Bulldog Bulletin

• Message From the Principal
• Important Dates
• Family Fun Night
• Middle School Visitation Day
• BARK Band Students for October
• SFA Dine Out Night For December
• SFA Meeting with HS Principals
• Panorama Survey
• School Choice Window
• Toys for Tots
• Coffee With the Superintendent
• 8th Grade Dance Theme Voting
• Open Coaching Position
• Wrestling
• Cheerleading Tryouts
• Friendsgiving in Ms. Alam's Class
• Schoology Access for Parents
• Basketball Tryouts
• SAFE-DE
• Transportation: WheresTheBus App
• Volunteering at Springer Middle School

Springer Families,

With the Thanksgiving holiday coming up I look forward to a tradition in my family of going around the table and stating what we are each individually thankful for. As I often talk about the “village” and that it takes one to raise our kids and that we are all part of the “Springer village” I want to share what I am thankful for with all of you. I am so thankful for the wonderful staff at Springer who come in and pour their hearts, souls, and minds into educating our students. Education is both extremely tough and rewarding. The flexibility, adaptability, and intellect it takes to this job is remarkable and our staff do it well day in and day out. I am thankful for the community who has embraced our vision and mission at Springer, which is to welcome students into a school that celebrates its diversity and works feverishly to develop our students into respectful citizens and successful students in high school and beyond. I appreciate how this community has trusted me to make the right decisions that are in the best interest of all students. Most importantly I am thankful for the diverse student body who makes up Springer Middle School. I have never learned more, laughed more, and grown more after one year at any other school than I have at Springer Middle School. I am thankful to this student body for making me a better administrator.

I hope that everyone has a safe and relaxing Thanksgiving break. Schools will be closed next week. There will be no Bulldog Bulletin next Sunday. Although we look forward to the break, we do look forward to welcoming students back on Monday, December 2.

If you have any questions, concerns, or need additional information please do not hesitate to contact me or one of my administrators. We are eager to help.

All The Best,

Dr. Sterling H. Seemans

Principal

2024-2025 Middle School Daily Rotation Schedule

BSD School Calendar

• 11/25-11/29/24: No School Thanksgiving Break
• 12/5/24: Springer Family Association Meeting w/ Presentations From All Three BSD Principals
• 12/6/24: Family Fun Night
• 12/15/24: Middle School Visitation Day 1pm-3pm
• 12/23/24-1/1/2025-Schools Closed for Winter Break

We are excited to welcome families to Springer Middle School on Friday, December 6 from 6pm-8pm.This is open to all Springer families and the cost is $5 per family. We will sell tickets at lunch the week we return and BARK band students and their families get in for free! We will have inflatables, an open gym, a dance, fire pits in the courtyard, and concessions for sale! This is a wonderful opportunity to come together as a community and spend a couple hours in our beautiful building doing fun activities with your families.

We were excited to recognize our BARK Band recipients for the month of October! These students were recognized by individual staff members for following our BARK expectations each and every day. Receiving a BARK band allows student entrance into dances and events for free. We will also randomly recognize these students through pop-up ice cream socials and other ways to celebrate their wonderful actions in and outside of the classroom.

The next Springer Family Association dine out night will be on Wednesday, December 11 from 4:00pm-8:00pm at the Panera Bread at 5619 Concord Pike. Either bring in the flier, show it digitately, or use the code FUND4U is ordering online. 20% of sales will be donated right back to the SFA, which helps provide support to the students and staff at Springer to help make it a great place to learn and work. We hope to see you on December 11!

Our next Springer Family association meeting will be Thursday, December 5 at 6:30pm in the auditorium. We are excited to welcome the principals from each of our three high schools who will present some brief information on their schools and who will be available to answer any questions for prospective rising 9th graders. We look forward to seeing you on December 5!

Dear Families,

We thank you for being our partners as we work together to educate your children.

As we enter our third year of participating in the Panorama Survey, we continue to address building social-emotional learning skills as an important goal for our school district. We will ask 6th – 8th grade students to reflect on their mindsets and approaches to learning via an online survey they will be completing at school. The survey shouldn’t take more than 20-30 minutes to complete.

There are two parts to the survey, which will ask students to self-reflect on:

Part 1: Sense of Belonging, Expectations, Classroom Learning Strategies

and Part 2: Mental Health, Diversity & Inclusion, and Cultural Awareness & Action.

The survey will launch and be available for student access from December 2nd - December 6th, 2024.

We are asking all of our students to participate in the survey. Their responses will provide insight into their experiences and how we can improve as a district. Panorama safeguards your privacy, keeping your students’ responses confidential. We thank you in advance for your participation.

The survey questions are available for you to preview on our website, https://www.brandywineschools.org/panorama.

Please notify us if you would like your child to opt out of taking the surveys by emailing Adrienne.Stansbury@bsd.k12.de.us no later than Friday, November 22nd.

Apply now for school choice for the 2025-2026 school year! Families interested in enrolling their child in a school outside of their designated feeder school may submit an application through January 8, 2025. However, kindergarten applications remain open through the 1st day of school. Please note that current choice placements are specific to the school for which an invitation was accepted. Students currently in 5th or 8th grade who wish to attend a non-feeder school for the 2025-2026 school year must also apply during this enrollment window. All applications should be submitted online at www.SchoolChoiceDE.org. For questions, please contact: Choice@bsd.k12.de.us or (302) 793-5014.

Springer Bark Builders are collecting non-perishable food donations for our Thanksgiving food drive. The food drive will take place from November 1 - 19, 2024. Collection boxes will be set up in the main office, lobby and by the bus port. The winning grade level will receive an incentive.

Toys for Tots is a cherished initiative founded by the United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1947. The program’s mission is simple yet powerful: to bring joy to children in need during the holiday season by providing toys to those who may otherwise go without. It began when Marine Major Bill Hendricks and his wife, Diane, sought to deliver Christmas toys to children whose families could not afford them.

Springer Middle School will have a Toys for Tots collection box in our main office and will be collecting donations. Please bring unwrapped gifts to the main office to placed in our Toys for Tots box.

These materials are neither sponsored nor endorsed by the Brandywine School District. The Brandywine School District has neither reviewed nor approved the program, personnel, activities, or organizations announced in this flyer. Permission to distribute this flyer should not be considered a recommendation or endorsement of the program by the school district. The Brandywine School District shall be held harmless from any cause of action or claim filed arising out of the distribution of these materials, including all costs, attorney’s fees, and judgments or awards.

Come meet and chat with Dr. Lisa Lawson, the Superintendent of Schools! You will be allotted 15 minutes with Superintendent to address your concerns, discuss the future of BSD, and provide feedback on what needs improvement.

Please select which theme you would like to see for our 8th grade formal which is taking place on Saturday, May 17. Please do not share these themes with your child as these themes have traditionally been a surprise.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSewPL3oFcB7Lislf6sQ7fSRkKx_CfO1UkGc1WB99YO60vexeg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Springer Middle School is currently looking for a Girls' Assistant Basketball coach for our Winter season, which begins in November after Thanksgiving break. Any interested applicants are encouraged to reach out to Dr. Seemans at sterling.seemans@bsd.k12.de.us.

On Tuesday, the wrestling team pulled off something they haven’t been able to do in 15 years - and that is beat Gunning Bedford in wrestling. The Bulldogs rolled off win after win to start the match and compiled a 32 – 0 lead. However, Gunning Bedford closed that gap and pulled ahead 42 -38 going into the last match. In his heavyweight bout, Dan O’Brien used his defensive prowess to fight off his opponent and rolled through into a pinning combination to seal the win for Springer with a first period pin. It was an amazing all-around team effort by every wrestler and one of the most electric moments of Coach Salvatore’s career. Other wrestlers that won their individual matches were Chase Salvatore, Drew Covell, Jackson Kohr, Tyler Overly, Niko Vasko, John Hession, Jeff Porter, and Cole Miller. JV wins were scored by Cole Conrad and Ryder Hurst.

Springer wrestled district rival Talley at home yesterday and pulled out another close win in front of the home crowd. The team again jumped out to a huge lead, only to see Talley claw back into the match while they capitalized on some uncharacteristic Springer mistakes. This match again came down to the final bout, and just like he did on Tuesday, Dan O’Brien sealed the win for Springer with another 1st period pin. Other individual wins were posted by Chase Salvatore, Jaxon Kohr, Tyler Overly, Niko Vasko, John Hession, Carlos Martin-Moran, and Andrew Persing. JV wins were scored by Ryder Hurst, Landon Aston, Patrick Coffey, and Afiya Tooba.

Cheerleading sign-ups November 18th -December 2nd.

You can find the sign-up sheet on your Counselor's Corner.

Try-outs are December 3rd, 4th, and 5th.

You must have a completed DIAA form on file with the nurse before you can try-out.

Any questions, please see Mrs. Johnson in room 141.

Students in Ms. Alam's MLL class learned about Thanksgiving tradition and even participated in their own potluck lunch! Students were excited to partake in one another's cuisine in this diverse class of learners.

If you need help access Schoology as a parent to help support your child, please click the following link to access a document that will provide you step-by-step directions:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZjlNYAoqfGxHO3dciOvXU5JOb11Zj7-E69a7-lPn4w4/edit?usp=sharing

Anyone interested in trying out for boys or girls basketball should complete the signup form which can be found on the Counselor Corner Schoology page and Springer’s sports website. Boys tryouts begin December 2nd. Girls tryouts begin December 9th. You must have a DIAA physical on file with the school nurse. More information to follow. See Mr. O in the gym if you have any questions.

Families, you are encouraged to visit the following link on the BSD website to find out more information about Transportation. For your convenience, we have Where is the Bus app and a brand new bus scanner to help you see when your child(ren) are boarding the bus. Students will either enter their school IDs or lunch numbers. You will receive information in the upcoming weeks on when students will receive their school IDs. Happy Riding!! https://www.brandywineschools.org/families/transportation/bus-scanners

Springer Middle School relies on the generosity of time from our great families within the community. We welcome those who want to help be apart of our village and have a plethora of opportunities for volunteers to engage with our students and staff to better the middle school experience of our youth.

Parents who are interested in volunteering at Springer Middle School will need to follow the Brandywine School District's policy for background checks. Please follow this link: Volunteering at BSD to be properly cleared to work with our students. If you have questions, do not hesitate to contact the main office.

Background checks are good for 1 calendar year