Happy Sunday, Dolphins!  This is Kristen Faircloth, proud principal at Durant Road Middle School, with your March 20, 2022 Family Message.

We hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and enjoying the beautiful sunshine!  We made it to the last week before track-out!  This week, we will be finishing up Quarter 3.  It is amazing to think that we are already 75% of the way through the 2021-22 school year.  This is always an exciting time of year.  The weather begins to break, the days are longer, talk of registration for the upcoming school year takes place, and students begin to feel very comfortable in school.  These are all great things.  We want to ensure our Dolphins are set up for success and will continue to have conversations around expectations and finishing the year strong.  Thank you for your continued support with these conversations as June will be here before we know it!  

From the entire faculty and staff at DRMS, we wish you and your family a wonderful track-out.  Track-out is a perfect time to clean out bookbags and expose of trash and keep items at home that are no longer needed on a daily basis.  Teachers will be talking with students about items that can be left at home and items that are essential for daily use.  Very little should be carried back and forth to school and we need to do a better job of communicating what that is.

Please take a moment to review the brief updates below in the Family Message.  This will be the last Family Message until Sunday, April 17.  As always, don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or ways we can support you and your child.  

Important Dates:  Please make note of some important dates below.

• Friday, March 25 - End of Quarter 3
• Friday, March 25 - Last Day before Track-Out
• March 28 - April 15 - Student Track-Out
• Monday, April 18 - First Day Students Return from Track-Out
• Monday, April 18 - First Day of Quarter 4

Spirit Week:  It is hard to believe we only have 5 days left of Quarter 3!  The week of March 21st will be Spirit Week at DRMS.  

• March 21-Rock your Crocs Day
• March 22- Twin Tuesday
• March 23- Jersey Day Wednesday
• March 24- Comfy Cozy Thursday
• March 25- DRMS Gear Friday

Spring Athletics: Take a look at the schedule below to see which games / meets you can attend.  Spring athletic events will start by 4:00 pm.  

• Tuesday, March 22 - home soccer game vs. Wakefield Middle School
• Wednesday, March 23 - away track meet at Wakefield Middle School
• Thursday, March 24 - away softball game at Pine Hollow Middle School

Single Subject Acceleration (SSA):  The SSA test request window is from April 18, 2022 - May 3, 2022.  Students meeting qualifying criteria can take advanced academic content in select mathematics or English Language Arts courses through Single Subject Acceleration (SSA).  If you are interested in having your child tested to skip grade level content, please contact Ms. Dunbar at edunbar@wcpss.net for more information.  The WCPSS SSA website outlines the windows when test requests can be made and when testing will occur. All applications are due by March 25, 2022. 

DRMS PTA News:  The DRMS PTA is currently recruiting for the 2022-23 school year. As a small group of dedicated volunteers, we are always looking for people interested in supporting Durant Road Middle school students, staff, and the community. 

Please fill out the following form to let us know if you are interested in one of these board positions or committees.

DRMS Dolphin:  I am saddened to share that we have a DRMS student who has recently been diagnosed with brain cancer.  A DRMS parent is working to organize collecting gift cards for gas, food, and general spending needs as this family travels back and forth to Duke for treatment.  If you are interested in learning more about how you can help, you can reach out to Lara Smith, parent, at lara.lancin@gmail.com.    

Thank you for supporting DRMS,

Kristen J Faircloth

Principal