Student & Family Update

Congratulations to students, staff and families for making it through the first full week of the year!

• We are looking forward to seeing G7 families at the Grade 7 Open House on September 25th from 4-6pm. More information will be shared next week.
• Apologies for not running the virtual principal drop-in this morning. With several staff out sick today, we wanted to make sure that all classes were staffed. The next drop-in is scheduled for October 24th.
• Twin Lakes has taken over from Suzor as our IT company. They have been doing a great job in helping distribute chrome books and Aspen log ins. Please reach out to them directly with any questions or concerns: support@twinlakesconsulting.zendesk.com
• AD Greg has been incredibly busy in getting our fields looking AMAZING and will update Athletics news next week

Reminder: An opportunity for students to provide feedback on our move to SBTL

As well as our regular quarterly feedback surveys, this year we are also fortunate to be able to host Lance Piantaggini, a Ph.D. student researcher at UMass Amherst this academic year. Lance will be helping staff and students with our transition to standards based teaching and learning and his work will help us to improve grading and learning at Mohawk.

An opportunity to participate in this study has been sent to all students and families in G10 & 12.

We are excited to invite students to play a significant part in helping shape the way teaching and learning takes place at MTRS.

Reach out to Lance with questions about his research at: lpiantaggini@umass.edu

Please read on for information and news related to our busy school. This includes:

• Student Services updates: Career of the Month: Software Developer
• Mary Lyon Resource Fair: October 30th
• Teaching and Learning updates
• AP Brault's Culture Corner
• Regular and Late Bus information
• Important upcoming dates
• Community involvement and outreach opportunities
• District updates

If you are reading this newsletter on a phone or laptop, don't forget to click on "read entire message" in order to see the complete newsletter.

Finally, we do our best to convey information to our community from a variety of sources, lots of them community rather than school based organizations. Unfortunately we are not able to share images and posters with live links through Smore but always ensure there is an email for inquiries. If you would like an e-copy of a poster with live links, please feel free to reach out to the office directly.

Have a great weekend

Best

Chris

Upcoming dates

• September 25th: Grade 7 Open House & Official Outdoor Classroom opening (Grade 7 only)
  
• October 9th: School photos
• Oct 15-18: Booster week (Dance on Sat 19th)
• Oct 24th - PSAT (10th and 11th Grade) Information coming next week
• October 30th: SLC for Grade 8-12 & Mary Lyon Resource Fair
  
• November 14th: Grades 5-8 STEAM Fair
  
• April 2nd: SLC for grades 7,8,9,10,11,12
  
• April/ May:TBD Capstone Community Celebration (The new version of Celebration of Learning)
• May 29th: Senior Awards
  
• May 30th: Class of 2025 Graduation

Bell Schedule

District (Calendar for 24/25)

Student Handbook

Live course catalog 2024/25

Food Services Information

Quarter 1 45 days

First Day: Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Last Day: Thursday, October 31st, 2024

Q1 progress report grades close on: Friday, September 27, 2024

Q1 progress report grading window: Weds, September 25 - Weds, October 2nd, at 11:59 pm

Q1 progress reports will be distributed on: Thursday, October 3rd, 2024

Q1 grading window: Tuesday October 29 - Wednesday November 6th at 11:59 pm

Q1 report cards will be distributed on: Thursday, November 7, 2024

BUCKLAND, MA - Eliza Crowell, a senior at Mohawk Trail Regional High School, has been recognized as a National Merit Scholarship Program Semifinalist. Being one of the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) top scoring 16,000 students nationwide, Eliza is one of only five public school students in Western Massachusetts to be considered for this honor.

Eliza took the PSAT in October of junior year and her resulting test scores earned her semifinalist status. The competition is very rigorous; scholarship winners are chosen based on their abilities, skills, extracurricular accomplishments, and potential for success in college and beyond.

Mohawk Trail Regional teacher Erik Sussbauer shares, "In working with Eliza, I appreciate that she demonstrates absolute and authentic joy for the opportunity to be creative and shape a learning experience. Any task or idea is met with sparkle and positive energy."

Eliza admits, "Receiving this recognition was pretty surprising. I'm grateful to my family, teachers, and friends who have encouraged me, pushed me forward and helped keep me going. Mohawk Trail has been a great place for me, and I'm also really excited to look forward to college and what comes next."

Semifinalists represent less than 1% of the nation’s high school graduating seniors. Several colleges and universities view this award highly during the application and admission process and award scholarship dollars for this achievement.

The list of semifinalists has now been made public to media outlets and the top colleges and universities in the country and Eliza will complete the application to be considered for the National Merit Finalist program. High schools are notified in early February of their Semifinalist(s) who have advanced to Finalist standing.

Middle School Council

The year is off to a great start and our first Middle School Student Council meeting is today (Friday)! Students will be preparing for the MTRS Booster Week, making plans for the year, and thinking about running for Student Council officer positions. We are excited to work on appreciation events for staff, running the recycling program in the middle school, and finding ways to bring forth student voices. We cannot wait to get our group up and running and we look forward to a wonderful year!

High School Student Council

Student Council has officially begun for our 2024-2025 school year! We are off to a great start and have a lot planned for our year ahead. We are so excited for everyone to see what we have in store for booster week, our annual teacher appreciation luncheon, community service opportunities, the spring fling, field day, and much more! We are happy to welcome our new Freshman to the council and are excited to see all the great things they accomplish. More information about booster week on the way very soon!

If your child has any of these symptoms:

Fever (>100.0° Fahrenheit or higher):

• Stay home until 24 hours after symptoms resolve AND are fever free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication.

• A covid antigen test is highly recommended before returning to school.

Shortness of breath, muscle or body aches, sore throat, new congestion or runny nose, new loss of taste or smell, or new cough

• First 4 days of symptoms:

• If symptoms are mild, recommend a covid antigen prior to sending them to school.

• If negative:

• Can attend school that day, if they have the stamina to participate in the school day and are available to learn.

• Should mask until symptoms resolve.

• Continue careful handwashing.

• If Covid positive

• Contact the school nurse.

• If they have very mild or no symptoms, no fever, and have the stamina to participate in the school day and are available to learn, they may come to school wearing a mask at all times while indoors except while eating, drinking, or napping.

• Students with significant symptoms may return to school on day 6 as long as they are fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications, AND have improvement in symptoms, AND mask while indoors until they test negative on day five or later.

• If Exposed to Covid:

If you have been exposed to someone with a respiratory virus, you do not need to stay home as long as you remain asymptomatic. You may be able to spread a respiratory virus before developing symptoms. To protect others, especially those with risk factors for severe illness, take precautions:

• Wash your hands often

• Consider wearing a mask and avoiding crowded places

• Monitor yourself for symptoms carefully

• Stay home if you start to develop any signs of illness.

• Day 6 and onward (if still symptomatic)

• Can come to school without covid antigen testing if symptoms are improving but will need to mask until day 11.

• Continue careful handwashing.

Sincerely,

Donna Weber, MSN, BSN, RN

MTRS School Nurse

MTRS/HRS District Nurse Leader

dweber@mtrsd.org

413-625-9811 ext. 1318

Fax: 413-825-3050

Have a look at the latest news from the MTRS library, here

What is SBTL?

SBTL is systems of instruction, assessment, grading, and academic reporting that are based on students demonstrating understanding or mastery of the knowledge and skills they are expected to learn as they progress through their education.

or

How effectively can students demonstrate their mastery of the skill/ application of the knowledge embedded in content standards in the classroom?

Why are we moving to SBTL?

We want to empower students with content skills and knowledge as well as the opportunity to apply both in real life settings in the classroom at MTRS and beyond.

Are we moving away from grades and GPA?

The short answer is no and we are going to provide opportunities to qualify student achievement in a way that enables students to continue to drive their own learning and application of these skills as well as providing traditional grades and GPA as required by colleges and employers.

What are the changes that you might notice this year?

Student-led conferences

Families in G8-12 who were at MTRS last year will have been a part of the Student Led Conferences that are held twice a year. These are a chance for students to lead conversations about their learning, reflect on where their strengths and weaknesses might be and to start planning on how they can make changes and start to think about the next stage of their learning experience at MTRS. The student-led conferences will continue this year - see the important dates, section.

A new grading and assessment format

The image below shows how students will be given feedback in order to help them continue to develop content knowledge and skills to use beyond the classroom.

An opportunity for students to provide feedback on our move to SBTL

As well as our regular quarterly feedback surveys, this year we are also fortunate to be able to host Lance Piantaggini, a Ph.D. student researcher at UMass Amherst this academic year. Lance will be helping staff and students with our transition to standards based teaching and learning and his work will help us to improve grading and learning at Mohawk.

An opportunity to participate in this study has been sent to all students and families in G10 & 12.

We are excited to invite students to play a significant part in helping shape the way teaching and learning takes place at MTRS.

Please reach out to Lance with questions about his research at: lpiantaggini@umass.edu

Hi, my name is Brandi Maselli. I am the Math Interventionist at the Mohawk Trail Regional School District Title 1 teacher for both 7th and 8th grade students. I also have a 7th grade Advisory and teach Pre-Algebra this year. In this program, students will have the opportunity to extend their conceptual understanding, efficiency, and fluency with key mathematical concepts. We are off to a great start this year with jumping right into math challenges reviewing numbers and operations. I am excited to be here again this year and to be able to work with the 7th and 8th graders. Please click on the link to review the Title 1 Information Letter.

I would like to invite you to the October LEC meeting on the 9th where you will have an opportunity to learn more about the program. Please come and join the conversation.

Here is the most recent Student Services Update. Lots of resources for students in each grade level including our Career of the Month section!

Career of the Month - Software developers

Software developers:

Software developers create the computer applications that allow users to do specific tasks and the underlying systems that run the devices or control networks. Software quality assurance analysts and testers design and execute software tests to identify problems and learn how the software works.

Duties

Software developers typically do the following:

• Analyze users’ needs and then design and develop software to meet those needs
• Recommend software upgrades for customers’ existing programs and systems
• Design each piece of an application or system and plan how the pieces will work together
• Create a variety of models and diagrams showing programmers the software code needed for an application
• Ensure that a program continues to function normally through software maintenance and testing
• Document every aspect of an application or system as a reference for future maintenance and upgrades

Software quality assurance analysts and testers typically do the following:

• Create test plans, scenarios, and procedures for new software
• Identify project risks and recommend steps to minimize those risks
• Implement software testing, using either manual or automated programs and exploratory testing, and evaluate results
• Document and report defects or problems with software
• Provide feedback to software developers and stakeholders regarding usability and functionality

Software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers are involved in the entire process of creating a software program. Developers may begin by asking how the customer plans to use the software so that they can identify the core functionality the user needs. Software developers also determine other requirements, such as security. They design the program and then work closely with programmers, who write computer code. However, some developers write code themselves instead of giving instructions to programmers.

Software quality assurance analysts and testers design and execute systems to check the software for problems. As part of their testing, these workers document and track the software’s potential defects or risks. They also assess its usability and functionality to identify difficulties a user might have. After completing testing, they report the results to software or web developers and review ways to solve any problems they found.

After the program is released to the customer, a developer may perform upgrades and maintenance. Quality assurance analysts and testers run manual and automated checks to look for errors and usability problems once the software is released and after any upgrades or maintenance.

The following are examples of types of software developers:

Applications software developers design computer applications, such as games, for consumers. They may create custom software for a specific customer or commercial software to be sold to the general public. Some applications software developers create databases or programs for use internally or online.

Software engineers take a broad view of a project’s system and software requirements, planning its scope and order of work. These workers may direct software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers.

Systems software developers create the operating systems for the public or specifically for an organization. These operating systems keep computers functioning and control most of the consumer electronics in use today, including those in cell phones and cars. Often, systems software developers also build the interface that allows users to interact with the computer.

Developers who supervise a software project from the planning stages through implementation sometimes are called information technology (IT) project managers. These workers monitor the project’s progress to ensure that it meets deadlines, standards, and cost targets. For information on IT project managers who plan and direct an organization’s IT department or IT policies, see the profile on computer and information systems (CIS) managers.

Education

Software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers typically need a bachelor's degree in computer and information technology or a related field, such as engineering or mathematics. Computer and information technology degree programs cover a broad range of topics. Students may gain experience in software development by completing an internship, such as at a software company, while in college. For some software developer positions, employers may prefer that applicants have a master’s degree.

Although writing code is not their primary responsibility, developers must have a strong background in computer programming. They usually gain this experience in school. Throughout their career, developers must keep up to date on new tools and computer languages.

The late Bus picks up at Mohawk Trail at 5:30 pm (Starting Sept 3rd)

Schedule dates for the late bus

Fall - Sept. 5th and runs to November 3rd.

Winter - Starts on November 27th and runs to Feb 16th

Spring - Starts on March 18th and runs to May 31st.

Roads traveled

Route 2 west (Mohawk Trail)

Stops at Wells Prevision ( Crn of Rt2/8A) in Charlemont

Continues down Route 2 west taking a right onto Zoar Rd

Stops at the Rowe Town Hall

Turns right onto Pond RD (Rowe)

Turns right onto Cyrus Stage Rd (Rowe

Turns right onto Number nine RD ( Heath)

Turns right onto Route 8A (Heath)

Turns left onto Branch Hill Rd (Heath)

Route Ends on Branch Hill Rd

Please contact:

Dawn Brown, Operations Manager, Tel: 413-489-3195 ext. 3304 F. M. Kuzmeskus, Inc., 635 Mohawk Trail, Shelburne Falls, MA 01370

MTRSD Transportation and Facilities: rpease@mtrsd.org

Sustainability Study Update

The next 2D8T steering committee meeting is scheduled for September 19th from 5:30-7:30pm. Community members are welcome to attend these planning meetings. Reports created as a result of the surveys may be found here. Expected in the near future are reports on community outreach, education and finance.

BERK12 will meet with selectboards next month, and will offer community engagement sessions to share findings, and field questions from you. Watch and listen for those upcoming opportunities!

Open Houses - Mark Your Calendar!

September 18: Sanderson Academy Open House

September 25: Colrain Central School Harvest Fair/Open House

September 25: Mohawk Trail Regional 7th grade Open House (no open house for 8-12)

September 25: Hawlemont Open House

Also, save the date for the Mary Lyon Resource Fair on October 30th from 3pm to 7pm at Mohawk Trail Regional. The event will feature activities and resources for families and students of all ages. More specific info to come!

Get to Know Your Library

Our school libraries across the district are full of great resources including - yep - books! They are also places where students get instruction, learn how to use reference materials, socialize, and more. They are busy places! We encourage students to make it a point in September to take an intentional tour and get to know your librarians and what great stewards of information and support they are! We’d also like to put a plug in for reading at home. Adults, teens, tweens, elementary students and toddlers - everyone benefits from reading and hearing words read aloud (audio books count!)

Check out September updates from the elementary libraries here.

See an active class in the MTRS library here.

Local Education Council (LEC)

This meets virtually every second Wednesday of the month between 3:45 and 4:30pm. More information can be found here. The next meeting will take place on October 9th.

The virtual joining information is as follows:

Meeting ID

meet.google.com/gzo-toke-ibz

Phone Numbers

(‪US‬)‪+1 813-435-9650‬

PIN: ‪741 012 215#‬

Principal Drop-ins

As was the case last year, I will hold regular virtual office hours. You don’t need an appointment to come and talk with me and share your thoughts on what goes on at MTRS. I will try to be available for the whole 60 minutes but can't always guarantee it at our busy school. The next drop in will take place on October 25th - the fourth Friday of each month!

Fourth Friday of each month: 8:00 to 9:00 a.m.

Meeting ID: meet.google.com/jtz-yhet-ipo

Phone Number: (US)+1 (813) 773-5581

PIN: 636 883 303

Mohawk Trail SEPAC Member and Parent

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Do you have a question about your child, their services, or resources specific to your needs? If you or someone you know would like to be added to the private list and receive emails and event notifications, please send an email to: MOHAWKSEPAC@gmail.com Please indicate your email, title (such as parent of a student with IEP/504), District, Interested Party or other)

Disclosure: SEPAC maintains the list of contacts and keeps the information private. This email is maintained by a parent and volunteer. Our goal is to respond in a timely manner. We will get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

Email: cbuckland@mtrsd.org
Website: www.mtrs.mohawktrailschools.org
Phone: 413-625-9811
Facebook: facebook.com/mohawktrailregional