Preorder your GWMS yearbooks through Lifetouch. The Yearbook ID is 14437623.
Our friends at George Mason PTA are inviting neighboring schools and members of the community to join them for a Be SMART presentation at their next PTA meeting on March 27th at 7:30 p.m. in their school cafeteria. The Be SMART program is designed to help parents and other adults normalize conversations about gun safety and take responsible actions that can help prevent child gun deaths and injuries. This presentation is very much for ALL adults, those who possess firearms and those who do not. Spanish translation will be provided at the meeting and more information about Be SMART and other available resources can be found here. A flyer with more information is attached.
ACPS will be holding a series of family workshops on substance abuse prevention for grades 6-12 on 3/22, 3/30, and 4/19 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm to help parents learn about current drug trends, the signs & symptoms of substance abuse, and what resources are available if they need support. See attached flyer for more information.
You are invited to provide your thoughts on the qualities and attributes you desire in the next principal of George Washington Middle School. The current job posting for this position can be found on the George Washington webpage. Your input is instrumental in providing information to compile a Leadership Profile of what stakeholders desire in the next principal. The Leadership Profile will inform the search process and those who will be interviewing the candidates. Specifically, the survey seeks your thoughts on the current strengths of George Washington, challenges facing the school, and the personal and professional qualities/attributes you believe are important in a new principal for the school. Please use this link to take the online survey.
We are accepting nominations for next year’s GWMS PTA Executive Board. We have multiple roles to fill! If you are interested in, or would like to continue in, any of our executive positions (President, VP of Fundraising, or Treasurer) or committee chair positions (Reflections, Teacher Appreciation, Staff Hospitality, PTAC Representative, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Chair, Business Outreach, Teacher Grants), contact us at [email protected].
Join us for the FIRST GWMS PTA Social since 2019! Port City Brewing is hosting the GWMS PTA this Thursday starting at 6:30 pm. Support the PTA and enjoy LIVE music from The Neighborhood Band and Noise in the Basement. Admission is $20 per person. Free admission for all GWMS teachers and staff. Buy a beer for a GWMS teacher or staff member! Pre-purchase tickets here https://gwmspta.
This week we celebrated our School Security Staff and our Maintenance Workers with a delivery of treats from Great Harvest Bread. The PTA is always appreciative for everything they do for our students, staff, and teachers!
We wrapped up our Honor Roll of Donors contest on Friday, and the winner of the $2,500 credit from Del Ray Landscapes is June Shih! Congratulations! And a huge thank you to our sponsor!
SAVE THE DATE for our first parent social, hosted at Port City! Please join fellow GW parents at Port City’s big vat room on March 23 from 6:30 – 8:30 PM. Admission is $20 per person – all funds go toward the PTA. It will be great to see everyone!
Joy Pochatila
GWMS PTA President 2022-2023
The City of Alexandria is conducting a Walk Audit at GWMS to identify ways to make it easier and safer to walk and bike to school. Families, students, members of the school community, and neighbors are encouraged to share their experiences via an online feedback form. To learn more about the Walk Audits and to submit feedback visit: alexandriava.gov/go/
Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) is continuing to enhance its safety and security measures in all schools. As a next step, we are engaging our students, families, and school community so we can hear stakeholders’ views on the installation of weapons screening equipment within our schools as an additional measure.
At the beginning of the year, we added several measures to address safety and security in our schools. Our team has continued throughout this year to explore additional preventive measures and has proposed the use of weapons screening equipment. This equipment uses engineering and artificial intelligence to scan individuals (as they walk through the equipment) for the purpose of finding concealed items, some of which may be weapons threats. The look of the equipment is similar to the screeners used in stores or in libraries.
We encourage you to complete this quick survey so we can hear your thoughts regarding this proposed initiative. Thank you for being our partner in making our schools safe and secure. The survey can be accessed here.
Our friends at the Alexandria Mentoring Partnership asked that we share an amazing opportunity offered through the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus. Geared toward middle schoolers and up, this FREE program will allow students to dive into exploring robotics, engineering, and coding through a Mars mission. Register here to learn how to build program and automate a Vex IQ robot to survey an area with your peers and Virginia Tech undergraduate and graduate students. The event will be held on March 6-8 (@AlexRenew, Limerick Street, Alexandria) and March 9 (@Lee Center, 1108 Jefferson Street, Alexandria) from 3:30pm-5:30pm. Transportation will be provided to the location.
Does your child attend Spanish with Ms. James? Two of her classes are working on a project about Spanish Cuisine by region. Part of their presentation includes a recipe and food samples. For this project, Ms. James will invite people outside the classroom since students are required to present to an audience.
Even though the students will bring a dish, Ms. James is requesting parents to also bring and share Spanish dishes like tapas, brochette, Spanish omelette, or churros to share with the audience. The activity will be held in the library on March 16 from 10:40 am to 12 noon. The link to sign up is here:
https://www.signupgenius.com/
The PTAC Summer Camp Directory is here! The Directory will be updated throughout the spring as camps finalize their plans. The most recent version will always be shared on the PTAC website here: https://www.alexvaptac.
Saturday, March 18, 2023
8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the First Baptist Church (2932 King Street)
40 lb. bags just $6.00 each
Delivery for any size order $30.00
3 cubic feet of premium, organic, shredded hardwood mulch
DELIVERY on Saturday, March 18. Fill out the delivery instructions when you order. Alexandria City delivery only.
FREE LOADING at the parking lot of First Baptist Church 2932 King Street on Saturday, March 18 between 8 a.m. & 4 p.m. Donations suggested to support girls/boys lacrosse.
Order online or make a donation at https://sites.google.com/
To pay by check or with any questions or comments: [email protected]
Did you miss our PTA meeting last week? No problem! You can view the livestream at the GWMS PTA Facebook site. Ms. Bendinelli, assistant director of school counseling at Minnie Howard, presented great information for our rising 9th grade families. Mr. Hayes from Alexandria City’s Complete Streets Program talked about the safe routes to school audit for GWMS. Ms. Vinson provided her Principal’s update and our School Board representative, Mr. Willie Bailey, gave insight into the ACPS Budget. And our PTA Officers talked about all the great things the PTA is doing to support our students and staff.
A note from our Hospitality Chair, Greta Gordon: Thank you, GW parents and families for contributing to our Teachers Conferences dinner on Thursday! We had lots and lots of grateful teachers, and lots and lots of smiles and thank you’s! Thanks to Café Pizzaiolo for handling the bulk of the dinner, and to parents for contributing fruit, salad, bread, pasta dishes, desserts, and seltzers. Thank you to the parents who helped set-up, serve/oversee and clean-up. Team effort for the win! Thank you, GW teachers and staff for all you do every day! Shout out to the following Honor Roll of Volunteers parents:
- Teri Gennarelli
- Robert Knotts
- Emily Garrahan
- Melanie Peterson
- Lara Payne
- The McCommons Family
- Jill Koly
- April Bryant
- Kathryn Holloman
- Cori Woods
- Matt Mulder
- Bernadetter Fernandez
- Elizabth Salgado
- Meredith Sawyer
- Cindy Ferrier
- Sarah Mehaffey
- Sandy Heenan
- June Shih
- Amy Ernst
- Jennifer Lay
- Ashley Lombardi
- Brooke Lombardi
This week is Bus Drivers Appreciation week and we’d love to help handing out treats to our bus drivers on Friday, February 24th. If you can help from 7:15 am to 8:30 am, please let Joy know at [email protected].
Finally, last week our VP of Fundraising informed our community that our Honor Roll of Donors Campaign had not reached its goal this year and asked the community to consider a donation. We received $1,170 in donations! Huge thank you to our new additions to our Honor Roll of Donors:
- Pamela Townsend
- Mary Lutz
- Anna Dvorchik
- Andrew Corso
- Alexander St Clair
- Meghan Knott
- Tara Kilfoyle
- Jill Koly
- Heather Stouffer
- Greta Gordon
- Lara Griffy
We want to keep funding teacher grants, social events, PBIS, and teacher appreciation. The first 50 people who donate $100 or more through Honor Roll of Donors are eligible to win $2,500 in landscaping from Del Ray Landscapes; so far, we only have 37 eligible donations. Please donate $100 or more and get us to 50!
Joy Pochatila
GWMS PTA President 2022-2023
Taking the Equity for all Climate Survey survey assists ACPS in attaining an equitable learning environment in keeping with the goals set in the 2025 Strategic Plan. Please take the survey today!
Alexandria’s Council of PTAs (PTAC) is looking for new leaders to serve next school year. If you are interested, please reach out to past president, Maureen McNulty.
The ACPS School Board is looking for new people to sit on their Board Advisory Committees. There are a variety of committees that need invested community members to fulfill their goals. The current committees include: Budget Advisory Committee, Athletic Hall of Fame Advisory Committee, Career and Technical Education Advisory Committee, School Health Advisory Board, Special Education Advisory Committee, and the Talented and Gifted Advisory Committee.
The process to join is easy:
- Choose a topic that strikes a chord with you.
- Attend a meeting of the committee in which you are interested and meet the committee chair and its members.
- Submit an application online if you find a committee that is a good fit.
The Alexandria Mentoring Partnership (AMP) is looking for new mentors. Do you know someone who would make a good mentor? No prior experience is required, and AMP provides extensive training on how to be an effective mentor. If you are interested in mentoring a child for at least one hour a week, submit a Mentor Interest Form, or contact the AMP Coordinator David Ulloa at 703.403.4218 or by email at [email protected]
The Alexandria PTA is having a read aloud event Thursday, March 2nd. Record yourself reading a book before 3/1 and send it in to PTAC ([email protected]
