January 5, 2022
GMS Parents, Guardians & Students:
Happy New Year! We hope you all took some time to relax and recharge during this December break. As a reminder, students should come to school with a refillable water bottle, an extra mask or two, a fully charged Chromebook and their charging cords. With the return from break we are seeing an increase in the number of students needing to be out sick from school. If your student has to be out of school, and is feeling well enough to do so, he or she should access the daily assignments listed in Google Classroom for each of their core classes. This will allow the student to keep up with the work and not be overwhelmed with the number of assignments that need to be made up.
Dates to be aware of:
January 17th- No School, Martin Luther King Day
January 28th- Q2 Ends, Grades close
Vaccine Clinic at GMS a Success
This week, Gardner Public Schools held a second vaccine clinic coordinated by our Director of School Health Services Becky McCaffrey. Many students, staff and adults from the community were able to receive vaccines. This clinic was run in partnership with Community Healthlink and was a success due to the community and school volunteers who showed up to help out. Children were treated to a visit from a therapy dog and a movie was playing for them to watch while they waited after having their vaccines. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeff Reily, Governor Charlie Baker, Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, U.S. Congresswoman Lori Trahan, Mayor Michael Nicholson, State Representative Zlotnik and State Senator Anne Gobi all stopped by to visit the clinic. We are in the process of planning another clinic and this information will be shared as soon as it becomes available. More photos of this event are available at https://www.facebook.com/GardnerPublicSchoolsOfficial
Attendance
All public schools in Massachusetts are required to track and monitor student attendance. As part of the monitoring process, we make OneCalls to notify parents/guardians of an absence, send attendance letters and meet with students to discuss the issues causing the absences and to help remove any barriers preventing them from attending school. If a student is absent from school, this absence is categorized as “excused” or “unexcused.” In order for an absence to be coded as “excused”, the student should return to school with a note from a doctor. During the pandemic, students may have to stay home due to testing positive for the virus or being identified as a close contact. If your student has been advised to stay home by a doctor because of either of the situations mentioned previously, please make sure that this information is also communicated to the GMS School nurse, Haley Mullen. The nurse will then inform the Attendance secretary of the days for which the absences should be excused. If you receive an Attendance letter and feel as though an error has been made, please contact the Main Office so this can be rectified.
Spectators at Mile School Sporting Events
Please be aware that the Midland Wachusett League, of which Garner is a member, has voted to limit the number of spectators at sporting events. This change was implemented due to the rise in COVI cases and will be re-evaluate in 2 weeks. Please read the letter linked below for further information regarding these restrictions.
Spectator Letter (January 2022)
Girls on the Run
Girls on the Run is a physical activity based positive youth development program that runs for 8 weeks. This is open to students in grades 3-5. If interested, please see the flier linked below.
Girls on the Run
Gardner Public School’s Dinner Program
The Gardner Public School’s Dinner program is available Monday thru Friday in the cafeteria at Gardner High School from 2-4 pm. This is a free program for any Gardner Public School student. Please see the flier linked below for further information.
GPS Dinner Program flyer
Art Club
Art Club is held on Mondays from 2:45-3:45pm. The next meeting will be on January 31st. If you are interested in Art, please consider joining the group. Students must make arrangements for rides home if they plan to stay.