Greetings Frelinghuysen Middle School Community,
It was very inspiring to see our students and teachers engage so thoughtfully in last week’s “Week of Respect” events at FMS. Students and staff signed a pledge to respect, took House pictures in the shape of a peace sign, and participated in a door-decorating contest around the theme of “Respect”.
On Thursday, Superintendent Pendergrast shared a communication with MSD families regarding disconcerting social media interactions occurring throughout the nation, and in our very own community. As he stated, “Many of our students are inappropriately interacting with unknown people on social media who are reaching out to them through Instagram and other platforms, including this last incident. It is important to note that this exacerbates the problem significantly and is dangerous to your child and others, especially if your child is giving out personal or geographical information, which, in fact, occurred in this last incident and other incidents.” Unfortunately many of the students referred to in the Superintendent’s email are from our school, and as Principal, I want to share that we are making plans to enhance student education regarding safe and appropriate use of digital technology. I urge you as well to make a point of speaking with your child about responsible use of their devices and to monitor their lives on social media. Here are two very valuable videos from Common Sense Media to help you educate your child about appropriate use of digital technology and social media. Please take the time to watch and discuss them with your child: 5 Social Media Musts for Teens; 3 Teen Trends in Social Media. I appreciate in advance your partnership in addressing this issue with our children.
A couple of final thoughts:
- Less than 50% of our families have activated their Parent Portal account. So please take 5 minutes now to activate your Parent Portal account. It is important to know that starting in marking period 2, progress reports will only be accessible through the Parent Portal.
- Finally, check out our new weekly grade-level vocabulary list! Each week students will be responsible for learning three high-frequency academic vocabulary words. I encourage you to take some time to review these words of the week with your child.
Thank you for the partnership and have a fantastic week!
Mr. Uglialoro