August 30, 2026
Good afternoon Western Alamance Middle School families,
Our first week of school was a wonderful success! It was exciting to welcome our students back and see the positive energy throughout our school each day. I am incredibly appreciative of the enthusiasm, hard work, and commitment shown by our students and staff. We are off to a great start!
As we head into our second week, please take a moment to review a few important reminders:
Chromebook Insurance: Currently, only 6.57% of our students have purchased Chromebook insurance. The deadline for the initial purchase is September 4.
We strongly encourage families to consider purchasing this coverage. Please log in to Givebacks and review the information provided below regarding Chromebook insurance and payment.
Student Water Bottles: For safety reasons, students should not bring glass water bottles or containers to school. Bottle-filling stations are available throughout the building, so students are encouraged to bring a plastic or other non-breakable refillable water bottle.
Car Rider Reminders: Thank you for your patience as we continue to make our afternoon car rider line as safe and efficient as possible.
Please pull all the way forward to the flagpole and close the gap with the vehicle in front of you.
Students should monitor the SmartBoards in their classrooms, which will indicate when they should report to the car rider line.
Please clearly write your student's name on the cardstock provided and display it where staff can easily see it.
If you need a car rider cardstock, we will have additional cards available during Monday's car rider line.
Our goal is to have the car rider line completed by 4:10 p.m., and all students should be picked up by 4:15 p.m.
Bus Transportation: Transportation continues to work through bus routes and process transportation requests. We appreciate your continued patience as routes and schedules are finalized.
Thank you for helping us have such a successful start to the school year. We appreciate the continued support and partnership of our WAMS families and look forward to another great week!
Car Rider Drop Off and Pick Up Information:
WAMS Car Rider Drop-off and Pick-up Procedures 2026-27
All traffic coming onto campus for drop off and pick up should turn right into our car circle from Center Crest Dr. |
Arrival |
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Dismissal |
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PTO: Thanks so much for a great start to the year of 26-27!! We have sold all of our car rider EZ passes for this nine weeks and car tags were sent home with the raffle winners on Friday.
Let's show the teachers some love as we stock the lounge this nine weeks. Please see the sign up genius link below to sign up to donate items. Don't have time to shop? Feel free to Venmo us and we will purchase the items needed. The venmo link is below.
Clean out those closets and help us purchase a snow cone machine! We have partnered with Savers Thrift and Two Men and a Truck to collect gently used items. We get paid by the pound for the items. You may drop them off in the front office during office hours. If you use the pledge form below, you can get a 20% off coupon to shop in the store!
stock the lounge link https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084BACAF2FA3FEC61-50855630-stock
Free and Reduced Lunch Forms: Breakfast and lunch are not universally free. It’s time to apply for free and reduced cost breakfast and lunches. Families must reapply each year to receive continued benefits. Complete the electronic free and reduced lunch form for the 2026-2027 academic year.
Weapon Detection Systems: This year, all schools will have Weapon Detection Systems (WDS) in place. This is an added layer of security that will quickly scan students and visitors as they enter the building. We’ve put together some helpful information and a video of what the process looks like for our students. Take a look at our webpage for more information. All students will pass through the Weapon Detection System during the arrival process to school. The following video clip will give you a good idea of what it should look like on a regular basis.
WDS will also be used at athletic events; anyone planning to attend an ABSS athletic event must enter through the main entrance and walk through the WDS.
Here Comes the Bus: Is your student a bus rider? ABSS will be implementing the “Here Comes the Bus” app to help track students as they travel to and from school and get updates on delays and expected arrival times. We anticipate there will be some delays as we account for bus driver shortages. Please be patient as we roll out this new platform. Families can download the free app in the Google or Apple app stores. For directions on how to connect to ABSS, please visit our Back to School webpage.
Finance:Givebacks:Payment portal, replacing Online School Payments (OSP).
Please note that lunch accounts remain the same and are completely separate from school fees and payments made through Givebacks.
Families will receive notifications directly from Givebacks when a fee is assigned to their student. These notifications will include a link to make the payment online.
The recent fee notification families received is for our optional Technology Insurance for the 2026–2027 school year. The cost is $25 and covers the first instance of damage to a student's Chromebook.
We strongly encourage families to consider purchasing the Technology Insurance. At only $25, it can provide significant savings should accidental damage occur to your student's Chromebook during the school year.
Thank you for your attention to this new payment process!
Athletics: There are no contests this week.