Capital Project Updates
We have a lot of exciting changes coming to West
Genesee Middle School as part of the current Capital Project. Some of the items
on the list are things that people won’t necessarily see including plumbing,
electrical, and HVAC work. All of that is essential to keep the building
running efficiently and effectively, but may not necessarily have you saying
“wow!” In addition to those items we do have some very visible changes that students
and parents will start noticing in the very near future.
Our gym will have brand new bleachers that will be installed over April Break. By the time students come back to school in the Fall both of our boy’s and girls’ locker rooms will be getting complete makeovers with new lockers and bathrooms. Students will also be happy to hear that the entire building is getting new, larger lockers in the hallways which will be ready for your backpacks on opening day in September.
Anyone who drives their child to school in the
morning at WGMS knows that between 7:20 a.m. and 7:35 a.m. our traffic pattern, which
involves buses, parents and our staff, rivals downtown Atlanta during rush-hour.
For all of you that do drop your children off, thank you for your patience,
alertness and safe driving. In an effort to make our traffic pattern even safer and
more efficient for everyone, we are redesigning our front circle to create some
separation between the three groups all vying for access to the building. The
redesign will allow all of our buses to park at WGMS on the front circle rather
than being split between the middle school and Stonehedge Elementary School.
Our staff will continue to use the back parking lot and parents will continue
to loop around the parent circle at Stonehedge and drop their student(s) off
along the driveway just as they do now. The new design will add a sidewalk that
parallels the driveway at Stonehedge to connect to the middle school sidewalk
so students will be able to more safely make their way to our front doors. Parents
will then be able to 'drop and go' without having to wait for three groups of buses
to work their way to the Middle School. The new design will also likely eliminate the need for me to play rodeo-clown in a neon vest each morning. It's actually an exciting start to the day!
In order to accommodate all of the buses on our front circle, the width
of the current circle will double in size and we will need to remove a few
trees from the existing circle. That work will begin over February Break so
when students return the front of the building will undoubtedly have a
different look to it with fewer trees.
I will continue to provide you with Capital Project updates specific to WGMS through this blog, our PTA meetings and Twitter as the
work progresses.
New York State Testing
You may have read or heard that there will be
some positive changes to grades 3 through 8 testing in ELA and Mathematics Assessments
that will be administered this April. For starters the tests will now be
untimed. This means that any student who is working productively to complete
any portion of the test may have as much time as they need to finish. There
will also be fewer questions and reading passages for students to work through. Those changes are a good start! These assessments are part of the ‘circle of life’ in a school. Each year
different events and activities come and go and we work through them. The
assessments are no different. We don’t do anything special in preparation for them
and we have no need for ’test prep’. The daily instruction that takes place is
outstanding and the planning of our different units of study are all aligned to
the standards. As a result our students are well prepared to sit and take these
assessments. Please note the administration dates:
Grades 3-8
ELA April
5-6-7
Grades 3-8
Mathematics April 13-14-15
As always, thank you for your continued support of our students and staff.
Continued Success,
Continued Success,
Steve
Dunham
Twitter:
@Sdunhamwgms
