Welcome Back!

A New School Year!

Welcome back for another year at Grayson County Middle School!  The summer has flown by, and it does not seem possible that our students will be here next week.  As I start my 26^th year and 9^th year as GCMS principal, I want to thank each of you for helping to make GCMS such a great place to live and work each day.  I am looking forward to a great year with our students and staff! 

Great Start!

Things have gotten off to a great start this week.  The building looks great!  Please brag on our custodians when you see them.  They have worked hard this summer to get our building ready.  I heard many positive comments and conversations about our PD sessions from Monday and our Opening Day on Tuesday.  We had a great crowd for Back to School Night on Tuesday night, even in the pouring down rain.  I think the students (and their parents) are ready for school to start! 

Welcome New Staff:

We have two new teachers and a new custodian at GCMS this year.  I know that you will make these folks feel welcome at GCMS!

Paige Shiarella, team 5 math

Shannon Loughran, team 8 ELA

Glen Cottrell, custodian

District-Wide Day:

Our annual district-wide day is scheduled for Friday at GCMS.  Staff from all over the district will converge on GCMS for breakfast and a vendor fair from 7:00-8:30 and then a staff meeting in the auditorium at 8:30.  Lunch will be on your own, and then we will have PD here at GCMS that afternoon.  Our main session will be led by our own GCMS related arts department and will focus on program review processes. 

Restraint/Seclusion/Bullying Training:

Late that afternoon, I will present a power-point on restraint/seclusion and bullying.  Those staff members who have not completed the online training will need to report to the library for that training.  If you still want to do the online training before Friday, just go to http://www.pbs.org/teacherline/catalog/courses/LEAD1103 and click on the enroll button. You will need a PBS TeacherLine or PBS LearningMedia login to enroll. If you do not already have a PBS account, you will be directed to create one.  It’s quick and easy.  After completing this training, just print your certificate and give it to me or Mrs. House.   Remember, this training is for ALL STAFF, certified and classified.

Suicide Prevention Training:

Classified staff members are not required to complete the suicide prevention training.  Teachers, counselors, administrators, and all certified middle and high school employees are required to complete suicide prevention training.  Just go to www.sptsuniversity.org.  On the left hand side under the Log-In section, click “create new account”.  You choose your own username and password and complete a quick registration.  After you are registered and logged in, choose the module “Making Educators Partners in Youth Suicide Prevention: Act on Facts (National)”.  No need to do the South Dakota version.  The program takes about 2 hours to complete (depending on your reading speed, transition time, and if you repeat any video segments), and then you should print off your certificate of completion.  Please return your certificate to Mrs. House before the end of August. 

Technology:

I appreciate Becky Miller and Becki Pearl training our teachers on the new Infinite Campus format.  Like anything, it will take a little time to get used to, but the new features should make things better as we get more accustomed to it. 

As Kevin Butler emailed you yesterday, we are going to use the ticket system for all technology help requests this year.  Please review Kevin’s email for details on how this works if you are not familiar.

Also, we will all use the digital discipline referral this year.  About ¾ of our teachers used the digital referral in Infinite Campus last year, and it went very smoothly.  Let’s completely get away from the old paper referrals this year. 

Teaching Procedures and Expectations:

It is critical that we do a great job of teaching our procedures and expectations at the beginning of the school year.  Things that seem very simple and common sense to us are not so obvious to our students.  Doing this right at the beginning of the year saves us a lot of time and effort in the long run.

Quote of the Day:

“The quality of our expectations determines the quality of our actions.” ~Andre Godin

“My teacher thought I was smarter then I was—so I was.” ~Six year old

Coming Attractions:

Aug 7.…District-wide Day

Aug 10...Not a required work day at GCMS

Aug 11...Students’ First Day of School

Aug 17...Begin PLC meetings (7:30-8:20)

Aug 17...Begin Related Arts teachers first period classes

Aug 19...Central Office Cookout Lunch for GCMS Staff

Aug 19...GCMS SBDMC, 3:15

Aug 21...School Picture Day at GCMS

Aug 26...Team Leader Meeting, 7:15

Aug 28...PGP meetings with admin by this date

Sept 18...PGP’s due in CIITS

Sept 18...SGG’s due in CIITS