Welcome Back To School Reception

Parents and staff celebrate opening day in the gallery at GMUHS.

Attn: Thespian Enthusiasts

The Drama Department will be presenting two musicals and one drama this year and is looking for anyone willing to help with costumes for their productions. The fall drama production is open to 9 - 12 grade, the spring musical 7 - 12 grade and the middle school play (late spring) 7th and 8th grade. Please call or email Amanda Bourque at 875-2974 or bourque1@vermontel.net if you are interested or if you have questions.

Reception Planned

The primary purpose for the Aug. 14 meeting was to organize a “Welcome Back to School” reception to give parents and community members a chance to meet the principal, and perhaps some of their children’s teachers.

We confirmed that the reception would be held from 4 to 6 PM on the first day of school – Weds., August 29 -- at the Gallery on the Bridge at the high school.

We divvied up the organizational chores: contacting the high school maintenance staff, creating a banner to display near the road, writing a press release, contacting Chester-Andover Elementary School to get information to elementary school parents, organizing the refreshments, napkins, cups, ice and tubs to put it in, and getting word out to teachers.

We also talked about the parents’ event that GM currently offers 7th graders. It is primarily an open night sometime in the first two weeks of school. The Tuesday before schools opens, 7th graders have Move Up Day.

We discussed the idea of having a meet-the-teacher get-together prior to the kids going into 9th grade. A big question is how receptive the teachers might be to this idea. This is something to talk to Tom Ferenc about at a future meeting.

Some ideas for the event were a Parents’ Night, where parents would follow their kids’ schedules, with each period lasting a few minutes – just long enough to meet the teacher and hear a little bit about the class. Another idea was an Open School Day, where parents attend school with their children for all or part of the school day.

At the next meeting we will revisit some of our goals and our plans to meet those goals. A future meeting will feature a presentation by Linda Waite on the Climate Survey that was conducted last year. This was originally scheduled for June, but was rescheduled to give more people a chance to attend.