Hello Ball Ground Family!

We are excited to begin a new school year and can't wait to see all of our Indians, old and new, at Meet & Greet this Friday. If you are new to BGSA, the TRIBE Tribune is our weekly school newsletter that will be sent to parents through ParentSquare. Parents receive access to a ParentSquare account when they have indicated that they want to receive emails from the district. This is done during either the Registration Gateway, Back to School Gateway or Express Gateway processes (depending on the time of the school year). If you previously chose that you did not want to receive emails, but now you do want to have an account, you may change that information using the Gateway process. From the CCSD homepage, go to the Parents & Community section and choose Forms & Updates. Once logged into the Gateway platform, under communication choose YES. If you experience any technical difficulties using ParentSquare, please email parentsquare@cherokee.incidentiq.com.

In order to customize how you want to receive these notifications and to receive secure documents like report cards, you must register for an account. All teachers will also be using ParentSquare this year for classroom communications, so you are encouraged to sign up and download the ParentSquare app for easy access to these communications.

As we continue to prepare for the new year, please see below for some helpful information.

Please let us know if we can assist in any way!

Melinda Roulier, Principal

Lauren Roach, Assistant Principal

Our doors open at 7AM. As parents are allowed to walk students in on the first day, we have asked staff to park in the back of the school to open up more spaces for parents. If you can't find a space, please be patient. We will be running our regular Car Rider lane for any parents who choose to start the year in the normal routine, so please do not park in the unloading zone or anywhere that would block people trying to use the Car Rider lane. We do realize it may take longer to welcome our students on the 1st day, so we will not begin marking Tardies until Wednesday. Please do not use the rear entrance as we need to keep those lanes open for our buses to unload.

Car Rider Pick-Up & Drop-Off-Morning Car Rider drop-off begins at 7AM along the front of the school. Please do not let your child exit the car until you see staff on the sidewalk. During the regular arrival time of 7AM-7:35AM, ALL CAR RIDERS MUST USE THE CAR RIDER LANE. The front parking lot will only be for staff or visitors with a scheduled meeting. If your child plans to eat breakfast, they need to be dropped off no later than 7:25AM so that they have time to get to the cafeteria, get breakfast, and get to class before the Tardy Bell rings.

Afternoon Car Riders will begin at 2:20PM. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not arrive before 2:15!!! Access to the front lanes must stay clear for our SPED student dismissal at 2PM and for emergency vehicles in the event we have an emergency. Please hold up or hang your Car Rider tag from the rearview mirror as you pass the staff member with the walkie talkie (usually Mrs. Roulier). If the tag is laying on the dashboard, we can't see it. If you do not have a tag, you will be asked to show ID and will have to wait until we verify that you are approved to pick up. This slows down the line, so please make sure you have your tag.

Bus Riders-If you do not already know your child's bus number and bus stop information, please go to https://www.cherokeek12.net/divisions/school-operations/transportation/bus-stop-look-up. If your child's stop is not listed, please call the front office. Any student riding the bus will not be marked Tardy and will always have the option to get breakfast even if the bus is running late. Our buses begin rolling in the afternoon around 2:20PM. You can download the Versatrans My Stop app to be able to keep up with your child's route and see whether the bus is running late. Students in PK-3rd grade will have a yellow tag on their backpack to help drivers identify students who must have an adult at the bus stop. These students will be brought back to the school if an appropriate adult is not at the bus stop in the afternoon and you will be contacted to come pick them up. If you are unable to pick them up, they will be placed in ASP and you will be charged the $20 drop-in rate.

If your child will be a Car Rider this year, please complete the form below. Requests received prior to noon on Thursday will be ready for pick up at Meet & Greet in the Cafeteria. Requests received after noon on Thursday will be sent home with your child.

As was shared with you in the CCSD Connections back-to-school newsletter (https://www.cherokeek12.net/about-ccsd/newsletter), our school district is making changes this school year to the payment and reservation practices for elementary school After School Programs. The daily rate is not changing with advance scheduling for full week care. More detailed information about the new system and practices is now online at https://www.cherokeek12.net/quick-links/asp.

If you plan to use the After School Program for your children this school year, you must first register using our school’s online registration system at https://forms.office.com/r/WEJ9kkvvCV; this is a one-time process. You then must schedule your child’s participation in advance. If you’re paying by debit or credit card, you can schedule and pay by Sunday for the next week through the new online system at https://ccsd.graystep.com; this step needs to be done by July 30 for the first week of school. If you’re paying by check or cash, you can schedule and pay by Friday for the next week by sending in an ASP envelope to our school; for the first week of school, this step needs to be done at our Meet & Greet at this Friday – if you cannot attend Meet & Greet, please send a note with the requested days of service and payment with your child to school on Tuesday, Aug. 1.

If you have additional questions, please contact our school’s front office at 770-721-5900.

NEW MEAL APPLICATION, MENU, & PAYMENT WEBSITE

We’re excited to inform you that our online meal payments, menus and meal applications for School Nutrition has upgraded to one location: LINQ Connect. This is a positive change that makes accessing information easier. This allows families to view all of their students in one profile. Within the LINQ Connect portal you can fund your student's meal payments by adding one-time or recurring funds, review purchases made and monitor the current balances, transfer dollars between students, apply for free and reduced meal benefits, and more. The money you had left in your child’s meal account at the end of last school year will automatically move over to the new system for a seamless transition. Parents can continue to send checks to the school to be deposited into their LINQ Connect account if they prefer. Visit your app store to find and download “LINQ Connect” or use the website at https://linqconnect.com/ to set up an account to access the system.

See PDF below for some helpful FAQ's to get you started!

One of the Major System Priorities of the Cherokee County School System is to increase the level of parent and community involvement in the total school. The A+ Education Reform Act of 2000 (HB 1187) established school councils in Georgia to "bring communities and schools closer together in a spirit of cooperation to solve difficult education problems, improve academic achievement, provide support for teachers and administrators, and bring parents into the school-based decision-making process."

School Council members include the principal, two certificated teachers (elected by the teachers), and four parents/guardians (elected by the parents); two of the parents should be businesspersons. Ball Ground STEM Academy has two vacant parent seats; one of which would serve as a businessperson for the 2023-24 and 2024-2025 school years. Please consider nominating an interested parent/guardian or yourself. All nominations must be submitted by Friday, 8/11, in order to be included in the election.

Please click the link below to nominate yourself or another person you feel would be interested!

We are so excited to launch our brand new PTA website where you can join PTA, become a community sponsor, pre-order spirit wear, reserve and pay for the spirit rock and more!

Check it out and let us know if you have any questions!

Ball Ground PTA

We've created a team called Ball Ground STEM Academy for 5K Run Individual Age group/open in 2023 Chick-Fil-A Moo've it 5K, and registration is open now. The school team with the most participation will receive a reward, so we'd love your help!

If you haven't registered yet, you can register and join the team here:
https://endurancecui.active.com/event-reg/select-race?e=84717131&i=d30ef78c-f3ae-47f4-9be3-5491465239a5

If you've already registered, you can join the team here:
https://myevents.active.com/HorizonRaceSolutions

You can also find more information at the event website:
https://www.active.com/canton-ga/running/distance-running-races/chick-fil-a-moo-ve-it-5k-2023

Looking forward to having you join us!

Website: https://bges.cherokeek12.net/
Location: 321 Valley Street, Ball Ground, GA, USA
Phone: 770-721-5900
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BGESSTEM/