Principal's Welcome to Gray-New Gloucester Middle School
Welcome to Gray-New Gloucester Middle School. The Middle School is a learning community that offers many exciting opportunities for students in grades 5-8 to experience academic, social, and emotional growth. Members of our faculty and staff are highly qualified and experienced in meeting the unique educational needs of early adolescent students.
Our grade levels are organized into teams. Each team consists of 2 teachers. Small teams allow students, parents, and teachers to get to know each other very well and develop a rapport that can maximize student growth and learning. This year we will have one larger team that has students in grades 5-7 who will be working with their teachers to pilot a standards-based model in our school. This team and several other grade level teams will be implementing many of the strategies and instructional practices that faculty members have been trained in through our District’s relationship with the Reinventing Schools Coalition(RISC) and the State of Maine. Aside from the core curriculum taught by the faculty of each team, we have a Unified Arts team that exposes students to a broad range of subject matter. Physical education, health, art, computer and technology, Spanish, and music courses all provide students with active learning experiences beyond the realm of their core courses.
Beyond the hours of the regular school day, students participate in athletics and various student organizations and clubs including an active Civil Rights team, National Junior Honor Society, Yearbook and Drama clubs, and Student Council. We also have a support system in place to help students who may struggle with completing assignments and /or need additional help called Academic Assistance. This program is intended to provide additional time and teacher support to students beyond the regular school day. Academic Assistance is one of several programs that we have in place to help all students be successful and meet the standards of Maine’s Common Core State Standards and the MSAD 15 curriculum.
Communication between home and school is an essential component to student success. We use many strategies to help maintain strong communication. All students are provided with a planner to record daily assignments, projects, and important dates. All teachers check and mark each planner at the end of every class. By using a password, parents can regularly check grades and progress of students through InfiniteCampus, our data management system. Progress reports will be sent home at the midpoint of each quarter and report cards are issued at the end of each quarter. We also send home a newsletter on the first and third Friday of every month that we are in school. Parents can choose to have this and other school information sent to them via SchoolMessenger. This is an automated system that parents can choose to subscribe to by completing the appropriate form. We also encourage parents, students, and faculty to meet, phone, or e-mail whenever necessary to clarify school matters, discuss concerns, or share information specific to an individual student. Additionally we would like parents and students to feel free to contact either one of us at any time a question or concern arises or you would like to share your thoughts with us. We welcome the opportunity to meet with you.
This promises to be a wonderful school year. We look forward to working with your family.
Sincerely,
Sherry L. Levesque Geoffrey K. Robbins
Principal Assistant Principal
