Welcome Back To School Letter 24/25
August 1, 2024
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Dear Greenbelt Middle School Families and Community Members,
I hope everyone is doing well as we are a short time away from the 2024-2025 school year! This year we are doing a theme of “We Before Me.” This is a determination of how we are all collectively aligning to the vision and mission of Greenbelt Middle School. For those of you who were with us last year, a vote took place where we surveyed staff, students and the parents of what they felt our impact should be for GMS:
- Command our students to develop a sense of direction: Set a purpose to help them understand where they want to go. It gives them a roadmap for their academic and personal growth.
- Be punctual with our timing, with accountability, when it does not.
- Persevere through challenges: When students face obstacles, having well-defined goals encourages resilience. They learn to overcome difficulties and keep moving forward.
- Motivate students to raise their GPA by 0.5 points each quarter/semester. Ace all of their tests per quarter/semester. Improve students' reading comprehension by one level. Encourage students to think outside the box.
- Promoting a culture where all students respect each other.
- Students doing their part to keep the building clean which includes our cafeteria and bathrooms.
- Advocate for more clubs for our students, even if students initiate the clubs.
- Provide more opportunities for academic achievement/performance to be celebrated and highlighted amongst the larger community.
- Improve on Parent/Teacher Communication outside of Parent/Teacher Conference Days
- With Support of Title 1, increasing programming throughout the school which includes tutoring
The highlighted colors above represent the following. The green is the devotion from staff, the yellow is the devotion from students and the white is the devotion of parents. As you know, they represent our school colors as well. The top 10 things listed above is our commitment together in what we need to do to be successful.
As we prepare for the 2024-2025 school year, here are some important updates for you to know:
Exciting Instructional Programs:
In addition to our Talented and Gifted (TAG), English Language Development (ELD), Creative Arts, World Language, Special Education and General Education Programs; we are going into year 4 of our Chinese Immersion Program! This will continue to bring the awesome diversity that builds academic success for our students in relation to Chinese culture and language. We will continue with Arts Integration that helps with the differential needs to support the dynamics of all students in our building. We will also continue to focus on writing across all content areas as this is where we want to continue to grow in our school. In addition, each classroom will have carts of chromebooks that will be used so students can be served with technology equipment for their educational needs. Furthermore, if any student needs to rent a device (for home use), we have a procedure that we will guide with Mr. Pugh (carlos.pugh@pgcps.org). More details will be shared later. Lastly, we are a Community School and Title 1 School where we have an ample amount of resources to help support our school community.
Scheduling:
All of our schedules have been entered into our new platform, Synergy. If you have any questions with schedules, contact Ms. Moock (hannah.moock@pgcps.org). Please note that if a schedule change is needed, that will take place after the school year begins and that process will be shared.
Synergy:
Synergy is an electronic student information system used by Prince George's County Public schools to record attendance, grades, assignments, report cards, discipline incidents, and other information about your child. As we are navigating through this new platform, we ask for patience as we learn this tool together. Mr. Pugh will be our liaison with this as he can be contacted at at carlos.pugh@pgcps.org.
Communication:
If you have a Twitter or “X” account, please follow me at @mrclementedu and @GreenbeltMiddle for school related updates. I love to share the great work of our students and staff. Also, please continue to check our school website frequently for more information.
Our staff will also share important information via Robo Calls and school messenger. If you have not received any automated calls, texts or emails from the school please call 301-513-5040 and ask to speak with Mr. Pugh (carlos.pugh@pgcps.org), to ensure that we have the correct contact number for you in our system.
Dress Code Expectations and School Supplies:
We are asking students to adhere to our uniform policy. In addition our school supply list is listed on our website here in English, French and Spanish.
Important Dates and Information:
August 17th is our annual community day from 10am-12pm. Tables will be set up to meet some of our community partners and how they will support our social emotional learning for students this year. Here is the advertisement for the event in English, French and Spanish.
August 23rd is the orientation date for students (9:30 AM - 1:10PM). School buses will run on a half day schedule and you should receive information from the transportation department regarding bus route numbers through the family portal on or about August 16th. If you have any questions please call transportation at 301-952-6570.
August 26th is the first day of school for all students. Our school hours are 9:30 am – 4:10 pm. As a reminder, student schedules are available in synergy now. A copy of the schedule can be kept in the student’s phone or personal electronic device.
September 10th is our Back to School Night (all grades), 5:30-8:00 pm. This will be an in-person event.
Lunch Procedures:
All students are offered free breakfast and lunch at Greenbelt MS. They will only need to use their pin number to receive it. It should be the same pin number from last year (even in elementary school)
Arrival and Dismissal:
Arrival: As students arrive at the school, we ask that they arrive no earlier than 9:05 am, as there will be no adult supervision during that time. The safety of our students is paramount. When students enter the building students, walkers and car riders will enter the front of the building while bus riders will enter by the gymnasium.
The students will enter in this order:
9:05 - Breakfast Only 9:10 - 6th Grade
9:15 - 7th Grade 9:20 - 8th Grade
*There will be modifications during cold and inclement weather days for student entry*
Dismissal: Will begin at 4:05pm and all students will need to be picked up by 4:20 pm. Students will be dismissed in the order of grade level. Walkers and car riders will be dismissed by the front of the building while bus riders will be dismissed by the gymnasium. Early Dismissal will stop at 3:15 pm.
We are ready and will continue to be #BEARingGreatness with the emphasis of providing a C.O.R.E. (creating opportunities for robust education) atmosphere with a T.E.A.M. (together everyone achieves more) spirit.
As we work together at Greenbelt, we will communicate with each other as things get updated. I would also like to acknowledge the great Administrators that are my partners and their great support as I begin this journey: I am looking forward to an academically rewarding and safe year for our students. Additionally, I am looking forward to continuing the engagement in partnership with parents and community stakeholders.
Mrs. Theresa Wehrman - Administrator to Student Services - theresa.wehrman@pgcps.org
Mr. H. Donovan Colding - Administrator to 6th Grade - herbert.colding@pgcps.org
Mr. Darren Coleman - Administrator to 7th Grade darren.coleman@pgcps.org
Mrs. Camille Butler - Administrator to 8th Grade -camille.butler@pgcps.org
Mrs. Ruby Costea - Academic Dean/Chinese Immersion - shu.costea@pgcps.org
Dr. Joan Jackson - Community Schools Coordinator - joan2.jackson@pgcps.org
Ms. Lauri Lyles - Title One Coordinator - lauri.lyles@pgcps.org
Ms. Tioga Bazemore - TAG Coordinator - tioga.bazemore@pgcps.org
Ms. Tracey Thisse - Testing Coordinator - tracey.thisse@pgcps.org
Ms. Hannah Moock - Master Scheduler - hannah.moock@pgcps.org
Mr. Jamon McEwan - Student Advocate - jamon.mcewan@pgcps.org
Mr. Carlos Pugh - Parent Engagement Assistant - carlos.pugh@pgcps.org
Ofc. Orlando Dunn - Head of GMS Security Services - orlando.dunn@pgcps.org
Mrs. Diana-Phuong Magalhaes - Department Chair, Professional School Counselors - dianaphuong.magalhaes@pgcps.org
Mr. Sam Alpha - Main Office Manager - sam.alpha@pgcps.org
Mrs. Cynthia Cruz-Medley - Registrar - cynthia.cruzmedley@pgcps.org
Welcome Back Bears! I am excited and cannot wait to see you!
Yours in Education,
Mr. Marcellus Clement, Principal