Amherst Middle School
P.O. Box 966 - 14 Cross Road
Amherst, NH 03031
603.673.8944
fax 603.673.6774
School Year Office Hours: 7 am – 3:45 pm
Summer Office Hours: 8 am - 2 pm (after June 20)
Monday – Friday
School Day: 7:30 am – 2:04 pm
Email: ams@sprise.com
To change your student's contact information, please send an email to the above email link with the new information.
Principal
Porter Dodge
Assistant Principal
Deb Martel
COUNSELOR ASSIGNMENTS FOR 2007-2008 ARE:
GRADE 5
MR. KNAPP (Kidder, Hujsak, Palmegiano Team)
x7107
MRS. KIM (Estabrook, Gagne, Nedelman Team) x7106
MRS. TUMAS
(Maher, Steenhoek Team)
x7132
GRADE 6 MR. TOM KNAPP x 7107
GRADE 7 MRS. MAGGIE KIM x 7106
GRADE 8 MRS. DEBORAH TUMAS
x 7132
School Nurse
Susan Sarraf x7103 ssarraf@sprise.com
School Resource Officer Mike Knox x7139 mknox@sprise.com
AMS now has a notary public in the office.
Please see Millie Thibeault.
School District Calendar for 2007-08
Weaving loom available for loan -- click here
Physical Education Classes: What's required, click here.
FROM THE ADMINISTRATION
Student Appearance
Morning Drop-Off and Afternoon Pick-Up
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There is a potentially serious problem arising here at the Middle School that I want to bring to parents' attention. We are seeing more and more students bringing high-energy drinks to school, like Vault and Amp. I’m no expert on this, but I am convinced that any drink designed to give a “rush” has no place in an adolescent’s body, especially in school! Although they vary in the chemicals they contain, just triple the caffeine, five times the sugar, and a host of questionable ingredients should be scaring all of us. Recently, we have seen many students bringing in extras and giving them away, even selling them to others. We have dealt with them as we were made aware, but I fear that there may be liability issues for those providers if any student has an adverse reaction to the drinks. I ask for your support in keeping your children safe, and I encourage all of you to discourage your child from bringing these drinks to school in any form. ~ Porter Dodge, Principal
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Reminder to parents: Students may not remain in the building after 2:30 in the afternoon if they are not participating in an activity. They cannot be in the core of the building after 2:30 unless they are with a teacher or in an activity. Loitering, wandering the halls, going into classrooms is not permissible. Unless students are in a structured, school-supported activity, we cannot be responsible for them after 2:30 in the afternoon. [Click here to view all school rules in the Student Handbook]
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Phone Calls:
Students are able to call from any classroom in the building. If you have Caller ID, you may see "Town of Amherst" pop up on the ID screen. Since the student may call from anywhere, it does not necessarily mean they are calling from the office or from the nurse. Please ask your child to always leave you a message if calling from the classroom or the office, even if they can't reach you. This will make it easier for you to determine if there is an emergency or not. -
Early Dismissal: If your child needs to leave school early, or for an outside appointment, please send a note with your child to school so the dismissal process can work efficiently. Thank you.
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Late Bus: The late bus is a privilege to be used by students staying after school for activities such as intramural sports, interscholastic sports, yearbook, after-school help, etc. Students should have permission to stay after school from their parents and the supervisor of the activity. Students should not be leaving school grounds and returning to take the late bus. If you are staying for a club meeting, you need to have a signed bus pass to board the bus.
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Starting fall of 2007, students will not be allowed to wear flip
flops in the Life Skills classes. This is a safety issue in both
the Foods and the Sewing rooms. Thanks for your cooperation.
Bus
questions need to go to the bus company, First Student, at 672-3355,
including routes, and changes in routes.Please remember: School begins at 7:30 AM. Attendance is taken from 7:30 to 7:41. The homeroom bell rings at 7:41 for announcements and to go to first period. Students must be in homeroom by 7:41. Your child is late after 7:30, and must check in at the office before going to class. Students need a note or a phone call to the office in order to have an excused tardy. If no note or call comes in, the student has an unexcused tardy and will get a note home to be signed. Please try to send a note or make a phone call, even if it's only a couple of minutes or if you're stuck in traffic on Boston Post Road. Phone calls home are made when a student is marked absent from homeroom, and no note or phone call comes in to the office.
If you are dropping off between 7:15 and 7:30 am or picking your child up at school between 2 and 4 pm, please do not park your car in the drop-off lane and come into the school. You should park in one of the parking spaces in any of the parking lots. The drop-off lane is for active pick-up only. Also, please make sure you move forward if cars in front of you leave. Each car should be lined up end-to-end starting at the school entrance by the basketball courts. Thank you for your cooperation!
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Why Was I Sent To The Office?
(re-posted from AMS Newsletter) -
Application for a Guest Pass to a School Dance (Guest passes must be completed and given to the Assistant Principal by the Wednesday before the dance.)
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Notes to the office: Please print all notes to the office using first and last names of your child, and if for a bus note, what bus # he or she is going on, and with whom. Thank you.
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Please let the office at AMS know if any pertinent information about your family changes. We need to hear about changes in work numbers, home numbers, cell numbers, and email addresses. You may email any changes to us at ams@sprise.com.
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Students who are moving during or at the end of the school year: Please make sure to check with your guidance counselor to complete the withdrawal process.
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FYI: Parent emails get sent home on Thursdays. If you are receiving two or more emails, it is because each grade has its own mailing list, and on occasion, the emails are grade-specific with different information. Be sure to read each email as a separate email for all the latest information pertaining to your students.
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Parents Please Note! If school gets cancelled during the school day (that is, when the students are already in the building), an email will be sent from school to all of the email addresses that are on file in school. Please make sure to check your email a few times during a snowy day to see if the dismissal will occur (instead of calling the office several times). We will also post a notice here on the website. The buses will take the students home at the time designated in the email. Please make arrangements with your child ahead of time this winter, telling them what to do if you are not home when they get home, or where to go if you'd prefer that they do not go home. The students must have permission in writing here at school to go to someone else's house. If it involves a different bus or someone picking them up (other than a parent), then we will need something in writing (you may send an email to ams@sprise.com or send a note in with your child in the morning "just in case"). By talking about it ahead of time, some of the problems of an early dismissal can be avoided. By checking here, you can also avoid calling the school, and tying up our phone lines when we are trying to call out. Channel 9 (WMUR), Channel 5, and Channel 4 will also post all cancellations at all times. You can check that TV channel for up-to-date information. Please read the entire policy on cancellations here. (Also, if school is cancelled, activities & the afterschool program are cancelled also.) Thank you!
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Heelys, the sneakers with skate wheels tucked into the soles, are not permitted at AMS. The students may wear them as sneakers, but at no time may the wheels be popped out and used in the building.
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Students may not stay at AMS after 2:04 unless they are attending a supervised activity or study session. This is because they would be unsupervised, and we cannot be responsible for these students. Many students are staying at school in the afternoon and loitering in the building. Please have your students come home on the bus, or arrange to have them attend the afterschool program if you are worried about them being home alone.
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Students are not allowed in the AMS building after hours unless with a supervised school activity or studying in the library.
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Regarding absences from school: parents must call the office to report any absence or anticipated tardy (choose option "3" when calling the school). It is important to call before 8 AM, as phone calls home will be made shortly after that. Letting teachers and/or the nurse know is a good idea, but the office must know so that phone calls home are not made in error. Thank you.