Goodrich Middle School

Welcome to a new school year! We hope all of our GMS families had a wonderful summer! The staff at GMS is excited to see our students back at school and ready to learn. To ensure you receive important school communications, please make sure to keep your email address(es) and phone numbers updated through ParentVue.

Parents/Guardians: Please log in to ParentVue to complete the mandatory updates for this school year. Not completing these updates could cause us to not have the most accurate contact, medical or emergency information on file for your child(ren), so please complete this process ASAP if you haven't done so already.

THESE UPDATES ARE MANDATORY EVERY YEAR.

Please click here to log in to ParentVue to ensure your children's information has been updated:

https://parentvue.geneseeisd.org/good/PXP2_Login_Parent.aspx?regenerateSessionId=True

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Bernard at dbernard@goodrichschools.org

We know that wearing a mask/face covering is an adjustment, especially for a prolonged period of time. That is why we strongly recommend that students who may not be familiar with wearing masks for long periods of time begin building tolerance before school begins. Parents are urged to begin "training" their child(ren) to wear face masks for progressively longer periods of time, while indoors, and any time they are in proximity with people who are not members of their own household.

Please know that face masks are required in grades 6-12 unless the students has a doctor's note on file that demonstrates a medical inability for the student to abide. Failure to comply with this state mandated requirement will result in the student being sent home and progressive discipline should it continue to be an issue.

Face Coverings

The school district leaders have collaborated with local health experts creating guidelines that ensure the safety of all students and staff. According to the CDC, face coverings are an effective tool in slowing the spread of COVID-19 in concert with social distancing, hand washing, and disinfecting.

Face coverings:

• Must cover the nose and mouth and be secured to the head with ties or straps, or simply wrapped around the lower face.
• Should fit snugly but comfortably against the side of the face.
• Should be disposable or made of washable materials such as cotton, silk, or linen.
• Should include multiple layers of fabric.
• Should allow for breathing without restriction.

Face covering requirements:

• Students in grades 6-12, staff, vendors, and visitors will be required to wear face coverings on campus.
• Student face coverings must be school appropriate and shall not interfere with the district’s dress code policy.
• Please note that in Governor Whitmer's MI Safe Schools Roadmap, it notes that non-disposable face coverings must be washed daily and disposable face coverings must be disposed of at the end of each day.

Enforcement:

• School administration and/or staff will be stationed at entry points throughout the building to reiterate the expectation of face coverings.
• In instances where reusable masks are left at home, a disposable mask will be provided for the day. Students who repeatedly do not wear a mask on school grounds will be educated on their importance and progressive discipline assigned. Additionally, faculty will work with students and staff as to the importance of following the Governor’s requirements.
• The school administrative team will serve as the COVID Points of Contact to work on compliance issues at the school level.

Exemptions:

• Students and staff must have a documented medical condition and note from their medical provider (MD or DO) for which a face covering would cause an impairment.
• Students and staff may remove their face covering while actively eating.

ALL students will receive an assigned locker number, but students can and will be allowed to use their backpacks during the school day.

• Students should keep only necessary school items in the lockers (i.e. textbooks, school supplies, etc.)
• Students may store contained lunches in their lockers, but all food items are to be removed by the end of each school day.
• Sharing of lockers or locker combinations with other students is NOT allowed.
• Lockers must be in the same condition at the end of the school year as they were in the beginning of the school year. Use of tape, stickers, built-in shelves, or any other “permanent” items are not allowed. Students who do not adhere to this policy will be fined a minimum $10.00 cleaning fee
• Tampering with the locking mechanism is considered destruction of school property and will result in disciplinary action.
• Students will not be allowed to use their lockers without a hall/locker pass outside of the posted times.
• Students will not have access to lockers until the 7:15am bell rings.
• Students will be allowed to use lockers at the following times:
• Before first hour: 7:15-7:22am (first hour begins at 7:23am)
• Before and/or after assigned lunch:
• 6th Grade/A Lunch: Lunch Time: 10:30-11:05; Class Time: 11:10-12:25
• 7th Grade/B “split” Lunch: Class Time 10:30-11:05; Lunch Time: 11:10-11:45; Class: 11:50-12:25
• 8th Grade/C Lunch: Class Time 10:30-11:45; Lunch Time: 11:50-12:25
• After 6th hour: 2:25-2:30pm

Due to Covid safety precautions, there will be NO WATER FOUNTAINS for student use at school, nor will the office be able to provide water bottles for all students. Therefore, please make sure your student(s) get in the habit of bringing their own water bottles, reusable or disposable, to school each day.

The 2020-2021 school year will bring a few changes to our school. We would like to congratulate Mrs. Vauter on her retirement in June, and welcome Mrs. Linda Kramer to our ELA teaching team! Many of you know Mrs. Kramer, as she previously taught at Oaktree Elementary.

We also will be saying goodbye to Mrs. Mary Durant, who has been our secretary for the past 5 years. Mrs. Durant says she has loved working with our GMS families and will forever cherish the time she spent here. While we are sad to see her leave GMS, we wish her the best of luck in the new position she has accepted!

We are excited to welcome Ms. Debbie Bernard to the middle school office to replace Mrs. Durant. Ms. Bernard has been the high school counseling secretary for the past 19 years and is excited to join our GMS family.

Welcome to GMS, Mrs. Kramer and Ms. Bernard!

This year, GMS will be allowing students to bring in their own computing devices from home to use at school. Even with hourly disinfecting, we are hoping this change will help to mitigate the spread of germs on common areas such as computers in computer labs. Please click the link below to read, print and sign the permission slip. This MUST be on file for your child in order for them to bring their own device into school. Please have your child give their completed forms to their 1st hour teacher, or scan and email your completed form to dbernard@goodrichschools.org.

GMS BOYD Policy and Permission Slip

Please note our NEW schedule for the 2020-2021 school year. For safety, this year's schedule has been modified to allow for additional cleaning and passing time between classes. Please note that school now starts at 7:23 am and will end at 2:25 pm.

Students must have their masks on as they exit vehicles and enter the building.

Students arriving at Goodrich Middle School will enter the building through two entrances:

• Students who ride the bus will enter the building through the gym entrance.
• Students who are dropped off by a personal vehicle will enter the building through the main (flagpole) entrance.

Once students enter the building, they will go to one of two areas, depending on whether or not they are eating breakfast. Students will remain in that area until they are dismissed at 7:15 to go to their classrooms.

• Students eating breakfast will head to the cafeteria. Masks must be worn at all times unless students are actively eating.

• Any student not eating breakfast will report to the Gym and sit in their assigned location in the bleachers. Moving forward, for contact tracing purposes, this will be their assigned seat.

At 7:15, students will be dismissed from both the cafeteria and gym to go to their locker to put any belongings away and get all the materials they will need for their morning classes (first hour until lunch) before heading to first hour. First hour begins at 7:23 am.

To ensure the health and safety of our students and staff, the following visitor policy has been put into place.

Upon arrival, visitors will push the intercom button to speak to the office. They will be asked to identify the reason they are visiting. Visitors will only be allowed to enter into the building if absolutely necessary.

DROP OFF OF ITEMS (lunches, books, medication, etc.):

· A table will be placed in the vestibule where they can leave their CLEARLY LABELED items.

· The office will call the student to retrieve the items from the vestibule.

· If a child requires medication that is not in the clinic (which the parent/guardian must administer), the parent will give the medication to the child in the vestibule.

EARLY RELEASE (any student leaving school before the scheduled release time, including ill students):

· Anyone picking up a child early will ring the office and identify who they are and the child they are retrieving. The office will verify that the person picking up the child is listed as an authorized pick-up person.

· Pick up person will wait in the vestibule or in their car after signing the child out.

· The sign-out sheet will be placed on the table in the vestibule.

· There will be two containers on the table, one with sanitized pens, the other for used/dirty pens. Parents will be encouraged to bring their own writing instrument for signing out their child early.

For a brief summary of important GMS rules and procedures, including our policy on cell phones, tardies, attendance, etc., please click HERE.

For information on our Dress Code and Technology policies, please click HERE.

Parents, did you know you can see the daily announcements that our students hear each day online at https://gms.goodrichschools.org? Important updates, news and information will be listed under "Student Announcements."

2020-2021 yearbooks are available for purchase online only again this year. They can be purchased for a discounted rate of just $36.00 until Sept. 11th. After that, the price will increase to $46.00, so order yours today!

https://www.jostens.com/apps/store/customer/1064340/Goodrich-Middle-School/

Please note that yearbooks can ONLY be ordered online,

cash and checks will not be accepted in the office.

Students are permitted to enter the building starting at 7:00am. Please do not leave your child unattended outside of the building before that time.

Upon entering the building, students should report directly to the cafeteria (if eating breakfast) or the gym until they are dismissed. Parents should use the circle drive at the front of school to drop children off. The south end parking lot (by the gym) is for bus drop off only. DO NOT DROP OFF YOUR CHILDREN BY THE BUS DROP OFF/GYM ENTRANCE!

Please note the following important safety rules for after-school pick-up and sports practices:

• After-School pick-up is at the north end parking lot ONLY.
• When picking up your student(s), please pull ALL the way forward. Your child(ren) will meet you along the sidewalk. They will be exiting from doors at the north end of the building.

• For safety reasons, students not picked up by 2:45pm will be sent back into the building to wait near the main entrance.

• The circle drive near the flag pole/main entrance is for emergency vehicles ONLY.

• The circle drive AT OAKTREE is NOT an authorized pick-up area for middle school students.
• The parking lot AT OAKTREE is NOT an authorized pick-up area for middle school students.

Unless your child(ren) rides the bus, is signed out for early release in the office by an authorized individual, they should be picked up in the parent pick-up/caravan line at the designated location at the north end of the middle school. Please share this information with anyone who may be picking up your child/children as well.

Student athletes should ride Shuttle Bus #5, which will transport athletes to the High School for practices.

If you have had changes since last school year with childcare, home address or pick-up/drop-off locations, please contact the transportation department at 810-591-3454 or Dispatcher@goodrichschools.org.

CHANGES IN TRANSPORTATION MUST BE

FIVE DAYS PER WEEK AND CONSISTENT FROM WEEK TO WEEK.

Please make sure your children are at school on time, as photos begin promptly at 7:30am.

Details on how to download and print a photo order form, will be made available soon.

Order forms with payment should be sent in with your child on Sept. 24th. Payments may also be made online at http://www.photofactoryusa.com (Online Password: goodrichms)

Dates and times are subject to change.

September:

9/1: GMS Meet and Greet for 6th grade and New students

9/8: First Day of School

9/24: School Picture Day

The Martian PTO is always looking for parents who would like to get involved and volunteer their time. However, this year schools are required to limit visitors into the building. Additional information regarding meetings and such will be communicated at a later date.

Spirit wear can be purchased at any time through the K & C’s Special T’s website - https://kcspecialts.com/

For more information, please contact PTO President Sandy Cooper @ 810-444-7849, email the Martian PTO at Martianptoinc@gmail.com or visit the Martian PTO Facebook page.

Exceptional Education, Extraordinary People – We Are Goodrich!

Proud to be a Systems Accredited District.

The mission of Goodrich Area Schools is:

“Achievement for Every Learner”

Email: mdurant@goodrichschools.org
Website: http://www.goodrichschools.org/GMS/
Location: 7480 Gale Road, Goodrich, MI 48438, United States
Phone: 810-591-4210
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goodrich-Middle-School-107465217452515