MIDDLE SCHOOL PARENTS & STUDENTS
School Menus & Student Nutrition
Health & Guidance Office
Arrival and Dismissal
Breakfast begins at 7:30 am and ends at 7:50 am.
No beverages or foods (except water in a clear container or lunch in sealed container) may leave the dining room after breakfast.
*Students are not permitted to enter classrooms without teacher presence until 7:50 am.
First period instruction begins at 8:00 am.
The dismissal bell rings at 2:44 pm.
After-school extra-curricular activities will be held Tuesday – Friday for the 2022- 2023 school year.
All students must exit the building by 2:44 pm unless engaged in an adult supervised activity.
If you must dismiss your child before the end of the school day, a note or phone call to the office is required prior to 12:00 noon.
For more information, please visit our 2022-2023 calendar.
After School Clubs
Tapestry Charter School offers a variety of clubs and organizations that give students the opportunity to explore activities and develop new interests. Clubs run from 3:00 to 4:00 pm. Students must be picked up by 4.
This year, all after-school extra-curricular activities will be held Tuesday – Friday for all of the 2023- 2024 school year.
Parent Portal
The PowerSchool Parent Portal is a feature of the PowerSchool Student Information System that provides parents/guardians immediate access to grades, assignments and attendance records in an effort to facilitate and improve communication between home and school. Teachers will have academic grades updated on a weekly basis so that parents have accurate information about their child’s academic standing when accessing the Parent Portal.
Tapestry provides access to your child’s food service account, including transactions and balance, his/her attendance record and a school bulletin through the PowerSchool Parent Portal. Use your confidential user name and password to log in to PowerSchool
Please note that each child’s account requires a unique username and password. For security purposes, please do not divulge your log-in information to anyone, including your child. If you have questions about PowerSchool access or have misplaced your log-in information, please contact the school office.
Principal’s Advisory Group
The Principal’s Advisory Group (PAG) serves as a consultative body to assist the principal and administration in making decisions that reflect the interests of parents, faculty, and students. Subcommittees of the PAG have been established to address topics that are considered important by TCS parents/guardians. Community voice is encouraged in such areas as the setting and maintaining of school policies, the hiring of staff, the raising of funds, and the setting of priorities for use of funds. The PAG includes at least two representatives from each of the following groups: parents, students, and faculty, as well as administrative presence.
Community voice is strongly encouraged, any parent is welcome to attend PAG! Dates for the 23-24 school year will be posted below when they become available.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Student Led Conferences
Two times during the school year, Tapestry invites students and their families to attend formal conferences during which report cards are given to families. Student-Led Conferences replace the traditional parent/teacher conference and are attended by the student, parent/guardian, crew leader, and other adults the student would like present. The crew leader facilitates the meeting, but the student is responsible for presenting what he/she has learned so far this year.
Family Handbook and Code of Conduct
Our family handbook provides essential information about how parents, students, teachers and administrators can work together to support our students and meet both academic and behavioral expectations. It also includes important dates, our Code of Conduct and graduation requirements, as well as other policies, procedure and information.
Tapestry’s Code of Conduct, Behavior Expectations, Interventions and Consequences are in compliance with New York State Discipline Laws and Regulations including Schools Against Violence in Education (SAVE) Law, and Dignity For All Students Act (DASA). Tapestry is committed to teaching, modeling and enforcing high standards of conduct in order to ensure that Tapestry is a safe, healthy learning environment for all students and staff.
Health Office
To foster child and adolescent health and educational success, the school nurse at Tapestry Charter School will:
- Provide direct care to students: care for injuries and acute illness for all students and long term management of students with special health care needs;
- Provide leadership for the provision of health services;
- Provide screening and referral for health conditions.
- Promote a healthy physical and emotional school environment: monitoring immunizations, ensuring appropriate exclusion for infectious illnesses, mandated state reporting, participate in plan for prevention and management of bullying, disasters, and terrorism events.
- Promote health: provide health information to individual and groups of students through health education classes, assist in developing a health education curriculum.
- Serve in a leadership role for health policies and programs.
- Act as a liaison between school personnel, family, health care professionals, and the community.
For your family’s convenience, the following Health Office forms are available for download. Forms are also available in the Health Office, upon request.
Middle School Student Support Office
Middle School Counselor, Ms. Brittany Kessler works closely with administration, teachers, support staff, students and families to provide social/emotional support to ensure the academic success of students at the Middle School Level. This is an integral part of all children’s development as they eventually transition to High School.
Ms. Keesler follows the New York State and National Standards for counseling programs at the Middle School Level. Her role is as follows:
- Push In Lessons to reach all students through a Character Education Development Program focusing on social issues that Middle School Students are currently experiencing in today’s society.
- Educating parents on social media and drug prevention
- Individual and small group counseling sessions based on cognitive behavioral practices
- Middle School Mentoring Program
- Teaching empathy skills
- Aides in the academic transition from middle school to high school
- Provides outside resources to families in need
- Focuses on restorative practices with students and families
If you are in need of outside counseling services, Tapestry works with Gateway-Longview to provide this service. Please contact them at:http//www.gateway-longview.org
Please contact guidance counselor Brittany Keesler or our school social worker Kati Fuller at 716-332-0755 if you are in need of other resources. You can also find many resources in the WNY area at : http:www.211wny.org
Dignity for All Students Act (DASA)
What is the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA)?
The Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) took effect July 1, 2012. Its purpose is to provide students with a school environment free of discrimination and harassment by peers and by school personnel. It applies to behaviors on school property, in school buildings, on a school bus, as well as at school-sponsored events or activities. Incidents of harassment and discrimination may include, but are not limited to, threats, intimidation or abuse based on a person’s actual or perceived race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender (including gender identity or expression), and sex. These eleven categories are referred to as protected classes.
The new law includes provisions that will alter reporting, codes of conduct, professional development, and classroom instruction.
- The Dignity for All Students Act was established with the broad legislative intent to provide a school environment free of discrimination and harassment.
- Prohibits harassment of students on school property or at school functions, and designates many forms of bullying as unlawful discrimination.
Who is the DASA Coordinator for Tapestry Charter Middle School?
Amy Meshulam is the DASA Coordinator and Assistant Principal for the Middle School. She can be reached in the front office by calling (716) 332-0755 or by emailing her at meshulama@tapestryschool.org.
If you would like more information about DASA you can follow this link.
What is bullying?
Bullying is defined as unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.
What is cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying is defined as bullying that takes place using electronic technology. Electronic technology includes devices and equipment such as cell phones, computers, and tablets as well as communication tools including social media sites, text messages, chat, and websites.
- Educators are not expected to “spy” on students’ out-of-school communications. Educational resources should not be used to seek out online communications that are inappropriate.
- But, educators should be willing to step in when cyber bullying affects a students’ ability to function in school.
How can I report an incident where bullying, cyberbullying or harassment has occurred?
A DASA Reporting form can be completed by students, parents, and staff members. If you have witnessed an incident, heard about an incident, or are the target of an incident fill out a DASA Reporting Form. These forms can be downloaded using the link below or found in common areas around the school (classrooms, front office, library, nurse and hallways). The forms can be turned into any staff member or placed in a bin in the front office. All reports are taken seriously and will result in an investigation.
