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January 11, 2019

From Mr. Chester

Greetings,

It was certainly great to have you back this week. Many of you engaged with us through our SpellingBee and Pride Wall Ceremony. Thank you so much for supporting the excellence of our students. I alsowant to thank you for your patience and support as we strive to ensure that our learning environmentsare safe and positive for all students. Remember, if you see something, say something!

1st Semester Report Cards

Students will be receiving their report cards for their first semester performance, today January 11,2019. HAC will be available again January 14, 2019. We are proud of the gains that many of ourstudents have made and we are excited about the continued growth of all our students. Should youhave a concern regarding your student’s performance, please reach out to the teacher to engage indialogue. Please feel free to involve our counselors in conversations concerning the overall well-beingand growth of your students.

Govenor’s Silver Award

Governor Deal announced the state’s top schools in its annual Single Statewide Accountability System(SSAS) recognition program. Developed by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement and approvedby the State Board of Education, the awards highlight schools that are making great strides ineducating students. We were recognized in the Silver category for Highest Performance, for the thirdconsecutive year! Highest Performing schools in the Silver category must earn a three-year averageCollege and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) Achievement Score that ranks in at least the95th percentile. I am proud of the hard work of our students, staff, and families. Give yourselves andyour students a round of applause!

Message From The FCBOE Regarding Our Superintendent Search

“Happy New Year from the Fulton County Board of Education. The year 2019 promises to be a greatyear for Fulton County Schools with amazing things happening for our students, teachers andstaff. One of the top priorities for the Board this year will be identifying and hiring a new leader asSuperintendent.

As we begin our search, we would like to make you part of our effort. Over the next few weeks, we arerequesting your thoughts on the characteristics and experiences you feel a candidate forSuperintendent should have to best suit our district. We would ask that our community, includingstudents, parents, teachers, school and district staff, Fulton residents and business partners take timeto provide your thoughts. To ensure broad input, we are implementing several ways for you to contactus:

Survey: Individuals can fill out the public survey found here between the dates of Jan 9th - Jan 23rd

Email: You can email the Board directly at superintendentsearch@fultonschools.org.

Public Meetings: Each Board Member will hold public community meetings within the nextweek. Information about the time and locations for each district can be found here. Within the next month, we will collect all of your input and report back to you with the results. Theinformation we receive will help develop the priorities used to review the qualifications of thecandidates against the needs of the district.

As we move forward with the input process, we will also be casting a wide net to seek a qualified anddiverse set of candidates. This will include a nationwide search to include outreach to multiplesources. Several search firms will be contacted requesting they provide candidates which meet ourprofile. We will advertise our vacancy in national education magazines, talk with various educationprofessionals including other superintendents and send notices directly to school systems of a certainsize announcing our vacancy.

Interviews will be conducted later this winter/spring and will include site visits by Board members to thecandidates’ current communities, where we will seek candid opinions and assessments of thecandidates.

The Board understands and appreciates the partnership with you, the individuals we serve. We valueyour perspectives, and we will utilize your insights as we serve to fulfill our responsibility in setting thepriorities and leadership of the school system.

As we move through the Superintendent search process, we have great confidence in our school staff,principals, area superintendents, district staff and interim Superintendent Dr. Cindy Loe that studentswill continue to receive the best education possible. We are fortunate to have talented teachers,principals, and administrative personnel across the district who work every day to keep the focus onlearning opportunities, well-being and safety of our students and schools. The Board thanks thesededicated individuals for their continued service.”

Linda Bryant, President Julia Bernath, Vice President

Thank you again for your support. Have a great weekend and we hope to see you soon!

Kind Regards, Charles Chester Principal Northwestern Middle School Follow me on Twitter: @CChesterNMS

School Governance Council

SGC – What is that? Keep watch here for new information each weekSchool Governance Councils are an integral component of Fulton's charter system. SchoolGovernance Councils, or SGCs, are responsible for setting and monitoring the strategic direction of theschools.

The responsibilities of SGCs are as follows:· Approve the school's Strategic Plan· Approve the school's budget recommendations· Manage the Request for Flexibility process· Participate in the hiring process when hiring a new principal· Provide feedback on the principal's performance· Interface with the school's Title I committee (where applicable)

The SGC has 9 voting members:· 3 parents/guardians (elected by parents/guardians of the school)· 2 teachers (elected by school employees)· 2 community members (nominated by the principal, approved by the SGC)· 2 school employees (appointed by the principal)

The principal serves on all SGCs as a non-voting member. Additionally, 2 students serve on highschool SGCs as non-voting members. This makes a total of 10 SGC members in elementary andmiddle schools and 12 members at high schools.

Announcements

Congratulations to Sarayu Ponnada, the winner of our NMS School Spelling bee. Congratulations alsoto Atharva Jaywant who is our 1st Runner Up! Wish Sarayu luck at the District Spelling bee on Saturday,February 2, 2018 at Heards Ferry Elementary School.

NMS has a large number of excellent spellers, and it is very competitive to make it to the School beelevel! Congratulations to all the students who competed in the school bee:

Hana AliKhadijan AlrefaiNada BingahlanBecca BlockAva BradfordCooper BradshawKaylin CampbellRaj ChavdaSophia ClaypooleJia DhingraChristian EnderleDamodor EzhilmuthuFarrah FrithSophie GreenAlvia GriggElias HesselIan HirschRiley HuguelyKiley IrvineSanjana JayakumarAtharva JaywantNicole JohnsonSanjana KadiyalaDarren KellisEva Kenmoe

Afaf KhurramGryphon KlepperMarcus LevyMaurice MattaeusYousuf MirzaParker MitchellJiya MittalAlexander NguyenKumar NiyatiRoumika PatilSky PhilpotSarayu PonnadaRahul RajendranBrynn ScheelIngrid SchmitzShrivastava ShaniaMax ShtyrbulovRudra SinghVanshika SinghEmily SongDan SotoHarrison TaylorAman VantipalliAlina VennelAnna Zoretic

Cold Weather Reminder

Please remember that all students have a scheduled 15 minute recess period and should dressappropriately on colder days.

Rising 6th grade Parent Night Information

Rising 6th grade Parent Night Information (Spanish)

We need Parent Volunteers for ScoliosisScreening for 6th and 8th grade students onMarch 1st! If you are interested, please contactCathy Finnerty at finnertycv@fultonschools.org or470-254-8514. PTO will provide breakfast forvolunteers!

Junior Beta Meeting is Tuesday, January 15thService Saturday is January 26th at 9 AM

NMS Student Newspaper

https://nmsnewspaper.weebly.com/

Yearbooks for Sale Now!

Parents must order through Balfour.com before March1st to ensure that their student will receive ayearbook. Click here to go directly to the link forpurchasing:https://www.balfour.com/georgia/alpharetta/northwestern-middle-school

Books are $45 now and will go up after the first of theyear. PLEASE be sure to indicate your studentsHOMEROOM/ 1st period teacher

Intramurals

Winter is upon us!!! We hope that your child has enjoyed our fall and beginning of Winter activities. RunClub and Sports Club will not take place during the months of December and January. It will pick upend of Winter and resume on February 4th until May 1st.

3RD PARTY REQUESTS FOR DOCTORS FORMS OR OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS

Parents, If you need any form to be completed for any reason by our staff, you need to contact ShariCooper and bring ALL forms to her (do not give directly to our staff) Ms. Cooper will track all forms andget them to the doctor or schools requesting them after you sign a release form. Please email at:coopers1@fultonschools.org or call 470-254-8516

PTO News

Join the NMS PTO online: https://northwesternpto.membershiptoolkit.com PTO Roster 2018-2019

News from our Feeder Schools

News from the Community

NMS Thanks its Platinum Business Partners