Good afternoon Groton Dunstable Regional Middle School Families. I hope you enjoyed a wonderful and restful weekend. I hope you didn’t have too much ice on Friday.
I had a parent make a comment that these memos were a lot of housekeeping and not a lot of what is happening in our school. I am going to try to work on that. In my weekly staff memo I include a Power of Our Words section and an A+B+C+D=E section. Both of these are district initiatives. I will include those here so that you can see what we are talking about as a school. Also, now with COViD starting to quiet down I am really looking forward to spending more time in classrooms and interacting with our students and staff.
POW Corner: This week's POW corner comes from the Restorative Justice training I went to this week. “ Justice involves far more than what you do after things have gone wrong….instead it involves creating the social conditions that minimize such wrong doings.”
A+B+C+D=E Corner: Taking time to notice each other and the students in front of us is the very foundation of what we do and what we want to do as a school community. This should be the bedrock of our school. People do bad things when they have no ties to a community. How do we create those ties? Is it creating advisory? Is it emailing our students and families? Is it picking up the phone? Is it having assemblies? Is it modeling what we expect to see? There is a lot to unpack here. I look forward to doing this work with you. I look forward to doing this work with our teachers, our students and you as our families.
COVID Update:
Booster Clinics will be held throughout February on Wednesday afternoon: for children ages 12 and older. 1-5pm at the St. Anthony Parish Hall, 33 Chapel Street, Shirley Clinic link: https://home.color.com/vaccine/register/nashoba
You should have received your home test kit on Thursday. I am aware that we may have had a teacher or two forget to pass them out and for that we are sorry.
If you received a test kit but your child has had COViD in the last 90 days just keep it. I have asked for guidance as to whether we will continue to pass out to families in that situation.
New Topics to be aware of:
Best Buddies will be meeting Tuesday, February 15th, in the north cafeteria until 3:30. Please reach out to Ms. Blydenburgh or Ms. Franceschi if you have any questions. We hope to see you there!
The middle school staff had our first training with the Anti-Defamation League on Friday afternoon. We had some excellent conversations about how G.D. can do better at being more aware. The conversation and discourse was informative and thoughtful. We look forward to many more conversations like this. We will be spending some time at our February staff meeting unpacking some of the conversation we had here and planning ways to continue the work with our students.
The middle school guidance department has put together a week of kindness as part of the Great Kindness Challenge. Kindness Week Student and Family Flyer
Athletics:
Groton-Dunstable Crusader Basketball is offering a Three Day Youth Basketball Camp
For Students in Grades 3-8. This is an opportunity for the Current Crusader Senior Leaders and Coaches to work with the Crusaders of the future.
Location: Groton/Dunstable High School Gym When: February 21st, 22nd, 23rd (Vacation wk)
Schedule: Grades 3,4,5 Boys 8:30-10
Grades 6,7,8 Boys 10:15-11:45
Grades 3,4,5 Girls 12-1:30
Grades 6,7,8 Girls 1:45-3:15 Cost: $125.00 (Proceeds go to the Boys and Girls Basketball programs) Register: https://www.familyid.com/organizations/groton-dunstable-athletics
There will be a Volleyball Clinic in March. This is the link for more information. GD Volleyball Clinic
Reminders:
If you wish to reach out to the middle school PTO their email is, gdrmspto17@gmail.com
Health Office update: Just a reminder to parents to please send a copy of your students completed vaccination card to your school nurse. You may scan and email it to them or drop off a copy at their office. Fully vaccinated individuals are exempt from quarantine and testing (test and stay) if they are identified as a close contact.
Ms. Harper will be conducting our ACCESS for ELLs English proficiency assessment during the testing period of January 6-February 10, 2022..
Sarah Rudner is the SEPAC liaison for the middle school. If you have any questions or need any assistance with Special Education or related services I can connect you.
Cell phones, The current rule is Off and Away. Parents and Guardians please help us with this. If you call the school we will get your student the message. If your student calls or texts you ask them where they are. They should only be calling you from an office phone. This is very important. We may need to change our cell phone policy in the very near future. Data is showing that students are using their phones in the bathrooms, they are getting texts and texting home when they are sick rather than going to the nurses office and they seem to be becoming a distraction in school.
Sincerely, your Groton Dunstable Regional Middle School Principal Ms. Wendy Salvatore