NRMS News

Email: sandrzejewski@rockfordschools.org
Website: www.rockfordschools.org
Location: 397 East Division Street Northeast, Rockford, MI, USA
Phone: (616) 863-6300

Congratulations to our 8th grade Symphonic Band for being recognized as one of the top middle school bands in the state of Michigan! On January 17th, the band performed at DeVos Hall at the Michigan Music Conference. We are so proud of our students and their director, Mr. Cullen McCarrthy.

Please encourage your child to try their personal best! Please remind your child that this is an extremely important assessment that is used to monitor their academic growth. This information is also used for classroom placement and intervention purposes.

Week One: January 13th - 17th: Reading

Week Two: January 20th - 24th: Math/Science

Week Two: January 27th - 29th: Language Usage

If you have any questions, please email your child's teacher.

January 22nd - College/Jersey Day

January 29th - Hat Day

We understand scheduling your child's appointments outside of the school day is difficult. When you do need to pick up your child during the school day, please send a note with the student to drop off in the Main Office. They will then be given a pass to be excused from class.

To protect academic instructional time, we ask that your form of communication remain to the Main Office rather than calling or texting your child. To clarify, students are only allowed to use cell phones before and after school as well as passing time.

Unfortunately, the flu season is still going strong. The question frequently comes up of when to keep a child home from school, below are our district guidelines.

A child should stay home from school and their physician should be consulted if he/she has any of the following symptoms:

• A temperature of 100.4 or greater
• Green or yellow discharge from nose or eyes
• Vomiting or diarrhea
• Cough or sore throat lasting longer than 2 days
• Rashes or eruptions
• Any other medical concern

Students should remain at home until symptom or fever free for 24 hours without the use of medication. If a student has been seen by a physician, and they have been deemed not contagious, a physician's note must be provided to the school indicating such in order for the student to return to class. As always, the best way to reduce your students risk of infection is to practice good hand-hygiene.

The French Back-to-Back Program is looking for families who are willing to open their homes to a student from France for two weeks. The French students are coming here April 18-May 3, 2020. This program is a cultural exchange, with students looking to learn more about the United States, Michigan, and how we live.

Hosting Responsibilities:

• - The French student needs their own bed, but not necessarily their own room.
• - You do NOT need to know French.
• - The French student must come to NRMS every morning. They can ride the bus with your student, or be dropped off. This will also be the pick-up point every day after school. There is flexibility and carpooling available!
• - Hosting Fee: approximately $100 per family. This goes toward the activities we plan for the students during the day. We can do fundraising.
• - Chaperoning: The French students will go out on field trips most every day. They will need transportation and chaperones each day. You will not need to go EVERY day, hopefully just once.
• - Show your French student what life is like in a typical American family. Nothing fancy, just life. But hopefully fun!
• - Weekend time is spent with your family.

Contact Melissa Schmidt for more information: mschmidt@rockfordschools.org.

Another option for the program is called Back-to-Back. In this part of the program, you would host an eighth grade student from France for two weeks, April 18-May 3, 2020. Then your student travels to France for two weeks in June, right after school gets out. Ask Mrs. Schmidt about this amazing opportunity!

Know someone who would make a good guest teacher? Becoming a guest teacher is relatively simple. Candidates need one of the following:

• Current Michigan Teaching Certificate
• Expired Michigan Teaching Certificate
• 60+ credit hours from an accredited community college, university or college with no less than a 2.0 GPA, verified with official transcripts (this is a minimum standard and individual school districts may set additional requirements)
• Out-of-State Teaching Certificate with same transcript/GPA requirements as above

Note: this position requires a $45 substitute teaching permit which EduStaff will apply for. Also, anyone working in a K-12 setting must be fingerprinted and pass a criminal history background check. Candidates can log on to EDUStaff.org to start an application.