Washington Middle School

Please check out the GPS Active COVID Cases sheet (link below) to see all updates on active cases and quarantines in the schools.  Things have been changing quickly and this is the best way to see our current numbers.  If you have any questions, please contact us at gps@glendiveschools.org. GPS Active COVID Cases: https://rb.gy/50iklu Current New Active Cases added:  DCHS - 0 WMS - 0 LES - 1 (Staff) JES - 1 (Staff) Also, if you haven't downloaded our app, please download it from your phone's app store.  The app is the best way to see all updated information from GPS.  Thank you!

UPDATE from Mr. Buckley: I apologize for this being last minute but we are going to move WMS Wrestling and GBB scheduled for this week. GBB will be Thursday, Nov 12th 7th grade @ Glendive 4/5:15 pm; 8th grade @ Miles City 4/5:15. Wrestling will be Friday, Nov 13th @ Glendive 4:30 pm start time. Thank you.

Earlier this week, staff, parents, and the community were notified about the new protocols of Glendive Public Schools in regards to meetings (https://www.glendiveschools.com/o/gps/live_feed). Monday, November 9, 2020 we will be conducting our regularly scheduled board meeting virtually. The following are some of the reasons the board decided to move the meeting to a virtual platform: 1) More people will be able to participate. --With current restrictions, we will no longer have to worry about possibly limiting the number of people who can attend. --We have been contacted by many people asking for our meetings to be live streamed. We are now able to stream our meeting without the use of Facebook as not everyone has a Facebook account. --More people will get the opportunity to address the board through public comment. If you are interested in giving public comment at our next meeting, please see the directions below. 2) Consistency --The board meeting will now be in line with what the school district is doing in terms of meetings 3)Safety --Moving the meeting to a virtual meeting will help mitigate the spread of the virus and reduce the risk of staff, parents and community members being named as a close contacts. 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: If you wish to publicly comment on the agenda, please click on the following link (https://forms.gle/3yhGf2NdJSUYHJ4J7). This link will be open from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Monday, November 9, 2020. All appropriate comments will be read during the public comment section of the agenda. If you have questions, we ask that you write an email to gps@glendiveschools.org and someone will try and get back to you within 48 hours. 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞-𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: Please go to www.glendiveschools.org on the day of the meeting and follow the directions on the popup window to watch it live. After the meeting, the recording will be put on the website within 24 hours of the meeting.

Please watch the following video (3:33) from Mr. Schreibeis about the dire need for staffing. https://youtu.be/bPGZalPceZ0

Below is the link to the WMS Press Release for our wrestling dual VS Williston on 11/7/20 at 10 am. GO DEMONS!!! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Bs8DVcVo_uKm1g7iCoYkugiEqRoH3q06lAapDsWN1Wg/edit?usp=sharing

CONGRATULATIONS to Ms. Shanon Hellman- 7 & 8th grade History teacher for being selected as the October staff member of the month! Ms. Hellman is absolutely a WMS AWESOMIZER! Ms. Hellman.....YOU ROCK!!! #WMSDEMONS #WMSAWESOMIZER #GPSSTAFFMEMBEROFTHEMONTH What was your favorite thing to do during the COVID shutdown? My favorite COVID activity has been spending time with my children and Netflix. What is your favorite outside activity? I enjoy barbeques and playing corn hole. Why did you decide to work at WMS? When I went to school to become a teacher, I never in a million years would have thought that I would’ve enjoyed teaching Middle School. But, I couldn’t imagine teaching any other age. Middle school students are the best! They are trying to figure out how they fit into this crazy world and they are full of suggestions on how to make things better. If you could be any cartoon character who would you choose and why? If I could be any cartoon character, it would probably be Smurfette because I have always loved the Smurfs. It always seemed like Smurfette had so much fun and if she found herself in trouble, she could always count on Papa Smurf and the rest of the Smurfs to help her out. What is your favorite quote? “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman

​Below is the link to the WMS Press Release for our girls basketball games VS Sidney on 11/6/20 at 10/11:15 am. GO DEMONS!!! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yOMuONHlLRapSKn_SIXVq-xW92YRP0DrqEO_b372EHM/edit?usp=sharing

Please check out the GPS Active COVID Cases sheet (link below) to see all updates on active cases and quarantines in the schools. Things have been changing quickly and this is the best way to see our current numbers. If you have any questions, please contact us at gps@glendiveschools.org. GPS Active COVID Cases: https://rb.gy/50iklu Current New Active Cases added: DCHS - 0 WMS - 1 (Staff) LES - 1 (Staff) JES - 2 (Staff) Also, if you haven't downloaded our app, please download it from your phone's app store. The app is the best way to see all updated information from GPS. Thank you!

GPS is dedicated to promoting behaviors that reduce COVID-19’s spread in order to maintain healthy operations of our schools. Social distancing requirements and protecting our staff against becoming ill as well as being named as a close contact are making traditional in-person meetings challenging to nearly impossible. In order to maintain in-person schooling at GPS, we must be able to staff all positions. Not having enough subs has made it very difficult to fill positions when staff gets sick or are named as close contacts. We are committed to doing everything we can to ensure that we are able to continue to have in-person learning and not be forced online. In order to maintain educational continuity and a safe school environment, GPS will adhere to the following protocols when holding meetings: 1). Meetings in the schools will be held virtually whenever possible. If a meeting needs to take place in person, the room needs to be big enough so there is at least 6-feet between each person. In addition, the meeting must last less than one hour. If the meeting is going to last more than one hour, it must be moved online. 2). The following will pertain to school-related weekday meetings held off school grounds: First, staff members should determine if they can join the meeting virtually. If they must attend in person, there must be at least 6-feet between participants. If the meeting organizer is unable to accommodate either an online option or maintain adequate social distancing, the district employee is not allowed to attend the meeting. Our goal is to reduce the risk of GPS staff becoming quarantined as a result of attending a meeting with a potentially infected attendee. Following these procedures will help GPS protect staff and keep them healthy so we can continue to have students on-site. As you can see, we are implementing procedures to help mitigate the spread of the virus and reduce the risk of staff being named as a close contact. If we are unable to staff our buildings, we will be forced to go online. These procedures will be followed if we are in the Hybrid or Restricted model. This is especially important given the District’s small pool of available substitutes. We appreciate the community’s patience, understanding, and GRACE during these challenging times. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of our administrators or you can reach out to us at gps@glendiveschools.org.

I just wanted to send a follow up message out to everyone letting them know that we were able to get one of our boilers up and running yesterday and we hope to have the other fixed by the end of the week. We are thankful that the weather is nice this week so we can be in school!

​Please check out the GPS Active COVID Cases sheet (link below) to see all updates on active cases and quarantines in the schools. Things have been changing quickly and this is the best way to see our current numbers. If you have any questions, please contact us at gps@glendiveschools.org. GPS Active COVID Cases​: https://rb.gy/50iklu Current New Active Cases added: DCHS - 2 (Students) WMS - 0 LES - 1 (Student) JES - 0 Also, if you haven't downloaded our app, please download it from your phone's app store. The app is the best way to see all updated information from GPS. Thank you!

​UPDATE from Mr. Buckley (AD): The WMS GBB games scheduled in Watford City on (11/7) Saturday have been adjusted to only 2 games. There will be a 8th A and a 7th A only due to the number of girls out in Watford City. The 7th grade will play first at 10 am MST followed by the 8th grade at 11:15 am MST. The games will be played at the middle school (100 3rd St NE). Each player will be allowed 2 guest passes which will be distributed by our coaches as soon as we get the passes from Watford.

Today, 11/2/20, the WMS boilers will be offline. Our head custodian came in last night to fire the boilers as is their normal routine. The boilers kept tripping on flame failure. She called Rhett Coon- GPS facilities director who came down and BOTH working boilers are doing the same thing making them inoperable. A local plumber was called in to access and he came to the same conclusion. MDU will be onsite today to determine the issue. The rooms are anticipated to be in the low 60s by early afternoon but will be below 60 to start the day. Please dress your child according to the anticipated temperature. Hopefully we will have them up and running at some point soon.

Please check out the GPS Active COVID Cases sheet (link below) to see all updates on active cases and quarantines in the schools. Things have been changing quickly and this is the best way to see our current numbers. If you have any questions, please contact us at gps@glendiveschools.org. GPS Active COVID Cases​: https://rb.gy/50iklu Current New Active Cases added: DCHS - 0 WMS - 0 LES - 2 (staff) JES - 0 Also, if you haven't downloaded our app, please download it from your phone's app store. The app is the best way to see all updated information from GPS. Thank you!

To clarify, there has been no date set to move to the Restricted Model. On October 12, 2020, the board tasked the administration to prepare to move to the Restricted Model. A checklist of the items needed for the District to move was created. GPS Restricted Checklist: https://rb.gy/w256qs On November 9th, the administration will be presenting this checklist to the GUSB. Currently, one of the major obstacles for moving to the Restricted Model is staffing. We are in dire need of substitutes. In order for GPS to move to the Restricted Model, the District must have sufficient substitutes to cover the open paraprofessional and custodial openings as well as subs for staff that have to be absent for a variety of reasons. Please, consider applying and encouraging others in our community to apply. Process for Applying for Sub: https://rb.gy/aytl1l The GPS Administration and Glendive Unified School Board (GUSB)

Please check out the GPS Active COVID Cases sheet (link below) to see all updates on active cases and quarantines in the schools. Things have been changing quickly and this is the best way to see our active numbers. If you have any questions, please contact us at gps@glendiveschools.org. GPS Active COVID Cases: https://rb.gy/50iklu

Congratulations to our very own Mary Svenvold on being awarded the 2020 Leadership award from the MMEA!  We appreciate all you do for GPS and our community.  Mrs. Svenvold....YOU ROCK!!!

The WMS Book Fair is here! If you would like to check out what is available at our Fair, plus many other titles, please click the link below! Happy Reading! https://www.scholastic.com/bf/washingtonmiddleschool17

Thank you to those of you who have already reached out to your respective principals if you would like to change your child's current learning model (online to in-person or in-person to online). If you are planning to make a change, please contact your student’s principal as soon as possible. As a reminder, the change will take place at quarter for K-8 and at semester for 9-12. For Clarification: --If your child is currently online only, and you would like to switch to in person learning, we need notification (K-8). --If your child is currently in-person, and you want to switch to online only, we need notification (K-8). --If your student is currently in-person and you want to stay in-person, no action is necessary. --If your student is currently online only and you want to stay online, no action is necessary. Please note: A date to return to the restricted model has not yet been determined. We are continuing to work on completing the items on the checklist that was shared last week. We will announce a date as soon as it is determined so that everyone has time to prepare and plan for the change. Thank you!

Please check out the GPS Active COVID Cases sheet (link below) to see all updates on active cases and quarantines in the schools. Things have been changing quickly and this is the best way to see our active numbers. If you have any questions, please contact us at gps@glendiveschools.org. GPS Active COVID Cases: https://rb.gy/50iklu