The Banks Bulletin

Dear Parents:

Our terrific staff and I look forward to seeing you at Parent/Teacher Conferences on Wednesday, November 5th. Both in person and virtual conferences will be offered to accommodate our families. Online sign up will be available until November 4th @ 7:00 AM. Prior to conferences, parents will be provided with a master list of teachers and the teacher’s corresponding TEAMS Link. We value a strong partnership between parents/guardians and teachers, and Parent/Teacher Conferences are a great way to discuss your student's strengths and goals for continued growth.

Please note that you can view your child’s 1st card marking grades via Skyward Family Access beginning Monday, November 3rd. Simply click on Gradebook and look at the Marking Period 1 (MP1) column for your child’s1st card marking grades. The 1st card marking report card will be accessible through Skyward Family Access after 3:00 p.m. on Friday, November 7th.

We are looking forward to enjoying Halloween today, the start of the Winter I sports season and the PTSA's upcoming after-school Sarah Banks Social on November 7th and 2nd Annual Turkey Trot on November 21st. Exciting things ahead!

As a reminder, Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend so set your clocks back one hour on the 2nd. Also, staff and students do not have school on Tuesday, November 5th-remember to vote.

Cheers,

Jennifer VanWagnen, Principal

We Are Banks!

October

10/31- Half Day for Students, Staff Professional Development

11/3- 7th and 8th Grade Band Concert with the WLW Spirit Band @ Banks, 6:30 PM

11/4- No School for Staff or Students, Election Day

11/5- Half Day for MS Students, Parent-Teacher Conferences

11/6- Board of Education Meeting @ 7 PM

11/7-PTSA Sponsored Event: Sarah Banks Social @ 3-4:30 PM

11/10- 6th Grade Band Concert @ Banks, 6:30 PM

11/11- Fire Drill

11/11- 6th Grade Orchestra Concert @ Banks, 6:30 PM

11/12- Boys Basketball (BB) vs. Creek MS @ 4 PM- Home

11/12- PTSA Meeting @ 6:30 PM in Banks Media Center

A Look Ahead:

11/18- Half Day for Students, Staff Professional Development

6th - 8th Grade Middle School Swim & Dive Team Program Update

As our district transitions from four middle schools to three, we’ve carefully reviewed how to best structure our middle school swim & dive program. In past years, we offered two separate teams, but this change has made it difficult to maintain an even and effective split. Moving forward, we will have one combined middle school swim & dive team representing all three schools. This approach aligns with other districts that also combine multiple middle schools into a single team, helping us create a stronger, more unified program. To ensure that all swimmers and divers, receive quality instruction and support, we will also be adding additional coaches to meet the diverse needs of our athletes.

We will have a pre-season meeting on Thursday November 13 at 6:00pm at WL Central HS Cafeteria.

Thank You,

Sean Oxner

517-918-0341

Walled Lake Middle School Swim & Dive - Head Coach

Boy's Basketball

Tryouts were this week and rosters have been set. For any sport-specific questions, please reach out to our 8th grade coach, Alex Rickens (AlexRickens@wlcsd.org), or our 6th/7th grade coach, Bob Meyer (RobertMeyer@wlcsd.org). As a reminder, students must complete the following to be eligible to participate:

1. Students must have a copy of their physical turned in to our office. Physicals must be dated on or after April 15, 2025.

2. Parent/athlete must complete a consent form to participate form:

3. After teams are formed, and before the first game, a pay to participate amount of $120 must be paid to Walled Lake Schools, unless you have already reached your family maximum for the school year or if you qualify for a reduced cost. For more information on our “Pay to Participate” fees, please see the following link: https://www.wlcsd.org/departments/athletics/pay-to-participate

For practice dates and times, reach out to the coaches. For our game calendar, please visit the following link: https://sarah-banks.bigteams.com/main/calendar

Students that wish to attend the home basketball games, you MUST be accompanied by an adult. We would love for our Bulldogs to fill our student section and show their Banks pride!

Stay tuned for more information on the Winter 2 sports, Wrestling and Girls' Basketball.

Go Dogs!

Banks is pleased to offer FREE tutoring and homework help to students for their Math and Language Arts classes. This tutoring will be provided by Banks teachers!

Students and families are expected to ensure:

• Students report in person, at scheduled times. Students may be removed from the program for "no-shows".
• Students bring all materials they need for tutoring.

Tutoring sessions will be 45 minute sessions. Please fill out the form below for your student to be considered for free, Teacher-Led Tutoring and Homework help this year.

Tutoring will start the week of November 10, 2025

Please fill out a separate form for each child.

After submitting this form, your information will be passed on to the appropriate grade level/subject area tutor(s). Mrs. Harmsworth will then contact you at the email address provided on this form with the tutoring details for your child. You may get a separate email for each tutoring session you sign up for.

Please review the available slots below and click on the button to sign up. Thank you!

Donations can be dropped off in the front vestibule at any time leading up to the event. Please write or put a sticky note on your donation that says "SBS".

*If donating a beverage, please make sure it's the regular version and not the sugar free option.

SAVE THE DATE:

The 2nd Annual Sarah Banks Middle School Turkey Trot

November 21, 2025

Registration opens soon!

$10 per runner, $5 per spectator.

Runners receive a free SBMS Turkey Trot T-shirt

Prizes for the top 3 runners in each grade

Registration closes on November 18th; no same-day tickets will be sold

All participants registered by November 18th get to skip a class (more details to follow on that!).

All proceeds will be donated to the SBMS PTSA to support teacher and student programs

Sarah Banks has a Ski & Snowboard Club where student members and their families can receive HUGE discounts on lift tickets, rentals, and lessons. The club will meet at Alpine Valley on Thursday evenings in January and February (between Winter Break and Mid-Winter Break) and the staff sponsor is Mrs. Chelsea Schikora. Full informational packets will be available beginning December1st in both the Attendance and Administrative Offices. In the meantime, if you are looking to buy or sell any equipment, HERE is a list of all local ski and snowboard swaps in Southeast Michigan conducted by nonprofit groups.

Lakes Area Youth Assistance (LAYA), in partnership with Huron Valley Hospital and generous community volunteers, is once again offering its beloved Holiday Adopt-a-Child program. Each year, hospital departments and community members "adopt" children by purchasing gifts from their personalized wish lists—bringing a little extra holiday cheer to families who could use it. Parents also receive gift wrapping supplies so they can wrap the presents themselves and enjoy the joy of giving.

To apply, visit https://www.wlcsd.org/community/lakes-area-youth-assistance to download the fillable application. Submit one application per family and one wish list per child, along with the required financial documentation, via email to LAYA@wlcsd.org by Friday, November 7, 2025.

✨ Coming Soon: Shop With a Hero! ✨
From Nov. 10–21, kids will have the chance to shop for holiday gifts alongside local heroes—Commerce Firefighters/Paramedics and Oakland County Sheriff's Officers—at Meijer stores in Wixom and Commerce. Applications for this exciting event will be available starting Nov. 10.

It has come to our attention that families in our community may be in need of additional assistance when it comes to food and nutrition. With the anticipated gap in SNAP funding beginning Saturday, November 1, some families may experience delays in receiving benefits. School meals (breakfast and lunch) will continue to be available free of charge to our students.

For families needing support at home, the following food resources are available:

• Hospitality House Food Pantry: https://www.hhfp.org/

• Gleaners Community Food Bank: https://www.gcfb.org/food-assistance-programs/

• Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency: https://www.olhsa.org/en-us/

• Michigan 211 Food Assistance Programs: https://mi211.org/food-assistance

• Forgotten Harvest: https://www.forgottenharvest.org/find-food/

• Findhelp.org: https://www.findhelp.org/

• Food and Other Resources Hotline: 1-888-544-8773

Under the direction of Mr. Colin Kuss, 3 dedicated 6th graders performed with our talented 7th grade students at a concert on Wednesday, October 29th. We could not be more proud of their hard work and dedication. Take a listen below!

Dear Parents:

A strong partnership with parents/guardians and teachers is key to ensuring our children’s success. One important component of that partnership is parent/teacher conferences. This is an opportunity for us to meet, celebrate your child’s progress, and discuss goals for continued growth.

Parent/Teacher Conferences are scheduled for Wednesday, November 5th from 12:15-8:15 p.m in a hybrid format. Half of the day is formatted for virtual conferences and the other half is allocated for in-person conferences. The times listed below are the format for both types of conferences, and are consistent at all three district middle schools. When you sign up in Skyward for your conferences, the virtual or in-person formats will be listed. At the middle school level, once spots are taken in each format (in-person or virtual), there will not be additional times available to sign up through Skyward.

All individual Parent/Teacher Conferences need to be scheduled online, in advance, through your parent Family Access account. You may sign up for time slots beginning on Monday, October 27th @ 7:00 a.m. All conferences, regardless of core or encore teacher, must be scheduled online.

• Virtual Conferences: 12:15 - 3:45 PM

• In-Person Conferences: 4:00 - 8:15 PM

Important Details for Scheduled Conferences

• Online sign up in Family Access will only work using your parent login. If you still need a username and password, please email FamilyAccess@wlcsd.org or contact the Family Access hotline at 248.956.2190.

• Online sign up will be available October 27th @ 7:00 a.m. and stay open until November 3rd @ 7:00 AM

• Parent/Teacher Conferences will take place virtually via TEAMS and each individual conference will be 5 minutes in length for general education classes. Special Education Resource Room Caseload workers will offer 15 minute conferences. Teachers will monitor the TEAMS waiting room and will remove parents and admit parents at the scheduled time.

• Prior to conferences, parents will be provided with a master list of teachers and the teacher’s corresponding TEAMS Link.

• When scheduling consecutive conferences, you must leave one five-minute conference gap between appointments. Ensuring you have a five-minute gap will allow you time to move from one teacher’s conference to the next.

• With all students having six different teachers throughout each school day, if their academic grade is satisfactory to both you and the teacher and you feel your student is being successful, please consider prioritizing the several teachers that you must see during conferences. Following this process will allow enough time slots to be available for all families.

• Scheduling a conference with your counselor is not required, however, if there is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed at conferences you may schedule a conference with your child’s counselor. Due to the number of students they serve, if you do not have a pressing issue then you do not need to schedule a conference.

• If you feel you need a longer conference with any teacher, we are happy to schedule a separate conference. All staff contact information can be found at our school website.

Tutorials: Conference Scheduling on Skyward

• A video tutorial showing the process for scheduling conferences can be found at this How To Schedule Conferences Online link.

• Written directions can be found at the Secondary Parents Conference Sign Up link.

Tutorials: Attending Conferences via TEAMS on November 5th, 2025

• Video directions for how to attend your conferences on November 5th can be found at this Video Directions Link

• Written directions can be found at this Written Directions Link

In Partnership,

Jennifer VanWagnen, Principal

JenniferVanWagnen@wlcsd.org

(248) 956-2200

We Are Banks!

WOW…we have over half of our 8th grade students already registered for the annual 8th grade trip to Washington, D.C. that is scheduled from April 21 to 24, 2026. As of right now, we only have about 10 spots remaining on the trip. After that point, we will open a waitlist for our fifth bus. If your student is interested in attending the trip, please do not delay registering your student for the trip as the sooner we hit our minimum number of registered students, we can open up the additional bus. Registering for the trip includes making your initial $100 deposit, adding in the $60 CFAR insurance package (marked as “option 2”), and turning in the district permission slip and behavior contract. The remaining payments can be made towards your trip balance by March 6, 2026. Click the link below for more information and please contact Mr. Yu with questions you may have (TorryYu@wlcsd.org).

The annual PTSA Reflections program has now begun! Our 2025/2026 Theme is “I Belong”, and students can enter in the following categories: 2-D/3-D visual arts, literature, dance choreography, film production, music composition, and photography.

Students can create works in any of those categories around the theme. All Sarah Banks students are welcome and encouraged to participate. More information can be found at www.wlcsd.org/reflections or pick up a flyer outside the attendance office. Submissions are due to our main office or the electronic entry form by Monday, November 10! If you have any questions, please contact our PTSA Reflections Chairs:

• Ms. Kaysie Stassi: kaysiestassi@wlcsd.org
• Mr. Torry Yu: torryyu@wlcsd.org

It's not too early to order a yearbook! Scan the QR code below and order now for $40, which is a savings of $20! Please email TorryYu@wlcsd.org, KaysieStassi@wlcsd.org or LauraShipes@wlcsd.org with any questions or concerns.

In an effort to find additional ways to celebrate our staff, the WLCSD Community Relations department requests that families fill out the information below for staff who are rock stars in their classrooms and school communities.

A sample of what these shout outs will look like on social media and in our district newsletters is on the right.

Dear 6th Grade Parents and Students,

We wanted to inform you that the originally scheduled 6th grade band concert on Wednesday, November 12 at 6:30 p.m. in the Sarah Banks Gym has been rescheduled to Monday, November 10 at 6:30 p.m., also in the Sarah Banks Gym.

We sincerely apologize for the oversight. The change was necessary due to a scheduling conflict with elementary school conferences that evening, which we were not initially aware of. We understand this adjustment may cause inconvenience for some families, and we truly appreciate your flexibility.

If this new date presents a conflict for your family, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’ll do our best to accommodate and support everyone involved.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support—we’re looking forward to a wonderful performance!

Musically yours,

Shelly Rouse-Freitag

Sarah Banks Middle School

Beginning Woodwinds/Band

Introduction to Instruments Coordinator

I am grateful to live in a community where support is provided to families in need. Hospitality House is a food pantry feeding those in need in Oakland and Wayne Counties and the surrounding Michigan communities. Whether you participated last year and would like weekend food service to continue or are interested in joining for the first time, please complete the Google Form linked below and provide us with the following information by September 26:

• Number of students participating
• Any food allergies for each student

Also, please note the following:

• First delivery of weekend food bags to the school is Thursday, October 9th
• Deliveries will continue every Friday for the remainder of the school year

We have much to be thankful for, and the partnership we share with our families and the community organizations is one to celebrate.

Please consider the safety of our entire Bulldog Community when you are dropping off or picking up your students. Following the procedures at SLOW SPEEDS is the best way to keep everyone safe. Say long good byes while you are driving to school. When dropping off, make sure your student is prepared to exit the car quickly. Families who are prepared for this will help ensure more efficient traffic flow.

• Front Parking Lot Closed Daily, 7:45–8:10 AM
  To promote safe, calm arrivals, the front lot will be blocked to vehicles during this window. Inconsistent use of the lot has created unsafe drop-off situations. This procedure eliminates those risks.
• Bus Loop Closed Until All Buses Unload
  The bus loop is not open to cars during arrival or dismissal. Please do not park or leave your vehicle in the loop. Timing may vary slightly day to day based on bus arrivals.
• . In the event that you need to pick-up early, you must do so before 2:40 p.m.

How you can help:

• Please use district busing as the primary mode of transportation whenever possible.
• Use the pick-up/drop-off line only if you live outside the busing limits.
• Carpool when possible.
• Have backpacks zipped, instruments ready and goodbyes said before unloading to keep lines moving safely. When dropping off, make sure your student is prepared to exit the car quickly.
• Pull all the way forward even after dropping off to help ensure more efficient traffic flow.
• Refrain from cutting through the parking lot. Refer to the map below and adhere to it.
• Unload at all 6 spots-do not wait until you get to spot #1 to unload

In a world dominated by instant communication, cell phones can be a major distraction during the school day. At Sarah Banks Middle School, our goal is not to limit contact between students and families, but to promote responsible and appropriate use of technology in an academic setting.

Policy Overview:

• Student cell phones must remain in lockers throughout the school day.
• If a student needs to contact a parent or guardian, they must do so through the attendance office.
• Students are not permitted to text or call parents directly during school hours, including when they are feeling unwell or need something.
• In alignment with a district-wide directive, iPads are not permitted at school this year. If used during the school day, iPads will be treated the same as cell phones and subject to the same consequences.

Consequences for Cell Phone Use During the School Day:

• 1st Violation: Phone is confiscated and held in the office until the end of the day. Parents will be contacted with a reminder of the policy and informed of next steps for future incidents.
• 2nd Violation: Phone is confiscated and must be picked up by a parent or guardian in person.
• Repeated Violations: May result in progressive disciplinary action.

Please follow the steps below when your student's District Chromebook needs to be repaired.

1. If a student needs support, he/she should fill out a Student Chromebook Support Form linked on all of the Google Classrooms and on the school website under Students. Being logged on to the school google account is required to access the form.
2. The information in the form will be sent to Mrs. Stasak, our Middle School Computer Resource Teacher. She will reply to the student at his/her school gmail account. She will offer suggestions to fix the issue or, if it needs service, she will tell the student to take the chromebook to the office and give it to building admin secretary (enter the name for your building).
3. The chromebook in the case will be sent through inner office and the student will be allowed to use a loaner chromebook AT SCHOOL. It will be the student’s responsibility to pick it up each morning from the office and return it at the end of the day.
4. When the chromebook has been repaired, it will be delivered back to the school for the student to pick up.
5. If the family purchased insurance, the first repair is free and all additional repairs carry a deductible. Deductible invoices or repair invoices, for those that did not choose insurance, must be paid before the repaired chromebook is returned.
6. If a student with a personal chromebook has a network issue, the same form can be used. We are not able to fix physical problems with personal devices and loaner chromebooks will not be provided.

At Banks, we believe that a strong school community is built on three essential values: Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Safe. These principles guide everything we do—how we treat one another, how we approach learning, and how we care for our environment.

Being respectful means showing kindness, listening to others, and valuing differences. It’s about treating classmates, teachers, and staff with dignity and courtesy.

Being responsible means owning your actions, making good choices, and doing your part—whether it’s completing assignments, following school rules, or helping others.

Being safe means looking out for yourself and those around you. It means using technology wisely, moving through the building calmly, and speaking up when something doesn’t feel right.

When we live by these values, we create a school where everyone can thrive. Let’s work together to make Banks a place where respect, responsibility, and safety are at the heart of everything we do.

In addition to receiving phone calls and email notifications from the school district in the event of a school closing or emergency, parents can also sign up to receive SMS Text messages.

Please find the helpful step-by-step instructions linked below as well as the video tutorial on signing up for SMS messages.

· Signing Up for SMS Messages via Skylert

Jennifer VanWagnen

Principal: jennifervanwagnen@wlcsd.org

Kellan Watkins

Principal's Secretary: kellanwatkins@wlcsd.org

Anthony McNamara

Assistant Principal: anythonymcnamara@wlcsd.org

Jennifer Dean

Assistant Principal's Secretary: jenniferdean@wlcsd.org

Kevin Zurro

Student Success Coordinator: kevinzurro@wlcsd.org

Important Phone Numbers:

Main Line: 248-956-2200

Attendance: 248-956-2290

Email: JenniferVanWagnen@wlcsd.org
Website: https://banks.wlcsd.org/
Location: 1760 Charms Road Wixom, MI 48393
Phone: (248) 956-2200
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sarahbanksptsa