Dear Beagle Middle School Parents,
We thank you very much for a successful start to the school year! Through your support in conjunction with the support of our outstanding staff members, our students are off to a great start this year.
Before we head into the Labor Day holiday weekend, we wanted to pass along a few updates and reminders:
Parking Lot and Bus Drop Off: At the beginning of every year, we have late bus runs and our parking lot is congested; however, this will change over the next few school days and the weeks to come as it always does. We are also working around city road construction at this time as well. To be honest, our parking lot is consistently cleared by the end of the school day within 7-8 minutes of release by the end of September, and buses are on the road within 6 minutes of release by that time as well. The speed and efficiency of the parking lot will improve dramatically over time. We appreciate the continued support from our parents during arrival and departure by continuing to:
Pull all the way forward well past the main entrance before releasing or receiving students.
Using the passing lane (outside lane) to go around traffic on the inside lane after releasing or receiving students.
Yielding to buses in the roundabout to give them the right-of-way to ensure they can drop off students at the back of Beagle and make it to GLHS in a timely manner.
Please note, students may be dropped off early and stand at the front of the building; we open our main entrance doors at 7:37am each day. The main entrance is the only entrance open for student arrival from the parking lot for safety purposes; bus riders enter from the back of the building through one entrance as well.
Lunches: Our first lunch on Thursday went very well! In fact, it was the best first lunch of the school year we have had in several years; our students did an amazing job. Students were able to have their lunch and some time outside at recess on the first day, which usually doesn’t happen. Much like the parking lot, the speed and efficiency of moving through the lunch line will increase, and students will have more time during recess. During lunches, we ask students to drop off their backpacks first where they would like to sit before going into the lunch line as this helps with spacing. Students show Comet PRIDE during lunches by getting seated quickly, welcoming others to the table (seats are not assigned), picking up trash, and listening silently during lunch announcements just before heading out to recess. Again, students did an amazing job during both lunches on Thursday!
Who to Contact When Situations or Questions Arise: As we discussed and shared in our newsletter last week, our Student Support Team Member information can be found on our website under the “Who to Contact” link on our main page. Here is the link: https://www.glcomets.net/ourschools/beagle-middle-school/aboutourschool/who-to-contact/
Website: Here at Beagle Middle, we update our website on a weekly basis in an effort to better support our parents and students. There are several links that contain a wealth of information, including athletics, community resources, extracurricular activities, and even students of the week. We also archive all of our parent emails throughout the year under the “Parent Communication Archive” tab in an effort to better support our families. Here is the link to our homepage: https://www.glcomets.net/ourschools/beagle-middle-school/
PTO Meeting: Our first PTO meeting for the year will be on Tuesday, September 12th at 6:30 in the Beagle Media Center. Our PTO is a joint-PTO with Hayes Intermediate. We welcome parents to attend this meeting. PTO meetings will typically be held the second Tuesday of every month at 6:30pm here at Beagle.
Blessings in a Backpack Grand Ledge: If your student needs additional food at home, the Grand Ledge Blessings in a Backpack program is here. For over a decade, this program has provided bags of food for weekend meals at no cost to hundreds of students in the Grand Ledge area. For students attending school in-person, a bag of nourishing, kid-friendly food will be placed discreetly in their backpack or locker at the end of each week during the school year (except during school breaks). Examples of some of the food items distributed are: macaroni and cheese, canned vegetables, soup, oatmeal, granola bars, fruit cups, and beef ravioli. If you would like your student to participate in the program, please fill out a permission form by requesting one from the office. Return the form to the school office by Wednesday, September 13th, for your student to receive the first bag on September 21st. BIAB Permission letter 2023-2024.docx
Upcoming Communications: Next week, we will be sending parents information regarding our upcoming fundraiser to support our students, teachers, and our PTO at Beagle Middle. This communication will just briefly introduce the upcoming fundraiser--more detailed information will be provided the following week. In addition, we will provide information on how to report absences through Parent Portal; this feature will be avail to parents at some point later next week.
These are all of the updates and reminders that we wanted to pass along at this time. Again, we thank our parents for their amazing support in helping to kick off another great school year. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.
Take care,
Dave and Kelly
