The Banks Bulletin

Dear Banks Families:

We look forward to hosting our annual Memorial Day Ceremony on Friday, May 23. Family members of our Banks students who have served our country are invited to have a morning reception of coffee and donuts in the learning commons beginning at 8:15 AM. The Ceremony will then begin at 8:50 AM in the gymnasium. Please complete the Google Form below to register.

In Partnership,

Jennifer VanWagnen

We are Banks!

#everychildeveryday #banksproud

May

5/2: RESCHEDULED: 8th Grade Panoramic Photo

5/2: Pep Assembly @ 2:05 PM

5/5: Student Safety Drill

5/6: LLE 5th Grade Visit

5/7: Wixom 5th Grade Visit

5/7: RESCHEDULED: Cabinet to visit Sarah G. Banks MS

5/7: Co-ed Track Oak Valley @ Lakeland, Dismissal @ 2:20 PM

5/8: Fire Drill

5/8: Band and Orchestra Practice from 3-4:30 PM

5/9: Banks Band and Orchestra Field Trip to Cedar Point

5/11: Happy Mother's Day

5/12-5/16: Banks Staff Appreciation Week

5/12: PTSA Installations & Awards Ceremony @ Geisler MS 6:30 PM

5/13: iReady Testing, Math

5/14: WLE 5th Grade Visit

5/14: Walled Lake K-12 Student Art Exhibition @ Commerce Twnshp. Library, 4:30-7:30 PM

5/14: Co-ed Track vs. Mason @ WLW, Dismissal @ 2:20 PM

5/15: iReady Testing, ELA

5/15: HWE 5th Grade Visit

5/20: Half Day for Students, Staff Professional Development

5/20: Spring Open House for New Incoming 6th and 7th Grade Students from 6-7 PM

5/21: LVC Co-ed Track Meet, All Day

5/22: Final DC Parent Meeting @ 6:30 PM

5/23: Memorial Day Ceremony in AM

5/26: Memorial Day, No School for Staff or Students

5/27: Vocal Music Concert @ WLW, 7 PM

5/28: Banks 6/7/8 Orchestra Concert @ WLW, 6:30 PM

5/29: Oakland County Track Meet, All Day

June

6/2: Banks 6/7/8 Band Concert @ WLW, 6:30 PM

6/3-6/6: 8th Grade Washington, D.C. Trip

6/9: Dress Rehearsal, 8th Grade Ceremony @ 8:20 AM-9:20 AM

6/10: 8th Grade Ceremony @ 8:20 AM

6/10: 8th Grade Dance @ 6:30-8 PM

6/11: End of 4th Marking Period

6/11: Final Day of School, Half Day for Students

Dear Banks Middle School Families,

Since the 2019-2020 school year, we have shared information about district-wide efforts to improve our emergency responses. At the start of the 2022-2023 school year, our district adopted ALICE, a research-based training program to ensure schools are prepared to respond to potential intruder events. ALICE is about empowering individuals and providing options or strategies beyond the traditional lockdown methods.

Our next step is to review ALICE safety protocols with our students. Our objective is to provide meaningful, life-saving information to our students in an age appropriate manner. We see this day as an opportunity to empower our students in life-saving measures in the extremely rare event that we are faced with a threatening situation in our school. We will be conducting both verbal and movement-based ALICE scenarios with our students on May 5th.

The options-based safety protocol we will be reviewing with our students is called ALICE:

Alert

Lockdown

Inform

Counter

Evacuate

During our lessons, we will be introducing students to this options-based safety concept, and diving deeper into several of the concepts (Lockdown, Counter, Evacuate).

To ensure consistency, a slideshow presentation has been developed to review ALICE concepts that will be presented to all students. Throughout the school year, students will also participate in verbal and movement-based ALICE scenarios. Our students will not be participating in training drills that involve re-enactments, nerf guns, crisis actors, etc. Our students will practice how to barricade a classroom, and discuss safe rallying points outside of our school in case of evacuation.

I strongly encourage all students to attend school on May 5th to participate in our student ALICE day, as this information will be the basis for our protocol for future lockdown/ALICE scenario drills. If you have any questions about our student safety presentations, please contact me directly.

Sincerely,

Jennifer VanWagnen, Principal

Lets show our Sarah Banks Staff how special they are... any support for Teacher Appreciation week is appreciated!" There will be a collection box in the vestibule for donation items. Monetary/Gift Cards should be handed to secretary in Attendance Office.

Thank you,

SBMS PTSA

Congratulations to the newly elected 2025-2026 Banks PTSA board:

Jolie Abreu, Jean Perczak, and Barbara Zajdel

Thank you so much for your generous offer of service to the Sarah G. Banks school community! We are looking forward to an amazing year working together.

Nominations are being accepted to fill all positions, including President, Treasurer, Secretary,

Fundraising Chairperson(s), Membership Chairperson(s) and Reflections Chairperson(s).

6th Grade student at Banks had an opportunity to meet and learn from United States Secret Service Agent, William Skink III, during a special presentation in a Social Studies class this week where he shared meaningful and insightful information on cyber-safety. We cannot thank Mr. Skink enough for his commitment to our youth!

Attention prospective National Junior Honors Society (NJHS) students and parents: Banks is proud to announce that applications for NJHS will open in the fall of the 2025-2026 school year. This is a slight deviation from past practices as middle school redistricting takes place. The idea is that all students being placed into a new school will have time to settle in before we begin the NJHS application process. Look for information and application forms in September of 2025.

The final Washington, DC trip Parent Meeting will be held on May 22nd at 6:30 PM. The trip is now at full capacity and closed to new registrations. To view the meeting presentation from the October 10th parent meeting, please click here. If you have any questions about the DC trip, please reach out to Mr. Morrow at DavidMorrow@wlcsd.org.

We’re currently in our enrollment period, and we want to make sure students who are interested have the chance to join.

Our meet this year is scheduled for May 17th, and we’re excited to get the team organized for the season.

Attention 8th Grade Girls Interested in Volleyball at Walled Lake Western:

Stay in the loop with all things Western Volleyball! Join our Band app group to get updates on summer training, important dates, and program information.

Join here

https://band.us/n/aca703W4V4meP

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.

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

Becky Smith

Interim Assistant Principal: rebeccasmith@wlcsd.org

Jennifer Dean

Assistant Principal's Secretary: jenniferdean@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