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Hello MTA Families,

We have had an excellent start to the new school year at MTA, and this success is mainly due to the unwavering support of our MTA families. Teachers welcomed the students back from summer vacation and were excited to help all of them learn.

I want to thank everyone who attended the Meet and Greet last Thursday night. Your presence made it a memorable and successful event, and it was terrific to have MTA families back on campus.

Here are a few reminders to start the year.

• As always, the safety and well-being of our students are our top priorities. Unless your child is in MAC or attending a school-sponsored activity, such as the Student Council or National Junior Honor Society, students are not allowed on campus before 7:30 a.m., when school supervision begins.

• Dress Code - 24-25 MTA Dress Code

• Please respect the private property of the residents around MTA. This week, I received a few calls from residents about our parents parking on private property, dropping off students in the middle of the street, and parking in no parking spots on Maryland Ave.

With the new school year underway, I am filled with anticipation for the wonderful learning experiences and achievements that lie ahead. Welcome back, and here's to another great year at MTA!

Sincerely,

Chris Merrill

Principal

MTA…Where learning never stops!

MTA families,

It has come to our attention that many volunteer applications have expired. If you are receiving this email, you had an active account last year and you need to renew your application. You do this by responding to the email that was sent to you by Raptor, with your name and the name of the student you are volunteering for and we will reactivate your account. You do NOT need to reapply through Raptor. If you have already reapplied the new application will be deleted and the old one reactivated.

If you have any questions regarding your volunteering account please contact us at volunteers@madisonedorg.

August

• 8/12 Band Rental Night (Music room) 5:30-6:30pm)
  
• 8/19 GUILD meeting (Cafeteria) 6:30pm
• 8/27 Accelerated Reading NIGHT -AR ( Library) 6:00pm

Sports News

• Please be on the lookout for dates and times for fall sports tryouts that will be held on the 3rd week of August.

• All registration, physicals and waivers will be found, completed and uploaded online through Aktivate. Please see below for the links to register your scholar athletes.

• Students are not able to try out for a fall sport without the current 2024 AIA Physical completed.

Looking forward to a great season…Let’s go Owls!

If you do not already have an account

1. Go to aktivate.com

2. Click Login

3. Then click Create Account

4. Fill out all of the information

5. Click Submit when finished.

Your account is now created, you will need to complete a registration for your athletes next. After you have completed this step, move on to the next section.

MTA Athletics website: https://sites.google.com/madisoned.org/mta-athletics/registration

Cross Country “2024"

Attention MTA Students and Parents:

Mr. Holcomb will be coaching Cross Country this year. Any 5th - 8th

Boys or Girls who would like to run Cross Country will need to sign up

on the aktivate.com website. All Students who sign up for Cross

country will make the team. Cross Country does Not have any

try-outs and there are “No Cuts.” Please register and fill out all

Paperwork on aktivate.com As Soon As Possible.

Cross Country practices will be held at MTA (on the Fields and in

the Gym) and at Royal Palm Park, which is located at 8405 North

15th Avenue. Phoenix, 85021. The 1st & 2nd practices are being

held at MTA on Friday August 16th and on Friday August 23rd

from 3:10 - 4:15. Students should meet in the MTA GYM. All of

the cross country meets will be held on Tuesdays and most

practices will be held on Royal Palm Park on Tuesday and

Thursdays. A schedule of Practice Dates and Meets will be

posted on the “MTA Athletics 2024-25” Website and handed out

at Cross Country practices. Please contact Coach Holcomb by

email if you have any questions.

Thank You Bryant Holcomb bholcomb2@madisoned.org

We have an Amazon wishlist full of items that have been requested by students or have been very popular at previous stores. You can see the list and send Amazon items directly to the school using the following link on the above button

We would also like to express our gratitude for the generous donations that have already been received at MTA. If you have any extra gift bag or holiday goodies, gently used stuffed animals or Squishmallows that your student no longer needs (tags are not necessary), or gently used books that your child has outgrown, we would gladly accept them. Additionally, snacks and beverages are very popular among our older students, and any donations of these items (excluding candy and soda) would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your continued support!

-- The OWL Store Team

• All parents/guardians must be sign up in Raptor before volunteering is approved and given credit for volunteering hours. Please do not sign up for any volunteer opportunities until you receive notification that your volunteer application has been approved. If you have not been approved, you will not be allowed to volunteer nor will you be credited for hours. You will get two emails, "application submitted", and "application approved". Make sure to have a copy of your driver's license ready to upload. The name on the application must be exactly as the name on your driver's license. For step #4, make sure to check all volunteering functions.
• If grandparents are volunteering on behalf of the family, the grandparent, parents or guardians MUST also be signed up in Raptor.
• MTA's volunteer requirement is a minimum of 20 hours per family per school year. Hours are prorated for families whoes child start date is after August. It is the Volunteer's responsibility to track their hours and to seek volunteer opportunities.

• The Guild manages all volunteer opportunities and keeps track of all volunteer hours.

• Teachers, MTA staff, Committee, Chairs, are responsible for electronically submitting your hours for off campus work and when you volunteer at an event.

• Off campus work is always pre-assigned. The teacher, MTA staff or Committee Chairs, identifies a job and a predetermined amount of time to correspond with that job.

If you feel that there is an error in the calculations of your volunteer hours, please contact the person who arranged the volunteering job with you or MTA’s parent organization, The Guild, at mtaguildboard@gmail.com.

If you are having trouble logging in your Raptor account or or signing in at the front office Kiosk, contact Liz Hernandez at the District office at lhernandez@madisoned.org, 602-664-7959.

The Raptor link below is NOT where you can sign up for volunteering opportunities, this is for signing up in Raptor.

• Make sure you log into the MADISON volunteer portal. If you just google it, it won't be the right page. The Madison portal will have our logo, not the Raptor logo on it. The link to this page is also on the District website under volunteers.
• Raptor will not let the same computer log into 2 accounts at the same time. This happens when you have both parents trying to check their hours right after one another.

Complete the application INCLUDING uploading a photo ID that indicates name and DOB.

***!!! Name MUST match EXACTLY what is on the ID or the application will be denied!!**

Once approved, you will receive an email with a link to create a password to the volunteer portal.

Questions? Contact community Education at 602-664-7956 or ceinfo@madisoned.org

Tax Credit Donations: It’s a win-win situation! Tax credit donations are 100% deductible to you, and the school can use your tax credit donations to fund such things as field trips, assemblies, athletic equipment (including uniforms), athletic fees, and student transportation to and from events.

You may submit up to $200.00 for an individual or $400.00 per family. You do not have to have a child attending the school, so let your relatives and friends know about this excellent opportunity. You may also want to check with your employer to see if they will match your donation. Forms and further information is available on the Madison School District website.

Please note: When donatiions are made via the Madison website and not the PowerSchool Parent Student Portal, MTA does not receive receipts for our parents who have paid online, so if you choose (or already have chosen) to donate online, please remember to furnish a copy of the receipt to Monica Ayala at mtaoffice@madisoned.org or you can drop off a copy in the office so we can credit you for the $50.00 per child activity fee that the Madison School District requests to cover school day activities (for example, grade level in-state field trips).

OPTION #1 (STRONGLY ENCOURAGED)

https://msd38.powerschool.com/public/

To pay activity fee $50.00 or athletic fee $100.00

Scroll to

1. Purchases & Payments -tab

2. Select student

3. Click on tab "Items At Student's School"

4. Select payment button

5. Click on blue buy button

6. If you do not see a fee to pay, contact the MTA office.

7. To view payment history, unpaid fees, to print receipts click on the appropriate tabs (see picture below)

To pay a specific $ amount and not the $50 or $100 amount

Scroll to

1. Purchases & Payments -tab

2. Select student

3. Click on Pay Fines/Fees

4. Check the Pay box, and click Pay Selected Fines/Fees (the $50 dollar activity fee can be changed to reflect the $ amount you want to pay. You can erase the $50 dollar and add the desired amount to pay).

Print your receipt for your records. Office does not need payments receipts made on PowerSchool.

OPTION #2 ONLY IF:

You are unable to access the PowerSchool Student & Parent Portall, follow these steps. (Payments made here do not link to student)

Madison School District web page

https://www.madisonaz.org/domain/46

1. Under the "Family" tab choose "pay a fee"

2. Scroll down to: School Activity Fee, Athletic Fee, Student Club Fee

3. Choose School-MTA

4. Item-Tax credit Donation

5. Memo-"John Smith, Boys Varsity Baseball"

6. Enter the amount and click "Donate"

7. Check out-Print 2 copies, one for your records and one for the MTA office. Email copy to Mtaoffice@madisoned.org

If you are requiring records for High School Enrollment, please email the District Office at Records@madisoned.org

MTA is a School of Choice.

Part of your signed Family Commitment Form to attend MTA is to abide by the attendance expectations set by the State of Arizona to maintain your open enrollment.

What does that mean?
Students are expected to attend a minimum of 90% of the school days for the full time school is in session. If your student has any combination of tardies, absences, half-day absences, or early sign outs that add up to more than 10% of the current total of school days (over 4 per quarter), the state considers that to be excessive. Regardless of the reason, extreme absenteeism or tardiness may result in the loss of open enrollment at MTA.

Procedures for reporting absences and tardies:
Absences: Must be reported to the 24-hour attendance line at 602-745-4021 (even if the teacher has been informed). Failure to do so will result in an unexcused absence and will count as a truancy as defined by law.

Tardies: Late students must be signed into the front office by a parent or caregiver and receive a late pass before they are allowed into the classroom.

Child missing multiple days?
If your student is missing multiple days due to a planned vacation or contagious illness (for example), please leave ONE voicemail for the range of dates your student will be absent.

How can you be proactive?

Kids get sick and some absences are unavoidable. The best way to safeguard your open enrollment is to:

• Timely report absences to the 24-hour attendance line. (602-745-4021)

• Schedule trips and appointments outside of school hours.

• Have your child to school ON TIME, every day!

We have a process for parents dropping off items. Below are the Instructions which are also posted in the front office on the black bookshelf.

1. Label the item

Write your student's first and last name on a post-it note and attach to the item.

2. Leave item on the black shelves

If your student was not able to get the item during the school day, please ask them to pick it up promptly after school or before class the following day.

3. Email the Teacher(s)

For 5th -8th, email all teachers in your student's grade, in the subject line, please type: ITEM IN OFFICE, in the email: Child's name and item(s) you dropped off. Below is the QR code link for all Teacher's email addresses. If you email from home, please make sure to include the "time", you will be dropping off the item.

Email: mtaoffice@madisoned.org
Website: https://www.madisonaz.org
Location: 925 East Maryland Avenue, Phoenix, AZ, USA
Phone: 602-745-4000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mtaguild