Dear Beagle Middle School Families,
We are excited to kick off another exciting school year, and we look forward to working with you and your child this school year! With the last few weeks of summer vacation winding down, we wanted to reach out with a few brief reminders regarding back-to-school information.
Schedule Pick Up and School Pictures
- 7th grade schedule pick up and school picture day will be on Wednesday, August 14th from 4-7 PM in the Beagle Middle School cafeteria.
- 8th grade schedule pick up and school picture day will be on Thursday, August 15th from 4-7 PM in the Beagle Middle School cafeteria.
- Students are not required to pick up their printed schedule; we simply offer this as an option to our students and families. Schedule pick-up is a great opportunity, however, to become familiar with the building, work locker combinations, etc. In addition, school picture make-up/retake opportunities will take place during the school day in the fall. Therefore, there is no pressure or obligation to attend this event.
- For parents interested in ordering school pictures, you may place your order here in advance: https://vando.imagequix.com/g1001134334. If you have any questions regarding school pictures, please contact our secretary, Lindsay Pelette via email at pelettel@glcomets.net. Hard copy picture order forms will also be available both days.
- Student schedules will be available in PowerSchool for students and parents to view on Wednesday, August 14th. Please note that while we work very hard to provide students with as many desired elective requests as possible each year, we are not able to honor schedule changes or teacher preference requests unless there are significant, extenuating circumstances determined by the administrative team as part of our district-wide practice.
Parent Portal Access: We strongly encourage families to frequently use Parent Portal on a regular basis (weekly) for a variety of reasons. First, our teaching staff regularly update their gradebooks each week often posting pending assignments and tests with due dates in advance. Second, students will receive homework on a fairly consistent basis in middle school, and PowerSchool/Parent Portal provides an accurate communication platform for parents and students to track and monitor progress. Third, our teaching staff will post classroom/family updates within PowerSchool every other week to keep parents and students informed of upcoming learning targets, assignments, and assessments; this cuts down on our families being inundated with multiple emails from multiple teachers. In next week’s newsletter, we will provide a video tutorial for our families detailing the aforementioned information and to demonstrate the power of Parent Portal as a one-stop resource and support for our families to ensure their student’s success at the middle level. If you have not set up Parent Portal for your student, please look for an individualized email from us early next week with specific, detailed account set up information.
Chromebook Distribution: 7th grade students will receive their chromebooks during the first week of school from their English teacher. 8th graders new to the district will also receive their chromebooks during the first week of school. Students are expected to bring their chromebooks to school on a daily basis. Students are allowed to carry a backpack with them throughout the school day to ensure safe keeping of their district-provided technology.
School Supplies: At the middle level, we encourage parents to wait until after the first day of school to purchase detailed, specific school supplies. The good news is that despite the fact that our middle schoolers will be working with six different teachers, the necessary supplies will be very minimal. For those interested in purchasing school supplies before the year begins, we suggest purchasing the following items: three-ring binder with six tab dividers or six two-pocket folders, #2 pencils, pens, basic highlighters, and a spiral-bound notebook. Please note that all students will receive a planner and a chromebook this year to support their learning and organization.
PTO: We have an outstanding joint PTO with the Hayes Intermediate building! Our PTO has provided several outstanding opportunities for our students, staff, and facilities over the past few years. This work is accomplished through the support of our community and family members. We always encourage our family members to attend our PTO meetings whether it's one time, intermittently, or consistently--all participation is helpful and impactful to our school culture and benefits our children. Here are some important updates from our PTO:
- The first meeting of the year will be Tuesday, September 10 at 6:30pm in the Beagle Media Center or you can attend the first meeting virtually at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82744686994.
- Stay connected with PTO news and events: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hayesbeaglepto
- Beagle Stock the Lounge link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080E4AADAE2CAAFC1-50346960-beagle
Middle School Athletic Updates: We wanted to also take this opportunity to pass along a message from our athletic department regarding upcoming, school affiliated athletics. Please note that follow up questions regarding athletics should be directed to Jim Price, Middle School Athletic Director, at pricej@glcomets.net and/or Steve Baker, District Athletic Director, at bakers@glcomets.net.
- Middle School Football– First practice August 26th: 8th grade 3-5 PM, track field; 7th grade 5-7 PM, field to immediate South side of Beagle. Both 7th and 8th grade teams will meet first in our cafeteria before heading to their designated practice fields; please enter through the cafeteria doors. Parents will pick-up from designated practice fields. Note: those interested in playing can simply show up to practice as long as they have an updated sports physical on file (see link below regarding sports physicals).
- Girls’ Volleyball Tryouts–August 26th: 8th grade 3-5 PM; 7th grade 5:30-7:30 PM, both grade levels will meet in the Beagle New Gym, which is through our cafeteria and old gym. Please enter through the cafeteria doors. Athletes interested in trying out just simply show up to participate as long as they have an updated sport physical on file (see below).
- Cross Country: MS CC 2024.docx
- Sports Physicals: All students wishing to participate/tryout for football, volleyball and cross country must have a current athletic physical on file. A physical is considered current if it is dated on or after April 15, 2024. Anyone without a current physical will not be allowed to tryout/participate. Most urgent cares or the Grand Ledge Clinic located inside of our high school, https://www.glcomets.net/health-center/, offer sports physicals, and they have sport physical forms on file. Please note that if you intend to use the Grand Ledge Clinic for a sports physical, you must call ahead to make an appointment. Please upload updated sports physicals here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc225C4DrjhHq-vdZDmyXtKhgRkIF5hGvDsDkQ0Tdyfl49CnA/viewform
Future Communications and Newsletters: We will continue to communicate via email over the next few weeks before the beginning of the school year, and these communications will contain more detailed information as we get closer to the start of the school year. In future emails, we will discuss the following: bell schedule, transportation procedures, lockers, backpacks, passing time, lunches, who to contact for various needs/concerns, and many other important pieces of information that are vital to know just before school begins. This information will be incrementally provided to parents in chunks.
Once the school year begins, we send our newsletter to parents on Friday mornings in email format via SchoolMessenger (PowerSchool). We send our newsletters in this fashion because we embed informative links and resources directly into the email for ease of use and function for our parents. Please note that each communication will have the yellow “Looks Safe” banner at the top, so please be sure not to block or deny the newsletters or emails because future communications will not be sent if they are ever blocked or not accepted.
Upcoming Events
- Open House will be on Thursday, August 22nd from 6:30-8 PM. This is an opportunity for students and parents to meet teachers and walk through the building before the first day of school.
- First Day of School: Tuesday, August 27th, full day
- Labor Day Holiday: Friday, August 30th through Monday, September 2nd; classes resume Tuesday, September 3rd.
Again, we are excited to kick off another great school year, and we look forward to working with you and your child this year.
Take care,
Dave Kushman, Principal
Kelly Shumway, Assistant Principal
