website at iatoday.org. Then, go to 'About Us' and scroll down to 'Prospective Students'. Click on Okma Campus. The deadline for IA applications is January 22. The lottery will be February 5 at the Doyle Center. A summary of the IA application process can be found here.

BH HIGH SCHOOL IB DIPLOMA PROGRAMME: BHMS hopes to set up a meeting with a representative from BH High School (BHHS) about the Diploma Programme (DP), to help 8th graders learn about this opportunity. For more information about this option, go to the BHHS website and type International Baccalaureate into the search window. The BHHS counselors would like to know in advance of 9th grade course selection which students are considering this opportunity. This will help them guide students in their course selection. There is an application/interest form on the BHHS website that should be completed and turned in to Mrs. Jaster by March 1. 

BH HIGH SCHOOL (BHHS) COURSE SELECTIONS: The BHHS counselors will make two visits to BHMS to meet with 8th graders. The first date is March 7, when information will be shared about a typical 9th grade schedule, life at the high school, extra-curricular activities and more. Students will come home with a course handbook, a course selection sheet and directions for how to get online to enter the courses they want for 9th grade. The second visit will be on March 14, when the BHHS counselors will meet individually with 8th graders and a parent/guardian by appointment. At that time the course selection sheet will be turned in and all questions answered. Watch for more details about setting up an appointment with your student's BHHS counselor in early February. Please know that the schedule will only allow for a ten minute meeting per student and parent/guardian.

Thank you to all of the families who clipped and saved their Box Tops for Education. BHMS recently received a check for $275 for the most recent submission of 2,750 Box Tops! A special thank you to Carol Davis and her crew who painstakingly trim and review expiration dates on every single teeny, tiny Box Top before they are submitted for redemption. Consider this. If each BHMS student brought in only 10 box tops a month during the school year, BHMS would earn over $6,500 annually to use toward programs like extra clubs or purchases not covered under the general budget. Conversely, if every BHMS student throws away those 10 Box Tops instead, over $6,500 worth of trash is sitting in landfills. Please continue to collect and place your Box Tops in the collection box in the office anytime during the remainder of the school year. A little change can go a long way. /span>

This week's MYP newsletter, about the January learner profile of "Courage",  features an article by BHMS 7th grader, Gordon Kopmeyer, about how courage and other MYP learner traits helped his team win the coveted "DiVito Cup" in physical education class.

Please remember that BHMS IS A PEANUT and TREE NUT RESTRICTED BUILDING, 24-HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. There are students in the building who are highly allergic to peanuts and all kinds of tree nuts, and their well-being is of concern. Students, parents/guardians or visitors should not bring items containing peanuts, tree nuts or products derived from nuts of any type into the building. This includes items given to the office staff, to teachers, for classrooms, bake sales, end-of-sports or club parties or any other occasion. Thank you so much for your consideration.

BHMS 6th-grade students will participate in the Lancer Leader Program. The Lancer Leader/Upstander Program was designed to engage middle school students in a meaningful, relevant conversation about negative social behaviors that can lead to bullying within their school. This is accomplished through interactive workshops that provide education, promote team building and encourage advocacy.  A total of eight workshops will be conducted over the remainder of the school year. These lessons facilitate the development of leadership abilities, critical thinking skills and provide training in methods of effectively intervening in troubling situations.

The primary goal of Upstander is to bring the issue of bullying to the forefront of the students' social consciousness through empowerment and self-reflection. This task is completed by providing the students with appropriate strategies and knowledge that enables them to be proactive in a variety of situations. The knowledge gained from each lesson helps to reduce the incidence of "bystander syndrome", a key element that allows situations to escalate into more dangerous conflicts.

If you have any questions regarding your child's participation in this program, please feel free to contact BHMS Counselor, Anthony Flevaris. For additional information on this program, please visit www.defeatthelabel.com

COMING UP         Lesson/Topic
1-31 Lesson 2       Responsibility
2-15 Lesson 3       Judgment
2-26 Lesson 4       Diversity
3-15 Lesson 5       Bullying 101        
3-26 Lesson 6       The Bystander Effect
4-11 Lesson 7       Bystander vs Upstander
4-23 Lesson 8       Action

As of January 25^th, Bloomfield Hills Schools will use Community Pass only for all lunch program payments.  When logging into My Bloomfield and signing in to view a specific student, lunch balances and a transaction history will still be available.  However, payments will only be accepted through Community Pass.  

We understand that a lot of parents have appreciated the ability to make payments online, view transactions, and see account balances.  All of this will still be possible - the only change is that payments will no longer be accepted in the same location as you find balance information.  This is due to a rising cost environment in credit card processing fees that the district has historically not asked families to incur, but has rather paid on families' behalf.  The switch to 100% payment processing through Community Pass will allow us to retain the functionality of online payments, yet save money from the district's general fund.

This transition should be fairly seamless, but we recognize you may have some questions.  Please allow five minutes after processing a payment to contact us with any questions so we can digitally see the transaction on our end and better support your request.  In addition, please note that you may process payments for multiple items in the same shopping cart within Community Pass.  So, if you'd like to purchase lunch credits at West Hills along with Saturday swim lessons, please feel free to complete one checkout process for the entire family.

If you haven't already, please make sure you have your login information for Community Pass. If you have forgotten your login or password, please go to https://register.communitypass.net/reg/login.cfm?cuBOB%2F%2FX0p4trnasCJNBkrfRqBNbAcM1ugTdgJwcwr%2BLxIFL2ZCtvf%2Fw to view instructions on how to retrieve that information.  Instructions will be sent directly to the email that is listed as the primary email for your student's account. If you have issues with this process, please contact the Recreation Department at 248.341.6425.

The Bloomfield Hills Schools Transportation department is pleased to introduce SafeStop, an app for your smartphone or tablet that offers real time school bus updates.  It provides an estimated time of arrival and up to the minute alerts from the transportation department when necessary. For 30 minutes before and after the scheduled pick-up & drop-off times, the bus locator will be displayed on a map.  We are hopeful you will find this tool useful, and are excited to share it with our families.

Please follow the directions listed on the Transportation web page to get connected: https://www.bloomfield.org/transportation