January Events

• Wednesday, January 1 No School ~ New Year's Day
• Monday, January 6 Merrymount Extended Day Begins
• Wednesday, January 8 QPS School Committee 6:30PM
• Monday, January 13 Merrymount PTO 6:00PM Merrymount Media Center/QPS Citywide PTO Meeting 7PM
• Monday, January 20 No School ~ Martin Luther King Jr Birthday Observed
• Tuesday, January 21 (*was previously scheduled for January 14th) QPS Parent Academy: Supporting Literacy Development Gr 3-8/RMK Food Drive Begins
• Wednesday, January 22 Lunar New Year Celebration at MMT/QPS School Committee 6:30PM
• Wednesday, January 29 Kindergarten Lunar New Year Parade at MMT

January Days of Recognition

• Wednesday, January 1 New Year's Day ~ No School
• Wednesday, January 1 Kwanzaa Ends
• Thursday, January 2 Hanukkah Ends
• Monday, January 6 Three Kings Day
• Monday, January 20 Martin Luther King Jr Birthday Observed ~ No School
• Wednesday, January 29 Lunar New Year

QPS 24-25 Calendar www.quincypublicschools.com

• To help with the flow of traffic during drop off, please help by pulling over to to the curb to drop your student off on on Agawam Road. For the safety of your student, please do not stop in the middle of the street and block the flow of traffic.
• During pick up, please be mindful when parking on side streets near the school, especially on the corners of Virginia and Agawam Road as well as Virginia Road and Shore Avenue. The buses need clearance to turn and exit the neighborhood safely. Please avoid parking opposite from other cars on our side streets. It restricts passage for emergency vehicles.
• Please use cross walks to keep yourself and your student safe as you cross the street.

• Please obey all traffic and parking regulations.
• Please be patient and courteous of all other pedestrians, cars and our crossing guard.
• Students in Grades 4&5 that have parental permission to walk home should go directly home and check in with family member for safety.

Children who will be 5 years of age on or before August 31, 2025 are eligible to attend Kindergarten beginning in September 2025. Quincy Public Schools offers free full-day Kindergarten for all students.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I Have a Dream

Wah Lum Kung Fu & Thai Chi Academy performed for Merrymount Students on Wednesday, January 22nd to celebrate Lunar New Year ~ it was fabulous! Thank you to our PTO for making this happen.

RMK with Grade 5

Winter Concert 2024

December PBIS recipients ~ Celebrating Gratitude!

Raising Multicultural Kids will be working with several grade levels throughout the month of January. The book, Jose Feeds the World will be used for book discussions with 3rd and 4th grades, A Kids Book About Racism with 5th grade and Mixed Me with 1st grade.

Grades 3 and 4 will be sponsoring a food drive to a local food bank ~ see more information below.

Quincy Public Schools students will complete the following benchmark assessments during the indicated windows:

• mCLASS Amplify Literacy Screener: K-3 January 2-31
• MAP Growth Reading & Mathematics: Grades 2-5 January 2-31
• MAP Growth Science: Grades 4-5 January 2-31

This data is collected to monitor student growth throughout the school year. Please note, according to the Massachusetts Department of Education, if screenings determine that a student is significantly below relevant benchmarks for age-typical development in specific literacy skills, the school will inform the student's parent or guardian of the screening results and will determine which actions within the general education program will meet the student's needs. Winter benchmark assessments will be sent home to families to share student progress for Fall to Winter.

ACCESS for ELLs

Federal and state laws require that English learner (EL) students be assessed annually to measure their proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking English, as well as the progress they are making in learning English. In fulfillment of these laws, EL students are required to participate in ACCESS for ELLs tests. ACCESS for ELLs tests are administered annually in January-February. Beechwood Knoll student testing schedule is as following:

• Demo and practice tests are scheduled during students normally scheduled EL classes
• Testing for Grades 1-5 will be scheduled from TBA
• One-on-one Kindergarten tests will begin at the conclusion of Grades 1-5 through TBA

For more information, visit https://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/access/default.html

PTO Meeting Schedule

• Monday, September 23

• Monday, January 13

• Monday, June 2 (Year End Meeting)

Year Round Activities: Grade Parent; Outdoor Classroom clean-up

September: Back to school ice cream truck and Kindergarten Night

October: Trunk or Treat

November: Fun Run

December: Holiday gifts for staff

January: Bingo Night

February: Trivia Night

March: Read Across America

April: Stock the Faculty Room

May: Cleaner Greener

June: Red Sox Game

… and many more!

• PTO Website link
• PTO Facebook Page: Merrymount School PTO
• PTO Email: merrymountpto@gmail.com
• School Council Email: merrymountschoolcouncil@gmail.com
  
• Citywide PTO link

Welcome to Quincy's Citywide PTO website!

We hope to be a resource for all families navigating the Quincy Public School System.

Reminder: All parents/guardians who wish to volunteer or chaperone at school activities that include the potential for unmonitored contact with a student other than their child are required to complete SAFIS, CORI, and SORI checks prior to volunteering in the Quincy Public Schools.

We sent notifications home to family members listed as the first contact in ASPEN the last week of October. Please update and return to school. If another family member in ASPEN needs to update a CORI (anyone who had one done prior to April of 2024) or if you have any questions about your status, please reach out to Ms. Scott.

Examples of activities that require SAFIS/CORI/SORI checks include but are not limited to: Volunteering at school book fairs

Chaperoning field trips

Volunteering at field day activities

Volunteering at school end-of-the-year activities

Chaperoning movie nights

Volunteers should assume any activity involving students will require a background check.

Merrymount as well as QPS school officials use the SchoolMessenger system to deliver a single, clear message to parents or guardians by telephone, cell phone, email, or text message in any combination. SchoolMessenger can also be used to notify you of a school closing due to inclement weather and to communicate daily information, such as sports schedules, newsletters, attendance notifications, and other announcements.

The system is set up to automatically pull your contact information from what we have in our Student Information System (Aspen) and carry it over into SchoolMessenger. Please contact your school building office to update your contact information or confirm you are receiving SchoolMessenger communications.

If you have not been receiving district text messages, you may opt-in by texting "Y" or "Yes" to our school's short code number: 67587. This is a FREE service and you may opt-out at any time by replying to one of our messages with "Stop."

Do you need additional help with your Aspen Account or your Aspen Password Reset?

Please contact your child's school directly to have Aspen Password Reset first.

If they can't assist you, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/2UsHEicRmhgpVany6

QPS I.T. will reach out to you once your request is complete.

You may also send an email to: aspensupport@quincypublicschools.com

Principal: Susan Shea Connor susansheaconnor@quincypublicschools.com
Assistant Principal: John Rogan johnrogan@quincypublicschools.com
Secretary: Stacy Scott stacyscott@quincypublicschools.com
Guidance Counselors: Mairead Bastian maireadbastian@quincypublicschools.com and Marissa McGue marissamcgue@quincypublicschools.com
Nurse: Mollie Ehrlich 617-984-8925 mollieehrlich@quincypublicschools.com

School Hours

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday - 7:45 AM - 2:00 PM

Wednesday - Early Release 7:45 AM - 11:25 AM

Address

4 Agawam Road

Quincy, MA 02169

Telephone: 617-984-8762

Fax: 617-984-8909

Website

https://merrymount.quincypublicschools.com/