Hello EMS Students, Families, and Community!

On behalf of the faculty, staff, and administration at the Edmunds Middle School, I am so excited to welcome you to the 2026-27 school year! Welcome and welcome back!

Our focus at Edmunds Middle School continues to be all about GROWTH. Middle school is a time of incredible individual progress and change, and it is also a time of vital social and community development.  So, as we work to grow, we will also focus on Growing Together: supporting one another, lifting each other up, challenging each other, and growing closer through the process.

On Day 1, you will meet your Core Team teachers and classmates, get your schedules, build your binders, and learn the ropes for school this year. On Day 2, we will bring the whole school together for an Assembly to introduce our Staff Team and talk about who we are as a community.

There is lots of important information in this letter. Please take the time to go through it carefully. There is a lot, so plan to do it in chunks.

Our school is a place where everyone is welcome, where individual identities and voices are celebrated, and where we promote scholarship and justice. We need you to make that vision a reality! It’s going to be a fabulous year!

Sincerely,

John Oliver, Principal, Edmunds Middle School

Important Information:

1. Schedule

The first day of school is on Wednesday, August 26 for ALL STUDENTS. Here is the schedule:

• 6th, 7th grade, 8th grade: 8AM – 2PM
• Doors open at 7:55AM for breakfast
• Lunch will be served, as always. It’s delicious and free. Here are the breakfast and lunch menus.

Your Core Teachers will be outside to meet you, introduce themselves, remind you of your team assignment, and help you get to your first period class. There, you will get to know your classmates, go through your schedule, and put together your Middle School Binder. Because sports and clubs begin the following week, students will be heading home / off campus directly after school (2PM on Wednesday, 8/26). 

2. What to Bring on the First Day of School, Wednesday, August 26th:

• Your best self. We want everyone to have an equal opportunity to remake themselves and be the version that tries their best. What do you want school to look like? To feel like? What can you do to make our school the community you want it to be?
• Your backpack or bag — which will be housed in your lockers for the entire day
• IF you bring a phone, it will be housed in your locker or in the Main Office during the day. This is consistent with Vermont Phone-Free School Law (Act 72 / H.480) 
• A lock for the locker (practice using it at home!). We will have extras if you don’t have one.
• A white two-inch three-ring binder (useful if you bring your own; we also will have binders for students)
• An open mind
• Some kind words to share with your peers and teachers

3. First Weeks of School – Calendar Dates @ EMS

Aug. 24 6th Grade Ice Cream Social 5:30-6:30PM

Aug. 26 First Day of School 8AM – 2PM

Aug. 28 Meet the Fall Sports Coaches, afterschool

Aug. 31 First Day of Fall Sports Tryouts

Sep. 2 Reminder: Dismissal at 2PM every Wednesday

Sep. 4 No School

Sep. 7 No School – Labor Day

Sep. 8 EngageEMS PTO Meeting, 6:30PM

Sep. 11 Picture Day

Sep. 15 Try Middle School Sports Day 10:00-11:30AM at BHS

Sep. 17 EMS Fall Open House – 6:30-7:30PM

Attached is the “for your fridge” District Calendar version, which covers the whole year.

4. It’s True: NO CELL PHONES AT SCHOOL.

Students and families, please familiarize yourself with the district’s cell phone procedures, which applies to both middle schools. In a nutshell: cell phones are not to be used by middle school students during the school day. 

Why: Students struggle with the proper use of smartphones and social media. We (school people) as well as national researchers have found that unfettered access to cell phones makes it difficult for students to attend to their work. I bet that you have found the same at home! Furthermore, the majority of incidents of bullying, hazing, harassment, and other conflicts between students are connected either directly or indirectly to social media. Therefore, BSD has designed procedures that limit the presence and use of cell phones during the school day. 

How: Power off the phone before you walk in the building. Put your backpack and your phone in your locker when you walk in. Retrieve your backpack and your cell phone at dismissal. OR, leave it in the main office, where it will be locked up for safekeeping. We will even charge it for you and might give you candy when you pick it up.

#1 goal: Make our school communities safer and help keep students and staff focused on the reasons we are at school: to learn, build relationships with others, and be fully present and engaged members of our school community. 

Reach out and discuss your concerns with me or our admin team. We don’t want to collect your phone, but we will do so to keep our community safe and focused. 

For more important information on technology at EMS this year, please refer to our EMS 2026 Tech Letter.

5. Returning Student Registration – Must be Completed by Monday, August 24th

2026-2027 Returning Student Registration forms are now open for all students. To maintain the most up-to-date information about our students, we ask families to verify and update the information of all returning students, every year. 

Please complete the Returning Student Registration forms in the PowerSchool Parent Portal by August 24, 2026. You can complete the forms on a computer or download the PowerSchool Parent app on your mobile phone. 

Need help logging into your Parent Portal Account? Our “How To” document has the answers you need. 

• Please complete the returning student registration in the PowerSchool Parent Portal.
• This is essential information. If you need support to complete these forms, please call the main office and our staff will help you!

FOLKS, the school who has the greatest number of families complete the registration forms, wins a prize! Please set aside 15 minutes and help us be the most prepared to serve your kids.

6. Check Out this FAQ letter about PARENTSQUARE

7. Getting to and from EMS

• If you bike to school, we have bike racks in front – bring your own lock! We want your bike to be safe, as it cannot be stored inside of the building. 
• If you are dropping or picking up your student(s) in a car, please do so South of King St on S. Union or on Main St. The area on S. Union in front of the school is solely for the bus.
• Green Mountain Transit provides “Neighborhood Special” bus routes for students that arrive before school and pick students up upon dismissal. GMT is currently revising their routes to account for Burlington High School’s move from downtown to North Ave, and a letter from GMT and updated schedule will be provided shortly. All students may ride the bus for free, without need to show identification.

8. Afterschool Activities

• EMS Afterschool will begin on Tuesday, September 8th and meet M-F from dismissal until 5:30 p.m.. Afterschool Clubs will begin on Monday, September 14th. Registration information and a list of specific club offerings will be sent to parents the week of August 17th. If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact EMS Afterschool Director, Gena Elliott, at gelliott@bsdvt.org..
• Afterschool Learning Recovery for students missing class, missing school, or who need extra time to catch up on assignments. Caregivers will receive an email the day of the skipped class, and Learning Recovery will take place after school, from 3-3:30, the following day. You must arrange for your child’s transportation home.
• Athletics:
  • Our fall athletic offerings are: Girls Soccer, Girls Field Hockey, and Boys Soccer and Cross-Country.  In our school district students may play on the team they identify with.
  • The first competitions occur during Week 3 of school…check out the BSD Athletics Website and our EMS Newsletter for info. 
  • All athletes must be registered (do this on PowerSchool) as well as have a medical clearance form on file, signed by a doctor, in order to play.

• “How To”: Easy Registration Instructions – I hope this makes registration easier.
• To stay after school at EMS, students must either be working with a teacher, enrolled in a club, or be practicing with an athletic team. They may not simply “hang out” at school unsupervised, even if they have a practice that starts later.

9. Important District Safety Information and Expectations

1. The Middle School Family Handbook
2. The Code of Conduct
3. The Hazing, Bullying and Harassment overview for all schools. Our staff who support this work are:
   • Bill Andrus, Student Success Coordinator  and Designated Employee 
   • Amanda Gustafson, Assistant Principal, Designated Employee, and Title IX Coordinator
   • John Oliver, Principal
4. At all BSD schools, we run monthly safety drills to support our community’s readiness for unexpected circumstances. You can read more about safety drill preparation in our Parent Drill Letter and here: School Emergency Information Guide for Parents and Guardians.pdf
5. BSD Drill Schedule for parents, 26-27 
6. EMS HHB Overview.docx

10. Welcome to our Newest Members of the EMS Faculty:

Campbell McClellan, Elevate Math

Amelia Lanza, ML Dept

Ethan Bushey, French and World Language

Sophie Cassell, Health

Scarlett Wagner, Art 

Josh Rooney, Special Education

Danielle Gomes, Special Education

Bridget McCallum, School Counselor

Nicole Hansen, Instructional Coach

Gena Elliott, Afterschool Site Director

11. Get Involved!

• Our community Welcome Back Event “Playing Fields”, co-sponsored with the Flynn Theatre, is on Tuesday, September 15th at 6:00PM on the Flynn Elementary School Campus, featuring Plasticiens Volants – Sea Fantasy- The Pearl. All age event! Kids and families are welcome. 
• The PTO meets monthly on the second Tuesday at 6:30PM, in person and online. They help raise money, organize projects that benefit the teachers and students, and support events (e.g. school dance, outdoor movie night). No experience necessary! 
• The EMS PTO is a volunteer group of parents and caregivers working together to support our students, staff, and school community. We plan fun events like school dances, organize teacher appreciation activities, and raise money to fund classroom projects and school-wide initiatives. If you’d like to receive communications from us, please sign up at this link. 
• Participate in the leadership of EMS: if you are interested in participating in our Family Advisory Group, email joliver@bsdvt.org.

Your teachers, administrators, and support staff at the Edmunds Middle School are excited for the new year. We look forward to seeing you soon! 

If you have any questions related to school policy and procedures, schedules, etc. please feel free to notify the main office at (802) 864-8486. An excellent source of information is our district website, www.bsdvt.org.