G-A Superintendent Newsletter

Survey

Nov 4th Bond Proposal Information

Inclement Weather Letter

Superintendent Excellence Awards

Building Newsletter Sections

Community Section -Food bank resources

We would appreciate you completing the Family Engagement Survey concerning your experience as a family member of Galesburg-Augusta Community Schools.

Your anonymous feedback will help guide our decision making to improve staff culture, processes, systems, and overall services to our famillies. We ask that you provide feedback in a solution-oriented manner. This survey will be administered each Fall and Spring to help us identify areas of celebration and set goals for improvment.

See Button below to take the survey

🦃 Transportation Team Thanksgiving Lunch 🧡

In an effort to show our care, thankfulness, and love for our incredible Transportation Team, we will be hosting a special Thanksgiving Lunch in their honor!

We’d love to include a little extra love from our community as well. We are accepting donations of gift cards, which will be given away as prizes during some fun games at the lunch.

If you’d like to contribute:

• 🎁 Please drop off gift cards at the main office of the Primary, Middle, or High School.

• 💵 If you’d prefer to give a cash donation, I’ll be happy to turn it into a gift card for you!

Thank you for helping us celebrate and appreciate the amazing people who keep our students safe and our buses running every day!

Mr. Larry has been a dedicated member of our Transportation Team for 12 years! He is a valued, respected, and kind man who embodies teamwork every single day. Mr. Larry helps open the garage each morning and is always ready to lend a hand wherever needed. We are so grateful for his commitment and positive spirit — congratulations on 12 incredible years, Mr. Larry! 🚍👏

Adopt a Ram Family for the 2025 Holiday Season!
The holiday season can be a challenging time for many families. Join our Galesburg-Augusta team in making a difference by adopting a Ram Family this year! Your generosity helps bring warmth, joy, and hope to members of our local community.
How to Get Involved:
Follow the link below or scan the QR code to fill out our quick Google Form. Once submitted, we’ll match you with a family as soon as possible. You’ll receive their list of sizes, needs, and wishes through your preferred method of contact.
Gift Drop-Off Deadline:
Please have all wrapped and labeled gifts delivered to Nikki Ellis at Galesburg-Augusta High School by Monday, December 15th. After that date, our team will ensure that your gifts reach your chosen families.
Thank you for helping spread kindness and community spirit this holiday season!
Sign Up Here:
https://forms.gle/Gy1VugHYe1HatyjRA
Contacts for Questions:
Jeff Russell (Primary School): 269-484-2040
Nichole Sparks (Middle School): 269-484-2020
Nikki Ellis (High School): 269-484-2010

Join us for our next G-A Music Boosters meeting on Wednesday, November 19th at 6:30 p.m. in the high school band room. Everyone is welcome! Come be part of the conversation and help support our Ram band students!

Our annual Christmas Bake Sale is coming soon, and we’re looking for bakers to help make it a sweet success! If you’d like to donate baked goods, please contact Laura at (269) 348-8735.

Each week we celebrate at least one staff member for their hard work and dedication to the staff and students at G-AHS. During October we celebrated the following staff:

• Special shout out to Lindsey Neal, Kayleen O’Donnell, Alisah Nelson, Amanda Brincks and the office team for making Homecoming such a special occasion. We also are so thankful for the Student Council for their contributions. The students had a blast and we appreciate the staff that make these opportunities possible!

Thank you to Sarah Baker for her organization for Round 2 of Clue! We played this last year during Halloween week and the students loved it. We appreciate her going the extra mile in bringing this fun activity to our building.

Special shout-out to Ms. Nikki Ellis! From organizing announcements, keeping our communication board for students up to date, RAM Stop, library responsibilities, and support the attendance team-she is a rockstar! She is also helping with Adopt a Ram, please see details in this newsletter above for how you can help local families during the holiday season!

This month for Big Ram Little Ram our Senior students played Bingo with our Freshman. We had a great time and will continue to strengthen the relationships between Seniors and Freshman, our Seniors have been great mentors!

The Galesburg-Augusta Future Proud Michigan Educator class ventured onto campus at WMU. Students were able to ask a current student panel questions about attending the college, their favorite classes and the process of admissions. They participated in a sample college class, toured the campus and of course sampled the cafeteria in the new Student center. Before we left, we even had a chance meeting with Buster Bronco who encouraged everyone to attend the Western Central game this weekend!

• 11-3 Second Marking Period Begins!
• 11-3-6th Gatekeeper Training for 9th and 10th graders during English Class. Informational letter sent out from office on 10/20.
• 11-4 Election Day
• 11-4 AFGAK Meeting at the Primary
• 11-12 KVCC Visit during Flex for Seniors
• 11-13 Picture Retakes
• 11-13 2027 Class Meeting during Flex
• 11-14 NHS Blood Drive-see Flyer below!
• 11-19 Half Day for Students/Teacher P.D in afternoon
• 11-20 Air Force Lunchroom Visit
• 11-26-11-30 Thanksgiving Break

Our October Hall of Fame winners from left to right: Natalie Jukola, Tanner Sutherlin, Owyn Shoup, Colten Tiller, Falicity Knight, Aubrey Guardado. The Hall of Fame award recognizes outstanding student work and kindness shown to others.

Our 8th grade students traveled to the Kalamazoo Expo Center on October 28th to participate in the MI Career Quest event. This was an amazing opportunity for our students to learn about jobs and careers they may want to pursue in the future

Our Middle School Robotics team is working hard to prepare for their upcoming competition!

Our 7th and 8th grade bands had their first performance of the year on Tuesday, October 28th! They did an amazing job!

Please come out to support our Middle School boys basketball teams! Below are the dates of all the HOME games during the month of November.

Nov. 10th: 8th Grade

Nov. 12th: 8th Grade

Nov. 13th: 7th and 8th Grade

Nov. 17th: 7th and 8th Grade

Nov. 19th: 7th and 8th Grade

Nov. 25th: 7th and 8th Grade

Doors open at 7:55 for all students who are eating breakfast. Students must go directly to the cafeteria upon entering the building and they must get breakfast. Students will remain in the cafeteria until 8:05. Doors open to ALL students at 8:05.

Classes start promptly at 8:14. Please make sure all students are dropped off no later than 8:10 each morning.

Important Dates at the Middle School:

Nov 3rd: 2nd Marking Period Begins

Nov 19th: Half Day for Students

Nov 26-28: No School, Thanksgiving Break

• Encourage and motivate: Be a "cheerleader" with a positive attitude, show genuine interest in their education, and praise their effort.

• Establish routines: Create a consistent time and quiet space for homework and reading.

• Teach essential skills: Help them develop organizational skills by checking backpacks with them, using a homework log or calendar, and teaching them to make "to-do" lists.

• Make learning relevant: Connect what they are learning to real-life situations.

• Promote healthy habits: Ensure they get enough sleep, eat well, and limit screen time.

• Encourage independent learning: Allow them to learn from mistakes and take ownership of their work, while providing support and guidance.

The 3rd graders and the Preschool students visited the Galesburg-Augusta Fire Department this month to talk about the importance of having a fire safety plan. They taught our students that if there is a fire at home to stay low and crawl fast, leave everything behind, and to never hide. All students got to see and hear what a fully dressed firefighter looks and sounds like and learn about all of the tools and supplies that can be found on a fire truck. Does your family have a fire safety plan and meeting place? Make one today!

In October, First Day Shoe Fund and 10 amazing volunteers from Advia Credit Union fitted over 370 pairs of brand-new athletic shoes for students at Galesburg Primary School and 5th grade at Augusta Middle School.

Since we began providing shoes to Galesburg students, participation has grown dramatically. Just five years ago, First Day Shoe Fund gave out 49 pairs of shoes — and since 2021, there’s been a 669% increase in participation, including a 15% increase just since last school year!

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Mr. Russell and First Day Shoe Fund for their incredible commitment to our G-A Rams.

Our corporate sponsor this fall was Advia Credit Union, and we are deeply grateful for their partnership and generosity. This marks the largest number of shoes ever delivered to Galesburg-Augusta students!

Special thanks to the volunteers from Advia Credit Union and First Day Shoe Fund who helped fit 329 students at the Primary School and 48 students at the Middle School.

If your child missed out, no worries — we’ll be ordering again in the spring!

How can you engage with children at home you ask? Well, this month in our community circles we are learning and discussing Self-Awareness. According to Webster’s dictionary, self-awareness is an awareness of one's own personality or individuality". This includes knowledge and understanding of one's own character, personality, feelings, and behaviors, acting as a foundation for recognizing emotions and making conscious choices rather than just reacting. Some of the questions we are proposing to our students that you could also do at home are: how do you show politeness to a grown up, how do you pull yourself out of a bad mood, what will I do today to make me feel happy?

Our 3rd grade door greeters have been starting everyone’s morning off with a positive note. With good mornings and smiles, they are helping everyone begin the day the right way.

It’s been a good start to fall with our 4th grade recess leaders getting out to assist our 1st graders! They are helping our littles in following RAMS expectations and playing with each other safely.

At the Primary, we now have 13 volunteers for reading buddies. Way to go GA Families. We appreciate your support in helping to grow our RAMS.

If you would like to volunteer to help out with our RAMS Reading, please email heather.ledlow@garams.org

Scampi has been hanging out with kiddos who aren’t feeling well in the office, needing a little pick me up and popping into classrooms to hang out with students who are working, and getting lots of pets from students and staff. Ms. Turner’s pre-k room really loves him!

Students were recognized for demonstrating Respect, Achievement, Management and Success at school!

November 3rd - The Primary School RAM’S Store will open for our students to cash in their RAMS Tickets.

November 4th - 1st Grade Classes, Rekis and Fox, will be going to Charlton Park

November 5th - STEAM night at the Primary School from 6:00-7:30 (there will be a food truck)

November 6th - 1st Grade Classes, Becker and Overgaard, will be going to Charlton Park

November 18th - Picture Re-takes

November 18th - Early release Bible Class

November 19th and 20th - Preschool Conferences

November 20th - No School for Preschool students only

November 26th- 28th - Thanksgiving Break

December 1st-4th - Holiday Gift Shop present by AFGAK

Check VOSS Media in town. Check out their Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/vossmediaboardgamecafemi

We are collecting donations for the holiday food baskets. We are also taking cash donations and pop cans too. Anything helps this has been a rough year for many and with food stamps being cut in November there’s a huge need this year .

Accepting Donations through Dec 20th of non-perishable food items at 72 East Michigan in Galesburg.

Dear G-A Families,

We know that times can be challenging, and we want to make sure every family in our community has access to the support they need. To help, we are sharing local food assistance resources available to families in our area.

Please see the attached PDF documents for full details. We encourage you to review the list and share it with anyone who may benefit from these resources.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our main office, we’re here to help.

Thank you for being a part of our caring and connected Ram Family.