Hello Dolphins!  This is Kristen Faircloth, principal at Durant Road Middle School, with your May 3, 2020 Family Message.

I hope your families had a restful and productive weekend.  Week 3 of DRMS Virtual Learning continued to see students actively engaged in their classes.  As a school, we continue to make adjustments based on student, staff, and family feedback.  Thanks for your continued support and honest feedback since we’ve shifted to virtual learning.  Please continue to stay in close contact with your child's teachers as well as checking the DRMS website to stay connected and informed.  We wish you a wonderful week and please reach-out with any questions or concerns you may have.  

Staff Appreciation Week!!:  We hope you'll virtually celebrate our amazing DRMS staff during Staff Appreciation Week!   We want to show our appreciation to all our hard working DRMS staff this week.  They are so amazing and do such a great job for us all.  Please encourage or help your student to do the following activities to show their support and appreciation:

Building Access:  As we move into these final weeks of remote learning, we will offer two days for Durant Road Middle School to be open for students to retrieve/return items.  

Saturday, May 9, 2020, will be a dedicated day for students to come in the building and empty out their lockers, including PE lockers.  Please note, Saturday, May 9th will be designated for students to pick-up personal items from the school.  A different day has been designated for students to return school-owned items.  Once students have cleaned out their lockers on the hallway, they will leave their lock (unlocked) on their locker.  Also, a cart will be posted at the end of each grade-level hallway for students to lay any books they no longer need (library books, EL books, etc.)  During this time, students will have an opportunity to pick-up their personal band instruments and/or medications.  We will be following social distancing guidelines, only allowing so many families in the hallway at a time.   

Saturday, June 6, 2020, will be another dedicated day for families to come in the building and return WCPSS-owned items (i.e. band instruments, athletic uniforms, library books, EL books, etc.)  If our yearbooks arrive by the June 6th date, they will be available to pick-up as well.

To help us follow social distancing guidelines, we are asking only students and one parent or guardian to accompany.  We encourage anyone entering the building to wear face coverings and gloves.  Thank you for your understanding as we attempt to promote the safest environment for all.

Schedule for May 9 and June 6, 2020

1 PM - 2 PM Students whose last name begins A-M

2 PM - 3 PM Students whose last name begins N-Z

If you have any questions or concerns regarding either of these dates, please reach out to your child’s grade-level administrator.

6th Grade - Destinie Hartman (dhartman@wcpss.net)

7th Grade - Jeff Kleiber (jkleiber@wcpss.net)

8th Grade - Dawn Edwards (dedwards@wcpss.net)

Sixth Grade Sync-Up!:  We are so excited to announce a new Friday Google Meet opportunity for 6th graders called, Sixth Grade Sync-Up!  This is an optional activity for students to “sync-up” with their 6th Grade Administrator and School Counselor each Friday for 25 minutes.  The purpose of this meeting is to support students’ Social and Emotional learning skills during this time away from school. We think this will be a fun way for students to connect with us and each other, as well as provide students with an opportunity to express thoughts and feelings about the new remote learning style.  We will use a structured, discussion-based platform focused on building Self-Awareness and Social Awareness. Please share this exciting news with your student! Our first sync-up will be Friday, May 8, 2020.

Friday Book Club:  The media center is silent and public libraries are closed, but students are still reading!  The DRMS Learning Commons has created a virtual classroom space for students to talk about books, favorite characters, and challenges to reading right now.  Currently, students are participating in a musical bingo reading challenge, sharing book recommendations, and meeting virtually for a regional book club.  Any student wanting to join should email Ms. Aldridge (laldridge@wcpss.net) to be added to the Google classroom.  All Dolphins have access to digital materials through many sources including public libraries and NCWiseOwl.  Directions for navigating to these ebooks and audiobooks along with other ideas to support readers can be found on the Learning Commons website and Youtube channel.

Friday Art Club:  Hi Creative Dolphins!  Art is doing an optional art making hangout each week that is an open invite. If you want to join, email Ms. Mercer (cmercer@wcpss.net) to receive the google meet information.  Students have had the opportunity to make really fun condiment paintings in the style of brazilian artist Vik Munoz! 

NC4Sports Campaign:  What do sports mean to you?  To us they mean everything.  Sports teach us about life, love, heartbreak, happiness, pain, and grief.  They teach us how to be a part of a team.  They teach us to give everything we have until the very end. And most importantly – Sports bring our communities together.

Sports are needed now more than ever.  We know they will return.  But when?  Sports have been a part of our business here at Johnson Lambe for the last 85 years. They have given us the opportunity to build so many great relationships across the state and provide the best customer service and experience that we can.

Just like you, we can’t wait until sports return, not only around the world, but especially here in North Carolina.  And we know when they do our schools will need help.

For that reason, us here at Johnson Lambe have created this campaign - #NC4Sports.

Each year our schools rely on sponsorships and donations from local businesses, families, and the community to fund their athletic department.  This year we know that money might not be there as we all deal with the fallout of this global pandemic.

For each bundle sold, Johnson Lambe will give back half of the money spent to the school of your choosing.  Whether it be the school you went to growing up, the school your kids or grandkids go to, the school you love to go watch on Friday nights, or your crosstown rival who you know needs a little help. All you have to do is enter the full name of the school you want to support in the specified line at the end of your order. 

To make things even better, the school who raises the most money for their athletic department in each classification (4A, 3A, 2A, 1A and Middle School) will win a bonus credit with Johnson Lambe.

Orders will be accepted through May 31^st with totals being tallied Monday, June 1^st.  For any questions please reach out to sales@johnsonlambe.net

 Link to site: https://nc4sports.itemorder.com/

Thank you for your support as we all get through this together.

Food Service for Students

May 1 is School Lunch Hero Day and we are grateful for our Child Nutrition and Transportation staff who continue to provide free food every weekday at 46 different food distribution locations throughout the county.

• New distribution sites open Monday at the following school locations: Lake Myra Elementary, Wakelon Elementary, Banks Road Elementary, Holly Springs Elementary, Lynn Road Elementary and Willow Springs High.
• We’re also adding new Big Bus Food Truck routes and some new community partner food distribution locations. Please check wcpss.net/food for all of our food distribution sites, dates, times and updated information.
• For Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) Card updates please check the DHHS website. A free and reduced lunch price application is needed to qualify for P-EBT benefits.

Thank you for supporting DRMS,

Kristen Faircloth

Principal