Genoa Middle School. From the Principal s Desk S. Old 3C Hwy. Westerville, Oh Principal: Carrie B. Trusley

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1 Genoa Middle School 5948 S. Old 3C Hwy. Westerville, Oh Principal: Carrie B. Trusley V O L U M E X I V, I S S U E 1 From the Principal s Desk A U G U S T 1, Assistant Principal: Rodney Johnson Main Office: Mrs. Van Huffel Mrs. Frase Attendance: Mrs. Liao Clinic: Mrs. Loehnis, RN Mrs. Speakes, Aide Fax: SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST: Schedule Pick-up School Pictures and Student ID cards Volunteer Opportunities Attendance and Clinic information Dates to remember Dear Jaguar Families, Welcome to the school year at Genoa Middle School! We have all been very busy preparing for the student s return to school. This is going to be a great year! Please be sure to carefully read through this newsletter. It contains very important information and useful strategies that will help you and your student(s) have an enjoyable and academically productive year. Important dates quickly approaching (see the enclosed calendar for additional events): Schedule Pick Up: August 7 (2 4pm & 6 8pm), August 8 (9am 12pm); details in newsletter Students First Day of Classes: August 14 Curriculum Night: August 22. We have a new period added to the schedule this year, Seminar. Seminar is a daily period for each grade level that runs for 20 minutes. Please see the description contained in the newsletter for more details. To best prepare for a successful year at Genoa, it is important all students understand the expectations of them as they enter or continue on in middle school. Our primary focus is growing students academically in a safe learning environment and helping them to become positive members of the community. So please talk to your child and share your thoughts about what you expect from them. We are always here to assist you; do not hesitate to contact a member of the main office team: Guidance Department Kathy Kosinski (8 th grade), Patty Pierpoint (7 th grade), Tim Allen (6 th grade) School Resource Officer, Sara Rath, Administration Rodney Johnson, Assistant Principal, or me, Carrie Trusley. We have a few new faces joining the Genoa family this year: Doug Hildreth (music), John Laswell (music), Kara Reiter (Language Arts), Kyleigh Feenstra (Language Arts), Eric Hoogeveen (special education), Julie Myers (physical education), Eric Bondy (custodial staff), and Chris Salyer (custodial staff). While you are at Genoa for Schedule Pick Up, consider becoming a member of our Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA). The PTSA is responsible for funding our many student reward programs and for supporting numerous other student activities including the end of year celebrations. We are very lucky to have such a strong and supportive PTSA and always strive to increase our membership. Volunteers are a welcome and essential part of our school community. If you are able to spare a few hours of your time during the week as an office volunteer, greeter or assisting with various other activities, please complete and return the form contained in the newsletter. The Genoa students and staff truly appreciate all of the time that our volunteers generously give. We look forward to seeing you at Curriculum Night on August 22 where you will walk through your student s bell schedule and have the opportunity to meet his or her teachers. Remember to sign up for weekly updates on your child s progress through PowerSchool. Using this resource is an additional way to help maintain open communication between home and school. Sincerely, Carrie Trusley Principal, Genoa Middle School

2 Schedule Pick-Up Schedule pick up will be held on Wednesday, August 7th from 2 4 P.M. and from 6 8 P.M. and Thursday, August 8 from 9 A.M. 12 P.M. Back to school packets were mailed home July 24th containing your students pre printed emergency card as well as the Publicity Consent / Walking Field Trip / Code of Conduct form. You must have these forms with you at schedule pick up in order to get your students schedule. If you have moved and did not receive your packet, please contact the Enrollment Center at to update the district with your new address. Tables will be set up in the commons by grade level. This where you will turn in your pre printed forms, pay school fee s and get your students schedule. You may pay school fee s with cash, or check made out to Westerville Board of Education. You will also have the opportunity to purchase spirit wear from the PTSA, bake goods from the cheerleaders, as well as your students P.E. t shirt. Parents and students that were unable to attend Moving Up Night will have the opportunity to have a brief informational meeting in the gymnasium at 6:30 P.M. on August 7th. School Pictures and Student ID Cards This year we will have students yearbook picture taken during schedule pick up. They will also immediately receive their student ID card. Picture order forms will be available at schedule pick up. You may also go online at mylifetouch.com, use picture ID: ZR133816Y0 to prepay for your order. Questions regarding pictures, please call: If your student is not available during schedule pickup, we will have re takes on September 17. All students are expected to carry their school identification card. This will assist with our new Point Of Sale (POS) Food Service accounting software which REQUIRES all students to scan their student ID bar code when purchasing a school breakfast or lunch. In an effort to make this easier for students we will give each student a lanyard to carry their card. If students lose their card a $5 fee will be charged to have a new one printed. Food Service If you would like to apply for free or reduced price meals, we encourage you to use the on line meal application at Breakfast is served at all Westerville schools. Serving times are: Elementary: 8:45 9:10 AM, middle school 7:35 8:00 AM, and high 7:00 7:25 Transportation Students who arrive via bus transportation will be able to obtain their bus information from the district website under the Transportation tab the week of August 5th. Individual cards will NOT be mailed home this year. If you have any questions, please contact transportation at You may make deposits into student lunch accounts by using your debit/credit card. Visit NT/Login.aspx or you may send in cash, checks, or money order to the school. Food Service questions should be directed to Wanda Myers at The Non Transport Boundaries and Back to School links on the district website list the current nontransport boundaries for each school. Please check to see if your students will receive bus transportation.

3 Student Fees The Westerville Board of Education has adopted a fee structure to offset the cost of consumable materials and workbooks. Checks should be made payable to Westerville Board of Education. These fees are collected when the students pick up their schedules. The fees are as follows: 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade General Fee $41.00 Class/School Activity Fee $5.00 Total Fee $46.00 General Fee $41.00 Class/School Activity Fee $5.00 Art Fee $8.00 Total Fee $54.00 General Fee $36.00 Class/School Activity Fee $5.00 Core Math 8, Algebra 1, Honors Geometry Plus $5.00 Total Fee $46.00 Spanish Workbook (if applicable) $17.00 Total Fee with Spanish $63.00 Students eligible for the Federal Free Lunch Program are exempt from paying the required fees, those eligible for the Federal Reduced Price Lunch Program need to pay one half of the total fee. Seminar We have a new period added to the schedule this year, Seminar. Seminar is a daily period for each grade level that runs for 20 minutes. Our seminar period is akin to an "advisory" period that is recommended by The Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE). According to AMLE, there is a connection between having meaningful relationships with an adult and a group of peers and thriving academically. An advisory program facilitates these kinds of relationships and provides the structure that creates "connectedness" in a middle school. Connectedness is a characteristic of school cultures in which students have meaningful relationships with adults within the school, are engaged in the school, and feel a sense of belonging to the school. School connectedness is linked to higher grades, higher test scores, and lower dropout rates, regardless of students' socioeconomic status (Blum & Libbey, 2004; Jackson & Davis, 2000; Klem & Connell, 2004; Mac Iver & Epstein, 1991; McNeely & Falci, 2004; National Association of Secondary School Principals, 2006). Our seminar period will provide our students an opportunity to build a relationship with a caring adult outside of the academic classroom, as well as engage in different types of activities including, but not limited to: character education, bullying prevention, current events, and sustained silent reading (SSR). During the SSR time, all students will be expected to be prepared and participate by having reading material with them.

4 Student Handbook The Westerville City Schools Parent Student handbook is on our website: under Links/ Downloads. This will answer your questions concerning school programs, policies and procedures. Each student is responsible for following the rules and regulations as explained in the handbook. We encourage parents and students to review the handbook before the first day of school. Attendance Should your student need to be absent from school, please call the attendance office as soon as possible. Only the parents or legal guardian of the student must notify the school to report a student as absent. If your student needs to leave early for an appointment, please send a note in with your student to give to the attendance office first thing in the morning. This will allow us ample time to get your student down to the office in time for their appointment. Reminder: When coming in to sign your student out, please bring a picture ID Upon completion of the appointment be sure to ask for a school excuse, this can either be brought in or faxed to the office at Please refer to page D25 of the student handbook regarding attendance policies. Bell Schedule Period Start End 1 8:00 8:58 2 9:02 9: :00 10:54 Electronic Devices IPods..MP3 players.cell phones We all have them and so do our kids. However, school is not the appropriate place or time to use them. Students may use electronic devices during the instructional day for educational purposes only with explicit permission from the classroom teacher. Parents, if your student needs to call you, the office phones are available in an emergency (like that forgotten lunch or missing homework.) If your student is sick, they should report to the clinic and the nurse or health aide will call you. Use of a cell phone in school, including texting, even in case of illness or forgotten items, results in discipline consequences for students. Please remind your student to keep all electronic devices turned off (not on vibrate or silent modes) while in the school building. This will enable us to focus on why we re here..to educate outstanding Jaguar students! Clinic School nurse; Mrs. Loehnis M, TH, F Health aide; Mrs. Speakes T, W The State of Ohio requires all incoming 7th grade students to receive the Tdap booster (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertusis). Please check your students immunization records. The last Tdap booster must have been given on or after August 2005 in order to be current. If you have any questions, please either contact your doctors office or our school nurse Mrs. Loehnis. If your student requires administration of any (prescribed or over the counter) medication during the school day, the forms to authorize are available on the district website under Health Services. Please refer to page D20 of the student handbook regarding the polices of medication. Parents and students: please note our new bell schedule. We will be starting 10 minutes earlier and ending 5 minutes later. 4 10:58 11: :56 12: :54 1:48 7 1:52 2:45

5 Genoa PTSA The Genoa Parent Teacher Student Association provides a tremendous amount of support to our school! The greatest contributions come from their time as volunteers in the building or helping with activities away from the school. We are always looking for new ideas to support our students, staff and parents. Look for the PTSA table at schedule pick up. They will have information available to learn more about the PTSA. General meetings are in the media center at 7:00 P.M. on the third Thursday of every month. Volunteer Opportunities If you are interested and have a few hours here and there, we would love to have you! Please fill out the below form and return it to Mrs. Van Huffel in the main office. We will contact you with upcoming events and activities that we could use your help. Thanks again for considering your time! Volunteers are an important part of Genoa Middle School. There are many opportunities for you to help. Office Volunteer/Greeter Copy Room (a few hours one day a week or every other week) Social Functions (Chaperoning, concession sales, misc. events) Hospitality (Food donations) Special Events Other (Any area you have an interest in) Please return the form below to the office ASAP Attention: Terry Van Huffel Name Phone Mailing Address Student s Name Grade

6 Dates to Remember Schedule Pick Up August 7 Schedule Pick Up August 8 Classes Begin August 14 Curriculum Night August 22 Labor Day, No School Sept. 2 Evening of Excellence Sept. 10 Early Release Sept. 26 Last Day of Classes, 1st 9 weeks October 14 OEA/NEA Day, No School October 18 Student Led Conferences (Evening) October 23 Student Led Conferences (Day), No School Oct. 24, 25 Jaguar Dance Nov. 22 Thanksgiving Break Nov Last Day of Classes, 2nd 9 weeks Dec. 20 Winter Break, No School Dec. 23 Jan. 3 Classes Resume January 6 Early Release January 16 Martin Luther King Day, No School January 20 Early Release February 13 President s Day, No School February 17 Last Day of Classes, 3rd 9 weeks March 7 Spring Break, No School March Early Release April 10 Good Friday, No School April 18 Last Day of Classes May 23 Teacher Professional Day May 27 Grade Cards Mailed June 6 Fundraising for Genoa Middle School Save your Subscriptions! Families and Friends...Here s How You Can Help The Genoa Middle School PTSA will be holding a Magazine Subscription Fundraising Drive to benefit our school. You can help the success of this program by simply saving your magazine renewals for the Magazine Drive. New subscription orders and gift orders are welcomed and will benefit our sale. Current subscriptions can be renewed during the Magazine Drive. Those renewals will begin to arrive when the current subscription expires. Friends and Neighbors can support our Fundraiser by placing their orders and renewals through our students, as well. Your participation will make our sale a success. Thank you for your support! P.S. If you must renew or order before then, go to our On Line store at Our school code is # BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION Clip box tops Earn cash for our school! Genoa Middle School participates in the Box Tops for Education program. Our school earns cash for each box top that is turned in. Please continue to clip and save these box tops throughout the year. We will have two collections, one in the Fall and one in the Spring. Listen to the announcements or visit the Genoa Middle School website under Announcements for more info on collection dates and prizes. Also visit boxtops4education.com for a list of participating products and great ideas to earn cash for Genoa MS. Thank you all in advance for your participation in this program. Apples for the Students Help Genoa earn FREE educational awards! 1. Sign up at for students or call Provide our school ID# Each time your Giant Eagle card is scanned, your purchases automatically earn our school FREE educational awards!