October 2026 Update from Mr. Crete

Greetings, Baldwin Street Middle School Families and Community! 

The 2026-2027 school year is off to a fantastic start! We have established clear expectations throughout the building with our students and classes are rolling along.   Please make sure that you are helping them with organization and task completion by keeping up with their PowerSchool grades, Week at a Glance, and Google Classroom.

There is a lot of information in this newsletter, so please reach out if you have any questions.

Thank you for your continued partnership!

Best regards,

Ryan Crete, Principal - Baldwin Street Middle School

Grading Policy and SOAR Skills Grades

Please take some time to review the grading policies for Baldwin Street Middle School. This year, we will also be reinstating the SOAR Skills grades for each class period. Teachers will have these scores posted at the top of their gradebook and will update gradebooks weekly. Please look over this matrix and reach out to your child's teachers if you have questions about their SOAR skills grades. Please see the document below to learn more.

The first SOAR Skills Celebration days will be October 27/29 during Advisory. Any student with a 3 or higher in both SOAR skills categories in all of their classes will be invited to participate in a choice activity day during Advisory. They will also need to have no missing work in any classes.

As we continue to prioritize our students' social and emotional well-being this school year, we will once again be implementing a Social/Emotional/Behavioral Screener. We will be administering the screener to students on Monday, October 12 during their Science class to all students. This tool will help us analyze data trends and identify students who may require additional support. Student-level responses will be connected to student email addresses and only be shared with staff and administrators who have an educational interest. The screener is HIPAA and FERPA compliant. A copy of the screener can be found on the HPS website (linked HERE). Parents who wish to opt their child(ren) out of the screener should complete the Google Form linked HERE. Please submit a separate response for each child you wish to opt out.  The opt out form closes on Wednesday, October 7.

Please take a few moments to review the information regarding the books in our library and the policies and procedures around restricting titles for your children here.

Parent Teacher Conferences will be held IN-PERSON on 

Monday, October 12 and Wednesday, October 14

3:45 pm - 7:45 pm 

BMS Gymnasium

Link to School Bookings: https://www.schoolbookings.net/

Conferences Code:  zgqt7

Here are the details about using SchoolBookings:

1. You will need to know your child's schedule and which teachers they have. This can be found in PowerSchool. Contact the office if you are having trouble logging in.

2. Helpful tips / reminders

   1. Conferences are 5 minutes in length, unless different arrangements have been made with the teacher. It's important that you arrive on time so that the whole session can be used to discuss your child's progress. It is also very important to end the session on time in order to provide the next session their full allotted time.

   2. Conferences will be held in the BMS gymnasium. Once you sign up, you will receive an email with specific instructions for the day of your conference.  

   3. Do NOT delete your confirmation email you receive after booking your conferences. You will need to use this link to make changes if necessary.

If you are having trouble scheduling conferences, please contact the office at 616-669-7750 and we will be happy to help.

Is your student interested in participating in a winter sport 1 this school year? Sports offered at BMS will be Boys Basketball (A and B), Girls Swim and Dive and Competitive Cheer.  

Registration is now open through FinalForms: https://hudsonville-mi.finalforms.com/

If your student plans to participate, please complete the registration as soon as possible. Coaches will use FinalForms registration lists throughout the season.

A few notes about FinalForms:

• FinalForms replaces RecDesk. All student-athlete registrations should now be completed through FinalForms.

• Your progress saves automatically. You do not need to complete the registration in one session.

• Students must complete their portion of registration. After a parent/guardian completes the registration, the student must log in to FinalForms using their HPS email address to review and electronically sign the required forms.

• Entry tickets are no longer required. Coaches can use FinalForms to verify registration and eligibility.

• Participation fees: To avoid the online credit card processing fee, you may pay by cash or check in the athletic office. The athletic office is unable to process credit card payments.

• Already registered for a fall sport? If your student completed FinalForms registration for the 2026–27 school year, simply log in and make sure their winter and/or spring sport is selected. 

• If your student played football, and you only payed the 50.00 club football fee, you will still need to pay the standard 75.00 pay-to-play school fee. 

All Winter 1 Sports will begin the week of October 19. Tryout/practice dates and times will be sent out next week!

Jon VanSlyke - BMS Athletic Director: jvansly@hpseagles.net

Juli Smies - Athletic Secretary:  jsmies@hpseagles.net

Parents of Baldwin Street Middle School students! We need your partnership in many different ways during the school year. Opportunities include regular Copy Parent, volunteer during school day as needed, Activities, Library, and Others. 

***All parent volunteers are required to have a background check on file. This includes Parent Chaperones that attend field trips throughout the school year. Please fill out our online "Volunteer Background Check Form" on the BMS website.

Please contact Jayme Santana or call the office at (616) 669-7750 if you are interested in helping out.

Hudsonville Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of sex and prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity that it operates, as required by Title IX, including in admission and employment.  https://www.hudsonvillepublicschools.org/about/civil-rights-compliance