December 5th, 2022

We have a lot of exciting things going on at FPMS! We had our first school wide assembly on November 18th. During the assembly we celebrated our successes and had a little bit of fun with a Staff vs. Student basketball game! We highlighted some of our many student groups at this assembly such as Poms, 8th grade basketball, and choir, and we look forward to showcasing other student groups at our next assembly. We even had a special guest appearance from our superintendent, Mrs. Bennin!

Have a great week!

-Ms. Rosienski

Course Selection Coming In January!

6th & 7th Grade Families: We are excited to begin planning for next school year!

A large part of this process is course selection which will occur in January. The school counselors will be providing all current 6th and 7th grade students information in order to review the selection process. Encore elective options will be discussed in detail at this time. Students will begin to choose encore electives that are appropriate for their interests and future planning. Students will have a course selection sheet to help in planning. Students will be asked to share this preliminary selection sheet detailing their choices and discuss it with their families. Families will then register for courses online through PowerSchool.

Stay tuned for more information regarding the online registration process!

If you have any questions regarding courses and course selection, please email your student's guidance counselor:

6th grade - Bernadette Van Lith, bernadette.vanlith@franklin.k12.wi.us

7th grade - Ellen Montenero, ellen.monternero@franklin.k12.wi.us

8th grade - Mindy Greco, melinda.greco@franklin.k12.wi.us

Mark Your Calendars For The FPMS Drama Club Performance This Friday Dec. 9th!

FPMS Drama Club presents:

Happily Ever Before, by Tracy Wells

Friday, December 9 @ 7:00

Saber Center for the Performing Arts

Tickets are on sale now using this link

https://www.franklin.k12.wi.us/ticket-purchasing-information

The fairytale villains have had enough! For too long the Evil Queen, Wicked Stepmother, and Dark Fairy have been pushed into the shadows while princesses like Snow White, Cinderella, and Briar Rose get their happily-ever-afters. So, the scoundrels set out to change things.

With the help of the sinister Rumpelstiltskin, the mischief-makers use their magic to travel back in time, planning to change the destinies of each of their princesses and send them down a new path that doesn’t end so happily. But as the villains set their plan in motion, a classic cast of fairytale extras — including the Big Bad Wolf, Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks, and Robin Hood — unwittingly change the princesses’ stories and the course of the villains’ plans.

Athletics & Activities Updates: Forensics, Girls Volleyball

Forensics will be starting soon! Forensics is a club dedicated to helping students improve their public speaking through fun competition. If your student is interested in joining, they must attend a student informational meeting after school on December 8th followed by a brief parent meeting at 4:30 in rooms C110 and C112. Practices are Tuesday and Thursday beginning in January. December practices: 12/8, 12/13, 12/15 & 12/19.

Girls Volleyball will be starting soon! Volleyball is open to any 7th or 8th grade girl and tryouts will begin in January. If your student is interested in joining, parents must upload a current/valid physical form when registering the student online. THIS form must be completed and signed by both the doctor that completed the student's most recent physical exam as well as by the parent. Any student that does not have a current/valid physical form uploaded with their registration will not be able to participate in athletics at Forest Park Middle School. We do not accept paper copies of the physical form in the office; physical forms must be uploaded with the online registration.

Volleyball runs January 16, 2023 - March 14, 2023

Practices are Monday-Thursday on dates when teams do not have matches. Practice will take place from 3:30pm-4:30pm. More information about tryouts will be shared with families that have registered their student online at a later date.

Volleyball Coaching Staff

8th Grade Gold - Molly Sawicky molly.sawicky@franklin.k12.wi.us

8th Grade Black - Mackenzie Phillips mackenzie.phillips@franklin.k12.wi.us

7th Grade Gold - Emily Singer emily.singer@franklin.k12.wi.us

7th Grade Black - Karisa Stiglitz karisa.stiglitz@franklin.k12.wi.us

Mark your calendars for our Drama Club’s production of Happily Ever After on Friday, December 9 at 7:00 pm in the Saber Center. Tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased using this link. We hope to see you at this performance!

Yearbooks are currently on sale for the 2022-2023 school year! You can order your yearbook at jostens.com to place your order. You will also receive emails from Jostens with reminders to order a yearbook for your child! Yearbooks are $35.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our athletic and activities coordinator, Karisa Stiglitz, at karisa.stiglitz@franklin.k12.wi.us

Lost & Found Items

Our lost and found is overflowing with items waiting to be claimed by their owner! From jackets, hats and sweatshirts, to water bottles, lunch boxes and pencil cases, we have an abundance of student items that need to be reunited with their family. Students can check the lost and found at anytime during the school day, and parents are allowed to check the lost and found before or after school. The lost and found is located near the gym near the event entrance.

Please note that our lost and found is emptied at several points throughout the year as we do not have the space to hang onto items all year long.

It's Getting Cold Out There!

Just a reminder to please be sure that your child is dressed for the weather. All students will continue to go outside for recess if they choose to, even as the weather gets colder. Students do not go outdoors if it is raining or if the temperature falls below 0 degrees wind chill. Please encourage your students to dress appropriately if they will be choosing to be outside for their recess.

Registration For Next School Year Is Now Open!

Registration opens at noon on Monday, December 5th for the 2023-24 school year on our website here. Registration is for any new families to Franklin or new students looking to register for next year in 4K, 5K or up through 12th grade. If you have any friends or family in Franklin that plan to have children attend Franklin Public Schools next year, please pass this information along to them! Registering early helps to get all information in our system for planned communications.

Please note that any student that is already attending Franklin Public Schools DOES NOT need to register for next school year as a new student. This includes students already in Preschool Speech, Early Childhood, and 4K. All parents/guardians will be required to review your student’s data during our summer Back-To-School Online Check-In process. Any family who knows a student will not be returning for the next school year should notify your school’s main office staff.

Order A Forest Park Yearbook Now!

If you would like to buy a yearbook for this school year, please visit jostens.com to place your order. You will also receive emails from Jostens with reminders to order a yearbook for your child. Yearbooks are $40.

Did your Student Lose Their Student ID?

Students can purchase a new student ID by bringing $5 (cash only!) to the main office. Student IDs take approximately one week to get printed/shipped to us from the photography company. Once we receive the replacement we will get the new ID to your student.

Clinical Psychology Associates Services

We are proud to continue to partner with Clinical Psychology Associates (CPA) to offer on-site counseling services at Country Dale, Pleasant View, Forest Park and Franklin High School. For information about CPA’s services and therapists or to get started with an appointment, please visit our website.

Attendance & Absence Policy Information

We want to make sure everyone understands the current status of how absences are handled in Franklin Public Schools per our Board Policy 5100 around Student Attendance.

Per Board Policy, students can be excused for up to 10 days during the school year. Excused absences include if a child is sick or a parent reports a student out of school for any variety of reasons. As a student nears 10 cumulative absences, families can expect communication from Franklin Public Schools to ensure that you are notified of the total number of absences and to outline what occurs past 10 days of absence in a school calendar year.

When it comes to illness…

Please share any documentation from your child's health care provider if/when available so that our district nursing staff can plan for the child's timeline to return to school and that the child’s absences are coded appropriately.
If your child is not physically well enough for school for more than 10 days during the school year, please work with our district nursing staff to develop and implement a plan to meet the child’s health needs to ensure that the child is present as often as possible.

Unexcused absences are noted when there is no parent/guardian communication or documentation around a student absence. We must follow up on Unexcused Absences, and if habitual, this follow up could lead to building level staff and/or administration exploring truancy measures.

In addition, below is a copy of the communicable disease decision tree we shared with all families earlier in the year. Please continue to use this to help you and your family decide if your child is well enough to attend school. Thank you for your help and understanding related to absences.

FPMS Afternoon Pickup Notes

Parents & Guardians - thank you for being flexible and responding to the changes we have made outside for afternoon pickup. We ask you to please review the diagram below, in particular to the “curb pickup site” where you will pick up your child(ren). When prompted to move forward, we ask that you please pull up as far as you can along the curb so we can load as many vehicles as possible along the curb. Please do not stop, even if you see your child waiting at an earlier spot. Children can walk to meet you. Please review the other notes below:

How To Report Your Student Absent

As a reminder, when reporting a student absent for any reason, please communicate this using the online absence/attendance form here. This is a NEW form this year so if you bookmarked or made a shortcut to the old form from last year, please update. Thank you for taking the time to complete this form as it really helps to streamline our processes. The form is located on our website under Parent/Student Info as well as a big button on each school’s home page.

This form will require you to enter your child’s six-digit student ID number and birthdate before you can report your child absent. Student specific medical information collected by the form will remain confidential and only be shared within the health and nursing services team.

Please remember to use our attendance form for ANY attendance related notification including students leaving early, arriving late or full day absences.

If you have any attendance related questions, please contact our attendance secretary, Sadie, at sadie.gleason@franklin.k12.wi.us.

Student Handbook Updates

As we shared last week, we have made a few changes to our student handbook that we wanted to share with parents and students. Please click HERE to view the handbook addendum.

One Day Alternate Bus Pass

Students are allowed to ride an alternate bus home with a friend if proper permission from parents/guardians has been completed and the school has approved of this request.

If your student will be riding an alternate bus home with a friend, please complete THIS FORM by 11am on the on the date of this change. The bus company requires consent from both parents/guardians; in other words, one parent/guardian for each student must submit this form in order for us to make this change happen. Staff in the school office will then complete the appropriate paperwork for each student to take with them on the bus.

Forms that are not completed by 11am on the date of the change run the risk of not being processed in time for dismissal. Bus drivers will not allow extra riders on a bus without proof of both parent and school approval.

If you have any questions, please call the Forest Park office at 414-529-8250.

Early Dismissals & Late Arrivals

If you come to pick up your student during the school day, we ask that you do not enter our building but instead pull up into the circle driveway outside of our main office. Your student will be watching for you and we will send them out to your car when they see that you have arrived. If you are waiting longer than a few minutes for your student, you may call our main office to check in (414-529-8250).

If you are dropping your student off late for any reason, you do not need to come into the school with your student. Please pull into our circle driveway outside of the main office where your student can enter and check in. We will give your student a pass to class and update their attendance at that time.

Please remember to use the absence reporting form on our website for ANY attendance related notification including students leaving early, arriving late or full day absences. Please do not send notes with your student to notify us of these changes.

Dropping Something Off For Your Student?

If you are dropping off a forgotten item for your student (lunch, Chromebook, etc.), please use our drop off cart located inside the main entrance near the office. To limit the amount of traffic in/out of our main office, we ask that you leave the item(s) on the cart and clearly label the item(s) with your student's first and last name. Post it notes and pens are provided on the cart.

In an effort to reduce the amount of interruptions to students and teachers in the classroom, most items will be delivered to students during their 3rd hour class unless the item is clearly needed right away (for example, the student's Chromebook). If an item is dropped off after 3rd hour, we will get the item to the student as soon as possible.

News From Food Service

In the cafeteria this year we will have: 3 Lunch Lines, 1 Milk Only Line, 1 Salad Line ( Not Opening until November) and 1 Snack Line (Opening Tuesday September 6th)

We would like to remind all parents that lunches this year are no longer free this year. At FPMS each lunch is $3.00 and individual milk purchases are $.45.

If you need assistance paying for your child's school lunches, a link to the free and reduced application can be found on the Franklin Public Schools website under the lunch tab. Please note the following school board policy:

"Students will be allowed two (2) emergency meals. After this, they will receive a cheese sandwich, fruit, vegetable and milk until their account is positive."

The cheese sandwich meal will be charged to the students account like any other meal.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me by phone or email. Diane Kaczkowski 414-367-1566 or diane.kaczkowski@franklin.k12.wi.us

Check Out the Forest Park Facebook Page!

The Forest Park Middle School Facebook Page is now being updated regularly and you can head there to see the newest spirit wear photos from this week. Be sure to LIKE or FOLLOW the page so you get notified about updates!