Principal's Weekly Update

Happy New Year to all-- we enjoyed an especially long break from school this year, and returned on Thursday rested and ready, though it was hard to get up so early once again. Needless to say I didn't see any sunrises during the vacation.

In this week's insert photo, you can see the grandmother of one our 7th grade students, herself a former science teacher, providing a "guest lesson" for Mrs. Baillargeon's students. We are always happy to welcome community members who are interested in sharing their experiences and/or expertise with our students.

A note on attendance: Reducing Chronic Absenteeism remains one of our most important goals this year. As a reminder, any student who misses more than 10% of school days is labeled as “chronically absent”. At the end of the school year, this would mean 18 or more days. In an effort to prevent this, automated letters are sent out to alert parents at specified thresholds. Our teachers follow up with phone calls to see if there are issues which our staff can help with. The goal is for the chronic absentee rate to be under 5%. We track our progress monthly– as of our most recent update, the chronic absenteeism rate is 6.23%. Please work with us to promote regular school attendance, as it is one of the most important factors in a student’s success in school.

And now a public service announcement meant to alleviate tardiness--

Morning Drop off Procedure: once the buses have completed dropping off the students (they usually finish between 7:25 and 7:30), it is acceptable, and in fact encouraged, for cars to utilize the front parking lots, or even the road that leads right up to the front of the school. At that point we want to get students into the building as quickly as possible--cars can, of course, still proceed toward the drop off spot on the side of the building-- we just want to do what we can to prevent a long line from building up. One more tip-- if you are approaching Madison from the south, you can turn into our first entrance (instead of going all of the way up to where the crossing guard is). You can also use that access point on your way out, in order to more easily take a left turn back onto Madison Ave.

Please note: our Madison Girls Basketball will face rival Hillcrest Middle School in the Madison Gym at 3:30PM on Tuesday, January 7th. Because there are no after school clubs on Tuesdays, students who wish to attend the game must come back at 3:30-- students cannot just wait in the building from 2:30-3:30--there is a faculty meeting for teachers and there would be no supervision.We would love for you to cheer on our Panthers but all fans must return back to school at gametime as there are no additional afterschool activities.

Clubs & Activities:

Dungeons & Dragons Club will meet in the Learning Commons on Monday, January 6th.

Science Club meets Monday, January 13th and 27th this month! Get ready to build Marshmallow Towers!

Read & Roar Book Club will meet Friday, January 10th during lunch.

Do you love writing stories and poems? Are you an illustrator or an artist? Join the Madison Literary Magazine Club to help create a magazine that will be shared on our school’s website. We will meet every two weeks in Room 106, and our first meeting is Wednesday, January 8th. Make an amazing, creative magazine that shows off the work of talented writers and artists at Madison.

Reminders:

Attention 8th Grade NJHS Members: There will be a mandatory meeting after school on Thursday, January 9th, from 2:30 - 3:20 PM in the cafeteria. Attendance will be taken.

Attention 8th Graders: Please ensure that your parent or guardian has submitted your baby photo for this year’s yearbook. *Deadline is January 27th.*

Upcoming events:

The THS Dance Team is sponsoring a hip-hop dance clinic on January 11th from 6:00-7:00 PM. See your grade level Google Classroom for information on how to sign up.

Effective School Solutions will be hosting a virtual parent workshop “Understanding School Avoidance for Parents and Families” on January 15th from 6pm-7pm. Please see this flyer for more information.

Save the date! The annual Crosstown Showdown will be on Saturday, January 25th at Trumbull High. The boys tip off at 3:00 followed by the girls at approximately 4:30. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased online using this link.

You will see from our photos this week that we are guiding our students to do some reflection, so that they can formulate some appropriate "resolutions" for the remainder of the school year. In one picture you can see how Ms. Mancini's students expressed some of their wishes for the new year, to include what they would like to read, and what they would like to learn. The "final (big) photo" this week highlights Mrs. Marini's "One Word" proect with her students. IT focuses students on one word rather than numerous goals or resolutions for the New Year. The students originally chose 5 characteristics that they would like to improve on in the upcoming year, eventually winnowing them down to the single goal/ a single word. On the back of the card, the students explained why they chose that word and wrote about what they can do to "achieve" that word/ goal. What one word might best capture your own resolution(s) for the upcomng year ? I will end here, and let you ponder that...

Have a great weekend !!

Take care,

Peter Sullivan