From the Desk of Ms. Hicks

Thank you to all the parents who volunteered their time to help with our Homeroom Wars. The students had such a great time and we could not have done it without you. Please check out some of our pictures from our day!

For those parents who were invited to attend our parent teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday this week, we look forward to meeting with all of you. If you are unable to attend or would like a meeting with your student's teachers, please reach out to your grade level counselor.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving Break and we will see you in December. 

FOUR PRINCIPALS NAMED FINALISTS FOR THE 2024-2025 GEORGE ARLOTTO LEADERSHIP AWARD

Four principals have been selected as finalists for the 2024-2025 George Arlotto Leadership Award, given annually to the Anne Arundel County Public Schools Principal of the Year. 

Congratulations to the following finalists: 

• Linda Chandler, Old Mill Middle School South

• Lenora Fox, Mayo Elementary School

• Amy Guerke, Ruth Parker Eason School

• Katherine Hicks, Wiley H. Bates Middle School

This year's Principal of the Year will be announced in December and will represent AACPS in the 2025 Washington Post Principal of the Year program. All four finalists will be honored at the Excellence in Education Awards Dinner, hosted by the Education Foundation of AACPS, on Friday, April 25, 2025, at the HALL @ Live! Arundel Mills. Information about tickets to this event will be available in the coming months.

Last year, Heather Garris, principal at Tracey’s Elementary School was the recipient of this prestigious award. The award was renamed by the Education Foundation of AACPS in June of 2021 in honor of Dr. Arlotto, who approached the Foundation about creating an awards program to recognize the outstanding principals in AACPS. Dr. Arlotto served AACPS for 16 years, the final eight as Superintendent.

Questions about the Principal of the Year program should be directed to Jenn Lombardi at jlombardi@aacps.org. Questions about the Excellence in Education event or the Education Foundation of AACPS  should be directed to Joe Callahan at jfcallahan@aacps.org. 

Click HERE for a printable lunch menu

Our Maryland Food Bank Pantry will be open on Monday, November 25 from 10-11:30 am so parents/guardians may shop or take prepacked bags of nonperishable food items.  Please use the back entrance from Smith Ave. to lead directly to our basement door entrance.  

This year, we are partnering with Wreaths Across America (WAA) to fundraise for our school! For every wreath purchased through our fundraising site, WAA will give $5 back to Bates Middle School! Please help decorate a veteran's headstone and raise money for school programs.

To order wreaths, visit our fundraising page: https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/pages/166301/Overview/?relatedId=16140

Please join us for our monthly online meeting on December 5th at 7:00pm. The zoom link is https://tinyurl.com/BatesNovPTA

For the 12 days leading up to winter break, we will celebrate our teachers with daily gift drawings. We are asking our families to donate a gift card, gift certificate (do you own a business or is there a local business you'd like to ask for a donation?), or a gift basket (maybe a fun theme like gardening or baking?) that we will raffle off to our amazing teachers and staff from December 5th through 20th. Donations can be dropped off in the main office at any time.

We are also treating our teachers to a potato bar luncheon on Tuesday, December 17th. Can you donate some drinks? A case of bottled water, soda (diet or regular), or sparkling water? You may drop off these items in the main office.

Thank you for helping us to show our teachers and staff how much we appreciate them!

Scan QR code or visit join.batespta.org

Our school has been reaching out to individual families to invite them to our parent teacher conferences on Nov 25 and Nov 26 based on grades and attendance. If you did not receive an invite but have questions about your student regarding specific classes, please email those individual teachers. If you have more involved concerns, please reach out to your grade level counselor.

6th Grade

Counselor: Ms. McFadden cmcfadden@aacps.org

7th Grade

Counselor: Ms. Weiss dweiss@aacps.org

8th Grade

Counselor: Ms. Barnett cmbarnett@aacps.org

We are collecting gently used & new items for our students to purchase during our Bargain Basement event in December. The students will use Bates Bucks to purchase these collected items for loved ones for the holidays!

We will be collecting items starting Nov. 25-Dec 17. Please bring your donated items to the main office. We are also collecting any wrapping accessories (bows, ribbons, bags, tissue paper). Thank you!

• Any student that did not get their picture taken, can get it taken during the make-up day for the yearbook.

• If a parent would like to have their child's picture retaken, this can also be done on retake day. The student should bring the original photo package, including original envelope and all picture products, to turn into the photographer when they come to sit for a new picture. They do not need to fill out a new order form.

**Please note, picture retakes are only for kids who did not get their picture taken on 10/14 OR has the original photo package for a retake.

Students may not ask to retake their picture if they want a new school id. School ID pictures will not change.**

We are currently out of sweatshirts in our uniform clothing closet. Students can purchase sweatshirts in the mornings between 9-9:15am. Students may wear a solid crew neck, a ¾ zip, or a solid cardigan sweater to help stay warm. 

Jackets and hoodies are not allowed, so please dress accordingly so class time is not missed. 

Families - if you have any old uniform sweatshirts or plain solid crew neck, 3/4 zip, or solid cardigan sweater in gray, black, purple, white or blue, please feel free to drop them off at the main office so we can donate to any students that may need them.

Please consider donating our approved uniform bottoms for situations when students are out of uniform, or something happens to their bottoms. We find ourselves in need of the larger sizes more often and specifically females needing sizes such as girls 16-18 and junior/woman sizes 12-24. Please have your student drop off any donations to the uniform closet during arrival or to the main office.

You can also contact Shauna Rykiel at srykiel@aacps.org to coordinate. 

6th Grade Counselor

Ms. McFadden cmcfadden@aacps.org

7th Grade Counselor

Ms. Weiss dweiss@aacps.org

8th Grade Counselor

Ms. Barnett cmbarnett@aacps.org

LOCAL RESOURCES 

Anne Arundel County Crisis Response System

410-768-5522 

Anne Arundel County Department of Health Adolescent and Family Services Clinic

410-222-6785 

Anne Arundel County Mental Health Agency

410-222-7858

https://aamentalhealth.org/ 

Anne Arundel County Be Well

https://www.aahealth.org/bewellaa 

Anne Arundel County Public Schools Social & Emotional Supports

https://www.aacps.org/page/social-emotional-crisis-resources

Children’s Mental Health Matters!

https://www.childrensmentalhealthmatters.org/find-help/parents-families/ 

Crisis Text line

741-741

https://www.crisistextline.org/ 

Healthy Anne Arundel Coalition

https://www.healthyannearundel.org/ 

Mind Resilience

https://www.mindresilience.org/

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Anne Arundel County

443-995-2222

https://namiaac.org/

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

988

https://988lifeline.org/

Network of Care

https://mentalhealth.networkofcare.org/annearundel-md 

National Resources

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

https://afsp.org/chapter/maryland

American Psychological Association

https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience

Healthy Children

https://www.healthychildren.org/english/healthy-living/emotional-wellness/Pages/default.aspx

Suicide Prevention Resource Center

https://sprc.org/

ACE South is seeking a Middle School Social Studies/Science Teacher to join our team of dedicated teaching professionals.  ACE South is an AACPS program that provides a small and supportive learning environment for middle school students who need a temporary change from the traditional classroom.  

The ideal candidate will have had some experience in working with children in a leadership role and be comfortable with teaching the AACPS middle school social studies and science curriculum to students in grades 6, 7 and 8.  

Maximum class size at ACE South is four students.  ACE South is in session every school day as per the AACPS school calendar.   Staff hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. including 30 minutes of paid at-home planning at $40 per hour.  ACE South is located at 121 S. Villa Ave. Annapolis, MD 21041 in the Boys and Girls Club of Annapolis. 

To learn more about the position or to apply, interested candidates should contact Mr. John Perry, ACE South Administrator, at jtperry@aacps.org  

If you are looking to work at Wiley H. Bates Middle School, we are hiring for a couple of positions:

Temporary Support Assistants that will work as extra support for our students. If interested, you may apply through the link below. TSA application 

We are also looking for help in our cafeteria. Please click HERE if interested in joining our cafeteria staff.

Together We're Better Artwork Contest Information

Do you have questions about transportation?

Please forward any questions to our administrator, Mr. Walker at jewalker1@aacps.org

Do you have questions about your student's attendance?

Please contact Christine Clark at cclark3@aacps.org.

Do you have specific student concerns, ie. behavior, scheduling, academic performance, etc. please contact your grade level administrator or counselor:

6th Grade

Administrator: Ms. Adkins ktadkins@aacps.org

Counselor: Ms. McFadden cmcfadden@aacps.org

7th Grade

Administrator: Mr. Walker jewalker1@aacps.org

Counselor: Ms. Weiss dweiss@aacps.org

8th Grade

Administrator: Ms. Milburn lmilburn@aacps.org

Counselor: Ms. Barnett cmbarnett@aacps.org

Do you have an emergency concern (after hours)?

Please contact our Principal, Katie Hicks, at 302-314-6146.

Wiley H. Bates Middle School

Katherine Hicks, Principal

Christine Clark, Editor

We are better together!

Email: cclark3@aacps.org
Website: www.aacps.org/o/wileyhbatesms

Location: 701 Chase Street, Annapolis, MD, USA
Phone: 410 263-0270