Fremont MS Family Newsletter

Welcome back! We hope you had a restful and fun-filled summer break. As we begin the 2025-2026 school year, we are excited to welcome our students and families back into our learning community. Whether you are returning or joining us for the first time, we are so glad you’re here!

This year promises to be full of growth, learning, and meaningful connections. Our dedicated staff has been preparing student schedules, planning engaging lessons, and organizing opportunities that will inspire curiosity, creativity, and a love of learning. We are committed to supporting every student academically, socially, and emotionally as they navigate middle school.

We look forward to partnering with you throughout the year to ensure a positive and successful experience for your child. Family newsletters are full of important information and shared each Friday at 3:00 pm.

Here’s to a fantastic school year ahead!

Emily Loerakker

Fremont Middle School Principal

• The first day of school is Thursday, August 21, 2025. It is a full day of school.

• Grades 6-8 will report to their first period Flex.

• Middle school hours are 7:55 a.m. - 2:43 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays and 7:55 a.m. - 2:13 p.m. on Wednesdays.

• Students may be dropped off no earlier than 7:30 a.m. and have to sign-in in the front office as “tardy” if they arrive after 7:55 a.m.

To help you and your child prepare for a successful school year, we encourage you to review the FSD79 Family Handbook 2025-2026, which outlines important school expectations, policies, and procedures.

To support a learning-focused environment, we will continue our “Away for the Day” initiative in accordance with the Portable Electronic Equipment Policy (Board Policy 7:190).

Here are a few important reminders:

• Cell phones must be turned off and kept in a Chromebook bag or sleeve during the school day.

• Smartwatches should be in school mode and used only as a watch.

• Devices are not permitted during class time, in hallways, bathrooms, lunch, or recess.

• Students needing to contact a parent or guardian should use the main office phone.

• Exceptions may be made if outlined in a student’s IEP or 504 Plan.

Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to a fantastic year ahead!

Parents and guardians who DO NOT want their child’s photograph and/or student work published need to complete this form and return it to their school's front office within your student’s first 5 days of school attendance. A letter submitted from the previous year will not carry over.

Parents/guardians have the option to prepay for school pictures. The site and ordering will be closed at 11:59 PM the day of Picture Day to process the orders. If parents missed prepaying they will have a chance to order pictures with their child's Ticket Code. When placing an order after Picture Day with a Ticket Code a shipping fee will be added and picture packages will be shipped directly to the home. Pictures will be ready 3 weeks after orders are placed. Please see the flyer from Color Portraits for more information.

• Parents/guardians and students can log in to TeacherEase to view the student’s schedule. Scheduling is an extremely intricate balance that we work diligently to achieve based on the needs of our students. Therefore, there will be no schedule changes, unless there is an error. If you feel like a mistake has been made, please fill out this form, and an administrator will contact you regarding your student’s schedule.
  

• If you have never logged into TeacherEase, go to www.teacherease.com, use your email address as your user ID, and click "forgot password." It will send you a link to set your password.
  
• New students or those that registered recently may not have a schedule in Teacherease. We will review student records before scheduling a student in classes.
• Below is the full-day schedule for each grade level. Please note this is an 8-period-a-day schedule.

Please note that class period times have been adjusted. Each student has an assigned Flex teacher. Flex will meet the first 10 minutes of the day for morning announcements (each Monday), check-in, and attendance.

Flex at the end of the day will be utilized for social-emotional learning and WIN (What I Need) time. The purpose of the WIN time will be to provide students with targeted, intentional support based on their individual academic and social-emotional needs. This dedicated block allows educators to offer interventions, extension, reteaching, or independent work time in a flexible setting, ensuring that all students receive the right level of challenge and assistance.

Students are dismissed 30 minutes earlier than normal every Wednesday so that teachers and staff may participate in professional learning.

To ease the transition to middle school, we will have a 6th-grade Launch Day this summer. It is scheduled for August 11th from 9:00 - 11:00 am or 12:00 - 2:00 pm. This is an excellent time for students to walk through the building with their schedule, get their assigned locker and padlock, practice printing items, and learn about how to stay organized. Parents/guardians are welcome to attend, as we will also have a session to learn more about the middle school. The 6th Grade/New Student Launch Day will end with a scavenger hunt for families to participate in together. Please fill out this form to indicate interest in the AM or PM session on August 11th. As of today, we have over 100 students and their parents/guardians signed up to attend!

Our 7th graders at Fremont Middle School also created the "A Day in the Life of a Middle Schooler" video, which gives a snapshot of what the day might look like.

School Supplies

School supply lists can be found on the Middle School section of the FSD79 website under the Families tab.

PE Class

Students will dress for PE class for the 2025-2026 school year.

• The PE t-shirts will be given to the students on the second day of school.

• 6th-grade students are assigned a locker space directly in the locker room and given a combination lock.

• 7th and 8th will carry items to and from their main locker to the locker rooms. They will be given a locker space to hold their items during the class period while PE class is in session.

• Students must wear gym shoes for PE class. (Flip-flops, Crocs, and slides are not allowed to be worn during PE class.)

• Students should wear black shorts or sweatpants and their green PE shirts for class. The deadline to have black shorts/pants is Monday, September 15th. The PE staff will send additional information to parents and students during the first week of school. Please let your child's PE teacher know if you need support with any items.

• We also encourage the students to have deodorant, extra socks, and gym shoes for PE class.

Lunchtime

During the 2025-2026 school year, 6th graders will eat during period 6, 7th graders will eat during period 5, and 8th graders will eat during period 7 in the main cafeteria.

• For further information, see Quest lunch menus on the FSD79 website.

• Students will have several lunch options to choose from including hot lunch and a la carte items. Students must purchase the items using their school-issued ID card.

• It is highly recommended to have an online MyMealtime account to monitor student food purchases and account balances. Email Anthony Smith at asmith@fsd79.org for assistance.

• Please contact the District Office at 847-566-0169 if you have questions about the Free and Reduced Lunch application.

Chromebooks

Students should fully charge their Chromebooks before the first day and each night during the school year. If your Chromebook is not functioning properly, please email apoglayen@fsd79.org.

Transportation

You will receive an email from the transportation department regarding busing information. Middle School students do NOT receive bus tags. Please do not contact the middle school regarding transportation. If you have questions, contact Leslie Lauritzen,

Director of Transportation (llauritzen@fsd79.org).

Wednesday, August 20, from 1:00 PM to 3:00 p.m., Fremont Middle School will open for students to drop off supplies in the Period 1 (Flex) classroom for Grades 6-8. Please review the follow schedule for Meet and Greet:

• 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. - A-L Families

• 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. - M-Z Families

All parents/guardians and their students should enter through the main office. Student leaders and staff will assist in handing out maps and providing information.

Another opportunity to meet teachers is at the Middle School Curriculum Night scheduled for Thursday, August 28, from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. Please mark your calendars.

• 8th Grade Washington DC Parent Information Meeting: August 28 from 6:00-6:30 p.m. Large Gym (Contact Andrea Poglayen if you have any questions. apoglayen@fsd79.org)
• 7th Grade Springfield Parent Information Meeting: August 28 from 6:00-6:30 p.m. Small Gym (Contact Kyle Snow if you have any questions. ksnow@fsd79.org)
• Tech Support: 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.: Drop in the Den (library) if you have any tech questions. Mrs. Poglayen will be available for tech support.

Fall sports registration is OPEN.

Fall Sports: Cross Country (6, 7, 8), Boys & Girls Soccer (7, 8), and Girls Basketball (7, 8)

*6th-grade Soccer and Girls Basketball- If interested, please sign up - information will be provided if the roster allows.

Parents must complete the interest form and submit a valid, current physical to the school nurse.

-Interest form linked and posted on the Athletic Webpage.

-Physicals are valid 395 days from the exam date on the form.

Health information and medical forms are available on the FSD79 Health Services webpage. Please drop off forms at your child’s school.

• Sixth graders must provide a dental examination form and a health examination form with proof of up-to-date immunizations.

• Any student who would like to participate in school sports will need a school sports physical before they are allowed to try out.

• The school nurse is Rachel Hickok. Please contact her with any questions regarding medical forms. (rhickok@fsd79.org)

If your child will be absent from school because of illness, doctors appointments, or for any other reason, please call 847-566-9384 and select option 2 to report it to the school office by 8:00 a.m. the day of the absence. Keeping track of all the students on a daily basis is a huge task, and we greatly appreciate prompt notification of any absence.

• 7:55 a.m. to 2:43 p.m. (M, Tu, Th, F), 7:55 a.m to 2:13 p.m. (W)
• The earliest students can be dropped of is 7:30 a.m. If students are reporting to school early for a morning activity that is supervised by a Fremont staff member, they can enter the office beginning at 7:05 a.m.

Please note: Students are dismissed 30 minutes earlier than normal every Wednesday so that teachers and staff may participate in professional learning.

• 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (during school year)
• 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (during school-year breaks and summer)

• The designated pick-up and drop-off zone is in front of the school.

• Early pick-up of students ends before the dismissal process begins. Please note that the latest early pickup time is 2:00 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays and 1:30 p.m. on Wednesdays.

• The area behind the building is reserved for buses only.

• If someone other than the child’s parent or guardian is picking them up, the school office must be notified.

• 🏫 August 21 - First Day of School

• 📓August 28 - Curriculum Night (6:30 - 8:30 p.m.)

• ✈️ August 28 - 8th Grade Washington DC Parent Info Meeting (6:00 - 6:30 p.m. in Large Gym)

• 🚎 August 28 - 7th Grade Springfield Parent Info Meeting (6:00 - 6:30 p.m. in Small Gym)

• ‼️ September 1 - Labor Day - No School

• 🗓️ September 4-5 - NWEA MAP Testing

• 📸 September 10 - Picture Day

• 🚌 September 12 - Special Event Early Dismissal (1:13 p.m.)

• ‼️ September 23 - Not in attendance - No School

• ‼️ October 13 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School

• 📷 October 23 - Picture Day Retakes

• 🗓️ November 13 - End of 1st Trimester

• 💻 November 19 - 1st Trimester Report cards available through Teacherease

• 📌 November 24 - Parent Teacher Conferences (11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.)

• ‼️ November 25-28 - Thanksgiving Break - No School

• Family Handbook
• Family Resources
• Community Resource Guide
• Important School Contacts
• Weekly Principal E-newsletter

Emily Loerakker

Fremont Middle School Principal

Nick Atchley

Fremont Middle School Assistant Principal

Address: 28871 N. Fremont Center Road

Phone: (847) 566-9384

Website: middle.fsd79.org

Instagram: @FSD79

YouTube: youtube.com/FSD79