The GMA Gazette

8/22 - School Skating Party @ The Roller Cave, 6-8 pm. Free skating lesson from 5:30-6:00 pm.

8/30 - GMA Board of Directors meeting in The Birch Room, 5:30 pm

8/30 - PTO meeting in The Birch Room, immediately following the Board meeting

8/31 - School Picture Day

9/1 - Remote Learning Day for all students

9/4 - Labor Day, no school

9/15 - First Day of Hispanic Heritage Month

10/4 - Parent/Teacher Conferences, 4-7 pm

10/5 - Early Release Day - All Pre-K dismiss at 11:30 am - All K-8 dismiss at 12:00 pm

10/5 - Parent/Teacher Conferences, 12:30-5 pm

10/6 - Early Release Day - All Pre-K dismiss at 11:30 am - All K-8 dismiss at 12:00 pm

10/9-13 - Fall Break - no school

10/20 - End of Quarter One

10/27 - Q1 Progress reports shared electronically with families

Please be sure to notify the school if your child will be absent. Families should call the front office at (317) 813-4626 and select option 1 from the menu to reach the attendance line.

Our office staff makes daily attendance calls to families at 10:00 am after classroom teachers have submitted their attendance for the day. We want to make sure our students are safe and healthy when they are not here at school with us. Thank you for your help in reporting attendance in a timely manner.

We use OneCall Now as our mass communication system to send out alerts, updates, and school-wide communication such as The GMA Gazette. Most communications are sent through email, with a text alert to notify you that something has been sent from GMA.

When school is closed or delayed due to inclement weather, especially in the unpredictable Indiana winters, it is important that families receive the notification quickly and easily. The best way to ensure that you don't miss an announcement from GMA is to sign up for text alerts!

It's simple to sign up. Just text the word alert to 22300. That's it!

Please contact Ms. Beth at blarock@gma.k12.in.us if you have questions or need to add an additional phone number or email address to our OneCall Now system.

You may have heard that the Indiana Legislature passed a new state law (IC 20-33-7.5) that requires schools to notify parents of requests made by students to change the student's name or pronouns. For example, it is fairly common for a student named Madelyn to go by the name Maddie at school.

To ensure compliance with the new law, we are asking that parents/guardians please update their student's preferred name in PowerSchool prior to the first day of school. Parents/guardians should login to PowerSchool and navigate to the "Forms" page. From there, please select "Form A" and be sure to complete the fields labeled "Legal First Name," "Legal Last Name," and "Preferred First Name."

Making sure that these forms are up to date in your child's PowerSchool profile will help us as we work to make the first day of school fantastic for everyone.

Thank you for taking care of this important update.

As our school community grows and expands by over 100 new students, it will be more important than ever that everyone knows, understands, and follows our arrival and dismissal car line and traffic procedures. This document explains how our car lines work and gives specific, updated information about how we all work together to keep your children safe during arrival and dismissal. Please take a few minutes to review this document with anyone that will be driving your children to/from school.

NEW THIS YEAR: The McCordsville Police Department has informed us that our west end exit out of car line must be a right turn only access point due to increased local traffic on 900N. This is a change from last school year. Staff will be directing traffic at the west access so that traffic flows to turn right only when exiting the car line.

Car Line Points Worth Repeating (Again!):

• Car Line Numbers - Please have your family's car line number clearly displayed in the windshield of your vehicle during arrival and dismissal. Number tags will be distributed in classrooms during our Meet the Teacher event on Monday afternoon. Some families find it convenient to clip the tag to the sun visor and flip it down upon arrival. Others, use a pants/skirt hanger and hang it from the rearview mirror when they pull into car line. Find a system that works for you and go with it! Just make sure you have your number every day.
• Cell Phones - Do not use your cell phone in car line. Staff will ask you to refrain from this habit while our students' safety is of concern. Distractions of any kind must be avoided while in car line. Be alert and aware of children and staff members walking to/from vehicles.
• Follow the Instructions of Car Line Staff - We have plenty of staff assigned to help with arrival and dismissal. Please remain in your vehicle and watch for signals and instructions from our staff before you move your vehicle. Do not release your children from the car until staff have indicated it is safe to do so!
• Do Not Change Lanes - Stay in your lane during car line and do not try to change lanes for convenience. Everyone will be turning right out of the lot this year, anyway. So, there is no need to try to get in the "faster" car line lane. Once you reach the first playground fence, you are locked into your lane choice. Please do not change lanes after this point!
• Remind Your Child(ren) to Walk - All students are required to walk to and from the building during car line.

The first couple of weeks will be slower as everyone learns the routine for car line. Please be patient and gracious with each other and model these traits for your children as you navigate the traffic in car line. Working together, we can help keep everyone safe and traffic flowing smoothly for all this year!

In partnership with CIRTA, GMA is once again offering the School Pool system for families interested in arranging a carpool to/from school.

All families are automatically included in this database system unless you elect to opt-out. If you would like to opt out of this system, please email Ms. Susan immediately at szachary@gma.k12.in.us.

Information is not stored in this database from year to year. Therefore, it is important that you elect to opt-out each school year if you do not wish to be included in this optional system.

All questions relating to the School Pool should be directed to Ms. Susan Zachary at szachary@gma.k12.in.us.

Did you know that Geist Montessori Academy is one of the five Hancock County Public School members of the Hancock County Promise? The Promise program is a program for Kindergarten students and has been a part of Hancock County since 2017. This year the program has a slightly new look (logo) and with the new look, the steering committee has decided to offer a “catch-up” opportunity for any child that has been a part of the kindergarten cohorts since 2017. So, if your child is currently in grades K-6 (class of 2030, 2031, 2032, 2033, 2034, 2035, and 2036) this year and missed their previous opportunity as a kindergartener to sign-up for the Hancock County Promise this year is for you!

What is the Promise program you ask? The Hancock County Promise GIVES you FREE MONEY for your child!!! Yes, that is correct FREE MONEY for your child!!! I know, you are thinking there is a catch....NO!!! There is NO catch!! If you sign-up, you get a FREE CollegeChoice 529 Direct Account for your child and we will deposit a one-time deposit of $25 of community-donated money into the account!!! Do NOT delay, sign-up Today!

1. Please visit our webpage here and click the “how it works” page also found HERE. There are only 8 short steps to sign up!
2. Already have a CollegeChoice 529 Direct Account for your child? Complete The Hancock County Promise form HERE (include your Ugift code) and your child will be part of our program and eligible for all our incentives. Note, you must have a “Direct Account” we cannot link an “Advisor Account”.
3. If you signed up your child previously for the Hancock County Promise you don’t need to do anything as your child is still a part of the program.

The steering committee is also offering eight (8) random drawing scholarships for $250 each!! More information will be shared soon about this scholarship opportunity.

If you have questions please email or call HCP chairperson Dr. Scott Shipley at scott.shipley@mvcsc.k12.in.us 317-485-3100.

Hello GMA families! My name is Taylor Speer and this year I am taking the role of the school's Wellness Coach. This will be my third school year here at GMA, and I am so excited to be taking on the primary role of the Wellness Coach.

As the Wellness Coach, I will be facilitating whole class and small group lessons on Social Emotional Learning (SEL), supporting individual needs in the classroom as they relate to SEL, and connecting families to outside resources as needed/requested. I am here to support you and your child to the best of my ability, to make this school year the best it can be for each student and family!

Frequently Asked Questions:

What is SEL?

SEL is the focus of social, emotional, and related life skills that teach about attitudes, behaviors, and values that help direct students in everyday situations. This includes processing thoughts, dealing with and managing big emotions and feelings, and decision-making skills that will help students find success.

How will we know what class lessons will be given?

Ms. Taylor will contribute an update to the Gazette about the class lessons taking place in each classroom. Class lessons will be monthly and will include a social story, discussion, and an activity. The first school-wide focus will be on conflict resolution for the month of September.

If, at any point during the school year, you have questions or want to reach me, please feel free to email me at tspeer@gma.k12.in.us. I am happy to help families in any way that I can!

It's almost time for our annual elections for Student Council representatives! Ms. Jennie, one of our Middle Elementary teachers, is our sponsor for Student Council. She works with class representatives to plan and organize events, fundraisers, spirit weeks, and projects for our school community.

Being a member of the GMA Student Council is a privilege and a big responsibility. Student Council members are student leaders and are expected to act as such at all times. Members of the Student Council are held to a high standard academically and behaviorally. To participate in Student Council, all members must be in grades 3-8, sign a code of conduct, and adhere to the expectations. If a student cannot meet the requirements listed, they will be asked to step down from Student Council.

Expectations for Student Council Representatives

• Be able to collaborate and work as a team

• Attend all meetings and all Student Council-sponsored events

• Plan agenda for meetings

• Develop enjoyable activities for meetings

• Work together to write monthly updates for the school newsletter

• Work together to advertise events

• Be creative and open-minded during brainstorms - exhibit Grace and Courtesy

• Develop new school events and acts of kindness activities

• Comfortable and willing to communicate with Ms. Jennie and the administration

• Be willing and able to attend all monthly meetings.

Letter of Intent to Run

This is a brief letter introducing yourself and why you would like to run for Student Council. It must be typed or written neatly. This letter must be signed by your classroom teacher confirming that you are a responsible student.

Please submit your Letter of Intent to Ms. Jennie by 3:30 Thursday, August 31st.

Preparing an Election Speech

Once you have submitted your letter, you may begin working on your election speech to present to your classmates. Elections will occur Wednesday, September 6 in each Middle Elementary, Upper Elementary, and Middle School classroom. We will announce representatives on Friday, September 8th.

Student Council Speeches MUST be turned in to Ms. Jennie no later than Sept. 5th. You will not be allowed to run without speech approval from Ms. Jennie.

The first Student Council meeting will be after school on Tuesday, September 19. We will meet directly after car line until 4:30 pm.

GMA is seeking an individual to fill the role of Technology Coordinator at our school. If you or someone you know would be a good fit for this position, please reach out to Ms. Jen at jgosch@gma.k12.in.us. The pre-application for employment can be found here, and the job description is available below.

Thank you for helping us find the right person for this job to support our school community through technology!

August 31 is School Picture Day here at GMA. Families who wish to order school pictures can do so online here using the code 78456PB.

A picture retake day will be scheduled later this fall for any student who is absent on August 31.