GMS Weekly Newsletter

Good Afternoon Wolf Pack Families,

I am so excited for school to begin on Monday, August 26! Our staff was back in the building last week working on professional development and preparing their rooms to welcome students back on the first day of school. We are all ready for a great school year. Our intent is to build positive relationships with all of our students and families. When strong relationships are present in the classroom, it is easier for teachers to deliver high quality instruction and student learning is maximized. Our goal every year at GMS is to build on the strengths each child brings to Geisler and foster growth in areas where they may struggle. Every student can and will learn while attending Geisler MS!

School hours are from 8:10-3:00 M-F. We open our doors beginning at 7:40 am. Students who are dropped off early must remain in the lower commons area until the first bell at 8:00 am. We do have a breakfast cart in the commons area for students to access. Please make sure to pick your child up by 3:05 pm each day. We do not have have supervision for students to be in our building before 7:40 am and after 3:05 pm. If your child plays a fall sport at GMS this year, please pick them up promptly after practice is finished. I so appreciate your understanding and cooperation. Please see the drop off/pick up procedures listed below. For the SAFETY of all of our students it is critical that all families who drive their students to/from school follow these procedures.

Please take the time to log into Skyward Family Access by Sunday evening. Check your transportation information if your student rides a bus. Please make a copy or have your child take a picture of their locker #, combination and class schedule. Some of our students will notice that there is not a teacher listed in certain hours of their schedule. We are currently finalizing some hiring for certain positions. We will be fully staffed with certified teachers in all classrooms by the 3rd week of school. Please know that our Permanent Building Guest Teachers are also highly trained and will provide excellent instruction while we finalize staffing. If your child is not able to access their schedule or locker information, we will have a copy for them before school begins on Monday.

Lastly, school breakfast and lunch will be FREE for all students again this year. Our cafeteria and breakfast cart close at 8:05 AM each day (unless a bus is running late). If you wish for your student to have breakfast, please have them at school no later than 8 AM so they have plenty of time to get breakfast and make it to class by 8:10. Breakfast may be eaten in class up until 8:25 AM. Students who bring their ID card with them will move through breakfast/lunch lines more quickly.

It is going to be a great school year for your student! Have an enjoyable weekend.

Sincerely,

Stuart Riley

Principal, Geisler Middle School

Upcoming Events

9/4-Picture Retake Day

9/11-XC Meet vs. Walnut Creek-Home For all XC events, please use information from the coaches on exact locations as some XC meets are held offsite.

9/16-Volleyball vs. Oak Valley-Home

9/18-XC Meet vs. Smart-Away

9/18-Volleyball vs. Pierce-Away

9/16-Curriculum Night @ GMS-6:30-8:00 PM

9/17-Schoolwide iReady Testing-ELA

9/19-Schoolwide iReady Testing-Math

Please make sure to complete the online registration process prior to the first day of school, Monday, August 26. If you need assistance with the registration process, please contact our front office. Please visit the website to complete your back to school packet.

Please consider the safety of our entire Wolf Pack Community when you are dropping off or picking up your students. SLOW SPEEDS and following the procedures is the best way to keep everyone safe. Say long good byes while you are driving to school. When dropping off, make sure your student is prepared to exit the car quickly. Families who are prepared for this will help ensure more efficient traffic flow.

WLCSD has a 1-to-1 Chromebook Program in all of our middle and high schools. Please review the information about the 1-to-1 Chromebook Program as part of your Back-to-School Online Registration Process.

Each student will be required to bring a device to school each day as the middle schools do not have Chromebook carts in the building for students to use a Chromebook during the day. District issued Chromebooks often work much better within the building than personal devices do as they are set up to connect to the District Wi-Fi.

Important Highlights

Students will have two choices for technology use while at school:

1. Bring your own device from home

2. Sign up for a District issued Chromebook*

*Additional carts of Chromebooks will no longer be available for students to utilize extra building devices on a daily basis. Students will be expected to bring a charged device (personal device or District issued Chromebook) daily in order to utilize online curricular resources as well as participate in daily instruction within the classroom.

We strongly encourage families to sign up for a District issued Chromebook.

There are advantages to this practice including:

• Better Wi-Fi connectivity in District

• Increased support from District IT staff including

• curriculum resources

• support apps

• Streamline repair process

MIDDLE SCHOOL students (grades 6-8) must complete PAYMENT for the Chromebook deposit ($50) and Technology Protection Plan ($20) in order to receive the District issued Chromebook. Payments made after August 17 will still receive a device, but not until the first few days of school. Please be sure to review the entire 1-to-1 Chromebook Program Information that is linked on our Back-to-School Packet Website. If you are in need of financial assistance to participate in this program, please reach out to Mr. Riley directly at stuartriley@wlcsd.org

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Please follow the steps below when your student's District chromebook needs to be repaired.

1. If a student needs support, he/she should fill out a Student Chromebook Support Form linked on all of the Google Classrooms and on the school website under Students. Being logged on to the school google account is required to access the form.
2. The information in the form will be sent to Mrs. Stasak, our Middle School Computer Resource Teacher. She will reply to the student at his/her school gmail account. She will offer suggestions to fix the issue or, if it needs service, she will tell the student to take the chromebook to the office and give it to building admin secretary (enter the name for your building).
3. The chromebook in the case will be sent through inner office and the student will be allowed to use a loaner chromebook AT SCHOOL. It will be the student’s responsibility to pick it up each morning from the office and return it at the end of the day.
4. When the chromebook has been repaired, it will be delivered back to the school for the student to pick up.
5. If the family purchased insurance, the first repair is free and all additional repairs carry a deductible. Deductible invoices or repair invoices, for those that did not choose insurance, must be paid before the repaired chromebook is returned.
6. If a student with a personal chromebook has a network issue, the same form can be used. We are not able to fix physical problems with personal devices and loaner chromebooks will not be provided.

We are excited to begin another great year of Middle School Sports at Geisler Middle School! We will kick off the Fall season with Girls Volleyball and Cross Country. If your student would be interested in participating, please see the links to the attached permission slips and flyers below. Keep in mind that students will need to have a physical dated after April 15, 2024 to participate on the first day! If you have any questions reach out to Kevin Zurro @ kevinzurro@wlcsd.org We look forward to a great upcoming season for Volleyball and Cross Country.

*Transportation schedules- Bus information for general education families will be available in Skyward Family Access beginning at 8am Friday August 16th. As we continue to accept new students, routes may change. Parents/Students will want to check Skyward right before the start of school to confirm their transportation information. Special education transportation students will receive a phone call from their bus driver no later than Wednesday August 21st with their bus information. Most of the families will have that information by Monday, August 19th.

*Patience- Buses will likely be late both morning and afternoon for the first several days of school. The transportation hotline (248-956-3090) is updated for all buses that are running 10 or more minutes behind schedule. New routines are a learned process for our students, staff, parents, and community. Ensuring every student is in the right place is critical to our mission and takes extra time during that learning process.

*School of choice/ In-district transfer requests- Students who attend as school of choice or in-district transfer can request a seat on a bus within the schools' boundary using the google form on the transportation website. We will review these requests after September 14th when busing counts have been determined. Parents will be notified via email if a spot is available. Parents will need to have alternative transportation until that time and potentially after if there are no seats available. (I can tell you that school of choice busing for most elementary schools have been denied for several years because the buses are full)

During the 2024-25 school year, all Michigan public school students in grades Pre-K through 12 will have access to free breakfast and free lunch every day through the "Healthy School Meals for All" program. This includes a meat/meat alternative, grain, fruit/vegetable and milk. A la carte items will be available for purchase.

Families are still encouraged to complete the free/reduced meal form in Skyward to help secure additional funding for the District including Title I funding. By completing the form, eligible families may also receive access to other free and reduced programs within the District including SAT testing, pay to participate, and more.