GMS Weekly Newsletter

Good Afternoon Wolf Pack Families,

I hope that all of you had a great week. Our students are settled and are familiar with the routines of our school. I am so proud of our students who have continued to follow the "Geisler Way," since we have been back in school.

Next week is busy! On Monday, Sept 16 at 5:30, we will be meeting with 8th grade parents/guardians who have students that are interested in attending our Washington DC trip in the spring of 2025. Curriculum night begins on the same evening at 6:30. This is a great chance to become informed about individual teacher expectations and the outstanding curriculum being taught across grade levels throughout WL Middle Schools. This evening is intended for adults and classroom concerns/questions about your individual child should be emailed to teachers.

iReady assessments in Math and English Language Arts begin next week and we encourage you to have conversations with your student about the imporance of giving their best effort. Please have your student bring their fully charged laptop/chromebook to school each day. If they have headphones that connect to their device, please have them bring those as well. A good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast are also encouraged!

I am encouraging ALL families to be a part of our awesome PTSA Fundraiser. We are SO close to winning the "Best Day Ever Party" for our students. Please see below for details on how you can participate. This week we gave away 30 fabulous prizes to students who have already entered.

Wising you all a fantastic weekend,

Stuart Riley

Principal, Geisler Middle School

Upcoming Events

9/16-8th Grade DC Trip Parent Meeting-5:30 PM

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

9/17-Volleyball vs. Oak Valley-Home (Change of Date!)

9/17-Schoolwide iReady Testing-ELA

9/18-XC Meet vs. Smart-Away

9/18-Volleyball vs. Pierce-Away

9/19-Schoolwide iReady Testing-Math

Only a few more days left to get those donations in for our Next Level Fundraiser… Keep Going!!

Donations and fundraisers help the PTSA cover:

💸 Student Scholarships – Providing financial support for students in need.

👏 Positive Behavior Incentives – Rewarding students for making good choices.

🎓 8th Grade Activities – Supporting activities like the 8th grade celebration breakfast, the 8th grade dance, and the trip to Washington DC.

🚌 Field Trips – Helping students experience learning beyond the classroom.

🐾 Gus, Our Therapy Dog – Supporting the well-being of our students with Gus’s calming presence.

It’s not too late to register your student so they can participate in the BEST DAY EVER! Follow these steps:

Go to https://app.pop4kids.org/reg/code/JWTJK

Follow the prompts to register your student(s)

Add 10 email addresses (they only get 1 email won’t be spammed! OR

Donate $50 after registering

Our goal is 100% participation at the BEST DAY EVER and it’s so easy!

GEISLER GEAR

Save 30% on ALL spirit wear in our spirit wear store until 9/17! Shop the sale: https://1stplace.sale/47847

School Board Candidate Forum: 9/26/24 - Meet the Board of Education Candidates, ask them questions, and hear about their platforms starting at 7pm in the auditorium at Walled Lake Central. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Walled Lake PTSA Council.

Website | Facebook | Email | Become a PTSA Member

Visiting team spectators should park on the north side of the school and enter through the visiting side entrance for admissions. Visitors attempting to enter on the home side will be directed to walk around to the visiting ticket booth.

Home side spectators should park on the south side of the school and enter through the home side entrance for admissions.

WLCSD Athletic events are now cashless. All tickets for home events MUST be purchased through the GoFan website (Walled Lake Western High School Events) or by using credit/debit card at the ticket booth. Pre-Purchased tickets will be the quickest way to enter games. NO SCREENSHOTS of tickets will be accepted for any athletic events. Anyone over 62 and under 5 years old are admitted at no charge.

Ticket Takers will be enforcing the following expectations for the safety of all. Admin and/or law enforcement on site will be contacted should any spectators refuse to comply.

-No Pets/animals are permitted on WLW’s property

- No alcohol, drug, tobacco, or any illegal substances are permitted on campus or on school property.

- There is NO RE-ENTRY to the stadium for any reason.

-No outside food/drink, coolers, thermoses, cups, bottles, cans, flasks, or any other outside containers (including open bottled water) are permitted inside the stadium.

-No electronic noise makers, speakers, or Bluetooth devices are permitted in the stadium.

-No parking in the bus loop on the south side. Violators will be ticketed.

-Bags are NOT permitted into the stadium unless they are clear/see-through. Any approved bag is subject to search by ticket takers, administration, and/or Oakland County Deputies on site.

All middle school and elementary school-aged children must be accompanied by their parent/guardian for the entire athletic event in order to attend any and all Western Athletic Events. Those who are not supervised, will not be permitted to enter the gyms and/or stadium or will be asked to leave if not continually supervised upon entering.

Our annual 8th grade trip to Washington, D.C. will be Tuesday, April 22 to Saturday, April 26. 8th grade parents are welcome to join us at our informational meeting on Monday, September 16 at 5:30pm in the GMS Cafeteria to hear details about the trip and learn how to register. Trip registration will open the day after our meeting.

ALL Geisler families are welcome to start raising money for their D.C. trip (even if the student is in 6th or 7th grade). Our trip fundraiser is underway and runs through Friday, September 20. Students can pick up their fundraiser packet from Mr. Yu or just outside the attendance office. Items can also be sold and shipped directly to family who live outside of the area. Click here for more information.

In the next few weeks and throughout the year, we will be conducting Safety Drills with our staff and students. These drills include Tornado, Fire and ALICE drills. ALICE is a federally endorsed safety protocol. ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. WLCSD has adopted ALICE curriculum/protocols for all of its schools. At GMS, we do our best to prepare our students for emergency scenarios, keeping in mind their social/emotional well being as well.

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

.

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.