Parent Newsletter
Riverside Middle School | December 2024
December Parent Newsletter
Co -Principal Update
Dear RMS Families,
As we head into the holiday season, we do a lot of reflecting about what we are thankful for. We are thankful for our students and families everyday. Our RMS community is thriving this year as a result of everyone working together. We are thankful for the staff who work with our students everyday. Our goals this year have us surveying students, parents, and staff in an effort to continually improve. We want to make sure we are consistently providing you the best possible service. We took the lowest areas on our last year’s School Perceptions end of year surveys in order to identify where our areas for growth were. We will be re-surveying parents, students, and staff each quarter to gauge our progress with these different statements prior to the end of year School Perceptions survey being administered. We wanted to make sure you have the data from our October Parent Engagement Survey so you can see how we did! Student Engagement Survey Results (500 responses) My teachers explain things in a way that I get. What did the data say? What is/was our response? 65% of respondents Strongly Agree or Agree 28% were Neutral 6% Disagree or Strongly Disagree We are focusing on our What/Why buildingwide goal to help students understand what they are learning for the day and why they are learning it. I can relate to what I am learning at school. What did the data say? What is/was our response? 54% of respondents Strongly Agree or Agree 29% were Neutral 17% Disagree or Strongly Disagree We are hoping that our “why” portion of the What/Why goal is helping students feel more connections to this goal. We will see in January if that proves to be helpful. We are also using student rounding one on one conversations to help us figure out how to improve daily instruction. I feel safe at school. What did the data say? What is/was our response? 62% of respondents Strongly Agree or Agree 23% were Neutral 15% Disagree or Strongly Disagree We recognize that we had a couple different incidents back to back the days right before this survey was administered. We would be curious to know if this result is the same when our survey isn’t administered during that time. Our Securly Pass system is allowing us to identify who is in the hallways when in order to help create supportive environments outside of the classroom. Students treat me with respect. What did the data say? What is/was our response? 61% of respondents Strongly Agree or Agree 23% were Neutral 16% Disagree or Strongly Disagree We have done thankful and respect lessons in our Advisories so we can help students start to identify more opportunities for respectful behavior to be recognized. Our staff is rewarding students with emails home, positive phone calls, post cards, Kindness slips when we are seeing these behaviors to help encourage more of them. Parent Engagement Survey Results (77 responses) How would you rate communications from school? What did the data say? What is/was our response? 73% of respondents rated RMS communication as Good or Great! 22% reported communication to be Fair 5% reported communication to be Poor Communication has been our primary focus with our families this year. We are hoping families notice the positive emails, phone calls, and post cards being sent home to celebrate students. School communication is timely and transparent. What did the data say? What is/was our response? 68% of respondents Strongly Agree or Agree 16% were Neutral 16% Disagree or Strongly Disagree 1% Didn’t Know. We are trying to be transparent with our families so that they know what is happening in the building. We are trying to be more timely with our communication to have it going out well in advance of events so that families can plan accordingly. I have opportunities to provide feedback to the school/teachers. What did the data say? What is/was our response? 64% of respondents Strongly Agree or Agree 19% Neutral 13% were Disagree or Strongly Disagree 4% Didn’t Know. We did Parent Rounding during Open House and both sets of Parent Teacher Conferences. We created this survey in order to get feedback from parents. We would welcome any and all ideas from families on how to do this better. My child feels safe at school. What did the data say? What is/was our response? 64% of respondents Strongly Agree or Agree 22% were Neutral 14% Disagreed or Strongly Disagreed We work every day in order to make every student feel seen, heard, and respected in our school. We work to make sure our students know what clear expectations are and we work to help students meet those. Safety is our number one priority and we will continue to work to increase this number. The school has high expectations for my child. What did the data say? What is/was our response? 62% of respondents Strongly Agree or Agree 22% were Neutral 13% Disagree or Strongly Disagree 3% Didn’t Know. We have implemented Wit and Wisdom in ELA, Illustrative Math in math, and Amplify in science in order to provide rigorous high quality instructional materials for students to have access to. We have trained our staff on AVID practices in order to increase the level of rigor in our teacher created curricular courses. Our next survey will be sent out January 12. Please consider providing us an update so we know how we have done since the beginning of the year! We are here to serve and support our students and families. If there are things you need from us or want us to know, please make sure you’re reaching out so we can best meet your expectations and needs. Thank you for your partnership. Leigh Ann Graf Mike Cunningham RMS Co-Principals
Important Upcoming Dates
Dec 16 - RMS Holiday Band Concert 6pm
Dec 18 - RMS Holiday Choir Concert 6th Gr - 6PM, 7th Gr - 6:30PM, 8th Gr - 7PM
Dec 23 - Early Release @ 11:30am
Dec 24 - Jan 5 - NO SCHOOL - Winter Break
Attendance Information
New to our building this year is an attendance email address for Parents and Guardians to use to report that your student will be absent. As always, you can still call and leave a message with attendance. It is important that you let us know in advance if your student will be absent. That way attendance can be marked accordingly and automated absent phone calls will not go out. Adding RMS as a contact in your phone also helps you to know who is calling, if your student needs something. Thank you!
Attendance Email: rmsattendance@mywusd.org
Attendance Phone Number: 920-262-1480 - EXT 5811
Traffic Pattern Information
RMS Families and Community Members, We are excited to have started the year very positively at RMS. We especially thank our students, staff, and parents for the positive start. One of the areas of concern we have heard is with after school traffic. As you all know, Hall Street can get congested and this is causing delays in getting the RMS buses to the High School. Last year we implemented a new traffic plan, with buses exiting to E. Main St. via Rocky Road which helped alleviate those issues. This year hasn’t been as smooth as years past and looking for everyone to please bring patience and understanding after school to keep all students and drivers safe. We also have people that are driving a little too fast for a school parking lot. We would appreciate slowing down to keep our students as safe as possible. Our hope is that when Highway 16 reopens our traffic will begin to flow better as in years past. We want to remind our parents that our solution is to have the buses line up in the back teacher parking lot at dismissal (near the cemetery). We also politely ask parents to not drive into the back teacher parking lot. We need to safely load the buses in the back and ask parents to pick up in different locations. Currently due to road closure on Highway 16 the buses exit the parking lot and turn left onto Rocky Road (against normal traffic in the lane nearest the cemetery) and then exit right onto Main Street. Once 16 has re-opened buses when exiting the parking lot will turn left onto Rocky Road (against normal traffic and in the lane nearest to the cemetery), and then exit left normally onto Main Street. (See image below.) This will also free up space on Hall Street for parents that are exiting Rocky Road via Hall Street. As of right now, parents will still be able to pick up on Rocky Road. However, we ask that parents do not drive in the right lane on the opening corner of Rocky Road during after school pick up. Once you have passed the barricades and cones, you will be free to move to the right and pick up your child by the flagpole. We also ask that you do not stop in the left lane of Rocky Road in order to keep the road free for buses to safely exit the parking lot as they leave school grounds. We appreciate your patience while we try to improve the after school pick-up process. In order to alleviate some of this congestion, we encourage parents to plan their pick-up along Hall Street, in the pool parking lot or have your student walk to an agreed upon location along Boughton Street or another location that makes sense for your situation. We appreciate your partnership as we are looking to improve student safety. Yours in Education, Mike Cunningham Leigh Ann Graf
Athletics
Boys Basketball
Rocky's Library Link 📚
Fun at Riverside!
Students had an amazing morning trying to pin the feather on the turkey, while our admin ran around gobbling down the halls! Many laughs and lots of fun!
Goosebumps Musical Schedule
RMS Club Schedules
Lost & Found Items
Please talk with your student about any items they may have lost or forgotten at school. Our Lost & Found is very full!
Daily Time Schedule
- The RMS school day will begin at 7:45AM and dismiss at 3:15 PM on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. On Wednesdays, school will begin at 7:45AM and dismiss at 2:10PM.
Rooms Information
Attention 6th through 8th grade parents!
Did you know that your child has the opportunity to submit their artwork or writing for possible publication in a book called the Southern Lakes Anthology?
Your child's elementary teacher, art teacher, or middle school ELA teacher has shared with them an opportunity to submit their own original artwork or writing to be evaluated by a panel of judges for possible inclusion in this year's Southern Lakes Anthology!
If you would like more information, please ask your child's elementary teacher (grades 3-5), their art teacher (grades 3-8), or their ELA or art teacher (grades 6-8). School librarians and counselors are also able to help clarify rules!
To learn more, visit https://sites.google.com/mylusd.org/wusd anthology/home. This is also where you can see an introductory video, get a copy of artwork templates, download entry forms, and see the rubric that will be used to evaluate your child's entry.
Please note that there are strict rules that the Southern Lakes Advanced Learners Network requires entries to follow, and these rules can also be found on the website. Entries that do not follow these rules will not be evaluated.
All entries will be turned into your child's school library no later than January 5, 2026. All entries will be evaluated within WUSD, and the 24 highest scoring entries from WUSD will move on to the regional level to be evaluated for possible inclusion in the 2026 Southern Lakes Anthology book, entitled with this year's theme: "The Journey"
All entries that score high enough will be included in the book, and all published authors and artists will be invited to a reception ceremony at UW-Whitewater in May, where they will receive a copy of their book.
Please refer to the website for more information, or ask your child's teacher if you have further questions.
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¡Atención padres de tercer a octavo grado!
¿Sabían que sus hijos tienen la oportunidad de presentar sus obras de arte o escritos para su posible publicación en un libro llamado Antología de los Lagos del Sur?
En algún momento de las últimas dos semanas, el maestro de primaria, el maestro de arte o el maestro de ELA de la escuela intermedia de su hijo les ha dado la oportunidad de presentar sus propias obras de arte o escritos originales para que sean evaluados por un panel de jueces para su posible inclusión en la Antología de los Lagos del Sur de este año.
Si desea más información, pregunte al profesor de primaria de su hijo (grados 3-5), a su profesor de arte (grados 3-8), o a su profesor de ELA o arte (grados 6-8). Los bibliotecarios escolares también pueden ayudar a aclarar las normas.
Para más información, visita https://sites.google.com/mywusd.org/wusdanthology/home. Aquí también podrá ver un vídeo introductorio, obtener una copia de las plantillas de las obras de arte, descargar los formularios de inscripción y ver la rúbrica que se utilizará para evaluar la obra de su hijo.
Tenga en cuenta que la Southern Lakes Advanced Learners Network exige el cumplimiento de una serie de normas estrictas, que también pueden consultarse en el sitio web. Los trabajos que no sigan estas normas no serán evaluados.
Todos los trabajos deberán entregarse en la biblioteca de la escuela de su hijo a más tardar el 5 de enero de 2026. Todos los trabajos serán evaluados dentro de WUSD, y los 24 trabajos con mayor puntuación de WUSD pasarán al nivel regional para ser evaluados para su posible inclusión en el libro Antología de los Lagos del Sur 2026, titulado con el tema de este año: "The Journey"
Todos los trabajos que obtengan una puntuación suficientemente alta se incluirán en el libro, y todos los autores y artistas publicados serán invitados a una ceremonia de recepción en UW-Whitewater en mayo, donde recibirán un ejemplar de su libro.
Para más información, consulte la página web o pregunte al maestro de su hijo si tiene alguna duda.
Sincerely,
Stacci Barganz, BA, MS, NBCT
Seal -A- Smile for 6th & 7th Graders
Whether you are interested or not, we ask that you please fill out the form below either way.
https://sealasmile.wisconsin.gov/Consent/Program/SelectProgram
Please watch the video below for more information.
Influenza Information
2025-2026 School Year Immunization Requirement
Free/Reduced School Meals
On Skyward Family Access, parents will find the 2025 Free and Reduced Price School Meal form. Forms can be turned in to any of the district schools. A new form must be completed each school year.
Under Wisconsin Statute 120.12 (22), students who qualify for free and reduced lunch will have the cost of their exam(s) waived. Families must complete the paperwork for free/reduced lunch each year. If you have not yet done so, that paperwork should be completed by October 1st to ensure that there is no gap in your student receiving free/reduced lunch benefits.
Riverside Middle School T-Shirts
Riverside Middle School T-Shirts are available for $10. Please bring Cash or Check to the Main Office.
Front
Back
Google Chat Information
Google Chat will be shut off for 6th and 7th graders this year.
Thank you.
School Store Links Below
RMS Phone Numbers
Riverside Middle School - 920-262-1480
Main Office - Ext 5801
Bookkeeper - Ext 5802
Attendance - Ext 5811
Student Services - Ext 5821
Fax - 920-262-1468
Find us on...
Riverside Middle School on Facebook at https://shorturl.at/HnSJA
Watertown Unified School District on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WatertownUnifiedSD
Watertown Unified School District on Instagram at instagram.com/watertownusd