GVMS Weekly Update

Garnet Valley Middle School Community,

In our first Jag’s School Grand Opening, our student council collected 1188 JAG CASH. This means that our students were being recognized 1188 times for being safe, respectful, responsible, and compassionate behaviors in the classrooms, hallways, bathrooms, and cafeteria. We are so proud of our students’ quick acclimation to learning and behaving in our school environment. Our students’ positive contributions continue to support our positive school culture.

We want to wish all of our community members celebrating Rosh Hashanah this coming week a happy, healthy, peaceful, and prosperous New Year. Please enjoy the celebrations and time with family and friends. Shanah Tovah!

Dr. Lisa Stenz, Principal

Mr. Rick Martin, Assistant Principal

Dr. Gerry Weinhardt, Assistant Principal

• Rosh Hashanah - Schools Closed/Offices Open - October 3rd

• Fall Renaissance Fundamentals III (previously PASS Survey ) - October 10th

• Fall Pep Rally - October 11th

• In-Service Day (No School for Students) - October 14th

• Red Ribbon Week - October 21st - October 25th

• GVMS Fall Picture Retake/Make-up Day - November 7th

We are excited to announce that our Joe Corbi & Claire’s Gourmet fundraiser starts this Friday, September 27th! Funds raised will support assemblies, guest speakers, and class events. All order forms and payments are due by Tuesday, October 22nd, and delivery is scheduled for Tuesday, November 19th. Please check your child's backpack today for the packet containing additional information. Click here to view how you can start helping us raise funds for our school in four simple steps!

We encourage you to share the catalog with friends and family (no door-to-door selling) and collect payments upfront. Please make all checks payable to Garnet Valley Middle School and include the seller’s name in the memo.

Here is a short video overviewing the various prizes! For questions, please contact Chrissy Baglione at 610-579-5101 or baglioc@garnetvalley.org. Thank you for your support.

Are you interested in being an active member of our school community? We hope you consider joining Student Council this year!

The GVMS After School Activity Program offers a multitude of clubs that meet the varied interests of our students. If you have any questions regarding club details, please contact the sponsor at the email listed in this brochure. Thank you for showing an interest in in our clubs and after school activities!

Click the image above or here to access our online club brochure.

ATTENTION all TRAILBLAZERS,

The below after-school birding club is open to students up to 6th grade. We hope to spot some of our 6th graders out on the trails with friends, Mr. BQ, and of course, some common and rare species of birds.

Click here to access the brochure for further details on how to sign up.

Click the image below for more information.

“Join us for the ChemQuest Science Fair on October 13th at Brandywine Hundred Library, 2:00-4:45 PM!

ChemQuest is a nonprofit that provides free science activities for children in the GV community. Our exciting Science Fair allows young scientists to present their independent research projects to a qualified panel of judges in a fun, supportive environment. This experience helps prepare them for future competitive opportunities!

Participants must be in grades 3 through 8 and will be grouped into A, B, or C based on grade level, with each group having slightly different experiment criteria. They'll also explore projects from peers across Delaware County during the event.

For experiment guidelines, please refer to our "Rulebook and Guideline Handbook" linked below (best viewed on a computer). It includes essential information on maximizing points, the event schedule, and more. Once you sign up, we’ll send weekly emails with tips and reminders to help you and your child succeed.

Sign up here (or scan the QR code on the flier): https://forms.gle/Ea2HL9etnq5t77w68

Rulebook: ChemQuest Science Fair Rulebook and Guideline Handbook

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out at chemquestpa@gmail.com”

If your child's parent or guardian is an active duty member of the U.S. Armed Forces during the 2024-2025 school year, please fill out this form, even if you’ve done so in previous years. We are required to report this information annually to the Pennsylvania Department of Education to meet federal data reporting requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

Dear Parents and/or Guardians,

The Social and Emotional well-being of our students is at the forefront of our decision making in Garnet Valley School District. In order to inform our decision making related to social and emotional support at school, we plan to administer a brief 10-20 minute universal survey to all of our students on October 10th. The survey, entitled Renaissance Fundamentals (formerly known as PASS: Pupil Attitudes to Self and School), provides schools with reliable and valid data about how students feel about themselves as a learner and how they feel about school. The research- based survey assists schools in detecting possible barriers to student learning, including issues around confidence, resilience, motivation, and concentration so that we can attempt to proactively intervene to provide support for our students and school community. More information about Renaissance Fundamentals can be found by clicking HERE.

As with any survey, participation is voluntary, parents have the right to preview the questions prior to participation, and can opt their children out of the survey. If you would like to preview the survey or to opt your children out, please contact: Kim Doyle, Supervisor of Social and Emotional Wellness at: doylek@garnetvalley.org or 610-579-7381.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of Renaissance Fundamentals.

We strongly believe that punctual arrival to school each morning is critical to our student’s success.

• Five parent notes denoting illness or emergency will be accepted throughout the semester, and the lates will be marked as excused. After 5 excused lates, additional lates will be regarded as unexcused unless a legal doctor's excuse is provided. Oversleeping, car trouble, and missing the bus are not excused reasons for lateness (even if accompanied by a parent note).

• Students who accumulate more than four unexcused latenesses per semester will be called to the office and school actions will be taken, which may include detentions and a home and school team meeting to establish an action plan for improvement.

If your student is coming in late or leaving early due to a doctor/ortho visit, please ask the office for a return to school note and send it in with your student to the main office when they return, so their attendance file can be updated.

As a reminder, our counselors are now grade-based. Below, you will find the counselor assigned to each class cohort:

• 6th Grade: Mr. Matt Bradshaw

• 7th Grade: Mrs. Marisa Mahon

• 8th Grade: Ms. Wendy Xanthopoulos

• School Counselor: Mrs. Christy Francart

Although Mrs. Francart isn't assigned a specific grade, she will focus on delivering targeted, short-term, small-group interventions throughout the school year. This will allow us to expand and improve upon the various MTSS supports we offer our students.

We sincerely appreciate your trust and support as we implement these positive changes. Our commitment to your child’s well-being remains our top priority. We are confident that this reconfiguration will lead to stronger relationships and better support for all.

• Doors will open at 7:40am.

• You will have TWO options for carline drop-off only in the morning. You may utilize the Poolside entrance drop-off location or the GVES parking lot drop-off location.

• Please do not let students out of the car until you’ve reached the GREEN drop-off area.

• School buses will drop off in front of GVMS.

• Carline students are not permitted to use the main entrance of the building.

Students should be seated in 1st period by 8:00am. Late students must be checked-in at the main office.

• We will begin dismissal at 2:54pm.

• Students will be dismissed into two bus locations.

• There will be one parent pick-up area and is located in the GVES parking lot. Please enter off of Station Road.

• Parents needing to also pick up a student from GVES should exit and join the GVES pick-up line.

• The GVES pick-up line forms off of Temple Road entrance at the star on the map.

• Students may not cut across the parking lot.

Health Information

Please update your child's SNAP Health Portal. This needs to be completed each year for your child's medical history as well as OTC medication administration permission.

SNAP Directions

6th Grade Requirements

Physical Exam - Students entering 6th grade are required to have a Physical Exam completed within the last year according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health and submitted to the school nurse. Your child’s physician may use their own form or you can provide the form below for your physician to complete

PhysicalExam.pdf

7th Grade Requirements

Dental Exam: Students entering 7th grade are required to have a Dental Examination form submitted to school.

2024 dental form.pdf

For more health related information, please visit our website.

Breakfast will continue to be free for the the 24-25 school year. Students are able to pick up a breakfast prior to 8:00am. A paid lunch program also remains available.

Click here to access and learn more!

This eBook contains tips and tricks for navigating the transition to middle school as well as how to best support your learner in their quest for agency and growth toward independence. The contents express the ideas of teachers, caregivers, students, and administrators who understand what life is like "in the middle."

Remember to trust in your learner's resilience and embrace the opportunity for growth!

We know that there is so much information shared at the beginning of the school year. Please access Garnet Valley's parent portal, which keeps all of our information in one place. Click here to access the parent portal. To get direct access to some of our services please click the following links.

• Alma - Garnet Valley's Student Information System
• My School Bucks - Register your child for our school lunch program
• Safe Arrival - Report an absence
• Schoology - Garnet Valley Middle School Learning Management System
• GVSD Parent Tech Support - Issues with district technology.
  

Click the link below to access a video that overviews what to do to update your information in Alma.

Video - Alma Navigation for Parents

We look forward to welcoming caregivers into our building throughout the school year. In order to volunteer, community members must obtain clearances. If you have previously submitted clearances to our Human resources Department they are good for five years.

In order to obtain or re-obtain clearances, check out the info provided by the district: Volunteer Clearances document. If you have any questions please contact our office at 610.579.5102 or our district HR office at 610.579.7387.

IMPORTANT: Please add notifications@getalma.com to your email contact list to avoid having future messages blocked by your email provider. Also, be sure to monitor your Spam folder for misrouted messages.

Below are a few suggestions for helping your family navigate the ever-increasing presence of technology:

PA Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force - Safety Tips & Resources

https://onlinesafety.com/#

American Academy of Pediatrics Family Media Plan

https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/media-and-children/family-media-plan-promotional-materials/

Common Sense Media - age recommendations for games, apps, movies, books and more

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/

Shape the Sky Parent App guide

https://shapethesky.org/app-guide/

Cannabis Resources:

• Cannabis 101 Series for Parents and Caregivers – This video series offers tips and strategies for parents to have open and honest conversations with their child related to substance use, specifically marijuana.
  
• Cannabis Fact Sheet - This fact sheet provides research-based information to help lessen some confusion and help children make educated decisions about what they put into their bodies.
  
• Conversations that Matter Podcast– Cannabis – How it Affects the Behavioral Health of Our Youth Learn why our children and teens are more at risk and how cannabis impacts the developing brains and bodies of our youth.

The GVMS HSA would like to welcome you to the 2024-2025 school year! We are looking forward to a great year ahead as we plan a fun and engaging year for the students of GVMS. Here are some details about the HSA that we'd like to share.

1. GVMS HSA Events - Each year, the HSA hosts two events for each grade. In the winter, we host fun nights for each grade individually. In addition to being a fun event for students, these events serve as fundraisers for the HSA. In the spring, 6th grade has another fun night, 7th grade has a dance and 8th grade has a semi-formal Send Off.

Mark your calendars now...here are the event dates!

Winter Funtimes

6th Grade - January 10th

7th Grade - January 24th

8th Grade - February 7th

Spring Events

6th Grade - May 2nd

7th Grade - May 16th

8th Grade - June 6th

2. Want to help? - In order to organize these events, we need your help! Would you consider chairing an event and oversee the planning of it? How about volunteering at the event? We are also in need of new board members too. Most of the current board are parents of 8th graders. Please take a moment to complete this google survey and let us know how you'd like to help.

3. What do we do? - GVMS HSA supports a variety of activities that enhance our school and student experience. Some examples of activities that the HSA supports are: Red Ribbon Week, Grade-level Book Giveaways, End of year fun nights, dances and send off, In school celebrations, Staff Appreciation Week and so much more! Thanks to your generous support, we are able to provide these things!

Volunteer Survey - https://forms.gle/PGKzxmxwNrpSJY257

4. Membership Drive - At the start of each school year, we host a membership drive. These funds go to support the variety of activities described in #3.

To donate:

Venmo - @GVMSHSA

Cash/Check - Drop off in an envelope to the front desk, marked "GVMS HSA".

5. Questions - Email us! gvmshsa@gmail.com

Thank you! ~ GVMS HSA Board

Achieving our best through creativity, compassion, and community.

Email: stenzl@garnetvalley.org
Website: https://www.garnetvalleyschools.com/gvms
Location: 601 Smithbridge Road
Phone: 610-579-5100
Twitter: @GarnetValleyMS