Weekly Update

Dear Masconomet Middle School Families,

As we approach the midpoint of the school year, I want the acknowledge the positive school environment that has developed this year as the teams and classes have come together. Overall, the school year has progressed very well, and students are working hard. They have participated in many great activities from the Washington trip to "A Christmas Carol" musical and many others. Students have completed outstanding projects, learned new content and developed deeper academic skills as middle schoolers. I look forward to continuing with the positive momentum!

Please see below for this week's updates.

Upcoming Dates

January 14 - Winter Band & Chorus Concert, 6:00 p.m./Auditorium

Monday, January 20 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, School Closed

Tuesday, January 21 - Trimester 2 Mid-Point

Friday, January 24 - Principal's Coffee

Monday, January 27 - Staff Work Day, School Closed for Students

January 31 - MS Musical, 7:00 p.m./Auditorium

February 1- MS Musical. 2:00 p.m., Auditorium

Math Team

The Middle School Math Team had another 1 - 2 finish in yesterday’s math meet. They had the high scores in every round and a dominant team round to end the meet. Additional congratulations to the 11 students with the hard-to-achieve perfect scores: 8th graders Emerson Kilmer, Lidia Alberta, Jackson Yespy, Karthik Nargund, Aanvi Bhargava, Maniya Kari, Evan Kohr, Paul Sullivan, Damien Townes, Teagan Miyazaki, and 7th grader Sanya Patel. Congratulations!

Principal's Coffee

Please mark your calendars and join us on Friday, January 24th to chat with the Superintendent and Principal. We hope that these sessions are a way for you to learn more about what is happening within the Masco community while also allowing you to ask questions. Please check in at the main office when you arrive. We look forward to seeing you!

Note from the Nurse's Office

If you have not already done so, please provide medical documentation ensuring that your child has met all the immunization requirements for entry into seventh grade. The deadline for submission is Tuesday January 21st. Refer to the attachment below for a complete list of Massachusetts School Immunization Requirements. Please note that the elementary school nurses forwarded all student health records to the Masconomet Health Office at the end of sixth grade. If you have further questions, contact the school nurse at Ext. 20031.

MS Musical

The MS musical, Drowsey Chaperone, Jr., is fast approaching. To purchase tickets, please click on this link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hvQiMeK24ZgjPv7Wkw0ii6yheg8mNikR0KUOM3PG668/edit?usp=sharing

Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical High School Interviews

The counselors will hold an interview preparation session on January 13th during M Block for all students who have applied to Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical High School. Interview dates have been scheduled for February 5th and February 6th and will take place during the school day at Masconomet. Students will be given their scheduled date and time as soon as it is available. Essex Tech will be emailing all applicants the interview questions - please be on the lookout.

Parking and Handicap Spots

Please note that campus handicap spots are meant for those parents and caregivers picking up students with disabilities, including those with injuries such as a broken leg. They should not be used by folks with a handicap placard to park to pick up able bodied students. Thank you for your cooperation.

School Quality Measures Survey

Beginning January 6, 2025, the Masconomet Regional School District will be conducting a series of surveys to help us better understand the experiences of students, parents and faculty in our schools. We will be sending a survey link to all Masconomet parents through the email address they have provided to the district on Monday, January 6th. If you do not receive an email containing the survey link, please check your SPAM folder before contacting your child’s school. The survey is open now and will close on Monday, January 20th.

The School Quality Measures (SQM) survey itself will take 15-20 minutes to complete. If you have students in multiple schools, it would be greatly appreciated if you could complete multiple surveys as they are specific to each school. The survey will not collect personal information. All responses will be anonymous.

The SQM Surveys will be administered through the Education Commonwealth Project (ECP), an organization based at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst dedicated to assisting Massachusetts school districts gain a better understanding of their strengths and areas for improvement.

The School Quality Measures (SQM) Framework seeks to create a comprehensive picture of the effectiveness of a school. Rather than focusing solely on achievement test scores, the SQM Framework evaluates a school’s effectiveness in the areas of “Teachers and Leadership,” “School Culture,” “Resources,” “Academic Learning,” and “Community and Wellbeing” through collecting school-reported data from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and through surveys of school stakeholders. The result of this data collection is the creation of a SQM Dashboard that offers a more “dynamic picture of school quality and student learning than a single standardized test.” For more information on the SQM Dashboard, please visit: https://www.edcommonwealth.org/school-quality-measures

Thanks in advance for taking the time to complete the survey. We will use the SQM Dashboard to guide our school improvement efforts. Creation of an SQM Dashboard for Masconomet is a component of the Masconomet Strategic Plan, 2023-2028.

Tri-Town Council Update

Please click here for this week's update!

Library Update

Please click here for this week's MS Library Update!

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Philip B. McManus, Ed.D.

Principal

Our mission is to prepare all students with the skills, knowledge, and competencies essential to becoming lifelong learners, responsible problem solvers, and contributing citizens by providing challenging and compassionate learning experiences that cultivate teamwork, community, respect, innovation, perseverance and critical thinking.

Email: pmcmanus@masconomet.org
Website: masconomet.org/ms
Location: 20 Endicott Road, Boxford, MA, 01921
Phone: 978-887-2323