Highlights from the Weekly School Messenger Call for the Week of December 11th

Here are the Highlights from the Weekly School Messenger Call for the Week of December 11th!

We hope that everyone had a great Most Wonderful Week of the Year last week! Thank you to NHS for all of their hard work! Let’s finish up the semester #MustangSTRONG!

PRISM and the Bands of JW Mitchell High School

If you missed out on PRISM this weekend by our Marching Mustangs and Bands of JW Mitchell High School, you missed out on some amazing performances! Congratulations to all of our students and directors!

Mustang Chorus Concert This Week!

Come out and see our Choir perform on the 15th at Trinity Presbyterian at 7PM!

Happy Holidays!

The Winter Holiday will begin on Saturday, December 17th and go until January 2nd. Students will return to school on Tuesday, January 3rd! On behalf of the Faculty, Staff, and Administration of JWMHS, I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hannukah, and Happy New Year! May you enjoy the spirit of the season and be able to spend time with family and friends.

Offices and School Closed During Winter Break

As a reminder, our school and offices will be closed and faculty and staff will not be reviewing email through the break. We will see you in January ready to start second semester!

Bell Schedule Changes in January

In January, our bell schedule will change. We will begin our day earlier at 8:21AM and still end the day at 2:52PM. This will make up the time from the hurricane days. Please make sure that you set your schedules accordingly.

Semester Exams This Week

Exams will be this week. Please review the exam schedule on our website for specific times.

  • Monday – 7th Period Exam
  • Tuesday – 1st and 4th Periods Exams
  • Wednesday – 2nd and 5th Periods Exams
  • Thursday – 3rd and 6th Periods Exams
  • Friday – Make Up Day with a Regular Bell Schedule

Annual Baby It’s Cold Outside Baby Clothing, Toys, Books, and Other Items Drive – Please donate now!

We are collecting baby clothing, toys, books, and other baby items for our Annual Baby It’s Cold Outside Drive. Please bring items to your RANCH/Homeroom teacher! With this donation, we will be able to help families during the holiday season. Thank you for your donation in advance.

Stang Gang T-Shirt Sales – Buy a Stang Gang T-Shirt and get a FREE Ticket to the Boys Basketball and Girls Basketball Games on December 13th and 14th!

If you purchase a Stang Gang T-Shirt during lunches and on Rycor for $10 you get an awesome shirt and you can also get a FREE ticket to the Boys Basketball and Girls Basketball games on December 13th and 14th by wearing this year’s White Stang Gang shirt! We have sizes on a first come, first serve basis!

Congratulations and Best Wishes!

Congratulation to our Winter Sports who have been doing nothing but winning! Great wins this past week by Girls Soccer over Wesley Chapel, Boys Varsity Soccer over Wiregrass, and Girls Basketball over Gulf!

Best wishes to all of our teams competing this week! Play with integrity and good sportsmanship! Go Mustangs!

Class of 2023 Cap & Gown and Diploma Ordering

Seniors, please complete the following form so that we can order your cap and gown and diploma! You will need to know your height so that we can order your gown appropriately. Make sure that you capitalize and punctuate your name correctly, with all of your names capitalized and periods after an initials. For example, my name on a diploma could read:

  • Jessica R. Schultz
  • Jessica Rachel Schultz
  • Jessica Schultz

Complete the form by clicking this link: https://jwmhs.pasco.k12.fl.us/mform/view.php?id=94971

Yearbooks and Mustang Legacy Bricks

A great holiday gift is a JWMHS Yearbook! Buy one today!

Another great holiday gift or Senior Graduation present is a Mustang Legacy Brick! Celebrate the traditions and legacy of JWMHS by purchasing a piece of history. All funds for purchasing a Mustang Legacy Brick will be used for campus improvements, classroom activities, and other school priorities. And, your name will be a permanent part of our campus!

https://jwmhs.pasco.k12.fl.us/mustang-legacy-bricks/

Trinity Cup – January 7th

Our Second Annual Trinity Cup will be held on Saturday, January 7th at JWMHS. It will feature all of our Winter Sports playing against River Ridge HS. We didn’t win the Trinity Cup last year, so let’s do it this year! More details to come! Let’s Beat the Knights at JWMHS!

Save the Date! – First Annual Freshmen/Sophomore Prom – January 28th 

We will hold our First Annual Freshmen/Sophomore Prom in January! This will be held in place of our Winter Ball and will be held on Saturday, January 28th! We hope that this will be a fun event for our underclassmen! Upperclassmen can attend, but, to mix it up a bit, will need to be guests of the underclassmen! We will be sending out more information in the coming weeks! Stayed tuned and get ready to dance under the Neon Lights!

The ASVAB for Juniors and Seniors

The ASVAB will be held on December 12th at 8:30AM. Juniors and Seniors who would like to take the ASVAB can sign up to test. See Mrs. Chamberlin for more information!

Parking and Second Semester

We know that many of you will turn 16 and receive cars from Santa. Please know that we currently have a waiting list for parking. In order to get on the waiting list, you must apply. Please go to our website for more information. Unless you have an assigned spot, you cannot park on campus.

Here are some links you will need to make your school year successful:

Reminders and Announcements

Parent Bill of Rights Acknowledgements in myStudent

If you have not logged into your Parent Portal of myStudent, we ask that you do so this week. There are consent forms that need to be completed as a result of the Parents Bill of Rights legislation. We would like to partner with you regarding making decisions for your child that are consistent with your wishes as a parent/guardian. Please help us do so by completing this important paperwork. Login here: Login to your Parent Portal and Complete the Forms Required for the New Year: https://pasco.focusschoolsoftware.com/focus/index.php?skipSSO

Changes can be made by following the directions that we are providing on our website (https://jwmhs.pasco.k12.fl.us/how-to-for-parents-and-students/). We would encourage you to review what you have already done if you have said no to anything as there have been changes made to further explain each of the items.

Student Parking

As students come to school each day, they should park in their assigned parking spot. If students do not have a parking spot, they cannot drive to school until they have a parking space. If a student does not have a spot, please apply on our website, but know that there are not many spots available. Please see Mrs. Baldwin for more information.

Bicycle Parking

If you ride a bike to school, please park them in the middle of campus near the RED Building outside of Room 528. There is an alcove there where you can do so safely. We encourage you to bring a bike lock so that you bike remains safe. Do NOT park or attach your bike to the fences. If you do, we will cut the locks and move them to the assigned parking area. (jwmhs bike parking.png)

Pick Up, Drop Off, and Parking Lots

Please remind your children that in the Red Car Loop that they should remain on the sidewalks and not walk through this active parking lot. Please help us by dropping off and picking up such that students are entering and exiting the car next to the sidewalk in the Red Car Loop only. We are having a problem with students being dropped off on Photonics Blvd. near the bus loop. This is causing traffic to back up and for busses to not be able to get into the bus loop. Please only drop off students in our Red Car Loop. We want to keep children safe and we are very concerned that a student is going to get hit so that people can save a few minutes each morning.

Included is a picture of the routes that you can use to enter the campus off of Little Road and Jaguar Trail (routes for entering campus.png). All of this information can also be found here: https://jwmhs.pasco.k12.fl.us/parking-driving-bicycles-and-fencing-at-jwmhs/

Gates and Arrival at School

The gates will remain open each day until 8:40AM. If a student arrives after 8:40AM, he or she must go to Student Services and check in there as the gates will close and should remain closed for security. Do not prop open gates or put items in gates so that the gates remain open. If you arrive to campus on time, you should not need to worry about having to use these gates. If you arrive late to campus, please do not ask someone to come and open the gate. Please follow our expectations and report to Student Services. Violations of these expectations will result in disciplinary action. Please arrive in your classes on time each day, as being on time is important now and in and the future.

Breakfast and Lunch and Outside Food

Breakfast is served each morning until 8:20AM when the warning bell will sound.

As a reminder, we are a closed campus and students CANNOT have food delivered to school via services such as Uber Eats, etc. Food from outside vendors such as Chick Fil A, etc. cannot be dropped off by parents and guardians. It is not allowed in our cafeteria. Violations of this will result in the confiscation of the food until the end of the school day. For the school and school district, if we are found in violation of this policy, we can lose our Federal funding for our School Lunch Program. Please follow our rules.

Loss of Privilege and Attendance

We want to remind students that you need to be in school. Unexcused absences count toward Loss of Privilege. And, as a reminder, RANCH is an attendance taking class.

Absence notes can be accepted until 72 hours after your return to school from an absence. You can deliver them in person or use the link on our website: https://jwmhs.pasco.k12.fl.us/mform/view.php?id=12087. We will not accept a note for an absence after the 72 hour period. For example, any absence after Tuesday of last week (October 4th) will no longer be accepted to excuse the absence.

Be in school every day and Loss of Privilege (LOP) will not be an issue for you in the future!

Leaving Campus Without Permission & Loss of Privilege

If students are found leaving campus and/or subsequently returning and they drive to school, the first time that this occurs the student will lose parking privileges for two weeks. After the second time, the student will lose parking privileges for the remainder of the semester. There will also be other consequences assigned. If a student does not drive, there will be different consequences assigned. And, as a reminder, if you are found opening gates to let people in, you can also be assigned discipline and lose privileges. Student-Athletes need to be aware that violations such as this can also have consequences assigned by your coaches.

Healthy Student Forms and the Clinic

We have previously sent home a Healthy Student Form. This will allow your child to receive Tylenol or Ibubrofin in the Clinic. Please make sure that you complete this form if you would like for the Clinic, School Nurse, and Clinic Assistant to help in these matters. Then, please return it to your RANCH teacher or Student Services.

Mustang Spirit

Would you like Mustang Spirit Gear? Here is the link to our online Mustang Spirit Store to purchase Mustang Gear: https://tinyurl.com/JWMHSSpiritStore

You will get free Mustang gear for donating to our Mustang Excellence Fund or to our Staff and Faculty Appreciation Fund. If you have already made this donation, we thank you in advance. These donations will help us throughout this school year as we recognize our Mustangs for their hard work and excellence! There is still time to make these donations and get your free Mustang gear! Here is the link to make a donation: https://www.studentquickpay.com/pasco/

Mustang Athletics

As a reminder, we will be enforcing our Event Security Policies (https://jwmhs.pasco.k12.fl.us/wp-content/uploads/jwmhs/2019/08/front.USE_.2.pdf) and want to remind you that only bags that are clear plastic, clear vinyl, clear Ziploc bags, small clutch-type purses no larger than 4 inches by 6 inches, diaper bags, and medically necessary items are permitted inside an event venue. No other bags of any kind are permitted except for properly credentialed school and professional photographer’s camera bags. Please go to our website to review these policies and procedures. If you travel to other schools and other school districts, they will also have policies and procedures that they will enforce. Please adhere to their directions and expectations and be a good representative of JW Mitchell High School!

Any student who wants to try out for a sport must complete all of the paperwork on www.AthleticClearance.com prior to tryouts. All of this information can be found on the Mitchell website under Athletics and then Forms. Athletic fees must be paid online one week after you are on the team. Please do not pay the athletic participation fees until you have made the team. If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Dixon via email at rdixon@pasco.k12.fl.us or at 727-774-9382.

Keeping Campus Clean

Any drink containers or food wrappers need to be disposed of in our commons area garbage cans and not classroom garbage cans or recycle bins. Keep our campus clean, including the cafeteria and patio areas. Please take pride in your school and keep it clean!

Around the RANCH Newsletter

There will not be an Around the Ranch Newsletter this week.

Please make sure that you are checking our website for a full transcript of the email that has gone out to Mustang Families are there are many reminders and announcements that do not get repeated every single week.

In the spirit of the holiday season, I hope that we can find a way each day to show kindness. Kindness can change everything. Let’s make the last few weeks a happy and joyous time in Mustang Nation.

Have a great evening and have a wonderful Winter Holiday!

Go Mustangs!

~ Ms. Schultz