BRMS Newsletter 8/30/24

TSD @ Home-School Remote Learning. “How to” Translate Newsletter Guide

TSD @ Home- Aprendizaje remoto escolarGuía para traducir el boletín informativo

Sep. 2: Labor Day Holiday - No School

Sep. 3: No School For Students Only - Staff PD Day

Oct. 3: LISA Showcase - 5:30pm to 6:00pm

Oct. 11: No School For Students Only - Teacher Work Day

Oct. 15: Student Picture Retakes

Oct. 16: Parent/Teacher Conferences - more info to come

Oct. 17: Parent/Teacher Conferences - more info to come

Oct. 18: No School

BRMS Families,

Happy Friday, and let me start by wishing you a wonderful four-day weekend! (Well, your kids get four, at least.)

It’s been a great week here at school! We had a successful fire drill on Tuesday morning, Our Arts Academy After School program is off and running with an impressive turnout of students. Athletically, the Wolf Pack is doing an outstanding job. We close out the week in that department with our JV Volleyball games tonight and cross country taking on Fort Collins tomorrow morning.

At this point, all students (7th grade now, too) should have grades arriving and viewable in your parent portal. Have you taken a look? Now is the time to check in with your student about anything that is missing or anything that has been given a “1.” Here is a conversation chart to help you best understand the proficiency-based system.

• 3.1-4.0= A (90-100%)- Exemplary

• 2.6-3.0= B (80-90%)- Meets Expectations

• 2.0-2.5= C (70-79%)- Progressing (approaching expectations)

• 1.6-1.9= D (60-69%)- Progressing (assgnment has been turned in)

• 1.0-1.5= F - Insufficient evidence, Fails to meet expectations/ missing assignment

• 1.0/ IE- Missing Assignment

If all goes to plan, we will be sending home progress reports that summarize your student's grades (academic/ work habit) as well as attendance and behavior incident counts. We want you to be informed and ask questions. It can feel powerless to come to the end of a quarter, find out there have been grade or behavioral concerns, and not know how to help your student dig out from a significant performance issue. Early collaboration with the school is key!

In other news, I’ve uploaded another video I shared with students this week. The topics for the week were:

• Our Courtyard (code-switching)

• And the use of profanity in the school setting

What is code-switching? Code-switching is what you and I think of as “reading the room.” It’s the important social skill of recognizing that different behaviors (voice volume, dress, language etc…) are appropriate for various settings and situations. Working on a car (at least what I saw when I grew up) seemed to require an expletive or two to get the springs off the brake shoes on my dad’s suburban. Whereas, at the dinner table or in church, such language was never heard.

Code-switching at school means recognizing that foul/course language is never deemed appropriate within a school setting. Voice volume in our courtyard (playground) differs from acceptable voice volume in hallways or as students enter a classroom. Feel free to use this same terminology as you help your teenager navigate the different places you go as a family (grandma's house, a restaurant, Walmart, school, etc.…). Their ability to read a room will serve them well, especially as they seek to become employed in the not-too-far future.

Let’s take a quick look at the week to come.

• Monday 9/2- Welcome to September & No School- Labor Day

• Tuesday 9/3- No SCHOOL- TSD Staff Professional Development Day

• Wednesday 9/4

• Late start Wednesday schedule (school doors open at 9:40 AM)

• VB VS. Turner at BRMS @ 4:15

• Thursday 9/5

• Arts Academy After School (4:05-5:30)

• XC at Monfort Park

• Friday 9/6

• JV Volleyball game 4:14-5:15

Last thing before I go! You and your family are invited!

I want to invite you to a family movie night (see flyer below)! We’ll be viewing Disney’s McFarland USA and hearing from Thomas Valles, a motivational speaker and the person the McFarland USA story is based on. The evening is free and will include free popcorn, drinks, and pizza. Here are the details!

• BRMS Family Movie Night!

• Wednesday, September 18th

• House opens at 5:30- The movie begins at 6:00

• Location 5420 N Taft Avenue (Crossroads Church has been gracious in giving us space for the event)

• Movie: McFarland, USA- PG-13

I hope you have a wonderful (extended) weekend, BRMS!

Sincerely,

John Kleiber

Principal

john.kleiber@tsd.org

970-613-7206

All instructional fees, class course fees and sports fees as applicable have been posted to your student's portal account. Please check your student's portal account for any outstanding fees they may have.

Online Payment Option: Campus Payments

Campus Payments is an online payment system for parents to use as an option to make fee payments by credit or debit card. Parents can pay student fees directly from their parent portal accounts. Parents can pay fees in the portal account by navigating to the fees tab and adding fees owed to their cart. Campus Payments currently accepts Visa, MasterCard and Discover.

You can also pay in the BRMS main office with a credit card, cash or check. Please be advised that all fees that are unpaid remain on your student's account through high school and may delay them from getting their diploma when they graduate.

If you have applied and been approved for free and reduced meals and still see a fee on your student's account, please email a copy of your approval letter to Tracy Ubrun at tracy.ubrun@tsd.org so we can clear your student's fees.

Dear parents,

School pictures are ready!

To order, log in to your account on mylifetouch.com or create an account using your student's school ID number.

All families can also log on and order a FREE Digital SmileSafe card.

More about the Smilesafe program here.

Thank you!

Auditions for Puffs, the fall play, are fast approaching! If you are interested in auditioning for an acting role or being part of the tech crew please see the flyers below for more information or stop by and see Mrs. Anderson!

Hey Wolfpack!

This week on 9/3 we have swimming and diving going back to Windsor, with a bus leaving BRMS at 3:00pm (no school for students that day). There is a return bus as well.

VB against Turner at home on Wednesday 9/4 with 6th playing first, then 7th and 8th. JV will go to Erwin on the 9/6, and start as close to 4:30pm as possible. There will not be a bus to Erwin.

XC goes to Montfort Park on Thursday 9/5 .

REMINDER: Please take care of all athletic fees by going to Infinite Campus and selecting FEES (not school store). Athletic fees are $75!

GO PACK!

Jayna Custer

Physical Education/Health

Athletic Director

Bill Reed MS

Please join our multilingual families across the district on September 5 at Mehaffey Park for pizza, dessert from Rainbow Paleta Bar, yard games, and community resources. This event is completely free and is a chance for our multilingual families to celebrate the start of the school year as a community. The information can be found here in multiple languages.

Hello and welcome to a new school year. I wanted to share a little information about a club that provides students with an opportunity to travel internationally!

We use EF, Education First, travel to see the world, learn and experience different cultures and locations. This allows students to travel with a group of peers/friends and see places in the safest way possible chaperoned by me, Tina Smith. I announce a new destination, before conferences, so keep an eye out for this and start saving!

2025- Ireland/England

2026- Keep looking here! I will start posting clues very soon.

Order your 2024-2025 BRMS Yearbook now using the QR code!

Please make sure you can access your Parent Portal account TODAY: Parent Portal

If you do not remember your log in (it is usually your email address) and/or your password: hit the "Forgot Password" and/or "Forgot Username" buttons. If you do not hear back in 2-3 business days, please email helpdesk@tsd.org and give them your name and your students name/date of birth and ask them for your login/password information.

Almost all communications are sent out through email. Please make sure your email address is updated through Parent Portal. You may also find grades, teacher emails, missing assignments, and attendance information on Parent Portal.

Student passwords can be found through parents Parent Portal accounts. The three lead characters necessary for your student's new password can be found on the parent's portal main page. On the left hand side menu choose "more", under "quick link" click on "student log in information".

Please make sure your student's primary household address, listed on Parent Portal, is up to date: https://thompsonco.infinitecampus.org/campus/portal/thompson.jsp

IF you need to update your students primary household address, please send a picture of your most recent City of Loveland/Xcel bill OR the top page of your lease to angela.wilson@tsd.org . The picture needs to be of the entire page, listing YOUR name and the SERVICE/RESIDENTIAL address. It cannot be updated through Parent Portal.

To find your boundary school, please click: SCHOOL BOUNDARY LOCATOR and enter your address.

If you would like your student to attend a different school...other than your boundary school...you will need to fill out a Choice Enrollment Application: CHOICE ENROLLMENT APPLICATION

Please make sure you can access your Parent Portal account TODAY: Parent Portal

Please log into your Parent Portal account and update your information and permissions for the 24-25 school year. BRMS appreciates you keeping your students information up to date in case of an emergency.

For Annual Family Check In directions:

https://www.tsd.org/enrollment/registration/annual-family-check-in

The Thompson School District Nutrition Services department is dedicated to providing delicious meals that support student growth and achievement.

Great care is taken by highly qualified staff to ensure Thompson School District’s breakfast and lunch menus meet or exceed United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) quality and nutrition standards. We source clean label, fresh and local items to include in our recipes and menus. Our department adheres to strict food safety standards and practices to keep customers safe and healthy.

With the passage of Healthy School Meals for All in Colorado, we are excited to be able to offer breakfast and lunch at no cost to students, regardless of income or meal benefit status.

All families are still asked to fill out an application. Why? The Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA) program is funded in partnership with federal nutrition programs that rely on income information to support meals for all students. Other state and federal grants are awarded based on free and reduced meal eligibility rates. Additionally, families that qualify may receive discounted or waived fees for programs inside and outside of the school district. Applications are available to all households at school sites and online at https://linqconnect.com/main.

Applications need to be completed annually (after mid-July) for the new school year. The information provided on the application is confidential and is not shared without your consent. If you would like to share the information with the school, please be sure to check the box on the application. This will help us in ensuring fees are cleared as applicable.

While meals are free for all students this year you may want to have funds available for additional meal components and / or a la carte purchases like snacks or milk.

Nutrition Services is excited to share that we have contracted with a new software company to manage our meal and application program. My School Bucks is no longer active but the new software is called LINQ Connect and all student balances have been moved to the new software. There are many new features that this program offers which weren't available before so we're sure you're going to love it!

Please visit the link below to register and create an account along with frequently asked questions.

LINQ Website: https://linqconnect.com/main

LINQ FAQ's: https://linqconnect.com/main/faq

We also accept cash and checks at each school’s cafeteria; please give cash or checks directly to your school’s cafeteria staff.

Please help sustain the meal programs by keeping your student’s account current or filling out an application for benefits.

Families that qualify for busing should be able to see their student's bus route # in parent portal. If you do not see a route and believe your student qualifies for busing please reach out directly to the transportation department 970-613-5185.

Please remember to bring your ID with you when you come to the school to pick up your student. Anyone signing a student out from school before the end of the school day will be asked to present an ID before the student will be released each and every time.

Please also be aware that the curbside in front of BRMS is the designated unloading and loading lanes for school buses. Please do not park in the bus lanes during designated hours as posted.

Classes are from 8:50am to 4:05pm on M-T-Th-F. The cafeteria opens at 8:30am and the front door at the main entrance will open at 8:40am. Students cannot be on campus before 8:30am and must leave campus when they are released at the end of the day. Classes begin promptly at 8:50am. Students arriving after 8:50am will be considered tardy.

Wednesday, classes are from 9:50am to 4:05pm. The cafeteria opens at 9:30am and the front door at the main entrance will open at 9:40am. Students cannot be on campus before 9:30am and again must leave campus when they are released at the end of the day.

The BRMS attendance line is available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Please report ALL absences on the Attendance Line - 970-613-7290.

Opened in 1918 as Loveland High School, it became Bill Reed after the present Loveland High School opened in 1964. Bill Reed was a teacher, coach and Army general.

Email: tracy.ubrun@tsd.org
Website: https://www.thompsonschools.org/BillReed
Location: 370 West 4th Street, Loveland, CO, USA
Phone: (970) 613-7200
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BillReedMiddleSchool