Today was our annual Pink Out event. Thank you to the PTO volunteers and staff who made this event possible. We had homerooms that won pizza parties for participation, student and staff raffles, and lunchroom table decorating contests. There was LOTS of pink in the building and we raised almost $5,000.00 that will be donated to the Susan G. Komen foundation.

A big thank you to everyone who donated money and volunteered for this event!!

I hope all our families enjoy their weekend. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to email me at petersonj1@fultonschools.org.

I can't wait to see our students again on Monday!

• Wednesday, October 25 - 6th Grade Dance - 4:05pm-5:30pm
• Volleyball Game vs. River Trail MS - Girls @ 5:30pm, Boys @ 6:30pm

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's PINK OUT!

Thanks to the purchases and generosity of Northwestern families and staff, all AP's and Mr. Peterson got PINK hair! Students who have a parent who are currently fighting or are a cancer survivor were selected to spray the AP's hair. Two of our very own staff Survivors got the honors of turning Mr. Peterson's hair (and beard) PINK!

The following homerooms had the highest level of participation and will be winning a pizza party during lunch next Friday, 10/27.

6th Grade - Echeverria

7th Grade - Deal

8th Grade - LaFon

The Georgia Department of Education (GA DOE) requires all public schools to participate in their Georgia Student Health Survey. To see the GA DOE informational website click here. The survey has two parts: one for parents and one for students in grades 3 -12. Each school must have a 75% participation rate on the student portion of the survey. Schools failing to meet the 75% student participation rate will score 0.00 points on the school's CCRPI survey calculation under the survey portion of the School Climate Star Rating.

All Northwestern Middle School students will participate in this survey starting on Wednesday, November 1, 2023.

This GA DOE developed survey asks questions that are covered by the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA). For more information about PPRA, click here. PPRA requires that schools provide parents/guardians with advanced notice of student participation, the option to preview the student survey, and the ability for parents/guardians to opt their students out of any surveys that include PPRA protected areas. If you would like to opt your student out of participation in this survey, please email Mr. Peterson requesting that your student not participate in Georgia Health Survey prior to November 1, 2023.

For links to preview the student surveys, click on the links below.

Georgia Student Health Survey - Middle & High School (grades 6-12)

English - click here

Spanish - click here

The GA DOE also encourages parents to participate in the Georgia Parent Survey because schools with less than 15 parents participating in the Parent Survey will see a negative impact on their School Climate Star Rating for 2024-2025.

We would love to have a majority of NMS parents complete the parent survey. Any parent who completes the survey will earn 10 PBIS points for their student's PBIS Rewards account.

Simply share the survey completion screen (pictured below) to your student's homeroom teacher, and the teacher will award your student the PBIS points that can be used to purchase events or items from the PBIS store.

To complete the parent survey, please click on the link below.

https://gshs.gadoe.org/Pages/parent.aspx

The parent survey takes less than 5 minutes. I completed for my student's school already.

10 PBIS Rewards points given to students for parents completing the survey!

NMS Math Department Chair Mrs. Sherri Wylie presented the newly adopted Georgia Math Pathways for 6th - 12th grades at the PTO meeting on 10-17-23.

If you have questions about the new pathways adopted for this school year, this presentation will help clarify changes. Thank you SO much Mrs. Wylie for sharing your knowledge!

This week I was informed by Captain Fiorenza from our School Police Department that the City of Milton has requested a traffic pattern change for our morning arrival. I would like to emphasize this change was requested by the City of Milton. The intent of this change to our traffic pattern is to keep cars from backing up on Birmingham Highway.

Our School Police Officer will be in the intersection at 8:30 am each morning to enforce a right turn only coming out of our carpool line.

School Police has not informed us of the start date, but we wanted to communicate this change to you now. I will share the start date as soon as I know.

*The map below was provided by FCS School Police.

The Media Center is looking for hard cover picture books for our MIMO students. If you have any of the books below to donate, please send them to Ms. Tripp in the Media Center.

At Fulton County Schools, we prioritize student safety. Emergencies happen. When they do, preparedness is the key to handling them well. We ask that all parents or guardians who have not listed an emergency contact to update their emergency contact list to include one person who is not the parent/guardian. If the parent or guardian is not accessible due to an emergency, it is important that the school has an approved person to contact regarding your student.

Thank you for updating your emergency contacts at your earliest convenience.

Here are step by step instructions for updating your student’s emergency contacts and a link for doing so in the Parent Portal:

EMERGENCY-RELEASE-STUDENTS.pdf

Link to parent portal:https://www.fultonschools.org/infinitecampus

Our school website is full of information! The calendar is constantly updated with events from PTO, Fine Arts, Athletics and other school activities. There is a staff directory where you can get the email address of any staff member. Information on carpool, attendance, student handbook, bell schedule and more are located on the website!

Under the Academics Tab, you will find a list of department chairs, a curriculum guide, as well as the assessment calendars for each grade. Take a look to see any upcoming test or quizzes for your student. A list of all study sessions available to students is provided, as well. Links for the website, Assessment Calendars, and Study Sessions are below.

At Northwestern Middle School, we believe effective and timely communication is essential to our mission. NMS staff, students, and parents/guardians should maintain open, honest, and respectful lines of communication. Working together is the best way to help each student achieve success!

From Co-Presidents Victoria Tucker & Tracy Lynn Drye

Please join us for the November PTO meeting on THURSDAY, November 17 at 9:30 in the Media Center. Our guest speaker will be Titania Jordan from BARK Parental Controls to speak about keeping your kids safe online & using social media plus the Bark smart phone.

Volunteer Interest Survey

Please complete this short survey to indicate your volunteer interests for this school year & we will reach out with opportunities.

https://northwesternpto.membershiptoolkit.com/volunteer/114130

Volunteers Needed - Lost & Found Clean Up

This is an opportunity once a month for several people to clean out the lost & found closet. It should take approximately an hour. Sign up link with the full instructions is below. Please reach out to Victoria Tucker (victoriabuter@comcast.net) with questions.

Sign Up: https://northwesternpto.membershiptoolkit.com/volunteer/117964

Business Partners

PTO is currently recruiting new Business Partners for the 23-24 school year. Do you own/work for a small business and would like more exposure for your services while at the same time supporting your child’s school? This is also a great opportunity for real estate agents, lawyers, accountants, etc. to support our school in many meaningful ways and receive promotion for your business through multiple channels reaching NMS families. Please email northwesternmspto@gmail.com for more information on partnership levels & benefits or sign up here: https://northwesternpto.membershiptoolkit.com/form/m/237949

Exciting Opportunity to purchase some super soft bedsheets while supporting PTO

*****Sheets will be directly shipped home****

Tom's Place came at the request of several teachers wanting to go beyond just meeting the standard academic needs of a student and wanting to be able to help meet their social, emotional needs as well. Some students at Northwestern do not have access to the basic necessities, which directly impacts their academic success. Providing these essentials exemplifies compassion and care for these students on a personal level, which will have a positive impact on their academic standing. Tom's Place is designed to provide a discrete and individualized care space where teachers and other staff members can help these students. Tom's Place will become a place to display the passion and dedication of the NMS Staff, parents, and community to ALL students that attend Northwestern Middle School!

If you would like to donate items to Tom's Place, please use the link below to sign up. Donated items can be dropped off in the Tom's Place bin in the front office.

The front office likes to have a stash of chocolate and candy (non chocolate) for the staff to access and get them through the day. Please help us keep their stash stocked. After all, most of us can relate to stress eating! Sign up here: https://northwesternpto.membershiptoolkit.com/volunteer/111882

Northwestern will offer many clubs and student activities for our students during the 2023-24 school year. Check back often for more information!

If you have a question about starting a new school club, please email Beth Wylie at wyliee@fultonschools.org.

The NMS Student Garden was established in 2011 as a permaculture and wildlife garden. It has gone through many iterations. Its most recent additions (2023) are a no-till section (which is affiliated with the Rodale Institute for Organic Research) and five new fruit trees (planted in celebration of Earth Day). If you would like to contribute (monetarily) to the maintenance of this site and its research, then you can use the link below. If you have any other questions about the site, please free to contact Dr. Bartlett at: bartlettj@fultonschools.org. Thank you for your continued support of Northwestern MS 🙂

Innovation Academy will be hosting a free STEM Saturday for all 7th and 8th grade students who are eligible to apply on 11/4/2023 from 9am-12pm.

This day each student will engage in STEM activities that will be led by our students and teachers. Registration for the day will begin at 8:30 with activities beginning at 9:00am.

Sign-ups will be available to the first 100 students who sign-up. Every sign-up after the first 100 will be waitlisted.

Deadline to apply is 10/22/23.

Any questions, please reach out to quraishyh@fultonschools.org

Looking forward to a great day!

The City of Milton invites all eligible voters to be part of our upcoming general municipal elections! Citizens must register to vote in Milton by October 10 to cast ballots for who will fill three City Council seats. (And if you have recently moved here, you’ll need to change your registration by that date.) In-person Advanced Voting starts October 16 at Milton’s City Hall, while there are 3 different Election Day (November 7) polling locations depending on where you live/are registered. For more information, go to http://www.miltonga.gov/Elections.

Students interested in joining the NMS Newspaper Staff should contact Ms. Denna Warrayat at warrayatd@fultonschools.org.

Our School Governance Council has discussed the need to do more as a school community to better understand our student's use of social media and cell phones, and provide education for students and families around this issue. This school year, our students will engage in more discussions with staff around safe and responsible use of cell phones.

Representatives from Bark presented at one of our previous PTO meetings. As a company, Bark provides monitoring service and resources for families. I will be sharing information from Bark and other sources weekly in our newsletter.

There is also a Facebook group that is a great resource: Parenting in a Tech World

Parenting in a Tech World | Facebook

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

Thank you for your continued support of Northwestern Middle School!

Sincerely,

Joel - Principal

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