• Here is a list of the sporting events for this week
• Coming Soon - Looking Ahead/Save the Date Calendar Items

This Week:

12/9 (M) Homework Club 2:15-3:15 Letter and Dates

12/11 (W) Faculty Meeting 1:15 - 3:15

12/11 (W) ALICE Drill

12/12 (Th) Homework Club 2:15-3:15 Letter and Dates

12/12 (Th) School Council

Next Week (So Far):

12/16 (M) Homework Club 2:15-3:15 Letter and Dates

12/18 (W) Teacher Day

12/18 (W) Parent Conferences (2:15-4:15)

1) [NEW] ALICE Drill - Wednesday 12/11/2024

2) [NEW] Lost and Found

3) [NEW] Message From Your School Nutrition Team

4) [REMINDER] Holiday Season and Some Reminders

5) [REMINDER] JGMS Academic Achievement List

6) [REMINDER] BEF Bash - Save The Date

7) [REMINDER] Toys For Tots

8) [REMINDER] Parent/Teacher Conference Update

9) [REMINDER] Tips to Managing Our Children's Phone

10) [REMINDER] JGMS Extra Curricular Activities - Link Added

As you know, the topic of school safety has been on our nation's collective minds in some form for many years. We are continuously in consultation with the Bedford Police Department and District Crisis Team to align our emergency procedures with the other schools in the district, and I write to you today to share our plans in regards to training students and practicing our enhanced emergency response protocols with students.

On Wednesday, December 11, 2024 we will be practicing our enhanced emergency response protocols with our students. Unlike our typical evacuation response, an advanced emergency response drill is based on scenarios that require staff and students to make decisions about real time scenarios which may include an intruder being in or around the building. Before, during, and after our drill the teachers will discuss different options with students, answer student questions, and reflect on the scenarios presented. After the drill is over, we will return to our usual school schedule.

Unlike a fire drill, there will be no alarms or loud noises. We will attempt to practice our scenarios in a way that is trauma-sensitive while also preparing for how to keep safe in a dangerous situation. Although all adults will emphasize that this is practice and that there is no real danger, we recognize that for some of our students, this sort of drill can cause stress. For the students whom we anticipate this type of drill could be traumatic, we will check in with them ahead of the drill. If you believe your child will require support and would like us to check in with them prior to the drill, please reach out to a school counselor who can work with you on the best way to support your child.

It is unfortunate that we must plan for these scenarios and we will always do our best to be well prepared with the focus on keeping students safe. If anyone on staff or I can be of any assistance to you or your children please contact me at 781-275-3201. My office is always open to you.

Although we have organized the Lost and Found so students can find their missing items, there are still a lot of items that have yet to be found. Please ask your child to look through it for missing items and feel free to come to school between 8:00 and 10:30 and 12:30 - 2:15 to see if you can find any missing items. When you come to the school please enter through the front and before heading to the Lost and Found, please stop at the main office and ask for a visitor badge.

On Friday, December 17, 2024 all remaining clothes will be dropped into our Planet Aid bins or donated elsewhere.

The JGMS School Nutrition Team will begin selling Ice Cream Novelties Wednesday 12-4-24 immediately after lunch service. These treats will be available each Wednesday.

Cost is $1.50 To make paying easier, students / parents can add funds to student's My School Bucks account. https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/getmain?requestAction=home

All novelties are Nationally Smart Snack compliant, on the John Stalker Inst. A List and are manufactured in a nut free plant.

The holiday season in North America is between Thanksgiving and the new year where a variety of cultures celebrate holidays. Now that Thanksgiving has passed, we can officially turn our attention to winter and the holiday season and all that it brings. In addition to the holidays that occur every month for our students, the North American holiday season, bringsa variety of emotions for families and students that range from joy and happiness to sadness and stress. If you feel your child may need support, please reach out to their counselor.

For those of you who do not follow School Committee regularly, you likely did not hear that JGMS has adopted an Academic Achievement List. Formerly known as Honor Roll, the development of the Academic Achievement List was a 2 year process that included parents, students, the School Council, and the School Committee. Below is the JGMS handbook language that memorializes the decision, the purpose of the Academic Achievement List, and the criteria. For those students who did not make the Academic Achievement List, there is always next term. For students who feel the Academic Achievement List is not obtainable, I urge you to put your efforts toward the newly formed, Tenacity List, which is also shared below.

This is the first time we are collecting names for the Academic Achievement List and it could take time to get it right. We aim to get the names to the paper by the week of December 9.

The JGMS honor roll was a practice that was discontinued in 2019-2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In considering how to bring back the honor roll, JGMS leadership, MSPA, and school advisory council engaged in a multi-year process to consider all facets of the issue and developed the following parameters that deserve to be honored:

• Recognizes achievement

• Recognizes growth/improvement

• Is within reach of all students

• Designed to motivate all students in all subjects

• Avoids additional stress for students

After much consideration of student, family and educator perspectives, data, and JGMS community values, the MSPA, JGMS School Council, and Bedford School Committee has endorsed the following structure for recognizing JGMS student efforts and achievement:

• Academic Achievement List: Students who earn 80% or above in all subjects AND maintain an average of 90% or above when including all subjects.

• Tenacity List: Students who earn 70% or above in all subjects AND improve their average by 2% or more when including all subjects.

Students’ names will be submitted to the Bedford Citizen at least 1 week after the posting of grades. Families who prefer their child’s name be omitted from publishing should email the principal and administrative assistants at John Glenn Middle School.

Hello, Bedford! It’s a celebratory time of year, and we have something sure to get you even more excited – it’s time to Save the Date for the BEF Island Vibes Bash! Take a trip to the Tropics on March 1st to support creative and innovative grants for all Bedford schools. More details to follow, but you know you can’t miss it! Block the calendar today!

The JGMS Student Council is running a Toys for Tots holiday drive that will take place from 11/4 to 12/15! Our school is working with our local chapter to deliver gifts to children in need in the Bedford community. We hope that each gift donated will bring hope into a child’s life! Our school goal is to reach 150 gifts. Gifts can be deposited in one of the boxes by the main office or the cafeteria. We are looking for: Unused objects Books, sports/outdoor equipment, legos, dolls, action figures, etc… Packaging still intact Please do not wrap the gifts yourself– it helps to see what’s inside! You can purchase a toy just for this event, or donate an old unused gift you didn’t need. We hope to have all our gifts in by December 15th! Thank you!

We will hold Parent/Teacher Conferences on December 18 from 2:15 to 4:15pm via Zoom and teachers will share Zoom links directly.

We invite all families to sign up for a conference if slots are still available or request one via email to your child's team leader if the slots fill up before you can sign up. As we have done in previous years, if you are not able to schedule a time on November 20 or December 18, and feel a conference will be helpful, we will accommodate you at times that have yet to be determined.

It is important for me to remind everyone that it is your choice whether you schedule a conference for your child and there is no requirement to schedule a conference for your middle schooler. Our goal is to ensure that conferences are meaningful and useful to you and for your family. Therefore, I ask you to consider your child and whether:

• You feel they are developing appropriately at grade level academically and socially.

• You have received or are actively receiving ample/sufficient communication from your teachers regarding your child’s learning thus far.

If you answer yes to either of the bullets above, please consider emailing your teachers to ask if they think a conference is necessary for your child before taking a slot or requesting an alternate time. Oftentimes a check in with a teacher via email or telephone will provide the information you need to support your child in lieu of a scheduled conference.

Finally, as a reminder, to ensure all families have access and we can maximize time allotted, all conferences will be via zoom.

Tips to Managing Our Children's Phone

Please note, social media apps have minimum ages, most often the age of 13. Do not provide consent for your child to create an account when they are below the minimum age. Each social media platform has methods to report accounts of children under the age of 13.

Below is a note I have shared since 2022-2023 school year in an effort to support each other and our children's phone use. My children are now 10,8, and 7 and the struggle around devices is as real now as it was then. Personally, I believe I am doing ok and mainly because I have not provided a phone. I only have given a watch to my two oldest and I am dreading the day one of their friends gets a phone because then I know it's the beginning of a real challenge.

When I am not acting as the principal at JGMS, I am the father of three daughters of 3, 6, and 8 years old. I admit, I use my phone to keep my children busy at times and unfortunately, they became aware of how to find things I thought I was preventing. I noticed they kept finding their way into YouTube or games I thought deleted numerous times. Turns out I would "Remove" the App (removing isn't deleting apparently), just to find out it was in the Library. Then I would delete the app, just to find out they could download a previously purchased app without a password. My kids were taking control of their electronic usage and I couldn't keep up. After hearing from families about their concerns with phone and social media use, and also managing it at school, I felt compelled to post this note and includes tricks to blocking certain privileges or basic monitoring clues. I am proud to say that I was successful in navigating the technology, I deleted and prevented apps from coming back, the 6 and 8 year old accepted their fate rather quickly, and my wife and I survived the meltdown of my 3 year old.

Now many of you have likely figured out how to permanently delete apps, block privileges, and limit time on devices and you don't need the help of a novice like me. I do wonder however if some could use a bit of advice from each other. So in the spirit of a partnership, I created a document with tips to gaining control over our children's device. I have given anyone access to read and/or edit the document. This way we all can view the advice and also can add ideas that may be helpful. I am an iPhone user and I started the document with 3 seemingly basic iPhone suggestions. Please feel free to add any tip you found helpful in navigating technology with your children's phone. Together I would like to think we can support all children to be model citizens in both the physical and digital world.

For students who want to compete in sports at JGMS, please visit this site to sign up.

JGMS has a variety of clubs and sports that meet outside of school hours. The list of clubs and the times they will meet have been finalized and are posted.

CLUBS

Please see this Link for a list of clubs and activities.

SPORTS

Sports Opportunities at JGMS: Students have a variety of options. Here is a list of sports that we offer at JGMS throughout the year.

Coaching Staff: JGMS offers four sports in the fall. Please contact the JGMS coach with questions. Please contact your child's coach via email for information regarding games, practices, or changes to schedules. Sports schedules can be found each week at the link at the top of bulletin listed as "This week's sports schedule - Click "view Schedules" on right to find Middle School schedules. Practice/Tryout information for sports are listed below.

GENERAL:

JGMS Athletic Coordinator: Ken Norling

FALL:

JGMS Cross Country: Ken Norling

JGMS Boys Soccer: Vincent McGrath

JGMS Girls Soccer: Paul Harrington

JGMS Field Hockey: Lisa Gocht

JGMS Football: Joe Curran

*Email not set up yet. Please reach out to Ken Norling with questions

WINTER:

JGMS Boys Basketball: Vinnie McGrath

JGMS Girls Basketball: Greg Hinz

SPRING:

JGMS Boys Baseball: Eric Driscoll

JGMS Girls Softball: TBD

JGMS Co-Ed Outdoor Track: Ken Norling

Please see the following message from some ambitious and helpful high school students.

Are you struggling with math? Join our math tutoring! We are high school tutors who want to help! Get personalized support from high school student tutors and conquer any tough problem with confidence. Say hello to success! We will tutor students Tuesday after school while under the supervision of a JGMS math teacher. Reserve time today, by filling out this form:

https://forms.gle/MAxarnqn15s3gCbm7

Looking forward to seeing your child there!

Please click on the picture for consequences that we impose for students who are caught with phones. At this time, we are being lenient on the use of smart watches. We are taking time to remind students that they cannot be worn and asking them to put them in their locker at their next locker visit. Come November we will treat smart watches as we have been treating cell phones.

Welcome to the new school year! Below are a few quick items of interest.

1. Please contact me via phone call or email to report any changes in your child’s health status. It is important for us to have the most up-to-date information to ensure we can provide the best care and support for your child’s well-being at school.

1. Permission for your student to be able to receive acetaminophen and or ibuprofen during the school day may be granted by completing the 2024-2025 JGMS Parent/Guardian Consent for Tylenol/Ibuprofen. Please take a moment to do this now, before your student has a need. Please note this is required for each school year.

1. Please provide medications and the required medication permission form signed by both provider and parent, to the nurse's office asap. This includes scheduled daily medications as well as, inhalers, seizure rescue, diabetes medications.

1. For students with life-threatening allergies and have an epinephrine device, please send in the device along with the updated allergy action plan asap at the start of the school year. The Allergy Anaphylaxis plan is required to be completed each year.

Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns. The direct line to the nurses office is 781-275-3165.

Ms. Cormier and Ms. Danielson are happy to ensure your child has what they need to be successful each day. In order to support their efforts we ask you use our cubby system for all items that are not electronic.

When you enter the main door at JGMS you will see a large wooden cubby where we ask families to leave student belongings. Chromebooks or other electronics have their own process however the process begins at the cubby. There are forms that parents can fill out along with instructions. Below are pictures so you will know what to expect.

You will see we ask parents to email their child that an item has been dropped off. Our priority is that our students get what they need in a timely manner and the process is efficient. To ensure the system works as planned, we will teach the students about this system, we will periodically check the cubby for items that need to be picked up, and also ask that you remind your child to check their email periodically during the day (especially if they know you may drop off their item) and check the cubby on their way to lunch.

Attendance Policy: Getting to school on time each day is a way for your child to show they are responsible. We will be working with your child and reminding them to give themselves enough time to get ready and to get to school on time. It is important that students are making a strong effort to come to school on time each and every day.

Please see our attendance policy.

Reporting Attendance: Email is how we prefer families report attendance or dismissals. The email address is available to all office staff and is checked each morning for attendance. Please let us know when your child will be absent, late, or dismissed by emailing JGMS_Attendance@bedfordps.org. If for a dismissal, please indicate a time as well. When we know of dismissals ahead of time we will have your child ready when you arrive.

Please note, the phone number that was previously used for absences is no longer being checked and the voicemail will ask you not to leave a message and instead, prompt you to send an email to report attendance. Additionally, you can also send a note with your child which should be dropped off in the main office prior to going to class. We expect this system will be more efficient for not only you, it will allow us to be more efficient in reporting attendance each day.

Attendance: Please let us know when your child will be absent, late, or dismissed by emailing JGMS_Attendance@bedfordps.org. If for a dismissal, please indicate a time as well. You can also send a note with your child to be dropped off in the main office prior to going to class. If we know of a dismissal ahead of time we will attempt to have your child ready when you arrive.

Religious Holidays: Please follow the directions explained here.

Tech Support: If your child is having technical trouble throughout the school year please send an email to tech_support@bedfordps.org.

Taking the Bus: Please see the guidance on the district’s transportation website. Please review the transportation guidelines with your children as we hope families will choose to ride the bus again.

Sports schedules: Please visit the sports section of the website to access the schedules of the upcoming seasons. You can click on “view schedules” under the calendar on the right. You should look for “middle school” teams when searching for your child’s sport.