No sooner did we get second semester started than we found ourselves with two rounds of snow! We are looking forward to getting back into our routine and staying in our routine.

Students are wrapping up their iReady middle of the year assessments. We are about to kick-off our winter sports season. We will celebrate our second nine weeks honor roll students with a sweet treat from PTO on Friday.

As we continue to do daily metal detection, we continue to remind students to purge from their book bags all that they transport daily that they do not need at schools and just weighs down their book bags. Please take the time to help your student clean out their book bag.

Please keep students at home and notify our school nurse if they exhibit any of the following symptoms. Students who come to the nurse and express they have these symptoms will be sent home and be asked to return with a negative COVID test or non-COVID diagnosis from a doctor.

• Fever above 100.4

• Sore Throat

• Shortness of Breath (above baseline)

• Fatigue/Muscle Aches

• Severe headache

• Cough, congestion, runny nose (different from allergies)

• Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea

8th graders - the time has come for you to start seriously planning with your families about your options for high school next year.

In the near future, you will be getting options about choice programs for high school, course registration, the PSAT and so much more.

We will make sure you have all you need, you just need to be mindful that the time to start thinking about this, if you have not been doing so already, is now.

CHOICE FAIR- The choice fair from this weekend will either be January 29 or February 12. As of 1/23, we are not certain of that date. There will also be another choice fair on March 5.

IMPORTANT - Students who are at SMS via lottery (not in the attendance zone) and qualify to attend East Gaston, must still complete the lottery form and choose the pathway they want in the Medical Science Academy.

GCS SCHOOL CHOICE INFORMATION LINK

Several of our teachers will be featured classrooms at the NCDC conference which focuses on modern learning environments. The conference will be in early February and we are honored that some many of our teachers will be part of this national showcase.

Mrs. Cobb and Mrs. Ballard will be facilitating a separate session on modern learning in the ELA classroom.

We are also excited that 8th grade ELA teacher, Mrs. Ballard, is one of three finalists in the middle school category, for Personalized Learning Classroom of the Year.

This is a link to the NC Public Health Toolkit which is the guide used to make decisions for all GCS schools. As you know, this is s fluid document which is updated as guidance is given.

Please reference the link to the most recent changes which are indicated in red.

https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/strong-schools-nc-public-health-toolkit

Unless a student is fully vaccinated and showing no symptoms, any student recently exposed to COVID-19, waiting for a COVID-19 test result, waiting for someone in the home to get a COVID-19 test result or symptomatic needs to remain at home and notify our school nurse.

You can notify the school nurse by calling the school or emailing her at scmartin@gaston.k12.nc.us.

Please be patient if you leave her a message or send an email. She will get to you as quickly as possible. Nurse Martin is an amazing nurse and we are so blessed to have her at our school.

Students are responsible for completing assignments when they are absent for any reason. Please connect with your child's teachers (or have your students email them) if they will be out for several days.

SMS will continue to be one of the 8 Test to Stay sites in the district. Students who have been exposed to COVID and meet the conditions of the Test to Stay program will be given a ticket to present at the testing site.

Students must be issued a ticket by the school nurse in order to test at any Test to Stay site.

Envirothon Meetings: After School until 5:00 PM

January 25th

We are in the midst of a multi-year process of applying for and earning recognition as a North Carolina STEM School of Distinction. One part of that is to connect with various businesses men and women who are in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) field.

Additionally, we would like to make connections with parents who represent many careers. We are asking that our parents please complete the Google Form to help us build our Stanley STEM Network.

Thank you to those who have already completed the form. If you use STEM skills in anyway in your profession, we need you in one of many ways!