Get Your Scorpion Scoop - Week of 8/24-8/28!
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Principal’s Message
Good evening, Scorpion Community.
It was a great start to the 2026-2027 school year! Campus was all abuzz with so many exciting reunions between friends, Scorpions meeting new friendly faces, teachers getting to know their students, activities at lunch, and more! Thank you to our students and families for helping us launch what is sure to be a wonderful year ahead.
Our PTA Membership Drive and Family Giving Campaign is off to an absolutely incredible start! Scorpion Community, with your contribution, we can do amazing things for our students and community. School beautification, field trips for all students, classroom enrichment, teacher support - every bit counts. And don't forget company matching, if applicable! There are so many giving organization and corporations in our community. Please use the link below to get started with our PTA Membership and Family Giving 2026-2027 or drop off your cash or check donation at the front office.
http://paybee.io/@sjscorpions@36 Thank you for your support! Let's have an amazing school year, Scorpion families!
Switch days will officially begin this week on Tuesday. That means after your class periods go in a different order:
Period 1 Period 2 Access Period 6 Period 5 Lunch Period 4 Period 3
Bell schedules can be found on the inside page of the SJMS Planner, which every Scorpion received on Friday. Your student is expected to use their planner every day, for every class period. You can count on the planner as a place where homework, tasks, reminders, important dates, and more are noted.
Please remember that every student was given both the SJMS Behavior Matrix and the NUSD Middle School Handbook either on schedule pick up day or the first day of school. Our expectation is that families review these documents at home, sign the last page of the handbook, and students turn in the last page by Friday, 8/28. While all of our expectations are important to follow, each week we will highlight more specific ones that need extra attention based on what we are seeing on campus. So, as friendly reminders in this edition of the Scoop, please be sure your student does not bring any form of body spray on campus. In addition, gum, caffeinated beverages, and energy drinks are not tolerated. Students should power off their personal devices before stepping foot on campus, and should take them out and power them on until after they have fully exited campus.
Scorpion Families - we will be utilizing a new gradebook platform this school year, called JumpRope. All staff were trained before the start of school, and we are formalizing the invitation for families to join us on this new platform. Please stay tuned for more information and details as we initiate gradebooks, provide tutorials for students and families, and work together to monitor our students' progress. In the meantime, we are busy building community and getting your Scorpion settled in at school. You'll have a plethora of detailed information come Back to School Night.
Don't forget, Scorpions, that we have both 0-period and 7th-period options for your students! Your child can sign up for jazz band in the morning, or choir after school. For more information, please scroll to the bottom of the newsletter for more information and Google Forms to fill out, if interested. If you plan to partake in choir, class begins tomorrow, Monday, 8/23. Students who plan to participate in jazz band should be prepared to begin on Thursday, 8/27.
Thanks for all you do at home to support your Scorpion! We are teammates on this journey and we couldn't do it without one another. Get a good night's sleep and we'll see you tomorrow (and on time, Scorpions!).
In collaboration,
Mrs. Whitney McEachern, Principal
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August:
📌 8/25 - Picture Day
📌 9/7 - Labor Day, No School
📌 9/10 - Back to School Night (Regular Schedule)
📌 9/11 - Minimum Day, 12:44 PM Dismissal
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Welcome back to school! We hope it’s been a great few days for all the students and families. Hopefully you looked through the blue envelope your student was given when they received their schedule. In this envelope there are many important documents for you, there are dates for the entire year, picture forms (picture day is Tuesday), an art competition for School Fuel Reflections and many more.
The form you should check out right away is the pledge drive form. This is happening now and will end on September 11. You can still always join the PTA but for the added incentives you must complete the pledge drive form now, before it ends. We know many families have already pledged, so thank you! We are at $7K and hope to keep this momentum going! This will be a great year and we are so excited for the Block Party on 9/18 - you won’t want to miss it. There will be great activities and food trucks. And don’t forget the Auction in January! We also have new activities this year, we will have lunch on the lawn every month, an international dinner, and so much more for you to join in on. Let's make it a great year!!
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WOW! What a great first few days of school!
Thank you to all of the parents, students, and staff who have made me feel so welcome. This is going to be a great year!
I want to be sure students know that there are several ways to check in with an administrator or trusted adult while on campus, whether they need to report a safety concern, want to check in with a trusted adult, or share a concern about a peer.
Students can always speak with a teacher before or after class. They can ask a campus supervisor during Access or Lunch to connect them with an Administrator, or approach an administrator directly during those times to request a check-in. In about a week, students will be introduced to the Minga Hall Pass system, which will allow them to request passes to the front office. If an administrator is unavailable when a student comes to the front office, they can always fill out a statement sheet.
Sincerely,
Mr. Aaron Gildengorin
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Welcome to the Counselor’s Corner!
A warm welcome to our new Scorpions and a big welcome back to our returning families! It has been such a joy reacquainting with familiar faces and meeting new ones during these first few days of school. We are excited to kick off another wonderful year. As your counseling team, our top priorities are supporting your student’s overall social-emotional well-being, academic success, and high school, college, and career exploration.
Here is some key information as we navigate the first couple weeks of school:
Counselor Points of Contact:
Note: The best way for parents and guardians to reach us is via ParentSquare or email.
Schedule Change Requests
Starting Monday, August 24th, students may pick up a Schedule Change Request Form in the front office.
Wellness Hub:
We are delighted to welcome the return of our Wellness Hub for the third year! The Wellness Hub is closed the first couple of weeks of school and will have more information for you to follow! We aim to keep our Wellness Hub stocked for students to have access to a safe space on campus that is filled with snacks, mindful activities, arts and crafts, board games, etc. We welcome new or gently used donations, and we also update our Wellness Hub Amazon Wishlist regularly as our inventory runs low. If you wish to support wellness initiatives at SJMS, we have linked our wishlist here! Thank you for your consideration and partnership. We look forward to sharing more news and happenings with you soon! SJMS Wellness Hub Wishlist
Thank you!
Megan Kovacevich and Evan Englar, SJMS School Counselors
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As you've likely seen, we have sent out a couple of notifications about getting involved in athletics. Please tune in below for the most recent correspondence, and be sure to fill out the Google Form if your student is interested in participating in one of our fall offerings! Thank you to the parents/guardians who have reached out since Friday's message. We will be in touch with you ASAP!
Scorpions!
We are so excited to announce that Marin County has officially established middle school sports as an after-school sports league, creating a more organized and consistent structure for middle school athletics across the county. As the MMAL gets underway, the league will continue developing and implementing official policies, procedures, and rules of play for participating schools and student-athletes. We are excited about the opportunities this will provide for our students and look forward to being part of this new chapter for middle school athletics in Marin County.
In the most recent edition of the Scorpion Scoop, we sent out an athletics interest form. Thank you to the 40 families who have filled it out! In order to field teams, we need more student sign ups!
Please use the link below to express interest by Friday, 8/28:
Fall Athletics Interest Form
Thank you so much to our parents/guardians who have reached out and are supporting coaching for cross country country and flag football! We still need 6/7/8 girls' volleyball coach(es)!
If you are interested in volunteering or would like more information about the coaching opportunity, please contact Aaron Gildengorin and Whitney McEachern:
agildengorin@nusd.org and wmceachern@nusd.org.
In partnership,
Your SJMS Team
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The 2026-2027 NUSD Middle School Handbook was sent home with your Scorpion at either schedule pick up or the first day of school. The final page needs to be signed and return to SJMS by Friday, 8/28. Please keep the handbook in a safe place at home, and consistently review it, as well is the SJMS Behavior Matrix. Both consist of expectations that are reviewed regularly at school. We highly encourage you to discuss high expectations at home with your Scorpion. Thank you for partnering with us to ensure your student knows how to be #ScorpionStrong!
Middle School Handbook PDF:
SJMS Behavior Matrix:
 
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