Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Great Beginnings


Last week we kicked off the 2013-2014 school year and now we are full steam ahead. It is such an energizing experience to have our recently empty and quiet hallways suddenly filled with the laughter and bustle of middle school students. It’s hard to explain to anyone who has never worked in a middle school, but it truly is an amazing place during such a unique and important period in our student’s lives. It is the Wonder Years!

5 Minutes Can Make All the Difference
Anyone who has experienced drop-off and dismissal at WGMS knows that it is a challenge. We have students, parents, buses, and staff members all converging on one building with a relatively small transportation and parking footprint. Despite the challenge, we make it work. We focus on getting everyone in and out of school with great care and we keep safety at the forefront of our minds. For anyone dropping a student off in the morning, by arriving just 5 minutes earlier you could save yourself a great deal of time and frustration getting caught behind buses. Between 7:20 AM and 7:30 AM we are bustling with traffic. You are able to drop students off starting at 7:00 AM at which time they may enter the building and go to the cafeteria prior to the start of the school day. It’s a terrific opportunity to get organized for the day and to grab some breakfast. Speaking of breakfast…

Start the Day Out Right: Breakfast at WGMS
Not only do we serve breakfast at WGMS, we serve incredibly delicious breakfast! Starting shortly after 7:00 AM, students may get breakfast in our cafeteria for $1.75. If you are scrambling to get ready in the morning or if students would just prefer a slower start to the day, getting in a little early for breakfast is a terrific option. Whether you are a walker, get dropped off early or get off your bus a little early, eating breakfast at school is a great way to start the day. The breakfast menu is on the other side of the school lunch menu and can be found online by clicking here.

Have a terrific rest of the week. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. Thank you for all that you do to support our students and staff.

Continued Success,
Steve Dunham
sdunham@westgenesee.org
@Sdunhamwgms

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Interaction ‘Time Is On My Side’



If the enthusiasm and excitement of our staff at our first meeting of the year this morning at WGMS is any indication of things to come, this is going to be an incredible school year. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our students tomorrow to officially kick-off the year.

Ask anyone in education what they need to better meet the needs of students and to manage all of the different responsibilities and initiatives that come our way, the answer is going to be time. Before we start a dialogue about a longer school day or school year, we took a close look at our existing schedule in an effort to find more time for our students and staff. Thanks to the work of our Director of Transportation and the support of the Superintendent and Board of Education, we were able to adjust how we do things to create an Interaction Time at the end of the school day. The concept has been out there for quite some time and our High School has had it for years so it isn’t something coming out of left field. But it did take a collaborative effort and persistence to see it become reality.

The concept is simple: create more time for students to connect with adults and for adults to connect with one another. At the middle level we believe that it is going to have a tremendous positive impact, not just on student achievement, but in general to support our students. At no time during a human’s life, other than infancy, do we develop more physically, psychologically, socially, and cognitively, than during the ages of ten to fourteen. For many kids, this extra ‘TLC’ may be the tipping point for them on a road to success and for our teachers, having this time to make connections with students and colleagues is going to be incredibly beneficial. To be clear, IT isn’t a babysitting service. Rather it is a powerful vehicle for our students and staff to make meaningful connections.

Here are some Frequently Asked Questions I have been asked in regard to Interaction Time:

What will the middle school hours be for the 2013-2014 school year?
The day will begin with homeroom at 7:35 a.m. and end at 2:10 p.m. At that point in time students will be dismissed, those staying for Interaction Time will remain in the building with an adult from 2:15 until 2:50 p.m.

Will Interaction Time occur Monday through Friday?
Students will have IT Tuesdays through Fridays. On Mondays, IT will be used for staff development, and faculty meetings purposes. Only students who participate in modified sports will stay on Mondays and attend a supervised study hall until 2:50 p.m. at which time their practices will start.

How do students arrange to stay for Interaction Time?
Our students have three responsibilities associated with staying for IT:

  • Student responsibility to sign-up for a late bus in the main office at some point throughout the day so that we know whether we need additional buses.
  • Student responsibility to connect with an adult to stay with during IT. Students may not just stay; they need to be with an adult and accounted for.
  • Student responsibility to inform parents that they are staying. They may call from a classroom, main office, or use their phones at the end of the day to call or text.

Like anything new, the implementation of IT at the middle level will take some time for all of us to adjust to. Essentially we are training nearly 700 students, all of their parents and guardians, and our staff of over 100 people on what Interaction Time is and how it is run. Throw in there some major changes in transportation and we have the ‘new normal’ in terms of the middle school scheduling. It’s going to be terrific!

In the end we weren’t able to add any hours to the day to make it longer, but we are excited to think of how the extra time of Interaction Time might help our students and staff. Interaction Time will officially begin on Tuesday, September 10th for any students that make arrangements to stay. Our sports study hall for our modified student-athletes will begin on Thursday, September 5th, the first full day of the school year.

Thank you for your continued support of our students and staff. As always, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Let’s go WILDCATS!

Continued Success,
Steve Dunham
@Sdunhamwgms