Did you know that GMA has a school wide attendance goal of 97% student attendance by 2027? Last year, with your help, we improved attendance rates at our school from a total of 662 student absences in the second grading period, decreasing to 614 in the third grading period, and dropping down to 530 in the fourth grading period of the school year. For the first five weeks of this school year, our overall student attendance rate is at 97%! Hooray! 🎉
New state legislation, Senate Enrolled Act 282, requires schools to develop policies to deter absenteeism and promote student attendance. The attedance policy for GMA has been updated in alignment with the requirements of SEA 282 and can be found on page 20 of our Student Family Handbook.
Good school attendance is critical to your child's academic, social, and emotional success. Thank you for partnering with us in your child's education and helping to make sure they develop good habits for making school attendance a priority.
The GMA Student Council is happy to support the Disabled American Veterans' Field of Flags for a second year in a row.
DAV’s Field of Flags empowers our community to set up fields of American flags, all to honor local veterans and raise critical funds to support our ill and injured heroes. Each flag represents one veteran – and our unwavering commitment to serving all veterans after they’ve sacrificed so much for our country. All donations raise critical funds to support DAV’s life-changing services for veterans in need and their families.
If you would like to donate to this cause, you may do so through this link. We will be accepting donations from now until October 29th. Flags will be mailed to the school the first week of November. GMA will put our Field of Flags out on County Road 900 N. the week of November 11th in honor of Veteran's Day.
If you would also like to send a picture of the Veteran in your family and a brief description of who they are and which branch of service they were in, we would like to create a display to recognize service members and their students/families.
Please have students bring these pictures to Ms. Jennie in the Sassafras Classroom or you can email them to jblackburn@gma.k12.in.us with the subject line "Veteran photo." Please note that photos will not be returned, so please be sure to send in a copy that the school can keep, not one that is a prized family heirloom.
You may or may not know that our school's funding is based on the number of students we have enrolled each year. Over the last two years we have experienced significant growth in enrollment and have added SIX NEW CLASSROOMS and a FOURTH SPECIAL AREA CLASS to our programming. It is amazing to be able to offer our school community everything that a Montessori public education at GMA has to offer.
That being said, we are not quite at our targeted enrollment number for this school year. We have openings available at each age level from Kindergarten to 6th grade. You can help us meet our enrollment goals by sharing GMA with your friends, neighbors, family members, and social circles. Meeting our enrollment goal each year helps us continue to be able to offer your children the highest quality Montessori public education possible. It's what makes it possible to keep our student to teacher ratio much lower than that of the traditional schools around us. It helps us bring new programs and experiences to your children. It's what keeps things running smoothly!
Here are some easy ways that you can help us reach our goal this year:
- Be sure to follow our school Facebook page and share our posts on your own page.
- Like and comment with your positive GMA experiences when you see our posts shared on Facebook.
- Take a moment to write a positive Google, Yelp, or Niche review.
- Wear your GMA spiritwear out and about to spark conversations.
- Talk to other parents in your neighborhood, on sports teams, at swimming lessons, at church, or at playdates. The very best compliment we can receive is the referral of your friends and family to our school!
- We have signed up for booth space at the remaining dates for the Market in McCordsville, Fortville Farmers Market, and the Fort Ben Farmers Market. You can help us staff these booths and share GMA with our community! Sign up to volunteer here!
We've found that many people in our community don't realize that GMA is a tuition-free, public school. Several new families have shared with us that they always thought Montessori meant private school with an expensive tuition. Sometimes, just letting others know of your own amazing experiences with our school community is all it takes to spark an interest and open the door for a conversation about school choice and the options families have in our area.
Thank you for helping us spread the word that GMA is the best place to be!
Wow! Our GMA Community is the absolute best when it comes to supporting our teachers and classrooms! As of today, these are the stats on our SchoolStore Fundraiser:
- 63% student participation rate
- $16,930 in gift cards donated directly to our classrooms
- $1,662.01 in cash back rewards donated to our school
Don't forget that this fundraiser will be ongoing throughout the school year. Remind your friends and family members that they can keep supporting GMA simply by shopping through the SchoolStore link when they do their regular online shopping. This is a great option for online holiday shopping in the next couple of months!
For a list of participating retailers and the percentage they donate back to our school, please take a look at the flyer below.
CLICK HERE to show our valued teachers your support.
The Scholastic Book Fair will be set up at GMA October 8-11th. Please click here for more information.
Students will be able to shop at school using eWallets during school hours. Parents can shop with during Parent Teacher Conferences October 9 and 10.
Please note: We will not accept cash for purchases at the Book Fair. Students must use eWallets to shop during school hours. Only payment by card or check will be accepted during conferences.
If you would like to volunteer for a shift at the book fair please reach out to Ms. Beth via email at blarock@gma.k12.in.us.
Foodie Friday
Sept. 20 from 5- 7:30pm
Join us for an evening of Food, Fun, and Friends at GMA. We will have food trucks and some outdoor games. Bring your favorite lawn chairs, yard games, and people and come spend an evening eating, playing, and socializing at the school. Food trucks and parking will be in the front lot and we will close off the car line for people to hang out and play games. More information coming soon!
Family Directory - LAST CALL
Make sure to submit your information for inclusion in the family directory by September 16. Click here to fill out your family's information.
Kindergarten Moms Meet-Up
One of the Kindergarten parents has created a Mom’s Night event for Kindergarten moms on September 27 from 7pm to 9pm. The event will be at Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in Fishers! Participants will receive free Blowouts, snacks, and drinks!!! Kindergarten moms should RSVP to Rebecca Miller at Beccabeeler@gmail.com by September 13!
KROGER COMMUNITY REWARDS
PLEASE NOTE: If you had already had the previous PTO as your community rewards organization, you MUST change to the new organization; we had to get a new Tax ID and 501c3 and the old account is lost to us. Log in to your Kroger Account. Then Search for Geist Montessori Academy PTA or RW689 and make the PTA your charity of choice! Then all you have to do is shop at Kroger and the PTA will get some donations! https://www.kroger.com/account/communityrewards/
JOIN THE PTA
This PTA is working hard to build a strong foundation to support our students and teachers and to create an even better GMA for our kids! We want to be an inclusive, diverse, and open community and to do so, we need our families to JOIN US!!!
PTA Website
Click here to check out the website and learn more about our PTA.
The Indiana Fierce 16U, a softball team of talented young ladies aged 16 and under from across Indiana, many of whom are local, will be holding a fundraising rummage sale in the parking lot at GMA from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm on Saturday, September 28. The team is based in Pendleton, Indiana. All proceeds will go towards covering tournament fees, allowing these athletes to compete in softball tournaments throughout the state. Stop by and support this community group on the 28th!
It is important that everyone in our school community remains committed to keeping our car line running safely and effectively all year long. After a month of school, it seems some have gotten very comfortable and are not following all of the car line expectations.
Please be mindful of these reminders:
- Your car line tag must be displayed before you pull into our driveway. This helps staff make sure you get in the right line.
- A YELLOW car line tag is required to be in line between 8:00-8:15 am. If you do not have a YELLOW car line tag, please do not arrive on campus before 8:15 am. The GREEN tag car line opens at 8:15 am.
- Families who have children in PK/K and also grades 1-8 will have both a YELLOW and a GREEN tag for car line. Please clip these tags together and write "AM" on the YELLOW tag and "PM" on the GREEN one. Then, flip to the YELLOW side for drop-off in the morning and then to the GREEN side for pick-up in the afternoon. This helps our car line staff tremendously! Remember, if you have both color tags, you drop off with the youngest car line and pick up with the oldest car line.
- Families with a YELLOW car line tag must park in the front parking spaces and walk their child into the office to sign in as tardy if they arrive on campus after 8:15 am. Families with a GREEN car line tag are tardy if they arrive on campus after 8:35 am.
- Families with GREEN car line tags arriving on campus after 3:35 pm must park and come to the office to sign their child out. Car line ends promptly at 3:35 pm as staff have other duties to end the day. Vehicles will not be permitted through car line if they arrive on campus after 3:35 pm.
- DO NOT cut through the parking lot aisles during car line. YOU MUST follow the arrows painted on the blacktop to serpentine through the lot and enter the line at the northeast corner of the property.
- Please slow down when driving through car line. There is no need to speed!
- Please be sure to form three lanes when you exit the serpentine pattern through the aisles. This helps us get as many vehicles into the line as possible to avoid backing traffic out onto the roadways.
- DO NOT use your cell phone during car line. Staff will ask you to put it away and remind you to help us keep everyone safe. Indiana is a hands-free state and cell phone use is not permitted while driving.
- No one will be permitted to line up early for any car line. Due to the volume of traffic and the need to run two separate car lines through the serpentine pattern, we will require all families to abide by the updated expectations. Please plan accordingly and do not arrive on campus before your scheduled drop off or pick up time because you will be asked to leave in order to keep traffic flowing for everyone.
- DO NOT use Traditions at Brookside as a turn-around point. You must go through a neighborhood to safely turn around or use the safest route by heading north or south on Carroll Road to an eastbound roadway of your choice.
- DO NOT use resident driveways as a turn-around point.
- DO NOT make a u-turn on 900N.
- ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT PEDESTRIANS HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY. We have a handful of families who walk their student to school. Please make sure that you are allowing them to cross the street safely by stopping completely at the crosswalks.
- If you have concerns about traffic safety around our campus, please call the non-emergency number for the McCordsville Police Department at 317.335.2812.
9/15 - Market in McCordsville, 1-4 pm in McCord Square
9/19 - Fort Ben Farmers Market, 4-7 pm
9/20 - Foodie Friday Food Truck Night with PTA, TBA
9/25 - Board of Directors Meeting, 5:30 pm in the Maple Room
9/26 - Fort Ben Farmers Market, 4-7 pm
9/28 - Indiana Fierce 16U Softball team fundraising rummage sale, 9 am-4 pm
10/1 - Dine to Donate at Puccini's Geist, 4 pm-close - see flyer below
10/3 - Fort Ben Farmers Market, 4-7 pm
10/9-10 - Parent Teacher Conferences
10/10-11 - Early Release Days (All PK/Kdg dismiss at 11:30 am, everyone else dismisses at noon)
10/14-18 - Fall Break, no school
10/23 - Board of Directors Meeting, 5:30 pm in the Maple Room
10/23 - School Skating Party, 6:00 pm at The Roller Cave
10/25 - PTA Fall Festival
10/27 - Town of McCordsville Trunk or Treat, 4-6 pm at Outlook Church
10/31 - Idiom Day at 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.