Dear Parents/Guardians,

What an incredible year we have had at BMS! We are incredibly proud of the academic and social growth of our students this school year! With testing behind us, the end of the school year is quickly approaching! Please make sure to dive deep into this newsletter as there will be a lot of end of year information.

Remember, our dedicated staff is here to support your child's success. Please don't hesitate to reach out to your child's teachers, administrators, or counselors with any questions you may have. We look forward to an amazing spring with you and your children. 

Sincerely,

Ryan Crete

Principal, Baldwin Street Middle School

August 19, 2024 

5:00 - 7:30 PM

Students will receive their schedules and have an opportunity to walk the building and meet their teachers.  All annual registrations will be sent in August and must be completed online.  More information will be shared in the June and August newsletters.

On the last day of school, students will have time during the school day for yearbook signing with their peers. If you have not ordered a yearbook or want to verify if you purchased a yearbook, please contact Geskus Photography, Inc at (616) 453-4170. We will have a limited number of yearbooks available for purchase in the main office on Wednesday, June 5 but there will not be enough for everyone.  Yearbooks will be $10 cash or check payable to HPS.  Please have exact change 

Congratulations to our SOAR Award winners! Students were nominated by a staff member at BMS and were entered into a drawing. At the end of the week, the following students were chosen to be recognized with the BMS prize cart and the whole school announcement. 

The BMS PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) team is excited to share some changes and improvements that will be made to our acknowledgment program for next school year.

To reinforce positive choices and behavior, BMS staff have been handing out SOAR cards to students over the past three years. Students were encouraged to put their names on these cards and enter them into a weekly drawing. Each Friday, 5 or 6 students per grade level had their names drawn. These students received small prizes, schoolwide acknowledgement, and had a group photo placed in the monthly parent newsletter.

As a result of feedback from students and staff, the PBIS team has made some changes to improve this positive program. Students have communicated that they would love the opportunity to “purchase” rewards rather than just have a chance at a prize through a drawing.

Here are the details:

1. Instead of a weekly drawing, students will collect their SOAR cards and visit our school SOAR store. Prizes will be assigned a value (ie: the number of SOAR cards required) and students will be given the opportunity to “purchase” prizes or continue to accumulate SOAR cards so they can purchase larger prizes.

2. After each marking period, we will take all the SOAR cards used as “payment” and enter them into a big drawing. We hope to solidify partnerships with local businesses to donate larger prizes (ie. motorized scooter, nice headphones) for the end-of-marking period drawings. 

3. As an added bonus, we hope to provide a gift card to the teacher(s) who nominate the student(s) who win the end-of-marking period drawing.

4. We will continue to hand out special “golden tickets” to students who consistently follow our SOAR expectations. The “Golden Ticket” prize was created this past year to honor our students who demonstrate “SOAR’ing behaviors” each and every day. This initiative replaced our Students of the Month. Pictures of our golden ticket winners will be published in our monthly parent newsletter.

The PBIS team is enthusiastic about these changes because they are directly related to staff and student feedback. We wanted to make you aware of these changes because we will need parental support to make them happen. 

Please consider if you can support this venture in the following ways:

1. If you own a business or work for a business that would be interested and willing to be a sponsor, please contact Mr. Arnoys at marnoys@hpseagles.net.

2. Toward the end of the summer, we will be looking for donations of candy, small trinkets, and gift cards. We will likely send a Sign-up Genius link and will have other sign-up opportunities at open houses and walk-through days.

Thank you for supporting our work on creating a positive culture and community at BMS!

Students will be keeping Chromebooks over the summer so they can use them for summer learning. Students with damaged devices will be able to turn them in for repairs. 

Students entering 9th grade will trade their current devices for new ones in August. Look for information about that process as next school year approaches. 

Please mark June 5, 2024 at 10:30 am on your calendars to help us celebrate our 8th grade students! Please remember that parents will not be allowed into the building unless they are volunteering for the breakfast. Parents will line the sidewalks outside at 10:30 so that we can process our 8th graders through as their final walk-out as they head off to high school.

If you are coming to BMS for the walk-out, please park in the gym parking lot to the East of the building. We will start the line-up at the main entrance to the building and snake around the the sidewalk towards the gym entrance. 

On June 5, 2024 our 8th grade students will celebrate their last day of middle school with a half-day celebration. Please see the detailed plan below:

7:50 - 9:30 am. 8th Grade Breakfast and Awards sponsored by BMS families

• Students will receive their awards/certificates during this time.  Including the Dave Power's Exemplary Character Award

• Students will also learn of the 8th Grade Mock Election Results

• Our Student Council class president will give a speech during breakfast to her class.

• If you are a 7th/8th grade parent and interested in helping with this event, please contact Karen Hill at khill@hpseagles.net.

9:30 - 10:30 am  Yearbook Signing

10:30 - 11:15 am 8th Grade Walk Out

• 7th graders and staff will line hallways.

• Parents will be invited to this portion of the event to line the walkways around the school.

• 8th grade students will parade through the building and make their way to the parents as their final walk-out at BMS.

• Parents can then meet their student and take them home.

• All students without a ride will be asked to return to the cafeteria until dismissal at 11:15 am.

We will be sending a detailed email and agenda to all 8th grade parents in the next couple weeks. If you have any questions about this event, please contact Ryan Crete at rcrete@hpseagles.net.

End of the year celebration trips are quickly approaching! We have a special day planned for both 7th and 8th graders off-site. In the coming weeks, we will be communicating permission and waiver information, if necessary. If you do not want your child to participate, please email Kristen Barnes-Lee at kbarnes1@hpseagles.net. The trip is covered by class dues. If you did not pay your class dues yet, please log into PowerSchool and make the payment for your child.

Discipline Reminder:

Please help us remind the students that these trips are a privilege to celebrate the end of the school year. If your child is suspended from school or has multiple discipline referrals, they will be removed from this trip. If a child is removed from the trip, they will be asked to work in the media center for the duration of the field trip.

If there are any behavior issues on the trip, parents may be contacted to come and pick up their students from the field trip.