GEHMS Bulletin. Happy October!
From the Main Office October 2, 2026
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Principal Message
Dear GEHMS Families,
Fall has arrived at GEHMS! We welcome the cooler weather, changing leaves, and all that we love about a New England autumn. October is always a busy and exciting month at school, and we are looking forward to the many opportunities ahead for our students and families.
We are excited to formally welcome Ms. Aideen Whittaker as our Assistant Principal. Aideen officially began in her new role on October 1. Many of you already know Aideen from her eight years as a speech-language pathologist at GEHMS. She knows our students, families, staff, programs, and school culture well, and we are excited to have her join our administrative team.
GEHMS Wear
Spirit Wear? PTO has worked to create an online store (as a fundraiser). It will be open now through midnight on November 19th. Rep GEHMS!
Meet the Staff
Important dates
- 10/7 PTO meeting 5:30 via zoom
- Thurs 10/8 PTO McDonalds Night
- Monday 10/12 No school for Indigenous Peoples Day
- Wednesday 10/21 Early dismissal
Calendars
Harvest Moon and Multicultural Night was a great time
Our Harvest Moon Multicultural Night was a wonderful success! It was so nice to see GEHMS families come together for an evening of fun, connection and appreciation of the many cultures represented in our magnet school community.
A special thank you to Ms. Day and our staff who continue to organize opportunities for our students and families to learn about Mandarin culture as part of our language program. All GEHMS students receive Chinese language instruction as a special, and these cultural experiences help bring that learning to life.
Thank you also to our MLL team, who helped create a beautiful celebration by sharing food from many places and representing the cultures of our GEHMS families.
We hope to make this event even bigger next year, with even more food, stories, traditions, and opportunities to learn from and appreciate one another.
COMING SOON. School Dismissal Manager
We appreciate that dismissal is challenging with so many busses and changes, this new app should streamline information and help us assure everyone safely gets home!
Through the on-line dismissal management system, families will:
- Report student absences and late arrivals
- Schedule early departures from school
- Make transportation changes the current day (with a cut off time)
- Detail any changes to student's dismissal
- Identify who is able to pick up
- School can send emails to one bus or one dismissal group only, which will be helpful
We will begin using SDM for dismissal with a hard start date after Indigenous People's Day. YOU WILL GET AN EMAIL W DIRECTIONS FROM SDM DIRECTLY
For right now, please continue to report transportation changes gehmsoffice@crec.org
Meals are free this year for GEHMS students
We are happy to announce that GEHMS remains eligible for the community eligibility provision (CEP) grant. Therefore, both breakfast and lunch will be offered at no cost to the students. This is the final year of a 4-year approved grant. Click below for menus. make sure you choose our school from the dropdown
PTO News
🍔 McDonald’s Night – Thursday, October 8
Come grab dinner and support GEHMS! A percentage of purchases made during designated hours will be donated back to our school. No volunteers are needed — just come enjoy a meal!
🌟 NOVA Night – November
Date and details coming soon!
🎄 Gingerbread Event – December
This is always a favorite and a wonderful way to have fun while supporting our school goals.
Volunteers will be needed, so please consider joining us, helping out a little (or a lot!), or simply reaching out to learn more.
Interested in getting involved? We’d love to have you! Every bit of participation makes a difference, and there are many ways to help — big or small.
We’re looking forward to a fantastic year together. Thank you for being part of our GEHMS community!
Race to Fill the local Food Pantry
Race to Fill the Pantry Food Drive: Monday, September 28th through Friday, October 30th
Class that brings in the most nonperishable food or household items receives a field trip to the Glastonbury Food Pantry to drop off the food!
Race to Fill the Pantry 5K Walk/Run - Sunday, November 15th - 8:00am - 10:30am - Registration TBA
GEHMS Families who participate receive a discount when registering.
Most proceeds benefit the Glastonbury Food Pantry, and the GEHMS Green Leaf Program receives a generous donation from the registration fees that help with our Garden Club and other school-based sustainable initiatives.
Any questions, please email Ms. Wilson at twilson@crec.org
Social Emotional Learning and G.E.M
CREC schools and GEHMS sees School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports to be important in establishing school culture. Here at GEHMS we have a multi-tiered framework to make our school systems and expectations for students effective and supportive. These systems establish a social culture and provide the behavior supports needed to improve outcomes for all students.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16d2BBHMJ5aQmiPOwJqpwPpy6xfonxU6aexBYL1fD704/edit?usp=sharing Or https://www.pbis.org/pbis/what-is-pbis for more information about positive behavior supports
GEHMS teaches the Second Step program, which includes lessons that support these behaviors
Support your child at home in welcoming others and acting and speaking in Generous, Engaged, and Mindful ways. Please tell your child’s teacher if you have questions about specific ways you can help your child with these behaviors at home.
Collaborative Problem-Solving strategies
GEHMS uses Collaborative Problem-Solving strategies to help students reflect on their actions, identify solutions, and make positive choices moving forward. Families may continue these conversations at home using questions such as:
- What happened?
- What were you thinking or feeling?
- What was the problem?
- Who was affected?
- What could you do differently next time?
- What can we do to help you be successful?
See GEHMS Handbook for more details.
Hispanic Heritage Month with buddy classrooms!
Buddy Classrooms pair students from different grade levels for shared activities and experiences throughout the year. These connections build friendships, encourage leadership, and strengthen our school community.
above are pics of gr 4 and gr 1 working to learn and celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month
CREC is a social justice agency
CREC Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement
CREC strives to understand and confront the symptoms and causes of racism and prejudice—ranging from biases to aggressions to discriminatory policies, practices, and traditions—that harm people from systemically marginalized groups or that benefit privileged groups. CREC staff and students acknowledge and respect people of all identifiers, such as race, socioeconomic status, gender identity and expression, education, age, ability, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, language, nationality, religion, and veteran status.
GEHMS Land Acknowledgement
GEHMS
Email: gehmsoffice@crec.org
Website: https://gehms.crecschools.org/
Location: 95 Oak Street, Glastonbury, CT, USA
Phone: 8606334455