Good Evening Panther Families, We hope everyone had a fantastic winter break and a happy New Year! We are excited to welcome back our Panthers this week to school.
Upcoming events:
Tomorrow, Tuesday 1/02 is an A day for exploratory and MTSS classes.
District Calendar: The school district calendar for the 23-24 school year is linked here:
Upcoming Winter Sports Games: Our Winter sports schedules are linked below:
Boys Basketball Girls Basketball
New Updates:
Reminders on Student Expectations: January is a great time to have a fresh start and recharge! Our building plan is to revisit many of the start of the school year rules and expectations to ensure a smooth restart to school in 2024.
Introducing our new 7th Grade Administrator, Mr. John Sopkanich: We are excited to welcome our new 7th grade administrator to GB next Monday 1/8/24. Please view a letter from Mr. S here:
Updates from Grade Level: Please see updates from our grade level administrators and staff here from before break:
6th Grade: 7th Grade: 8th Grade:
Student Recognition:
12 Days of Until Winter Break Enrichment Challenge Winners:
| Power Up | 12-21-23 | |||
| 6th grade | David Manso-Kamara | Sean Chance | Kenny Juarez Sales | Samiah Dukes |
| 7th grade | Brayden Petrillo | Valentin Corcuera Nieto | Tavion Brady | Promise Hubbard |
| 8th grade | Jaleyn Reeves | Amir Allen | Scott Jones | Kaylie Miller |
| St Math | 12-21-23 | |||
| 6th grade | Dhreeya Desai | Meriem Zigh | Frederick Betancurt-Barnes | Ian Martinez-Yepez |
| 7th grade | Kori Taylor | Jocelyn Ho | Yerlin Ramos Garcia | Zoe Thornton |
| 8th grade | Luke Stambaugh | Jeremy Vollay | Victor Diaz-Martinez | Isaiah Ellison |
| iReady | 12-21-23 | |||
| 6th grade | Brandon Ocampo Marrufo | Faithfulness Omoaregba | Messiah Ward | Anthony Zelano |
| 7th grade | Jalen Carr | Ethan Douglas-Wilson | Jayden Harris | Michael Dubois
|
| 8th grade | Aiden Dominick | Xavier Brock | Rasheed King
|
Jesse Pugh |
7th grade Holiday Snow Globe Contest Winners
Community Events:
Girls Tech Together: Girls Tech Together (GTT). GTT is an international 501(c)(3) non-profit organization aimed at introducing girls to fundamental concepts in the Computer Science field through introductory activities, coding lessons, and interaction with professionals in the CS area. We are currently partnered with and sponsored by the Bank of America, TD Bank, the DE Foundation for Science and Math Education, and more. For more info, see link here:
YLI Leadership Recruitment Flyer (12).pdf Youth Leadership Institute, a program for middle school students in New Castle County, Delaware. Please see attached flier and application link. Registration link is here:
Rolling Updates
After-School Activities Pick-Up Details: As we move into our next season of after school sports and activities, we want to clarify procedures for parents who pick up their students from after school activities. Student safety is our biggest concern. Please do not park in the first 5 bus slots or along the sidewalk outside of the auditorium. Both areas are noted in the map below by a blue ‘X.’ This ensures that our students can safely cross the bus court to get on their assigned buses.
2023-2024 Yearbook Order Form: Linked here if interested in pre-ordering. 2024 Yearbook QR Code Order Link.pdf
Back to Basics Tutoring: Please see flier here: 23-24 SY Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Colonial Revise Flyer.png
Morning Car Rider drop-off & Afternoon pick-up: Parents dropping off students in the morning need to create a single line on the right side of the cones. Students should exit their cars to the sidewalk. Cars are not to travel on the left side of the cones. Student safety is our top priority. As a reminder, please review the images linked before on where drop-off and pick-up is located. am and pm. AM is in the front of the building, PM is on the side of the building. Staff will be present to support in building the routine with students and families. Please be patient with students, staff and our fellow families as we learn together. Our doors open at 7:55AM each day. Please be mindful of dropping off students before then as staff are not outside. In the afternoon, car rider dismissal begins at 2:37PM on the side of the building. Families will pull into the parking lot on the side of the building and form a line that goes up and around the lot. Please follow the directions of staff supporting the dismissal to ensure a safe dismissal for all.
Library Information from Ms. Hewes: Please visit HERE to get more details.
Student Lockers, Coats, Cellphones, & Expectations for Dress: All students have access to a locker. Students are to use their lockers to store their coats and bags each day. Students have access to their lockers multiple times during the school day to pick-up/dropoff items. Students are to not wear backpacks or coats during the school day. Link for Code of Conduct & Colonial Expectations for Dress: Please see link for a reminder for our district expectations for dress and this year’s code of conduct. Students are to not wear hats, hoods, or sunglasses inside the building. Please remind students about our cellphone expectations of devices being away while at school. Students are able to use YONDR pouches and/or have phones remain in their bags. A brief presentation about our cellphone expectations is linked here: Also, student horseplay is not appropriate at school. Students are to keep hands/feet to themselves.
GB Gear: Please see link here to order GB clothing & apparel. I purchased 2 sweatshirts this week and they are great quality!
Emergency cards: Emergency Card 2023-2024.pdf If you have not submitted an Emergency Card, please do so ASAP. If you need one, it is linked above. Any new information from medical, to emergency contacts, to new phone numbers can all be updated on the emergency card.
Health Office Information: Our school nurse is Ms. Taylor & her email is: olivia.taylor@colonial.k12.de.us Please view the Welcome Letter from Nurse Taylor here with important health office information.
Breakfast & Lunch for students: All students at Gunning Bedford get free breakfast & lunch each day. Students can pack their breakfast or lunch as well. Students are not able to have any outside delivery food for lunch time; For example no Door-Dash or UberEats delivery. The lunch times for students is:
| 11:05-11:35 | 8 lunch |
| 11:47-12:17 | 6 lunch |
| 12:27-12:57 | 7 lunch |
Support Links for Families: –Please use this link for more information & FAQ about Home Access Center –To update the contact information you have on file please fill out the form linked here:
Grade level Administrators & Counselors: The names and contact emails for our grade level assistant principals, student advisor and school counselors are listed below. They are your go-to contacts for supporting your student.
Administration School Counselors
| 6th Grade AP: Dr. Thomas-Brown | 6th Grade: Ms. Sheppard |
| 7th Grade Interim: Ms. Robinson | 7th Grade: Mr. Arent |
| 8th Grade AP: Mrs. Nowell | 8th Grade: Ms. Pine |
| ILC Administrator: Mrs. Eger | |
| Principal: Mr. Johnston |
Have a great rest of the day and remember, you can’t hide that Panther Pride!
Sincerely,
Mr. Johnston
Principal
Gunning Bedford Middle School