C.D. Owen Middle

OMS Spirit Week: December 11-15!

Good afternoon, BCS Staff, Families, and Community: As the school year continues, we are working hard to ensure all of our students have the resources they need- and you can help! Thanks to a partnership with Purposity, we have identified the most urgent student needs and uploaded them to the Purposity website - a program that allows our community to meet these needs with just a few clicks. 🖍Items include everything from new shoes to school supplies. What do you need to do? Simply sign up at https://www.purposity.com/organization/BuncombeSchools, follow our page, and meet a need with just a few clicks today. You can also download the Purposity App for your smartphone.

The Buncombe County Board of Education will meet in regular session on November 2, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. in the Minitorium at 175 Bingham Road, Asheville. **Public Comment will be accepted in person. Members of the public wishing to speak will need to come to Entrance “B”. Doors will open at 4:45 p.m. and speakers must arrive no later than 5:15 p.m. to complete entrance screening procedures and sign in to speak. All speakers will have precisely three minutes to speak and must adhere to guidelines set forth in BCS Policy #2310 – Public Participation, including all reasonable rules established by the Superintendent. **Following monthly Public Comments, the Board will hear public comments specifically related to the required board policies addressing the State’s Parents Bill of Rights statutes. These policies are linked in the meeting agenda. **https://www.buncombeschools.org/o/bcs/page/current-public-board-agenda Individuals wishing to speak during this time should sign up on the designated sheet before the meeting begins. These comments will adhere to the same public comment guidelines set forth in BCS Policy #2310. Additionally, parents may email comments to be shared with the Board of Education to communications@bcsemail.org Given the desire of BCS to provide the most information possible to the public, the public may view the live broadcast via YouTube on the BCS Communications Department YouTube Account at: YouTube.com/BuncombeSchools

Tim Karpenko, Ramona Wardwell and Madalynne Phillips are auditioning for the NC Middle School Honors Chorus Today! Good Luck!

The Buncombe County Schools Board of Education is committed to providing a safe, inviting, and civil educational environment for all students, employees, and other members of the school community. The Board expects all students, employees, volunteers, and visitors to behave in a manner consistent with that goal. The Board recognizes that bullying and harassing behavior creates an atmosphere of intimidation and fear, detracts from the safe environment necessary for student learning, and may lead to more serious misconduct or to violence. Accordingly, the Board prohibits all forms of bullying and harassing behavior, including encouragement of such behavior, by students, employees, volunteers, and visitors. Additional information on reporting and responding to bullying is available here>>> https://bit.ly/3YG6ib4

It's time for football here in the Valley!!! We are looking for more students to come out and play football this fall on our JV team. Our JV team is 7th-9th grade students at Owen Middle and Owen High. 7th and 8th graders at Owen Middle are eligible for JV football. Practice has already started and game time is here! If your 7th or 8th grader is interested in playing football, now is the time to make it happen! After some initial eligibility steps, athletes can quickly begin participating. No need to wait until school starts back. Now is the time. Please call the Owen Middle School front office (828-686-7739) starting tomorrow morning, Thursday, 8/17/23 for more information. We look forward to seeing more students out in the maroon and grey!

🎒🖍📓 This weekend, the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office School Resource Officers and BCS staff members will be collecting school supplies at the Walmart on Hendersonville Rd. (1636 Hendersonville Rd.). The hours are: Saturday, August 19- 10 am to 8 pm & Sunday, August 20- 10 am to 2:30 pm. Examples of school items are as follows but not limited to: -Book bags—lunchboxes—pencil boxes -Binders—papers—art supplies (crayons/colored pencils) - Pencils—pens—markers—highlighters - Tissues—hand sanitizer—cleaning wipes -Water bottles—dry erase markers—plug in ear- buds—other school related items -Printer paper We hope to see you there as we work together to help ALL students have a great start to the school year!

23-24 OMS Volleyball Tryouts will be held Monday, 8/14 and 8/15 from 10am--12pm . All athletes participating must have a current physical on file and register on Family ID.

Welcome to the OMS team, Ms. Craig! Here is an introduction from our new 6th Grade English Teacher and Cheer Coach: "Hi, everyone! I'm Miss Craig, but will be Mrs. Allen by the time school starts! I will be teaching 6th-grade English and coaching the cheerleading squad. This will be my second year teaching, but my first year teaching middle school. Some fun facts about me are that I am a dog mom to my sweet golden retriever, Lina, I love to travel, I could probably eat pasta every day for the rest of my life, and I might have an unhealthy obsession with strawberry vanilla Olipop. I can't wait to meet everyone and be a part of the Valley culture. Go Warcolts!"

Attention, BCS Staff: We hope you are having a wonderful summer. Don't forget to check our Employee Values page regularly for local special discounts just for educators. . . . https://www.buncombeschools.org/o/bcs/page/employee-values

Welcome to the team Dr. Coleman Bailey! Dr. Bailey is joining us after spending the last two years at Owen High. Everyone welcomes Dr. Bailey to the OMS Team! Here are a few of Dr. Bailey's career accomplishments: This is Dr. Bailey's 32nd year as a public school educator. He started as an Assistant Principal at Charles D. Owen High School in 2020. There, he served as the freshmen transition coordinator in the Link Crew Program as well as performing other administrative duties. He spent 29 years in the science classroom before he finally decided to join administration. In 2020, prior to his current position, he created and ran Avery County Virtual Academy as the Director of Alternative and Virtual Education. He taught for 9 years in Avery County, 10 years in Pitt County, and 10 years in Martin County. He is currently the Director of the Western Regional Science and Engineering Fair at Appalachian State University and serves on two state boards for STEM education. In 2020, he was the North Carolina 9-16 STEM Educator of the Year.

🌞 Our Summer Meals Program is in full swing! All children in our community are welcome to stop by one of the sites pictured below for a healthy meal! . . . . #community #summermeals #summer #summer2023 #bcs

☑️Vote for the Buncombe County Schools Foundation to win one of 12 grants being awarded by The Community Betterment Foundation in honor of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce's 125th Anniversary! Through July 31, you can support Buncombe County Schools Foundation in its mission to build a strong and dynamic foundation for Buncombe County Schools students and educators. Please vote for the Foundation once a day to win one of twelve $10,000 grants in partnership with the Asheville Chamber of Commerce. There is strength in numbers; together, we are more through this powerful collaboration- “Building Community Through Business.” Vote once a day to support BCS students, educators, and faculty. Follow this link: https://woobox.com/hsn3i5 Learn more: https://www.ashevillechamber.org/.../celebrating-125-years/

Breakfast and lunch will be provided at no cost to all students next school year! We are pleased to inform you that Buncombe County Schools will be implementing a program available to schools participating in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Programs called the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). We will also implement Universal Meals at Nesbitt Discovery Academy (NDA). What does this mean for you and your child(ren)? Great news! All enrolled students at Buncombe County Schools are eligible to receive a healthy breakfast and lunch at school at no cost to your household each day of the school year. Parents (except those with students at NDA), there are no action steps for you to take at this time to participate in this program. We look forward to serving your students beginning August 28, 2023. NDA parents will receive separate instructions regarding Universal Meals. If you have any questions about this letter, please contact us at Buncombe Schools Nutrition Office, 828 255-5932.

We will be hosting our End of Year Celebrations this week! 6th Grade–Thursday, June 8, from 8:30-9:30 7th Grade-Thursday, June 8, from 10:00-11:00 We will be celebrating the following accomplishments in each grade level: A or A/B Honor Roll, Perfect Attendance and Team Selected Awards! All families are welcome to attend any ceremony, but some families received specific invitations if your student earned an award. 8th Grade Celebration-Friday, June 9, from 11:30-12:30 To clarify–the 8th-grade celebration on 6/9 at 11:30 will serve as both an awards ceremony and a promotion ceremony. All 8th-graders will be recognized for their time at Owen Middle. The last day of school will be Friday, June 9. This is an early dismissal day. Please plan accordingly.

Get ready for 2023--2024 OMS Athletics! Students who wish to participate in any sports next year are encouraged to participate in this event. Your sports physical will be valid for the entire 2023-2024 school year! Students will be transported to Owen High by buses and may be picked up there. Cost $15. Cash or check. All checks payable to Owen Middle School.

Rising 6th Graders Parent Night

On March 10, OMS administration joined representatives from Pardee Hospital, Buncombe County Schools, Buncombe County Commissioners, and other surrounding county commissioners to celebrate Athletic Trainer Appreciation Day. The Owen District Athletic Trainers, Shanda Bradley and Crystal Shirk, provide incredible treatment for our student athletes and we couldn’t be more proud to have them as part of our community! Thank you Shanda and Crystal and ALL Athletic Trainers!

The theme for National School Social Work Week 2023 is “We Rise.” School Social Workers rise up - supporting their students, families, and school communities. School Social Workers rise to share hope. They rise to listen and understand. They rise to challenge inequities. They rise to support all students. Happy School Social Work Week!!! Thank you Ms. Phillips for all the work you do with our students and community! We appreciate you!"

Buncombe County Schools is hosting an Educator Career Fair on Saturday, March 4, 2023, from 9 am - 12 pm. Location: 175 Bingham Road - Asheville, NC - Use entrance B. We are hiring Elementary, Intermediate, Middle, and High School Teachers for the 2023-24 school year and we want to meet you! Register at https://bit.ly/BCScareers. We look forward to seeing you soon!