Welcome to the GMSD Neighborhood

I hope everyone is safe and has time to enjoy their families this evening. If you have time, swing by Houston High School for its annual SGA hosted Trunk of Treat from 4:30-6pm. Please read through our Board Corner, as we've recently approved a 2023-2024 Instructional Calendar.

Jason Manuel,

Superintendent

The Germantown Board of Education met last week for its October Business Meeting. Among many items approved, such as the bid for the Riverdale reroofing projects and the purchasing of Chromebooks, the board has approved Calendar Option B.

The Superintendent’s Report was delivered by Deputy Superintendent Josh Cathey. Watch the brief report as he summarizes the main points of the Master Facilities Plan.

The Germantown Board of Education also recognized the incredible work of Dr. Abigail Simone of Houston High School for continuing to find new and better ways to grow GMSD's Latin Scholars programming. Many of her students attended to help with the recognition. We also recognized recent state championship winner, Sophie Christopher.

Just a housekeeping reminder that next week, on Tuesday, November 8th, that there is no school for students. It’s election day, and while our teachers and staff will spend the day working, we felt it best, for safety reasons, to give students the day off. On that note, another important thing discussed and adopted during the Germantown Board of Education meeting last week was its Legislative Agenda.

The annual Legislative Agenda is a formal statement of the Germantown Board of Education's legislative priorities created by the school board members for our state and federal legislatures. Because it it the District's official position, the Board must take action to approve the Agenda. One item included in the agenda: to have schools removed as polling places.

Next week, we’ll do a wrap up of fall sports–instead this week, our student spotlight will center around some of our young musicians.

Evie Young, a third grader from Forest Hill Elementary School who just landed multiple first place winnings at local fair competitions and just recently the lead role in the Falcon Footlights Beauty and the Beast production as Belle. Congratulations to Evie and to all of those cast in Beauty and the Beast. (See the full cast list, here)

Another musically talented Houston High student Tara Lim has also caught our attention this week. Because she enjoys playing piano and violin at memory care facilities, Tara decided to put together a project that would help Alzheimer's patients. The name for her project is Musical Memories. Every Saturday in August and September Lim and her friends played for the Alzheimer's patients at Quail Ridge Assisted Living and Memory Care in Bartlett, TN. The students researched appropriate music for the patient's ages and performed lovingly bringing smiles and memories to all in the room. We are proud to call Tara a Mustang.

Riverdale is hosting a virtual Parent Workshop presented by Daybreak's Clinical Director Susie Gregory on November 1st @ 5:30pm. Parents can gain the link by emailing Jacqueline McClinton.

This week’s staff spotlight highlights the work being done by Houston High School SEL Teacher Traci Spain, as we continue to highlight the extraordinary work of our teachers. Ms. Spain is also the organizer of Trunk or Treat.