Fremont MS Family Newsletter

Good afternoon,

As we begin the 2026–2027 school year, please take a moment to review the FSD79 Family Handbook 2026-2027, which outlines important school expectations, policies, and procedures to support your child’s success. We also encourage you to review the FSD79 Behavior Matrix, which details our behavioral expectations and the supports and consequences in place to help students succeed.

Attendance is crucial. Regular attendance fosters dependability, responsibility, and academic achievement. Students who attend

• Consistently stay on track,

• Engage fully with lessons,

• Participate in discussions,

• Collaborate with peers, and

• Receive timely feedback from teachers.

This active participation improves understanding, retention, and overall performance. At FSD79, we prioritize attendance to create a supportive environment where every student feels valued and empowered to succeed. Our goal is to support all students and ensure equitable access to education.

Emily Loerakker

Fremont Middle School Principal

To kick off the new school year, we were thrilled to welcome Fremont graduate Trey Baker for special student assemblies. Centered around the themes of student voice and curiosity, these presentations helped our students discover the power of finding their voice and using their emotional awareness to safely advocate for themselves. To deeply connect this experience to our classrooms, teachers shared and discussed Trey's debut children's book, When I Look Up, and used these insights during our RULER check-ins. We hope you’ve had a chance to ask your child about their favorite parts of the assembly and what they learned about using their feelings to speak up for themselves.

Morning Announcements for August 31 - Sept. 4

• 🗓️ September 3-4 - NWEA MAP Testing

• ‼️ September 7 - Labor Day - No School

• 📸 September 9 - Picture Day

• ‼️ September 21 - Not in attendance - No School

• 🚌 October 2 - Special Event Early Dismissal - 1:13 pm

• ‼️ October 12 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School

• 📷 October 22 - Picture Day Retakes

• ‼️ November 3 - Election Day - No School

• 🗓️ November 12 - End of 1st Trimester

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

• 📌 November 23 - Parent-Teacher Conferences (11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.)

• ‼️ November 24-27 - Thanksgiving Break - No School

Bullying in any form, by anyone, is not acceptable. Every student deserves to feel safe and free from bullying. Those who bully others need to learn more appropriate ways of interacting with their peers. This letter is intended to inform you about the School District’s anti-bullying program and to encourage you to help us identify students who are being bullied.

The School Board policy on bullying begins with this goals statement:

Bullying, intimidation, and harassment diminish a student’s ability to learn and a school’s ability to educate. Preventing students from engaging in these disruptive behaviors is an important District goal.

Bullying is defined as follows:

Bullying means any severe or pervasive physical or verbal act or conduct, including communications made in writing or electronically, directed toward a student that has or can be reasonably predicted to have the effect of one or more of the following:

1. Placing the student in reasonable fear of harm to the student’s person or property.

2. Causing a substantially detrimental effect on the student’s physical or mental health.

3. Substantially interfering with the student’s academic performance.

4. Substantially interfering with the student’s ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or privileges provided by a school.

Bullying, intimidation, and/or harassment may take various forms, including without limitation: threats, stalking, physical violence, sexual harassment, theft, public humiliation, destruction of property, or retaliation for asserting or alleging an act of bullying.

School staff members are asked to respond compassionately and immediately to a student who reports bullying or school violence. After evaluating the situation to determine if an immediate referral to the building administrator’s office is needed, a staff member will give the student the report form for bullying, 794180.15 Report Form for Bullying. Building Administrators will inform you, the parent/guardian, whenever your child is involved in a bullying report.

Staff members were also asked for their feedback regarding locations that may be bullying hot spots needing additional supervision or monitoring or if there are any known bullies or targets of bullying in the building(s). We ask you to do the same thing. Please inform building administrators if you know of any bullying hot spots in or around our schools or if you are aware of a known bully or target of bullying.

Finally, staff members are instructed to intervene immediately to stop a bullying incident. If the incident involves a weapon or other illegal activity, they will immediately contact building security and/or law enforcement.

Below are some of the signs that a young person is being bullied:

· Does not want to go to school and refuses to explain the reason

· Talks about not having any friends

· Has unexplained bruises, cuts, scratches, or abrasions

· Has unexplained damage to clothing, possessions, books, etc.

· Frequently loses money or possessions

· Loses interest in school and/or has declining grades

· Becomes withdrawn and/or has stress or depression symptoms

These signs do not necessarily mean your child is being bullied, but if present, ask your child whether they are being bullied. Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

FSD79 conducted an annual test of our emergency notification system on Thursday, August 27, at approximately 5:00 p.m. All parents/guardians should have received an email, text message, and robocall. If you did not receive a message via all three of those methods, please complete this form.

Throughout the school year, our transportation team conducts school bus evacuation drills to ensure that students understand what to do and where to go in the event of an emergency.

Practicing these procedures helps students build confidence and ensures they are prepared should an actual emergency ever occur. The District will be conducting drills on the following upcoming dates:

FRONT DOOR EVACUATION DRILL

• Wednesday, September 2

BACK DOOR EVACUATION DRILL

• Tuesday, September 8

We encourage parents and guardians to talk with their children about the importance of participating seriously in these drills, including staying calm and following the bus driver’s instructions.

Please see this great resource from the Lake County Tech Campus. These career guides are a great resource for students as they are determining their 4-year high school plan

English Version

Spanish Version

Please see the flyer below for directions. Parents will receive an email with proofs to complete the school picture orders.

Picture retakes are scheduled for Thursday, October 22.

Fall Sports:

• Boys (7, 8) - Report to cafeteria at dismissal
• Tryouts are 3-days - Monday, Tuesday, & Thursday - Strongly encouraged to attend all 3 days.

*6th-grade Soccer - an email will be sent Monday evening informing you the status of the team.

-Questions - Please email the Athletic Director - apoglayen@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.

• 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