Dear Beagle Middle School Families,
Here are some updates that we wanted to share at this time:
Spirit Week/Food Drive Next Week: Our Comet Council has organized an outstanding opportunity that will benefit both our students here at Beagle and families in the community. They have creatively organized a spirit week and food drive; essentially, the school spirit (clothing) corresponds to the donations that students can donate each day. Donations drop-off will be located in the cafeteria on the West end between both gyms; each grade level will have their own donation box for the competition. Donations can be dropped off in the morning or during lunches. In addition, there is some competition between grade levels with this activity next week.
- Monday-Pajama day; breakfast food donations
- Tuesday–Ducky/Yellow day; toiletries donation
- Wednesday–Wacky Wednesday; canned good donations
- Thursday–Ugly Sweaters; loose change donations.
8th Grade Washington DC Trip Update: For 8th graders who are signed up for the Washington, D.C. trip there is a suggested payment due on Friday, December 15th. The payment schedule is a suggestion to help parents break the payments up over time. Parents can make a payment anytime through the website. The trip must be paid in full no later than Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Our next fundraiser will be at the end of January. Be on the lookout for information to be sent home with your child and we will also post information in the newsletter. Many students and parents are asking about room assignments, this process will not take place until the spring.If you have any questions, please email your child's history teacher directly.
Technology Use, Continued Parent Support Appreciated: We greatly appreciate continued parent support in monitoring technology use on the home front. Here at Beagle, we revised our cell phone policy from previous years to not allow students to have access to their phones throughout the school day; historically, students were able to access their cell phones during lunch. We made this change in our policy of off and out-of-sight throughout the day for a variety of reasons: inappropriate social media use, a spike in discipline referrals after lunch, and most importantly: guidance from the attorney general speaking to the significant impact social media has on children under the age of 18, which was released in March of 2023. As parents and educators, we do not endorse the use of social media at this level as tweens do not have the prefrontal cortex development to handle the temptations of social media, and it can have a significantly negative impact on their social, emotional well being as documented in the surgeon general’s report. However, we are in charge of school, and parents are in charge at home. Therefore, we greatly appreciate parents regularly monitoring their child’s technology use on the home front, especially if social media use is allowed in the household. Please note that as administrators we do not address social media issues that happen outside of school hours as that is outside of our jurisdiction. If social media issues arise outside of school hours and the comments are concerning, then we encourage parents to work directly with local law enforcement to address these issues immediately. We can absolutely assist with these issues, at times and contingent upon the context, but the first contact needs to be with local law enforcement. Administrative jurisdiction requires events to occur on school property or have a significant impact to the orderly and safe function of school.
Wrestling Parent Meeting: There will be an informational parent meeting for parents of students interested in wrestling this season with Coach Cohoon on Monday, December 18th at 7 pm here in the Beagle cafeteria. Coach Cohoon will also be speaking with interested wrestlers on Thursday, December 14th during CNC in our cafeteria.
Holiday Concert Next Week: Our choir, led by Kristen Burton and Daniel Dade, will be Tuesday, December 19th at 7 pm at the GLHS auditorium. We encourage our families and students to engage in this wonderful event.
Girls Basketball Tryouts: Girls’ basketball tryouts begin Monday, January 8th, 7th grade is from 3-5 pm and 8th grade is from 5:00-7:30 pm. Tryouts will run from Monday through Thursday of that week. Please ensure your child has a physical on file in order to try out. Physicals may be turned into the front office.
Winter Dance Committee: Our winter dance will be on Friday, January 26th from 6:30-8:30 pm. Parents interested in supporting the planning committee please click here: https://airtable.com/appwYXEExh4bHhJGF/shrYR38bl2kkJkBoA
There will be a dance committee meeting on Thursday, December 19th from 6-7 pm in the Beagle Media Center for those interested in supporting. We thank our volunteers, in advance, for their support. We will have more specific information regarding the dance in subsequent newsletters.
PTO Meetings: The Hayes/Beagle PTO meetings will be hosted here at Beagle Middle School in our media center. Parents should enter through the cafeteria doors as they are open for athletic events. The media center is located in the first hallway to the left once in the cafeteria. Meetings are held from 6:30-7:30 pm. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, February 13th. We greatly appreciate parent support and participation at these meetings. In addition, please follow the Hayes & Beagle PTO Facebook page for more information and updates regarding upcoming events.
Students’ of the Week: To view our Students’ of the Week, please click here https://www.glcomets.net/ourschools/beagle-middle-school/studentoftheweek/. Please note that Students’ of the Week are updated to our website the Monday after receiving their certificate on Friday.
Family Communication Archive: Please click here https://www.glcomets.net/ourschools/beagle-middle-school/parent-communication-archive/ to review family communications (current and previous newsletters) sent to Beagle Families.
District and Community News: To review district-wide and community news, please click here https://www.glcomets.net/parentcommunityresources/fun-things-to-do/#upcoming
Looking Ahead:
- December 22-January 5th: Holiday Break, classes resume January 8th
- Winter NWEA Testing: Wednesday, January 17th (Math); Thursday, January 25th (ELA). We will follow the same process in the fall (altered day schedule). More information to come in subsequent newsletters.
These are all of the updates that we wanted to pass along at this time. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.
Take care,
Dave and Kelly
