Weekly Wildcat Newsletter - Jan. 22

We had a great week with our F2F students and teachers back in the building. I was able to visit some classrooms and the work our students and teachers are doing is inspiring!

Today we celebrated our 2nd quarter Pride Wall recipients with a blended F2F and remote celebration. It was fun to have family members join us from all the country to celebrate these students. Congratulations again to all the students who were honored today!

A couple quick highlights in today's newsletter:

1. A fulltime virtual school for 2021-22 school year.
2. Spelling Bee results

Please take a moment to read these announcements and the other important notes including the PTO update.

If you have any questions, you can email me directly at petersonj1@fultonschools.org.

Have a GREAT weekend! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone Monday morning!

Congratulations to all of our students who participated in this year's Spelling Bee.

Our school winner is Nandana Jambulingam and runner up Zaha Qureshi. Congratulations!

Nandana will complete in the district bee this weekend. Good luck Nandana!!

A special thank you to Mary Deininger for all of her efforts with the Spelling Bee.

The Fulton County Board of Health and Fulton County Schools have developed an on-line portal for FCS parents/guardians to report student COVID-19 related cases. The portal has been updated for Spanish, Korean, and Chinese. FCS parent/guardians will find a dropdown at the top right for translations. www.fultonschools.org/ReportCOVID Please make a report to the FCBOH when your student is COVID-19 positive, has a pending COVID-19 test result, or has been in direct contact with a COVID-19 positive person. Also, please use this resource for official reporting rather than alerting the school and/or teacher. If you must engage the school/teacher, please do so after you have made an official report to the FCBOH. Lastly, to ensure the protection of our school community, please do not allow your child to attend school or school-sponsored events when he/she is ill and/or has any of the above COVID-19 concerns.

Beginning January 25, parents and students interested in a full-time online school option for School Year 2021-22 and beyond may submit an application via the FCS website. During the December Board Work Session, Dr. Gyimah Whitaker, Deputy Chief Academic Officer presented information about the school, including the origination of the concept and need. Now, more details are available for potential students to review via the Full-Time Online Schools’ information page, including a timeline and key milestones, proposed course offerings, examples of a “Day-in-the-Life” for students grades 3 through high school, and how to apply. The application portal will be open 12 a.m. EST on Jan. 25, close at midnight, Feb. 5. and can be found here.

Our team has started working with our feeder Elementary Schools and High Schools on next school year's scheduling. Important information and dates to remember are shared below. The timelines are different for our feeder high schools.

During this process we will continue to update and provide information to parents/guardians and students. These communications will be sent home through messenger by our Counselors and Grade Level APs, as well as updates in our Weekly Wildcat.

Questions?

Rising 9th Grade Parents/Guardians - contact Ms. Euodia Harris at harrise1@fultonschools.org

Rising 6th-8th Grade Parents/Guardians - contact Ms. Amber Manganelli at manganellia@fultonschools.org

During Spring Semester, attendance will be taken by the teacher for all students each class period. For F2F learners, students who are in class will be present. Students who are not in class will be marked “absent”. For remote learners, when the class is being taught live (synchronously), teachers will mark students who log in and actively participate, as “participated”. If a student does not log in to a live (synchronous) class or does not respond when called upon, he/she will not be marked as “participated”. If a student experiences a technical issue which prohibits him/her from logging into a live class, a parent or guardian should email the grade level Assistant Principal to resolve the absence within five school days.

6th grade: Amber Manganelli – manganellia@fultonschools.org

7th grade: Deana Skimel – skimel@fultonschools.org

8th grade: Ashley Poston – postona@fultonschools.org

Attendance for offline (asynchronous) classes will be determined by work submission and as defined by the teacher. If you do not have attendance alerts set up in Infinite Campus, please take time this evening to set them up, so you will be immediately notified if your student is not attending classes.

NMS Expectations for Remote Participation

Live/Synchronous Lessons

• Remote students should be in class (online) on time each period.
• Remote students will communicate/answer questions as directed by their teacher
• Remote students will have their camera on as directed by their teacher.
• Remote students will remain in class (online) as directed by their teacher.

Offline/Asynchronous Lessons

• Remote students will submit class work/assignments as directed by their teacher.

The Student Success Skills Inventory will be used to measure student growth across success skill standards as a result of ReThink Ed lessons. Students will complete the 15-20 item inventory between January 6, 2021 - January 29, 2021 and will take about 15 minutes to complete. The inventory will be pushed out to students in grades 3-12 using the Illuminate platform.

Students can choose to opt out of the Student Success Skills inventory. If you choose to opt out for your student(s), please send an email to the grade level Assistant Principal, with your student’s full name and student ID number.

Fulton County Schools is providing a temporary pay incentive to substitutes starting December 1st through the remainder of this school year. The following are the added incentives:

• Add an emergency substitute daily rate incentive (see below) that expires as of May 31st.
• If occurs, FCS will pay a quarantined individual substituting in the (teacher role only) a $75 flat daily rate for a maximum of 10 days during the quarantine period. The quarantine must be directed by a FCS COVID-19 Response Team nurse and the result of a direct contact with a positive COVID-19 staff/student while substituting at a FCS school. This is a one-time incentive.
• Increase the maximum number of substitute workdays per month from 17 to 20 days for the remainder of this school year.

New Substitute Rates with incentive

• Students are required to wear a face covering/mask while at school. Staff are also required to wear face coverings.
• If your child is sick, please keep them at home and make sure they are fever free for at least 24 hours before return.
• If anyone in your household has tested positive for COVID-19 and you have been advised to isolate or quarantine, please adhere to the public health guidance and do not send your student to school until after the noted timeframe.
• Encourage your student to wash hands frequently.
• If your child becomes sick while at school, you will be expected to be pick-up your child immediately.
• Please alert school administration of any COVID-19 related concerns.

We are attempting to limit visitors to the school and ask that our community only visit for essential reasons. We will make allowances for student who have forgotten things at home. There is no charge for breakfast or lunch in the cafeteria at this time, so parents/guardians do not need to deliver food for their students.

When visitors come to the school, they will be asked to complete a health assessment before entering the building. Wearing a mask is required and visitors will have their temperature checked upon entering the building. If you have to pick up your student or visit the school, please plan for these additional steps and come early.

Medications may be brought to the school. Prescription medications must be in the original container and labeled. All medications must be accompanied with proper medical forms. Please go to https://www.fultonschools.org/Page/7525 for forms and healthcare plans. Medications will be accepted by appointment only. Please call Mary Crandall at 470-254-8514 or send an email to crandall@fultonschools.org.

• In the event that your student has been exposed to Covid please inform an Administrator and your concern will be forwarded to Student Health Services for further evaluation.

• If your child develops a fever while in school, they will be isolated and you will need to pick them up immediately.

The Media Center will be closed to students until further notice. Students will have the opportunity to check out books online. These books will be delivered to students by our Media Center staff.

Northwestern is excited to offer a variety of clubs and activities this school year. Please visit the NMS website’s Quick Links and select Student Clubs and Activities to learn more about our offerings.

Special offerings to our 8th graders: upload your student’s baby pictures for free, purchase a shout out or ad to honor your special 8th grader. There are lots of options – check them out on the Balfour website when you order your yearbook.

Deadline for purchase is February 1st

Go HERE to read more about the offerings.

Questions can be directed to the yearbook team at nmsyearbookmiltonga@gmail.com

We need your help - The yearbook team is looking for pictures submitted by you in the following categories:

• First day of school pictures. Either first day of URL or F2F.

• Pictures of your Wildcat during URL- What does ‘school at home’ look like for your Wildcat?

• Pictures of your Wildcat after school, i.e. what activities are Wildcats involved in? Submit a picture of them doing what they love: football, cheer, swim, playing an instrument, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, etc.

**NMS students only PLEASE**

Submit your picture via the Image Share app- project number 125612 or via email (full size please) to nmsyearbookmiltonga@gmail.com

Deadline for submission/purchase is February 1st.

Let's grants some wishes for some little things to help our teachers teach. Some items, such as the rubber ducks, are used for student rewards while other items, such as LED lights, help create a better learning environment.

We have included a link to the specific wish item and the price at the time this list was created. But, as we all know, Amazon prices can change in the blink of an eye -- sometimes for the better.

You can have items shipped directly to the school (Northwestern MS: Attn PTO, 12805 Birmingham Highway, Milton, GA 30004) or have your student drop the item off at the front office. Use this Amazon Smile link to place your order and NMS will get a percentage of the total purchase price.

Follow this link to view and sign up for wish list items https://northwesternpto.membershiptoolkit.com/home

Home of the Wildcats!

Email: nmsfrontdesk@fultonschools.org
Website: https://www.fultonschools.org/northwesternms
Location: 12805 Birmingham Highway, Milton, GA, USA
Phone: (470) 254-2870
Twitter: @TheNMSWildcats

Our front office is staffed Monday-Friday from 8:25 am to 4:25 pm. From 4:25 pm to 5:00 pm an Administrator is on duty and available for phone calls in the front office.

Outside of these hours, you can send an email to our front office staff at nmsfrontdesk@fultonschools.org.

Thank you for your continued support of Northwestern Middle School!

Sincerely,

Joel - Principal

Northwestern Middle School: Teach Hard, Love Harder - The Wildcat Way!