we're going to get started in about one minute we just have some other families joining us thanks for being here okay good evening and welcome everyone welcome to our parent parent university tonight we're excited for you to be here
uh we're going to be talking about that transition of your fifth grade student to middle school it's such a big time in their lives and we're glad that you're here tonight to join us for our presentation we have a um a brief
presentation slide presentation that we're going to show you and then we're going to come back together for some question and answers so we are going to encourage you to use the Q&A feature and
type in your question and we're going to hold all the questions to the end and we will answer them on the end of the call so we are going to get started i wanted to let you know we are recording this session for those families that couldn't
attend tonight so that we will be able to share this with all of our families in the Martin County School District all right so we are going to jump right in welcome Good evening and welcome to our parent
university's bridging your child's path to middle school success i am Superintendent Michael Maine and we are so pleased to have you here tonight as we take this important step together in your child's educational journey middle school is a time of growth discovery and
new opportunities we understand that transitioning from elementary school can feel very overwhelming but I want to assure you that our schools are filled with dedicated educators caring staff and strong support systems designed to
ensure every student thrives in the Martin County School District we are committed to future readiness our middle schools provide not only academic excellence but also the social and emotional support your child needs to succeed from caring counselors and
experienced teachers to engaging extracurricular activities and academic enrichment we've built a community where students can grow confidently we also know that middle school can come with uncertainties you may have heard myths about this
transition and tonight our panel of experts is here to clear up those misconceptions they will share valuable insights into the resources available to your family and the systems that we have in place to help guide your child every step of the way your
participation and partnership are invaluable and as we move through parent university we invite you to gather information and feel empowered in supporting your child's journey together we will build a strong bridge to middle school success thank you once again for
being here and we are honored to walk alongside you and your family and we look forward to a bright future for your child in Martin County's middle schools now it is my pleasure to introduce the first person on your panel of experts who will share her insights and answer
your questions let's get started thank you Mera for that warm welcome this evening hello families my name is Danielle Farrell and I'm the coordinator of innovation and choice and the AVID district director for the
Martin County School District we are so happy that you're here tonight we will be going over and discussing our middle schools and giving you an overview of all that's offered within our middle school system here in
the Martin County School District we are also going to address your feedback based on a recent survey that you completed that was sent out from the Martin County School District and then we'll have a question and answer
opportunity for you if there were any questions that you still may have that were not answered in our presentation tonight thank you again for being here and we look forward to working with you tonight tonight our district team is
here to join you and communicating all the information you need to know about that bridge to middle school in addition to Mr maine we have our exceptional student education team here our team from innovation and choice our safety
and security team as well as our student services also you will see here each of our five middle schools represented with the principal indicated and a contact to them if you have more questions beyond tonight's presentation about the school
in which your student will be attending good evening families my name is Lana Baros and I am the director of innovation and choice for the Martin County School District i'm here to share with you information about specialty
pathways in our middle schools as students transition into middle school specialty pathways become more defined through intentional course offerings aligned to each school's unique focus these pathways provide
students with opportunities to explore their interests and begin shaping their educational journey the benefits of these pathways at the middle school level are significant they support early career exploration giving students a
glimpse into potential future careers and coursework helping them identify their passions they also increase student engagement and motivation connecting what students learn in the classroom to realworld applications
in all of our middle schools in Martin County in addition to the core content courses like math science English language arts and social studies our middle schools offer elective courses in physical education performing and visual
arts and in career and technical education there are unique variations in the offerings per school at Anderson Middle School some of the unique course opportunities include healthcare culinary information technology
marketing and avid leadership coursework while at HNOS the Cambridge International program is offered with career and technical courses in robotics and marketing at Indiantown Middle School hospitality and agricultural tourism
coursework is offered in addition to a robust STEM career exploration lab steuart Middle School offers career and technical education courses in engineering aerospace entrepreneurship
and marketing while Murray Middle School is known for their information technology coding robotics and agricultural coursework also Murray is now an international balorate or IB
candidate school our middle schools in Martin County School District truly have something for everyone in the Martin County School District we are proud to instill a college and career readiness system for all students through AVID which is an
acronym that stands for advancement via individual determination students are framed to receive what they need to be future ready we define future ready as obtaining rigorous academic preparedness students are supported to
complete the rigorous college and career preparatory curriculum and experiences in our middle schools we also have another category that we call opportunity knowledge this is where students have the opportunity to
research set goals make choices that support whatever their long-term aspirations are and allow them to successfully navigate into whatever their next level is lastly we have something that we call
student agency and this is where the Martin County School District believes that every student can be successful we can educate all students for success and we want students to believe in themselves and we want them to act intentionally on building relationships
with one another overcoming and persisting through obstacles act activating their academic their social that professional knowledge and skills that they need to reach their potential and set their future ready
goals another area that we want to talk about tonight is the academic support for incoming sixth graders to build their schedules so right now happening in elementary schools is that our middle schools are coming to visit our fifth
grade students and tell them all about middle school life and the courses that are offered at each of our different middle schools this transition meeting is helpful because they get to meet the principal and the assistant principal they get to meet the school counselor
and even the AVID site coordinator so we're happy to say that these are ongoing and will continue over the next month also when we think about that seven course day that a middle school student has our fifth grade students
will get support from their school counselors and their fifth grade teachers on what that sixth grade course offering schedule can look like for them that process is also happening and will continue over the next few weeks as well my name is Ruby Amston i'm an ESSE
coordinator uh in terms of transition schools are preparing to send out notices currently for transition meetings that will be scheduled for April and May this includes um meetings for students that are eligible for section 504 as well as students that are eligible for
exceptional student education and have an IEP or students receiving gifted services the purpose of these meetings is to discuss student progress and review data that may lead the team to make changes to individual plans based on their needs as they move on to middle
school there will be a team of people including representation for middle schools in order to assist in making the transition as seamless as possible since at this age students are learning to advocate for themselves and what they need they are encouraged to attend the
transition meeting with parents good evening families my name is Gmore Rosco coordinator of student services with a message about our school's culture here in the Martin County School District we emphasize and value a culture of excellence where we focus on our students being successful and ensure
that our students are reaching their fullest academic potential we work with our students and families when scheduling students into rigorous classes that are suited for them and also into elective classes that they are interested in taking our schools also have fun PBIS events throughout the year
with PBIS students are able to earn tickets from their teachers and other adults around campus when following school rules doing well academically or when displaying acts of kindness some of the events that happen at our schools are things such as field day drawings
for fun prizes free ice cream on specific days throughout the week or spin it to win it where students get random rewards after they get to spin a wheel but our school's culture goes beyond academics we also have clubs and sports at our middle schools like the Junior Honor the National Junior Honor
Society chess club running club debate club and that's only to name a few for sports we have cheerleading basketball soccer and volleyball when it comes to performing arts we have our band and chorus programs they have the opportunity to
participate in parades competitions and other community events throughout the year but at the end of the day we know this about our schools we have caring adults that come to work every single day to make sure our students feel safe welcome and valued thank you and have a
great evening hi my name is Frank Frangela i'm the chief of safety and security for the Mar County School District and today I'm just going to go over some of the things that we have in place at all our schools for safety and security of our students and our staff so the first thing we have
is crisis alert and crisis alert is a badging system that every single employee in the district has and if they see something they can press a button and that um that emergency signal will go to the all the sheriff's office um deputies
that are on duty also to dispatch and to the real-time crime center getting us the um support that we need very quickly we also have something called smart pass which is in-house in the schools and what that does is we can monitor where
kids are going outside of the classroom so if someone's going to a restroom if they have to go to an appointment somewhere else we can monitor who's going out of our classrooms and who they're with so this protects the student if there's something going on in regards to any kind of bullying or
something like that we can get ahead of it right before it starts um we also have a single point of entry which means that once school starts everybody needs to go to the front office before they can go in our schools and we also have a deputy at every one of our schools their
job is not only to do law enforcement uh response but also to get um with the children so this way they become better sponsors of what's happening in the schools and they tend to build a relationship with them
there's a lot of other things that we have as far as cameras monitor cameras all the time and plenty things that we can't go into but rest assured that we have things in place with the sheriff's office to make sure that we're keeping our community our students and our staff
safe thank you very much transportation and logistics for middle school our middle school day starts at 9:20 and ends at 4:05 p.m if your child will be riding the school bus please note that bus routes for next school
year will begin to be posted on our website martinschools.org on July 15th you are encouraged to check the website often at least once a week to ensure that you have the correct time and the pickup
stop for that bus route for your child the good news as mentioned earlier is that we do have a sixth grade orientation day this is going to be Friday August 8th 2025 your child will experience a bus pickup
at their scheduled time for regular school during the orientation day they will arrive home a few hours earlier around 1:00 from that same bus stop location this will be a great opportunity for them to get comfortable with riding the bus and knowing their
stops and their pickup times teacher communication will be important in middle school for both you and your child one tool that the Martin County School District uses is called Focus focus is an opportunity for
teachers to enter grades into a grade book and for your student to access and monitor their achievements you also can have access to the same portal through what's called a parent
portal in Focus if you haven't had an opportunity to set up your parent portal yet with the Martin County School District we encourage you to do so by visiting martinschools.org in our focus system
this is where we capture grades and attendance of all students one change as your child enters middle school is how they will be graded on their tests quizzes and daily activities your student will be
utilizing a scale of 100% each assignment will be graded with 100% being the maximum grade you will see that grades are made up of this grading template for middle
school test and major assignments 50% of the grade quizzes and other assignments 30% of the total grade and daily activities will consist of the other 20% of the total grade equaling
100% this is how grades are calculated your student will be able to monitor their grades using focus that they access through class link and you will also be able to monitor grades and
attendance through the focus parent portal so families now is the time to reflect on everything you've heard about the systems we have in place martin County schools provide everything needed to support your child's success but you
may be wondering "How do I apply for my child to attend a middle school that is not our zoned middle school?" Applying for a school you're not zoned for is an easy one two
three-step process step one parent logs in to the parent focus portal once you're logged in under your child's name in the menu you will see the application fall enrollment application
2025 when that application is open click that link to access the application please note while the March choice window applications are being processed the fall enrollment application will
need to be temporarily closed step two complete the application the demographic and contact information will be autopop populated from what was submitted in your students focus account beneath the demographic information is where you start answering
the questions if you're an employee of the Martin County School District you get priority in your first choice school and you will note that with your work ID this is also where you could communicate whether your child has an
IEP or not beneath there is the section where you get to choose and rank up to three schools in your preference order this application is available and open to all residents of
Florida finally step three submit the application it is as easy as one two three log into your focus parent portal complete the fall enrollment application 2025 and submit
middle school is just the beginning to an incredible journey once your child starts middle school with us in the Martin County School District they have the opportunity to continue into an academic pathway in one of our high
schools as listed here you play an important role in your child's success in middle school here are some ways to help your child succeed one attend back to school nights and parent teacher conferences stay
connected with your child's teachers and understand their progress visit the school and its website familiarize yourself with the school environment and keep up with important updates online support homework expectations encourage consistency with homework and
ensure your child has a quiet focused space to complete it send your child to school ready every day to learn make sure that they are prepared physically and mentally for each school day help by teaching your child organizational skills help them
develop time management and organizational habits that promote success teach study skills guide your child in effectively studying teaching them techniques to build their confidence and improve their academic performance
know the disciplinary and bullying policies understand the school's rules and support in your child in following those rules get involved participate in school activities or volunteer opportunities to show your support and stay
engaged take attendance seriously ensure that your child attends school regularly and on time to maintain that consistency for their learning and lastly talk about school with your child maintain that open communication about their experiences
their challenges and of course celebrate all their successes and achievements in school thank you that in that will wrap up our presentation so now what we want to do is open it up for questions and answers
so if you have any questions we have a panel here tonight to help guide and answer those we want to thank everybody that was able to participate in our survey that we sent out to our families we were able to take your feedback and
put together tonight's presentation so that we could address some of your questions so we hope that you feel that some of them have been answered for you and if not we would love to hear from your from you tonight about some questions that you'd like to have answered we have our middle school
principles with us tonight and we have our district team as well okay we have one comment so far I'm seeing in the chat about somebody would like to see the middle school slide from the beginning to see which school offers
what so I can easily go back to that and show you that again while I'm doing that we have a couple questions in the Q&A how long are the class periods would any of our principles like to jump in
and tell us how long a class period is in middle school hi good evening my name is Tiffany Roth and I am the principal at Murray Middle School our class minutes are 50 minutes for each class they have
seven periods a day with three minutes to transition between each class thank you we have another question that says "What do daily activities entail in
middle school?" any I think in terms of what um happens in classrooms if that's your question instruction should look as engaging in middle school as it has looked in elementary school kids should be working together collaboratively they should be
using technology if it's science class we would expect to see lab work if it's math class we would expect them to be using um materials or working through problems together on whiteboards um those are some examples um in terms of activities you
know beyond the classroom there are um afterchool clubs and sports and we also of course have band and chorus at all of our middle schools um I could go on for a really long time about all the different things that go on for our schools so if you'd like to know about something more specific please let me
know and I'll happily elaborate on that particular piece i see a little bit of a clarification question when we were talking about grades and there was daily activities that make up 20% of the grading what does that look like in a middle school
classroom in a teacher's grade book thank you for clearing that up so um that looks like so in elementary school daily activities are the things that students do when they work together in class and those are not typically graded although the teacher collects
information in elementary school about how students are progressing toward the standards at that time in middle and high school those daily activities are um assigned a grade once they are complete and turned in so it might look like and in very in most cases it is
something that's turned in or submitted but it also might look like the teacher circulating around the room with a rubric and a clipboard and assessing students informally on uh their participation with their peers on the
way that they're discussing a particular piece of the content um but basically it's your daily work that gets a grade and and um it it it counts for less in terms of percentage of overall grade
thank you Dr jones yep i have another question which preparatory event at the middle school itself is the most important to attend before the end of this year
so I am thinking that at the middle school our followup to tonight's event is our in-person events for our families and each of our middle schools are will be hosting an in-person event so that
would be very important to attend and I will uh put up that graphic that was the postcard that you received with all of those events showcased there i am not sure if there's anything else so I will open this up to see if there's any other preparatory events happening
at your middle schools in which we can inform families of other than those visits the preview the sixth grade preview nights i would agree that the sixth grade preview is important it's a lot like kindergarten orientation was when kiddos
started in elementary school there's a lot of people it's it's it's pretty hectic um tours are usually given at the schools and there's an opportunity to meet uh with sponsors of different clubs and things like that our school will be hosting a mixer for all of our incoming
sixth graders which will be kind of a social event so the kids can get to um know each other from the different schools sometimes there's a little bit of anxiet anxiety associated with you know I go to JD Parker and I won't know anybody from Felix or Jensen um but I
would say the most important event is the day before school starts in August all of our middle schoolers have the opportunity to come for half day so that they can find their first period class walk their schedule and learn their routes that in my opinion is is the most
critical um piece of the puzzle thank you if I could just add on um so one of the biggest differences for middle school is indeed that transition from elementary so if you're looking for tours or you have questions and you want
to meet school staff highly encourage the um end of the year preview as the sixth grade orientation that will happen right before school starts will only be for students okay we have a question about lockers and
backpacks would one of our principles like to talk about if students have daily lockers and what's the expectation of the backpack and carrying that during the day so I can speak at least for Hidden
Oakide hello everybody my name is Christopher Forte the current principal at Hidden Oaks Middle School um at Hidden Oaks Middle School we do not have any lockers throughout the school day um so students do walk around with their backpacks however the big consumable textbooks that most of the students use
for example in ELA are left within the classroom setting they will just walk around with small folders that are the sheets are ripped out from that textbook and placed inside the folder of what they will be working on um we also use a color-coded system with our AVID
organization uh based on our core classes so if it's an ELA sheet it would just go into their red folder for example um that way there's minimal or minimal items inside their backpack so it is not big for them to walk around the campus setting
thank you and I think that's across the all schools um there are no lockers so the backpack is carried with the child throughout the school day so thank you for that Mr forte we have another questions about
how do electives work would anyone like to talk about that perhaps we could um elaborate a little bit more on that question because we could are we talking about scheduling electives or how often the kids visit them during the day it might be helpful
to frame that out a little bit better okay that sounds good if um Melissa if you could follow up and tell us if you would like to talk about the scheduling or the daily visit or the changing of an elective during the the year how that
works here's a question if if we decide to go to a school outside of our zone because of an elective offered at another school how likely is our son or daughter to get that elective that he or she is coming for
i would say highly highly likely I mean yeah I I I it would be I mean I can't imagine a circumstance where unless it I mean I don't know I I can't speak for the other schools but at Steuart Middle School um it's it would
be pretty much guaranteed and then if the if the class wasn't working out for that student we would of course communicate with mom or dad to discuss um what challenges were present and we would go from there and I'll just piggy back off that i'm Lana Burrows director of innovation and choice um sometimes
electives in middle school are more about exploratory and awareness so they're not necessarily a program or a series of courses over the three-year middle school experience so by um
electing to go to a school of choice outside of your zoned area you won't necessarily have the opportunity your child might not have the opportunity to take the course or courses in that elective space for the full 3 years only because those elective courses are
normally um just exploratory so they have the opportunity to explore lots of different things but if they're going there specific for a course I'm pretty sure that the school guarantees they get that course in the year that it's offered thank you Mr forte there's a question for
Hidden Oaks and it says uh for Hidden Oaks are kids that have behavioral challenges put in separate classes can you speak to that for just a minute yeah thank you for that question so
placement of any student um is all driven off if they have an IEP and then it will kind of guide their decision there um if a student does not have an IEP or a 504 um then they are in with our uh regular education students just like any student coming from any other
middle school that is the same thing at all of our uh campuses their IEP if it's an ESC student that drives their schedule um and then the rest of our students are the regular education students that are placed appropriately thank you
what if we haven't received this information postcard well we uh generated our distribution list from our focus of fifth grade students that were in our system so if you are currently a
registered Martin County fifth grade student then we would have sent you the postcard um we can also Britney if you want to give me some more information um I could maybe give you some more insight
as to why you haven't received the postcard could we also get a complete list of electives at all of the middle schools some have them online and others don't have access great question
i can speak about the career and technical education electives so we do have a course progression document that I can share here in the chat for you to access so that would give you um ability
to see the courses that we plan to offer but just as any type of um teaching assignment our teachers have to be certified so sometimes we have to make quick changes on what is offered so those are subject to change but for the most part the CTE courses that get
offered are um going to be offered next year and then for the site specific electives I think each one of the sites will be sharing those or have those linked out for you um closer to their uh preview night
at Steuart Middle School we have um a list of our electives and our course pathways on our school website if anybody would like to look at those oops sorry so while Lana was speaking I just put up the slide again for the specialty
pathways at each of the middle schools so this is the second slide because we had two slides for that so hopefully you were able to capture that information for the parent that requested for us to put it back up
okay are the age groups kept separate meaning the 11 year olds aren't mixed in 13 and 14 year olds in 8th grade so how are we separating
that students when it come when it comes to most of your core classes um your core classes will be separated by age group or ability level um the only one thing there might be the anomaly where a sixth grader might come in in algebra um and then they could potentially be in
with seventh and eighth graders otherwise if some of your sixth graders come in in that accelerated seventh grade advance class we try to keep that sixth grade group together um the rest of the core they are grouped by their age group but when it comes to electives um for example PE there could be one PE
teacher that has sixth grade another that has seventh or eighth so they might be mixed in with the same area but the generalization of their classes um their main four core um are separated by grade level um at least at my campus when they
transfer from or when they walk from one class to the other they will walk by um other grade groups as well it is just not sixth grade in isolation yeah and just to add on to Mr fortes I believe almost all of us if not all of
us um they do have lunches to themselves so sixth grade has their own lunch um but same thing within passing um arrival dismissal just as it is in elementary where you've got your your four and five year olds um with those 10 and 11 year
olds it's similar um in in other aspects of campus at Steuart Middle School the um sorry the the sixth graders are in building 30 which is removed pretty much completely from seventh and eighth the only time
students will interact from sixth grade with upper grade students is like Mr forte shared they might be um in in a in a unique situation find themselves in a class with sixth graders might find themselves in a seventh grade class with algebra students so they might have to
walk over to building 102 which is the complete opposite side of campus and then even then seventh grade is on the first floor and eighth grade is on the seventh we do try to keep sixth and eighth separated as much as possible um just because the height difference worries our sixth graders that that is
really the biggest issue we have a question i just want to revisit this question do the kiddos have to do the orientation day on the ETH no it is it's not mandatory however um it is really good for the students to
experience the campus with the other sixth grade students so if possible I would try everything in your ability to get that scholar to your campus um so that they can meet other classmates they can get comfortable um and they can be ready to go on that first Monday of
school because they will also be getting their schedule as well um however it is not mandatory just highly recommended thank you Lana for putting that resource in the chat for us about the specialty
pathways um when do the students choose their electives so schools should be receiving um course schedules soon um it'll look a little bit different if you're choicing um and that schedule will be essentially built
once your application has been submitted and then approved um but for your home schools or the school that you're zoned for you should be receiving course selection soon um with all of the electives and then um different requirements or if there's anything that
goes along with those courses thank you it's happening soon so we have one more uh do I understand correctly that parents cannot attend the half day the day before school starts to walk students to classes i cannot make it to the parent
night so this would be an option you are correct in stating that that that is only for students um as Dr jones uh and Principal Roth said earlier um a lot of our campuses or all of our campuses do tours um so if you are unable to make it to that parent night
um here in the spring I would advise you reach out to your specific middle school um and schedule a tour with a school counselor or one of the assistant principles or principles is Murray Middle School the only middle school offering music and theater
no ma'am i can tell you I know at Hidden Oaks we have music as well as theater same at Stewart same at Anderson Middle School and IMS as well right we we offer band
um and we do after school um clubs with music but during as a an elective we do not okay thank you yes we will be having this recording uh downloaded and shared on our Martin
County Facebook page for later viewing and so it will be available along with the slides so all this information will be shared with our community of families on Facebook were there any other
questions i know I have some friends here monitoring the chat how'd we do we did pretty good right i think we addressed everything i think there's there's only one final question yeah regarding the mail out and the dates of the events okay and that
brings us to our last slide perfect all right i am going to display that now so here is if you did not get the postcard here is all of the dates for all of our middle school events that are
happening our first one will be happening this week at Murray Middle School Thursday April 3rd at 6 o'clock followed by three that happened the week um starting with April 15th will be
Hidden Oaks april 16th will be Indian Town and Anderson Middle and then on the 30th will be Stewart Middle School so these are in-person events that you are invited to
to come and visit the schools hear from the schools and all that they have to offer our students please come with your student it's for families and students alike okay I think we we got all the
questions okay last chance for any questions before we conclude tonight's parent university is the parent tour in the morning still happening was anybody having a parent tour what school would that Go ahead is that you go ahead yeah
that could that could be in reference i've been doing tours every Tuesday um from 8:45 to 9:25 through the month of April in a couple weeks here in spring if you are for Hidden Oaks Middle School um we are still doing them so you can reach out to myself or my secretary Miss
Mottz and we can get you scheduled in the information thank you well families we hope you're as excited as we are for your son or daughter's bridge to middle school uh we welcome you with open arms and we know
that you will have a fabulous education here in our school district in our middle schools and beyond so we wish you the very best night thank you for your time tonight and know that we are always here to answer your questions thanks for
being here thanks for joining us thank you principles and district staff for taking your time tonight as well we appreciate you all thank you take care everyone good night bye