August 17, 2021
Greetings Middle School Community,
The anticipation around the start of a school year brings out a heightened sense of enthusiasm. There are often questions about supplies, schedules, lunch and lockers, staffing, and extracurricular activities. I assure you that throughout the summer, our district pays attention to all necessary details as they relate to health and safety protocols. Our district plan was shared at our recent BOE meeting and with you last Friday. Our site-based Leadership Team met today to discuss those re-opening plans.
The purpose of this letter is to follow up on our district and site-based informational sessions by providing answers to questions you may have and to share certain expectations. I assure you that our staff has been preparing for our upcoming school year journey. I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight the following:
Supplies: we encourage each student to have their own basic supplies and teams will send a specific list of supplies to each student within the next few days;
Schedules: student schedules will be made “public” in Aspen on or about August 23rd;
Lockers: currently, lockers are not planned to be used during this upcoming school year;
Open Houses will not initially occur at any PPS building (more info coming on this);
Cell Phones: expected to be secured and turned off once students have entered the building;
Lunches: there will be limited cafeteria use with students eating primarily in classrooms or in other designated areas to create smaller groups (including outside picnic tables);
Staffing: team assignments are on our website and are updated as changes can occur;
Extracurricular activities including clubs and athletics are scheduled to begin in mid -September to early October. Late buses are scheduled to run on Tuesdays and Thursdays, beginning on 09/28;
Student drop-off and pick-up procedures have already been shared with you;
Communications from our school occur mostly through our School Messenger Systems (calls/texts), Aspen emails, on our website, via Instagram, and in newsletters. Additionally, “Coffee with the Principal” sessions are held each Tuesday morning @ 7:00 AM. These are opportunities designed for personal conversations. Parents/Guardians are asked to communicate with the principal (gagnons@plainfieldschools.org) ahead of time to allow for proper scheduling.
From a professional developmental /activities perspective, our school will continue to work with Dr. JoAnn Freiberg in the school climate and restorative practice domains. This work will focus on student sessions. Additionally, our school will continue to work with Justin McGlammery (Focus Your Locus) through the lens of team building, specifically at the grade seven level.
Finally, our PTO Committee will meet monthly on the second Wednesday of each month @ 5:30 in our office conference room. All interested parents/guardians are invited to attend and participate and are asked to share their interest with Mrs. Griffin (griffinb@plainfieldschools.org).
Respectfully,
S Gagnon, Principal