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Dorothy Hamm Middle School PTSA
PHOENIX POST
Monday, March 11th, 2024
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Mark Your Calendar: Upcoming DHMS Dates | |
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Thursday, March 14th-Friday, March 15th - Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences
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Friday, March 15th - NO SCHOOL (Parent-Teacher Conferences)
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Tuesday, March 19th - DHMS Dines Out: Shake Shack, 11am-10pm
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Monday, March 25th - Friday, March 29th - NO SCHOOL (Spring Break)
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Tuesday, April 9th - DHMS PTSA Meeting, 7:00pm
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Wednesday, April 10th - NO SCHOOL (Eid al-Fitr)
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Monday, April 15th - NO SCHOOL (Grade Preparation Day); End of 3rd Quarter
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Friday, May 3rd - EARLY RELEASE (12:05pm Dismissal)
Please visit the online master DHMS Calendar for all 2023-24 school year dates.
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Special DHMS PTSA Update:
March PTSA Membership Meeting Canceled
Tomorrow evening's scheduled DHMS PTSA Membership Meeting (Tuesday, March 12th) has been canceled. Instead, see below for special DHMS PTSA news and announcements, and contact DHMS PTSA President, Danusha Chandy, with any questions.
Seeking DHMS PTSA Nominating Committee Members
- The DHMS PTSA is seeking three current PTSA members to serve on this spring's DHMS PTSA Nominating Committee to select and present the slate of 2024-25 DHMS PTSA officers at the May DHMS PTSA Meeting. The proposed candidates will be approved by the membership at the April DHMS PTSA Meeting. Please contact Danusha Chandy if you are interested.
DHMS PTSA Budget: February 2024 Report
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Advocate to the County and State to Increase APS Funding
The Superintendent’s Proposed Budget for FY 2025 focuses on a 3.3% increase in compensation for staff, maintenance of core needs, and significant cuts as we work to close a $29.5 million gap. Here is the link to the Budget page on the APS website: Budget - Arlington Public Schools (apsva.us)
The County’s budget process is underway. We urge all to advocate to the County to pass a 2.5 cent tax increase to support our schools. There are two upcoming opportunities to advocate for schools. Make your voices heard!
- Public Hearing at 7 p.m., on April 2 and April 4.
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Members of the public who wish to sign-up to speak at a budget public hearing can do so online.
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All work sessions and public hearings are open to the public and will be live-streamed and broadcast on Cable Channel 70 and Verizon FIOS Channel 41.
- Budget wrap-up session on April 11, from 3-5 p.m.
- Final budget decisions will be made during the April 16 budget mark-up session, from 3-5 p.m. This will be the last meeting before board members vote to formally adopt the final budget on April 20.
Anyone can advocate by attending the hearing or by writing to the County Board at countyboard@arlingtonva.us. All are also encouraged to advocate to the State to increase funding for APS – the current budget proposed by the Governor cuts APS. Contact the Governor today!
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Author Visit: Amina Luqman-Dawson
Order Freewater by Friday, March 15th
DHMS is hosting Newbery Award winning author Amina Luqman-Dawson on Friday, March 22nd. If you'd like to purchase her book, Freewater, please use this link to order a copy from our local bookstore, Fonts. The books will be delivered to the school, so you don't have to ship them or pick them up. The deadline is Friday, March 15th by midnight.
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DHMS Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences
Thursday, March 14th-Friday, March 15th
Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences – March 14 (after school) and March 15(no school for students)
We are so fortunate to have two conference days provided for Middle School students, parents, and teachers to meet. Our Fall Conference allows parents to meet every teacher and touch base about student transition to the new grade level. Our Spring Conference requires all students to create and share with parents and their TA Teacher a presentation explaining their progress this year, their strengths and areas for growth, and their plans for their academic future. This style of conference supports students with taking ownership, long-term, of their educational goals. A couple of logistics to note:
- Look for an email/phone call from your TA Teacher to schedule your conference.
- Come prepared to share 1 or 2 goal areas you have for your Phoenix student (short or long term).
- You, your Phoenix student, and the TA teacher will meet for 20 minutes to engage in this presentation.
- All students are required to be present.
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DHMS Dines Out: Shake Shack (Ballston)
Tuesday, March 19th
Support the DHMS PTSA on Tuesday, March 19th when you visit Shake Shack in Ballston, located at 4201 Wilson Blvd STE 0180 Arlington, VA 22203, anytime between 11am and 10pm.
See the flyer for details, and spread the word to friends and family. Thank you!
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DHMS KidsGiving Clothing Drive
The Clothesline for Arlington Kids
Donate through Friday, April 5th
It's spring cleaning time! Please bring your gently-used clothing items and shoes to the big orange box at door 1. KidsGiving is sponsoring a clothing drive from now until April 5th for Clothesline. Clothing for kids ages K-8th grade will be put to good use in our community. Thank you!
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DHMS School Slow Zone - Coming Spring 2024 | |
Click here for a downloadable copy of the School Slow Zone flyer. | |
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DHMS School Resource Room
The school’s resource room includes food, hygiene items, school supplies, and warm clothes. Offerings vary per month. Here are some of the items you can expect:
- Food: pasta, rice, canned goods, peanut butter, cereals, snacks
- Hygiene items: laundry detergent, soaps feminine hygiene products, toothpaste/brushes
- School supplies: binders, notebooks, pencils, backpacks, lunch boxes
- Warm clothes: jackets, sweatshirts, gloves, socks
The school social worker is also able to locate and order items by request. To make an appointment to visit the resource room, have items sent home with your student, or request items, contact Gabby Bomberg or (703)-946-9032.
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Online DHMS School Spirit Wear Store
The online DHMS Spirit Wear store is open all year round! You may order anytime and items will be shipped to your home address. Select from a wide variety of tees, hoodies, hate, shorts, jammie pants, bags, and accessories in adult, women, and youth sizes. A great way to show your school spirit, and the DHMS PTSA receives 5% of sales. Click below to place your order, and contact spiritwear@dhmsptsa.org with any questions.
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Donate Your Plastic Film Waste & Help DHMS Win a Trex Bench
We are 300lb short of a bench! Help us get over the finish line. The DHMS Green Team is striving to win a Trex bench for our school if we can collect 1000 pounds of plastic recycling material. Bring in your CLEAN, DRY plastic film waste like newspaper sleeves, plastic grocery bags, bubble wrap and all of those empty shipping envelopes. Just drop it in the plastic bins in the hallway near the front office and we'll do the rest. Please make sure all of the plastic is CLEAN, DRY and FREE of FOOD RESIDUE.
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New APS Committee on EdTech, Send Your Ideas
A new committee of the Advisory Council for Teaching and Learning (ACTL) on Education Technology (EdTech) was launched recently. The role of ACTL advisory committees is to channel the input of students, teachers and parents into the improvement of APS in their areas of responsibility. As the recent article in ARLnow describes, the EdTech Advisory Committee Chair, Chris Woolfe, presented a Progress Report to the recent APS School Board meeting and received feedback from the Board. The EdTech Advisory Committee will be making recommendations to the School Board at some point in the year, so if you have any concerns or recommendations for the Committee to consider, please reach out to one of the EdTech Committee members (and DHMS Rep to ACTL), Erik Johnson.
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Wakefield HS Plant Sale
The Formals for Five team are excited to announce our county-wide 2024 Formals For Five sales will be held during lunches and after school:
W&L: Mon & Tue, April 1-2, W&L Little Theatre,
Sign-Up to Volunteer Here!
Wakefield High School: Wed/Thu/Fri, April 3-5 , A-134
Sign-Up to Volunteer Here!
All items will be sold for $5 but no student will leave without something if needed.
We have an urgent need and are actively collecting donations now! Past year distributions have been successful so our supplies are low. Please see below for a number of ways you can help:
- Donate your formal dresses/gowns/tuxedos/accessories. Please ensure they are in good condition and are formal enough for prom (vs. cocktail or business attire). Consider whether they are age-appropriate as well; the average prom-goer won't gravitate to a "mother of the bride" look or your grandmother's shoes from 30+ years ago. We need men’s, women’s as well as gender neutral looks for students to wear.
- Donate clothing racks we can use during the sale (DM us to coordinate)
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Purchase dresses from our curated Formals for Five Dress Wish List
- Consider purchasing looks from local popular stores like Windsor or check out local thrift shops for some good finds to donate
- Donate funds that will be used to purchase additional dresses (Venmo @formals-for-five)
Donation Drop Locations:
* W-L, Yorktown, or Wakefield High Schools in the front office (during school hours only).
* 874 N Greenbrier Street
* 2433 Fort Scott Drive
* Congregation Etz Hayim, 2920 Arlington Blvd
Follow us to stay up to date with the latest or if you have any questions, please DM the Formals for Five team at our social media accounts or email us directly at vp@wakefieldvaptsa.org.
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Wakefield HS Plant Sale Fundraiser
The beautiful weather has us dreaming about our coming spring garden planting season. While you're ordering your county mulch drop off please consider ordering flowers and plants from your local high school PTSA!
The annual Wakefield HS Plant Sale is now accepting orders! Check out the catalog (https://wakefieldptsa.org/plantsale) and order between now and March 31st. Plan to pick up your plants and shop on-site on April 20th.
This is the Wakefield PTSA’s largest fundraiser of the year. Proceeds directly fund Wakefield students and teachers. Why go to Home Depot? Order now and come see us April 20 instead!
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Your Voice Matters @APS Survey
This week, APS launched the 2024 Your Voice Matters @APS Survey, and we want to hear from all our families and staff. View this short kickoff video about why hearing from each of you is so important. The results will be used to strengthen family engagement and improve outcomes for students across all schools.
The survey will be conducted during the day in classrooms for students and staff; families received an email with a personalized link from Panorama Education on Tue, Feb. 20.
For assistance with completing the survey, especially if the individual link to access the survey is not received, please email engage@apsva.us or call/text 571-200-2770.
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The DHMS PTSA Phoenix Post is a weekly newsletter that informs the DHMS community about DHMS, PTSA, and relevant APS and community news. Please send any newsletter submissions to newsletter@dhmsptsa.org by EOD Thursday for inclusion in the following Monday's Phoenix Post. | | | | |
