MUMS Family Newsletter

Dear MUMS community,

We hope this message finds you soaking up these last few weeks of beautiful summer/fall weather! We certainly appreciated it this week as it allowed us time outside during classes, recess, many ERD exploratory activities as well as after school activities.

We know that while the weather stays warm, the days are long for students and families. We appreciate your continued focus on good sleep hygiene and stress management as we enjoy these busy weeks.

Please remember that we have "Back to School Night" this coming Thursday from 6:00-7:30. An agenda for the evening is included below and we hope to see you all there!

Have a great weekend!

Best,

Michaela Wisell ~ Principal

If you have questions, please reach out to us:
MUMS office 802-382-1600 or visit the MUMS website.
Michaela Wisell, Principal mwisell@acsdvt.org

Fieh Chan, Assistant Principal fchan@acsdvt.org

Erin Jipner, Student Response Coordinator ejipner@acsdvt.org

Dustin Hunt, Athletics and Activities Director dhunt@acsdvt.org

• Sept. 25th: Back To School Night (6:00 pm - 7:30 pm)

• Oct. 1st: Picture day (see information below)

• Oct. 2nd: Inservice Day

• Oct. 3rd: School break

• Activities Calendar

Greetings MUMS Caregivers!

Check out the exciting projects happening in Lisa Maggio’s 6th grade visual arts class! The visual arts make up a core component of the MYP Curriculum.

This week the 6th graders are harnessing their creative powers to create self-portraits composed from objects. In this introduction to Visual Art, students are learning Art History of Self-Portraits while also communicating traits about themselves through art. The statement of inquiry for this unit is: Exploring different styles of artistic expression can impact how people see themselves and the world around them.

“All great artists draw from the same resource: the human heart, which tells us that we are all more alike than we are unalike”. -Maya Angelou

We look forward to meeting many of you at our MUMS Back-to-School Night on the 25th!

Please use this link or see details below regarding September 25th, 2025 "Back to School Night"

6:00: Orient to the evening: Caregivers will get a copy of their student’s schedule as well as a schedule of events for the evening.

Tables in the lobby to visit:

6:10 - 7:25: Caregivers will have the opportunity to visit different locations around MUMS to meet their student’s teachers and learn more about life and systems here at the middle school.

6:10 - 6:25: Session 1

6:30 - 6:45: Session 2

6:50 - 7:05: Session 3

7:10 - 7:25: Session 4

For each session, please choose one of the locations listed below. We strongly encourage caregivers to prioritize visiting their student’s core teaching team as well as the session on “orienting caregivers to Powerschool” when making session choices.

Who can I visit?

• Core Team teachers
• Parents guide to PowerSchool

• Language Acquisition teachers (French & Spanish)
• Mixed Team teachers (Music, Art, Library, Design & Digital Design)
• Intervention teams
• Special Education
• Interventionists
• Wellness, Athletics & Clubs

Picture Day!

MUMS will have Picture Day on Wednesday October 1st. Order forms for LifeTouch will be handed out in TA the week prior. If you prefer to order your student’s school pictures online please visit mylifetouch.com and use the Picture ID EVTX28MPF. Your child can also bring their completed flyer with cash or check on Picture Day. Picture Retake Day is scheduled for Wednesday November 12th.

If you have any questions please contact Megan Curran at mcurran@acsdvt.org.

At Middlebury Union Middle School, we practice safety drills designed to ensure that our students and staff are familiar with how to respond in an emergency. Some months, we practice what to do if we need to evacuate the building. Other months we practice what to do when unsafe people or hazards enter our school.

We are required to practice two options-based drills - one in the first semester and one in the second half of the year. Options-based drills introduce students to various strategies in response to a threat, such as when to evacuate from the school or remain in a classroom. Please know that all options based drills are trauma informed and age appropriate. This means the drills are performed in a way that is sensitive to the emotional well-being of our students.

We will be holding our first options-based drill on September 26th, 2025.

The purpose of this drill is to keep the students safe from any danger outside or inside the building. During an “options based drill” all of the perimeter doors to the school building will be locked and will remain locked until the danger or issue outside or inside the building is removed. To enable everyone to remain safe, no visitors will be permitted to enter the building at that time.

We know that this is an emotional topic for parents and caregivers and want to assure you of a few things:

• The adults in our building work together to plan and ensure students feel safe and we remind them that the drill is practice.

• We talk with students in a developmentally appropriate way before and after each drill and our practice is developmentally aligned.

• We are available to support families. We will share resources below to help you talk with your child about these experiences and invite you to reach out at any time.

I want you to know about it in advance and be able to talk with your children about it when they come home. Here is a resource to support those conversations:

1. Talking with Children about Violence: Tips for Parents and Educators (NASP)

If you have questions or would like to connect please reach out to me directly.

Link to letter to families

We're getting ready to kick off another exciting year for the Middlebury Flying Tigers Competition Drone and Robotics Club!

This year, in addition to the Competition Drones, we're planning to expand into the world of mobile robotics with a First Robotics FTC team! This is affiliated with the same overarching organization as Lego League and is the next step in complexity and competition for middle-school and high-school age students!

We will be having our first organizational meeting next Wednesday at 6:00 pm at the Hannaford Career Center, room A118.

Here are a couple links to videos describing this year's competition:

FTC Decode!

REC Time Warp

Please review our program flier and tell your friends! The club is open to all area middle and high school students, including home school students - not just Middlebury!

802 Smiles Dental Hygiene Program is returning this Fall to offer free dental screenings and preventative care to all ACSD students. Please complete the forms below by September 22, if you would like your child to participate. You can access the forms here, or there are paper copies available at your school.

If your student will be absent from school, needs an early dismissal, or will take a different bus, please follow these directions:

• Absence / early dismissal: Call 802-382-1297, the MUMS attendance line, before 8:30am (helpful tip: add this number to your phone now as "MUMS attendance line")
• Early dismissal + bus notes: Students must deliver a caregiver's note to the front office when arriving at school (before TA).
• If taking a bus other than their regular bus: Students must bring a caregiver's note and have it signed by a MUMS Administrative Assistant in the front office to be valid.

Please use the "button" above to preview our ACSD bus routes.

Also please note a few caveats that impact students who ride Cornwall or Shoreham buses home.

Cornwall and Shoreham buses do not come to MUMS at pick-up time. Students who ride those buses must take a shuttle from MUMS to MUHS to meet their bus.

Cornwall students use the Bridport bus as their MUMS-MUHS shuttle and get on the Cornwall bus at the High school to ride home.
Shoreham students use the Weybridge bus as their MUMS-MUHS shuttle and get on the Shoreham bus at the High school to ride home.

We are so excited to welcome parents and community members back into our buildings this year! If you are interested in substitute teaching or volunteering this year, please start an application now!

If you are interested in joining our new Friends of MUMS group, email friendsofmums@gmail.com