The 2024 Farmington Christmas Parade was a joyful celebration for our community this week. We’re excited to share some highlights from last week’s spectacular event. Historic Downtown Farmington was truly magical, filled with holiday cheer. A big round of applause to all the FMS groups and Student Nutrition for proudly representing our district. We’re also deeply grateful to the Farmington Police Department for ensuring everyone had a safe and enjoyable experience during the parade.
Current FMS sophomores and juniors, if you have a GPA of 3.0 or higher, you are invited to apply to the 2025 Dennis Chavez New Mexico LDZ, a nationally recognized leadership program sponsored by the National Hispanic Institute. This prestigious program, which will take place from June 8–15, 2025, at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, is fully funded, including tuition and application fees. This amazing opportunity is made possible by special funding from legislation sponsored by Senator Michael Padilla. To learn more, join us for a virtual informational meeting on Tuesday, December 10, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. Join via Zoom here: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86773707905. You are encouraged to apply before the December 20 holiday break at https://www.nationalhispanicinstitute.org/event-5844666.
Join us for Tibbetts Middle School Band’s Winter Concert, on December 17, at 6.00 PM, at San Juan College’s Henderson Fine Arts Center (4601 College Blvd). See you there!
Wishing our students, families, staff, and community a warm and joyful Thanksgiving! And enjoy these wonderful moments from McCormick Elementary School’s second-ever Turkey Trot. This special event brought our students, families, and staff together for fun, laughter, and a celebration of physical activity—all while also strengthening the bonds that make our community so incredible. Way to go, Celtics!
FMS In The News: We’re proud to share that our Board President, Stephanie Thompson, is featured in the Society of Women Engineers’ blog this week! As part of their Affinity Group spotlight, the blog highlights Ms. Thompson's incredible work as a co-chair of the Society of Women Engineers - SWE’s Indigenous Peoples Affinity Group. Currently pursuing her Doctorate in Engineering Management, Ms. Thompson's research focuses on data analytics and strategic decision-making — tools she plans to use to make STEM education more accessible and equitable, especially for Indigenous and underrepresented communities.
Check out SWE’s blog here: https://alltogether.swe.org/2024/11/affinity-group-spotlight-swes-indigenous-women-you-should-know/
FMS In The News: How Wi-Fi-Enabled School Buses Connect Students and Drivers to Learning. By Wylie Wong, EdTech. Today’s school buses are doing much more than just taking students to and from school. Farmington Municipal Schools is also benefiting from having Wi-Fi in school buses. The district first deployed Kajeet wireless routers in nine buses in 2020. The project was so successful that the following year, it added Wi-Fi to its entire fleet of 90 buses. Read more: https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2024/11/how-wi-fi-enabled-school-buses-connect-students-and-drivers-learning
November 18, 2024: A heartfelt thank you to the PVHS Indigenous Club for their stunning dances at Esperanza and McCormick today! The students were captivated by the club’s traditional clothing featuring the four sacred colors, and the Sash Belt and Friendship dances. Seeing our young learners join in during the Friendship Dance was especially exciting—what an unforgettable experience! Huge kudos to our bilingual teachers Ms. Esther Dennison and Ms. Louise Ramone, and Native American Youth Advisor, Ms. Glenda Hardy, for organizing this wonderful cultural celebration. Our panthers truly shined today. More to come.
FMS, please join us on November 19, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. for this live webinar presented by our online safety partner, Linewize, and familiarize yourself with the tools available to help you keep your children safe and well in the digital world. With a focus on distraction and intentional technology use in particular, Linewize's Director of Wellbeing, Teodora Pavkovic, will share insights into the key online safety risks children encounter today and the strategies to minimize them. She will also guide you through using tools like the ABC approach to children's online safety and your district's Online Safety Hub. Your hosts will also be taking your questions at the end of the webinar, so be sure to join us live. See you there! Registration link: https://familyzone.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UTT-44aQQcGnmy3amcN7LQ
You're invited! Nihaadiinááł! See you at the Native American Fashion Show, on Monday, November 18, 2024, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, at Piedra Vista High School’s Turano-Chrisman Performing Arts Theater, 5700 College Boulevard. The FMS Native American Fashion Show is a celebration of our students’ identities. Now back for a second year, this event will again showcase traditional clothing and regalia, most made by hand and created with love, all beautifully modeled by them. #NativeAmericanMonth #WeAreFMS
November 06, 2024: Earlier today, nearly twenty dedicated volunteers joined together to prepare delicious Navajo frybread, a special treat that delighted our Hermosa students. The wonderful aroma of fresh frybread and the amazing sounds of Ms. Weaver’s Choir Class practice filled the campus, creating a lively and welcoming atmosphere for everyone. This meaningful event, led by our Native American Programs staff, gave our middle schoolers a chance to experience and appreciate the unique contributions of each community at our school. A heartfelt thank-you to our incredible volunteers, Hermosa staff, and Native American Programs team for making this event possible. We’re so grateful for your support and look forward to more shared experiences like this!
Dear FMS Families, the NM Public Education Department will conduct a survey on October 28, 2024, to learn about student well-being and what we can do to help students succeed. The survey aims to understand differences among student experiences to proactively create support structures and how our results fall in comparison to national benchmarks and similar districts or schools. More to come via email and text next week!
Families of FMS Kindergartners, we need your help! Please take a few minutes today to complete an important online survey about your child’s experiences before they started Kindergarten. Your feedback will help us improve the programs and services for your child and all children in our community. You can start the survey by clicking here: https://bit.ly/cheqsurvey
Registration is now open for NMPED's Parent University, a special event designed for families of children with disabilities! Join us for two informative and supportive days on Wednesday, November 13, and Thursday, November 14, at the beautiful Buffalo Thunder Resort in Santa Fe. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect, learn, and grow alongside other families.
Register today by visiting: https://forms.office.com/r/DAXNsR823Y.
FMS believes that investing in our teachers from day one is an integral part of our supportive structure. Our teachers are invaluable to us and through the RISE program, they are met with encouragement and reassurance. Please take a moment to watch some of our RISE mentors and mentees talk about their experience with the program and how it has helped them not only in their new career path but also given them a fresh perspective as a seasoned educator.
Watch Here: https://youtu.be/n4PQxX3_rBg
FMS families, join us for this live webinar presented by our online safety partner Linewize on October 8, 2024, at 6:00 PM. During this session, you can familiarize yourself with the tools available to help you keep your children safe and well in the digital world. With a focus on age-appropriate technology use and cellphone ownership, Linewize's Director of Wellbeing, Teodora Pavkovic, will share insights into the key online safety risks children encounter. Pavkovic will share strategies to minimize risks and guide you through the process using tools like the ABC approach to children's online safety and the district's Online Safety Hub. Your hosts will also take your questions at the end, so be sure to join us live. Register for this resource here: https://familyzone.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CrsBPCMBQuWoU5sfk6wtEQ
On October 2, we celebrate #NationalCustodianDay! Our amazing custodial staff works hard every day to keep our school buildings clean, safe, and ready for our students to learn and thrive. To show our appreciation, our Student Nutrition Team is delivering cookies as a token of our appreciation. A big shoutout to all our custodians for everything they do! #CustodialWorkersDay
We cordially invite you to attend our next Board of Education Meeting on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. Work Session starts at 3:45 p.m. Regular Meeting starts at 5:15 p.m.
This week our Spanish Dual Language students from McCormick Elementary School and Esperanza Elementary School visited San Juan College for the production of "Coyote and the Counting Game." This outstanding musical uses both English and Spanish to tell the rich story of a young girl who learns a valuable lesson in honesty. Students were encouraged to laugh, dance, and even participate in this engaging performance. It was an amazing way to celebrate #HispanicHeritageMonth2024. Thank you to Creede Repertory Theatre for putting on this amazing show and also giving each student a "Coyote and the Counting Game" book!
We kicked off our Saturday morning (09.21.2024) with the incredible FHS Scorpion Sound Regiment, who brought the joy of music right to our doorsteps! Their Annual March A-Thon was a hit as they marched through our neighborhoods, filling the streets with music and fun. A huge shoutout to our amazing instructors, dedicated families, and our community for supporting these talented students and cheering them on! And of course, congratulations to the Scorpion Sound Regiment for their amazing performance—you sounded fantastic! It’s not too late to get involved! You can still donate to our students or even become a corporate sponsor and have your brand featured at our performances. 👉 Donate here: https://schoolpay.com/pay/for/Farmington-High-School-Band/SbEp2du. 👉 For sponsorship opportunities, reach out to Mr. Olivas at aolivas@fms.k12.nm.us.
You're invited! Nihaadiinááł!
