 School Contacts
Principal: Mr. David Muench
Assistant Principal: Mr.
Jay Johnson
About Our School
Independence Middle School houses 781 students in grades 7 and 8. We are committed to providing opportunities for all students to grow intellectually, physically and socially. Developmentally responsive activities and community experiences are combined to meet the diverse needs of our learners. To that end, IMS utilizes a team approach that fosters a smaller school within a school concept, allowing students to be nurtured by caring and supportive adults who work closely with families to ensure success in these transitional years.
The curriculum is challenging, integrated and exploratory in nature, while meeting the high expectations of state and national standards.
IMS is proud of its two National Blue Ribbons of Excellence, which reflect the outstanding staff and their dedication to children.
Latest
NEWS
• New Student
Registration Scheduled for August 12--If
you are transferring to IMS in the fall from a
private or parochial school or are a new Bethel
Park resident, please register on
Wednesday, August 12 at 9 AM.
Registration packets are currently available for
pickup in advance of the registration day.
Please call 412-854-8677 for more information.
Neil Armstrong students do NOT
have to register. This registration day is
for new Bethel Park School District students
only. We hope you will take the time to
register in advance so we can get everyone
scheduled before the 2009-2010 school year
begins. Thank you for your help!
• Fall Sports
Information--Please
click
here
to learn more about when Fall Sports Practice
will begin for IMS athletes.
•
IMS Students Go "Home Again"--Independence
Middle School students are engaged in an exciting new service learning
project called "Home Again." Participants in the project
recently repaired and refurbished the home of a family in the community.
Please click
here
to learn more. To see the story that ran on the Channel 4 News, click
here.
• Parents Can Monitor
Their Child's Cafeteria Purchases via
PayForIt.net--Beginning
February 16, all Bethel Park cafeterias will be
using the QSP point of sale system, replacing
the previous SNAP system. With this new
system, parents will able to log on to
www.payforit.net
to see what your child is eating, how much
money is in your account and to set up email
reminders to let you know when your account is
running low. For more information, please
go to the
BPSD Food Services
web page.
•
FREE/REDUCED
BREAKFAST AND LUNCH UPDATE--The
Bethel Park School District participates in the
National School Lunch Program. Please be
aware that Free/Reduced Meals are available to
those who qualify. Applications for the
2009-2010 school year are available by clicking
here. Please be advised that even
if your student(s) qualified for Free/Reduced
meals in 2008-2009, you MUST reapply for the
2009-2010 school year. If you have
questions, please call Dana Walker at
412-854-8426.
• Donate Your Used
Consumer Electronics and Help IMS and the
Environment--The
IMS World Savers is participating in a recycling
fundraiser. Please protect the environment
by donating you used cellular phones, ink jet
cartridges, DVD movies/video games, portable DVD
players, laptop/notebook computers, MP3 players,
video game consoles, digital cameras, digital
picture frames and portable navigation and GPS
devices. Your used items may be tax
deductible and will be recycled in accordance
with EPA regulations or refurbished and resold.
100% of the proceeds will help fund the Home
Again Program. Please drop your items off
at the IMS office.
• District to
use ALERTNOW Notification Service as an
additional communication tool between the school
district and parents--Keeping
parents informed is a top priority of the Bethel
Park School District, and we will be using the
ALERTNOW Notification Service to send telephone
and/or email messages to parents and/or
employees to notify them of things such as
school delays or cancellations due to inclement
weather. With ALERTNOW, you won't have to
watch television to wait for Bethel Park's
status to scroll onto the screen. Parents
will be notified by phone when the district
makes the decision to close or delay.
ALERTNOW can also be used to remind parents of
upcoming events at school. But most
importantly, in an emergency, ALERTNOW has the
capability to launch 12,000 phone calls a
minute, so parents don't have to rely on Phone
Chains to get emergency information. In an
emergency, ALERTNOW has the capability to call
up to three phone numbers per student.
ALERTNOW also has the capability to send out
email messages to one email
address per student, but we will not test the email system until the fall. Please click
here
to learn more about ALERTNOW. We hope you will agree that ALERTNOW is
another way the district can keep parents up to date.
•
IMS Earns Keystone Achievement Award! For the fourth
consecutive year, Independence Middle School
has been awarded the Keystone Achievement
Award by the Pennsylvania Department of
Education for making Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP) on the PSSA Exams for two
consecutive years. This year's award
is for PSSA Scores in 2006-2007 and
2007-2008. Congratulations to our
seventh and eighth graders and their
teachers for their outstanding work on these
tests and keep up the good work! To
see the district's PSSA scores for
2007-2008, please click
here.
•
Edline Now Available for Independence
Parents—Parents
whose children attend Independence
Middle School now have electronic access
to their child’s academic progress
through Edline. In September all
parents received an Edline Activation
Code via U.S. Mail. Parents are
encouraged to go to
www.edline.net and activate their
child’s account. The website will guide
you through the process. Once an
account is activated, parents can see
their child’s interim grades posted for
the 2nd, 4th, 6th
and 8th weeks of each quarter
for assignments, tests and quizzes, as
well as attendance and final report card
grades. Parents who have difficulty
accessing Edline can contact
Cindy
Stalder (412-854-8677) or
Ann Ball
(412-854-8678). We encourage all
parents to stay up to date with their
child’s progress via Edline. Parents
who do not have access to the Internet
can do so at the Bethel Park Library.
Librarians are available to assist.
• Did you
know that many textbooks used at IMS can now be
accessed on-line?
Click
here
to see how!
• Visitor Sign-In Procedures Revised for
ALL Bethel Park Schools--The following sign-in
procedures have been adopted for ALL
visitors to Bethel Park schools. We
appreciate your cooperation as we continue
to provide a safe environment for our
students and staff.
-
ALL
visitors to Bethel Park schools will
report directly to the main office upon
entry into the building.
-
Visitors will log-in their name, date,
time and reason for visit on a
standardized log-in sheet in each school
office.
-
The building secretary will verify the
information is complete and will obtain
photo identification from the visitor,
which will be held in the office for the
duration of the visitor’s time in the
building.
-
Visitors will be issued visitor’s tag
that must be worn visibly during the
time of the visit.
-
At the conclusion of the visit, the
visitor will return the visitor’s tag to
the office, log out and their photo
identification will be returned to the
visitor.
Read more about the latest IMS news here....
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