Welcome to Gates Chili Middle School! We are proud of our school and invite you to travel "inside GCMS" to learn more about the quality of our instructional programs, staff commitment, and community partnership. Gates Chili Middle School enjoys a proud tradition of academic excellence. We are an innovative school with an educational program that is challenging, integrated, and standards-based. Our instruction and support is focused specifically on the needs and characteristics of young adolescents. The single mid-level building within the Gates Chili School District, GCMS enrolls 900 students in grades six through eight.
GCMS establishes smaller learning communities by dividing a large school into three separate, small communities (6 – 8). The communities are designated a specific hallway in which the students attend their core, academic classes. For exploratory classes, the students have an opportunity to travel to different parts of the building and mix with other students.
Each community has an administrator, faculty, and 6th - 8th-grade students and teachers, with a student assignment process that ensures equitable distribution of students by race/ethnicity, socio-economic status (SES), language, gender, prior educational achievement, and ability/disability. The grade levels within each community are effectively teamed, creating a small personalized learning environment in which interdisciplinary teams share the same students. The three communities are named: Amerks, Red Wings, and Rhinos. The Assistant Principals are:
Our staff is dedicated to the service of children and their families. Together we teach and inspire excellence for all learners.
Sincerely,
Dr. Lisa C. Buckshaw, Principal
While Gates Chili has taught personal safety lessons to students in the past, this year, the elementary schools adopted a more comprehensive program called Child Safety Matters. This program was developed by the Monique Burr Foundation and is endorsed by the Bivona Child Advocacy Center.
As GCCSD continues to plan for the return of more in-person elementary learners next week, we invite you to join us for a virtual community forum on April 15 at 5 p.m. on YouTube. A recording of the event will also be available at the above link.
Students ages 16+ and their eligible family members are encouraged to make appointments as soon as possible.
After careful consideration, the district is shifting the return of more in-person learners by a few days in order to give staff enough time to prepare our buildings.
Local superintendents advocate to bring back more in-person learners
This award comes just two months after the district was named a Top Workplaces USA for 2021. Both awards are based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey.
The Gates Chili Central School District Board of Education unanimously voted on March 23 to appoint Mr. Troy Olin as the district’s new Assistant Superintendent for Instruction. He will assume his new leadership role effective July 1, 2021, replacing Mrs. Carol Stehm, who is set to retire at the end of this school year.
