Here Comes June

While the weather doesn’t necessarily make it feel like the end of the school year, we are quickly heading towards putting another school year in the books. With that, we are looking forward to celebrating with our 8^th graders as they move onto the High School and welcoming our incoming 5^th graders as they begin their journey through Middle School. Before we make it official there is still a lot of work to do and a laundry list of events taking place throughout June.

The ‘end-of-the-year’ festivities officially started last night as our building got together to celebrate the retirement of four of our WGMS staff members, Sandy Caldwell, Jennifer Dee, Laurie Gallager and Beth Stewart. Collectively they have 106 years in education helping to shape and guide our students through one of the most challenging times in their lives, middle school. That’s a lot of expertise! I can’t possibly capture how much they have meant to our building, our school community and our students in a blog. In fact, our retirees will never truly know themselves just how much influence they have had on the hearts and minds of the thousands of students and colleagues that they have worked with over the years. I do know this; all of us who have worked with them and all of the students that they have connected with are better off because they were in our lives. We will miss them and we wish them all of the happiness in the world in their retirement.

Many of our 8^th graders still have some heavy lifting to do as they prepare for the Science 8 Written Assessment on Monday, June 5^th, Foreign Language Speaking Exam on Tuesday, June 6^th through Thursday, June 8^th, the Algebra I Regents Exam on Tuesday, June 13^th, the Foreign Language Proficiency Exam on Monday, June 19^th and a handful of other end-of-the-course assessments. Our students are well prepared and they will do a terrific job on the end of the year assessments.

Here are some other highlights of events coming up at WGMS:

Friday, June 2^nd - 6^th Grade Greek Olympics

Wednesday, June 7^th - Battle of the Books Final, 6:00-8:00 PM

Thursday, June 8^th - 7^th & 8^th Grade Fine Arts Field Trip to SeaBreeze

Tuesday, June 13^th - 6^th Grade Band, Orchestra & Chorus Concert, 7:00 PM

Wednesday, June 14^th - 7^th & 8^th Grade Band, Orchestra & Chorus Concert, 7:00 PM

Wednesday, June 21^st and Thursday, June 22^nd - ½ Day with students

Thursday, June 22^nd - 8th Grade Celebration, 6:00-8:00 PM 

As we head into the Memorial Day Weekend we shared part of the Memorial Day Presidential Proclamation with our students to start our day today to remind them what the holiday is all about:

“Memorial Day is our Nation’s solemn reminder that freedom is never free. It is a moment of collective reflection on the noble sacrifices of those who gave the last measure of devotion in service of our ideals and in the defense of our nation. On this ceremonious day, we remember the fallen, we pray for a lasting peace among nations, and we honor these guardians of our inalienable rights.”

So on Monday as we take part in the Memorial Day parade, eat hot dogs, or take part in a Kan-Jam tournament with family and friends, we should all pause to remember those brave individuals who made the ultimate sacrifice for our enduring freedom.  

Have a wonderful weekend!

Steve Dunham

sdunham@westgenesee.org

Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms

Raising Awareness

One of the things that I have learned as a parent of a middle school student and as someone who has worked with middle school students for nearly 20 years is that as much as I think I am “in the know”, I am not. Regardless of how hard we, as parents, try to stay connected and stay informed, we are often a step behind our kids. We don’t necessarily listen to all of the music that they listen to, we are not part of their social media circles and we are not part of the many conversations that they have with their peers throughout a given day. Given that, any time we can share information and raise awareness about things we are seeing we will.

Recently there has been a resurgence with middle school and high school students in the area making and consuming a drink called “lean”. It is also commonly referred to as “sizzurp”, “purple drank”, “dirty sprite” or “syrup”. While the drink has been around for nearly a decade, it has gained increased popularity recently as it has been glamorized in some songs, videos and social media postings. I knew very little about this last week, but I have learned a great deal as use of “lean” by some of our students has started to show up on my radar.

“Lean” is a combination of prescription strength or over-the-counter cough medicine, citrus-flavored soda (typically Sprite) and a piece of hard, fruit-flavored candy like a Jolly-Rancher. The drink is extremely alarming for several reasons: #1 The sweetness of the drink masks the dangerous drugs in it and can lead one to consume more because of the taste and as a result, individuals can quickly lose track of how much they have actually consumed. #2 “Lean” is made out of very easy to obtain ingredients, making it easy to access for adolescents. #3 An uninformed adult or parent might not necessarily keep track of or monitor the cough syrup in their home. So much attention has been given to the abuse and misuse of prescription medication, cough syrup has not been in that conversation. It needs to be, as does all medication.

This dangerous drink can contain a potentially fatal combination of codeine, a powerful opioid drug, and promethazine, an antihistamine that causes sedative effects and can impair motor functioning. In large doses, there can be extremely harmful side effects including dizziness and blurred vision, as well as a slowing of the central nervous and respiratory systems, impact heart rate and cause seizures. Combined with other medication that students may be taking, the consumption of “lean” could be, and has been in some cases, fatal.

Even though we may be out of the loop with some things, we need to continue to talk with our kids, listen to them and be present in the moment with them each and every day. Having on-going conversations about drug and alcohol use, decision making, and how to handle peer pressure is critical. We also need to be vigilant about storing and keeping track of all prescription and over-the-counter medication in our homes. All of our kids are susceptible to making bad decisions or being influenced in negative ways by their peers. It can happen to any of them.

As always, if you have any questions or if I can be of any help please do not hesitate to email or call.

Steve Dunham

sdunham@westgenesee.org

Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms