Weekly Wildcat

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Dear Western families,

Welcome back from spring break! It was evident that parents were ready to send their children back to school by how well morning drop-off went on Tuesday. Kids we have never seen arrive on time were actually early, some parents barely stopped the car before driving away at a faster pace than we have witnessed before, and I was able to close the door by 8:02 with very few late arrivals. We should have a full week off every month to help motivate parents to get their child out of the house! I do hope that you all had a nice week with your child, and I am sorry my weather prediction did not pan out. The afternoons I imagined basking in the sun while watching GHS softball games turned into me bundled up in my winter coat with a blanket over me.

Besides attending 7 softball games (in the cold), I spent the break building my comfort level in having my oldest drive on her own with her new license. Those of you who have experienced this recently can feel my pain, as things have surely changed since we got our licenses. Gone are the days of having to parallel park, complete a K-turn, or take in-person classes. Now, you pay a large amount of money to have your child take on-line classes or learn from a textbook (you do at least get 8 driving lessons). Then you pay even more money to take the driving test in town with the chance to practice the route before the road test. You may be wondering why our kids do not have to struggle the way we did to get our licenses. Hence, why it has taken me 2 months to feel like she is ready to go out on her own. You are welcome for my part in keeping the roads of Greenwich a little bit safer for you all. I wish luck to all parents who are about to experience this with their child.

I want to end by sharing how honored and excited I am to be taking over as the next permanent principal of Western Middle School. I am so lucky to continue in a school that is extremely special to me, with the best staff, students and families in the district. I truly believe that the best of Western is yet to come, and I look forward to partnering with you to help your children not only grow into capable students who own their own learning, but also into good human beings who are kind to others.

Please continue reading to hear more about what is going on at Western, including some good news, which we all need more of these days.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. To those parents with a child going to Junior Prom this weekend like mine, get those cameras ready! I learned a new word through this process….Promposal. Email me if you want to know what that means!

Suzanne Coyne

suzanne_coyne@greenwich.k12.ct.us

(203) 531-5700

• Monday, April 29th: Fire Drill, 8:35am (Period 1)
  

• Monday, April 29th: Bus Safety Day, 9:30am-10:30am

• Tuesday, April 30th: Thursday, May 2nd: SBA Testing

• Tuesday, April 30th: 8th grade parents GHS House Orientation, 6:30pm, @GHS (check your emails for more information from GHS)

• Friday, May 3rd: Holocaust Presentation for 6th grade

In order to prepare for our upcoming spring concerts, students will be attending combined rehearsals in the auditorium.

Please be sure your child brings their instrument to school on the days of their combined rehearsals as well as the day of their typical band/orchestra class.

Upcoming Combined Music Rehearsals

Tuesday, April 30th: Period 1 & 2- 7th & 8th grade Orchestra

Period 3 & 5- 6th grade Band

Period 8 & 9- 7th & 8th grade Chorus

Wednesday, May 1st: Period 1 &2- 6th grade Chorus

Period 4- 6th grade Orchestra

Period 8 & 9- 7th & 8th grade Band

Thursday, May 2nd: Period 7- Pops Orchestra

Friday, May 3rd: Period 2- 7th & 8th grade Orchestra

Period 5- 6th grade Chorus

Period 7- 7th & 8th grade Chorus

Period 8- 6th grade Orchestra

I am so happy to share that Johanna Kolar, one of our 8th grade math teachers and our theater director, was selected as one of the six Distinguished Teachers this year for Greenwich Public Schools. It will come as no surprise to any of you who have had Ms Kolar as your child’s teacher or theater director that she is well-deserving of this award. Not only does Ms. Kolar go above and beyond to support her students, she does so much for the entire school community. As a colleague, she is someone ready to help others whenever needed and is a respected leader among the staff. As an administrator, she is someone I have depended on over the years, and I am in awe of everything she can accomplish. She is like the Energizer Bunny that just keeps on going! Please take the time to congratulate Ms. Kolar if she has touched your lives in some way.

Our 8th graders completed the NGSS (Science) state testing this week, and they worked REALLY hard. If any students missed either testing day, we will pull them to complete the testing. Next week starts our ELA and Math SBA testing. Testing will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. A reminder that we will be reducing the amount of homework and assessments during, so your child may actually be telling you the truth when they tell you they have no homework. Our PTA provides our students with healthy snacks each day (thank you!), but please encourage your child to get a good night’s sleep (I am sure many of you are laughing at the thought of that) and eat something more than a Pop Tart before they leave the house in the morning. Also, please remind them to charge their Chromebook and bring their ear buds/headphones. Thank you for your support!

I mentioned in my last communication how much of a success Career Day was on the day before break, but I need to share just how unbelievable the day was with some additional details and pictures. We had about 60 WMS parents, relatives or community members come and speak to our students on a variety of careers. Personally, I was able to hear from a 911 dispatcher, heart surgeon, financer, aviation captain and TV producer. Where can someone experience something that other than at Western Middle School on Career Day? Every room I visited was filled with engaged students asking very good questions. I don’t think we had any students sent to the office at all during the day, which says a lot! Thank you again to Kim Materese for organizing the day and all our community members who gave up their time to share their knowledge with our students. Below are some pictures of the day.

The team of Zander Bell and Lucas Magill competed in a Debate Tournament on Wednesday at Timothy Edwards Middle School in South Windsor CT. They did an outstanding job in presenting both sides of the Resolved: All incarcerated persons in CT should be given the right to vote. Both Zander and Lucas ranked in a 7th place tie for Speaker Awards out of 50 debaters. As a team, they won their first debate with ease but faced the top pair of debaters in the second round, and lost despite a season best (close to perfect) score of 55.5 out of 60. They finished in 5th place in total points overall out of 25 teams.

Both boys are looking forward to a successful High School Debating Career now that our season is over.

Order your WMS 2023-2024 Yearbook today! The link to purchase is here!. The price is now $40.

Here are the chances over the next 2 weeks to continue to support Western’s theater program while also eating some good food at Ollie’s 99 Restaurant (99 Railroad Ave, Greenwich).

• Friday, April 26th: Ollie’s 99 will offer a 25% donation to the Theater Club on all eat in or take out dinners, when using the code: WESTERN
• Monday, May 6th - Friday, May 10th: Ollie’s 99 will offer a 20% donation to the Theater Club on any gift cards purchased, when using the code: WESTERN

As the quarter starts, I want to include the homework pages for each team and World Language.

8th Grade:

• Orange Team (8A)
• Green Team (8B)

7th Grade:

• Yellow Team (7A)
• Purple Team (7B)

6th Grade:

• Red Team (6A)
• Blue Team (6B)

World Languages and Unified Arts