Student & Family Update

Welcome to the last newsletter of the school year! We will start up again in August.

• Last Saturday MTEA participated in the Franklin County Pride March in Greenfield. MAA also held its annual Spring Fling Sports and Community Extravaganza!
• Today we held our Civic Action Project morning and Field Day activities - see photos below!

• Graded 9-12 schedules for the 2023-2024 school year have been distributed to students. All schedule changes must be made by June 22nd, the last day of school. There will be an add/drop period for academic level changes at the start of each semester.

• Grade 11 care providers, we want your feedback on our pilot Student-led-conferences held this week: feedback

Finals schedule for grades 7-11 on June 20, 21 & 22nd June:

• Tuesday June 20th - two hour delay: 9:45-2:20
• Wednesday June 21st - two hour delay: 9:45-2:20 (High School Students with parental permission may make arrangements to leave after the exam period)
• Thursday - June 22nd - early release: 7:45-11:30am (HS Students only have to come in if they have a final to make up. Teachers please provide the office with copies so we can arrange rooms, students and coverage)
• The schedule in detail can be found, here: Link

• HS: 1-2:30 on Weds 21st June
• MS: 8-10 am on Thursday 22nd June

Chrome book and charger must be handed in. If you are leaving the school and do not return your device and charger, you will be sent an invoice and your final transcript will be withheld until payment is made.

If you are in grades 7-11 and do not return either your device or charger, you will not be issued a new device next year. Additionally, your current device will be shut down remotely so you can't use it anyway!

• Please note, for those of you planning summer activities, the first day of school for 23/24 is Wednesday August 30th. This is a half day - 7:45-11:30am. The link to our full calendar can be found below in the Important dates and information, section.

• Finally, it is recruiting season at many of our schools. Please look at the Vacancies section of the newsletter (Community section) to see our current openings

Sadly, we say farewell to Caron Bromberg (see photo) after 23 years at MTRS - we wish her well with her next adventure. We are also sad to say goodbye to Mr. Charette, who has taken a teaching position at a district closer to his home, and Ms. Ritz, who has taken an administrative position in another school district. Thank you both for being such great teachers and colleagues and for the positive impact you have had on our students and community.

We also say goodbye and good luck to student teacher Ms. Griffin who leaves us to take up her first teaching position in Newton - you will be missed by students and staff alike!

Finally, we say farewell (again) to Interim Guidance Counselor, Jane Shaney. Thank you for stepping in to help us out this year.

Please read on to see what else has been happening at MTRS this week!

Enjoy your weekend

Best wishes

Chris

Upcoming dates

• June 19th - Juneteenth (no school)

• June 20th - Grade 8 Field Trip

• June 22nd - Last day of school for students (MS students are all expected in school. HS students only to attend if they have a final to take. No final - no need to come in!)

• August 20th - MAA Iron Bridge Dinner

• August 21-25 - Collect start of year registration packets from the front office

• August 30, 31, Sept 1 - Chromebook distribution for G8,9,10,11,12

Academic Calendar: Link (Please note that Q3 started on January 25th and subsequent dates have yet to be adjusted for snow days. Thanks for your understanding.)

District Calendar for 2023/24: Link (First day of school 23/24 - August 30th: 7:45-11:30am)

Please sign up for your designated shift for the Iron Bridge Dinner on 08/20/23. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year and will provide much needed funds to support Mohawk Trail Athletics.

Please type your name and which sports team and/or Grade Level you are representing under your preferred area for that day/time slot.

All participants will receive a gift certificate to Zoar Outdoors for their participation.

We are very excited about this day and can't wait to see you all there!

Organized by Ms Dadmun, Mr Minnick and Ms Rutz, the 8th Grade Policy Summit presentations were streamed live from the school library by Falls Cable earlier this week. Below are the links for each day. The recordings will be available until the end of the school year.

Tue: https://youtube.com/live/k72zbnLJCBc?feature=share

Wed: https://youtube.com/live/6JGGuj800o8?feature=share

Grade 10 were also involved a variety of Civic Action Projects this week.

Monday: As part of their Civic Action Project, Sophomores Avery J, Kristen S, and Mayzie W organized a furniture and clothing drive to help Jewish Family Service in Springfield meet the needs of 50 new Americans arriving as refugees in the next few weeks. The donations will be used immediately to furnish apartments. The students also held bake sales last week to buy nearly $300 in toiletries from the organization’s Amazon wishlist. The donations were delivered to the Springfield organization today by their teacher Catherine Glennon, her husband Tom, and community volunteer Patricia Donohue.

On Tuesday the Marine Science, Civics Action and Biology classes teamed up to clean-up Salisbury Beach State Park. After collecting over 200 pieces of trash, students sorted the debris and uploaded their findings into a global database to help scientists track marine pollution. There was also time for games on the beach and some brave swimming in the very cold ocean waters. Way to make a difference Mohawk!"

On Thursday our 10th grade Civic Action Project classes enjoyed a talk by local entrepreneur Kathryn Swanson, owner of Swanson's Fabrics and the Stash House in Turners Falls. Ms. Swanson's ethical approach to business and community - that no one loses, and no resources or people are exploited - was inspirational to learn about. And she brought gifts of fabric for the students! Check out her shop if you're in the area and want to learn a fiber craft or have materials to donate.

On Friday 10th grade students presented their Civic Action Projects to students in grades 9 and 11 - hoping to inspire and continue to provide students with examples of how Mohawk Trail continues to impact the community in a positive way.

On Thursday the Class of 2026 spent the day at Rowe Pond, enjoying the lake, sunshine, football, volleyball, class bonding and pizza! Due to the pandemic, this class was unable to attend Nature's Classroom and other field trip opportunities. With all of their efforts with remote learning, returning to in person schooling for their 8th grade year and emerging as leaders in the high school, this was something worth celebrating! Students had a blast. A highlight to end the school year with!

We are looking at getting your feedback on possible changes to the schedule for MTRS. We would like to have your input into what you think is working/ not working/ could be improved or added to our schedule.

This is your chance to let us know about anything to do with the schedule. As we are gathering initial feedback, anything really does mean anything and could include: Start times, course offerings, elective offerings, technology, outdoor learning, block schedules... Whatever you would like to comment on in relation to the schedule, we want to hear about it!

Thanks in advance for sharing your feedback.

Your feedback will help with our next steps in looking at possible schedule changes and we will keep students and families updated in the process.

Final grades for 23-24/Semester 2 are planned to be available on the afternoon of June 23rd via Aspen.

If a student has failed a course, and the failure is not due to truancy*, the student has the opportunity to take a credit recovery course this summer through Educere/EdTell Credit Recovery. The registration deadline for Educere Credit Recovery is July 1st. Classes are self-paced and must be completed within the following timeframes:

• Abbreviated/Credit Recovery Full Credit Equivalent courses must be completed August 15th.

• Abbreviated/Credit Recovery 1/2 and 1/4 Credit Equivalent courses must be completed within 30 days and by August 15th.

Educere/EdTell will contact you by email after you have registered to open the course. The cost of the course is paid for by the student/caregiver.

If this opportunity is of interest to you, details including registration and expectations, can be found at the link below:

Educere/EdTell Abbreviated/Credit Recovery:

https://sis.edtell.com/program/?pageID=10603.30177

Students who have failed courses due to truancy* will be scheduled to retake the course(s) in the 23-24 school year.

Students who failed courses not due to truancy*, and do not successfully complete credit recovery, will be scheduled to retake the course(s) in the 23-24 school year.

*student is absent for more than 10% of classes

Below you will find a survey assessing your experiences with special education in the Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont Regional School Districts. This survey is conducted annually. For those of you who have seen this form before, it has been updated in the attempt to simplify the complicated questions and be more clear.

Your feedback is important to us and helps us understand what we are doing well and areas we need to give more focus and attention. Please use the comments section to clarify any questions or comments or areas you feel may not be addressed in this survey.

Link

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 date for the first meeting of the next school year will be shared in late August.

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#‬

Outdoor Advisory Committee (OAC)

The OAC has become a sub-committee of the LEC and OAC issues and ideas will be discussed at the scheduled LEC meetings.

Please explore the OAC page on the website and have a look at the list of initial projects we gathered from surveying students, staff and community as well as OAC priorities created from this initial list.

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.

Second 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

Hello folks! Just a couple “end of the year” athletic notes!

Please remember that ALL UNIFORMS MUST BE PASSED IN BEFORE NEXT WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21! Any outstanding uniforms will be billed to the athlete at cost of replacement. Also, please make sure that ALL LOCKERS ARE CLEANED OUT BEFORE NEXT WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21 AS WELL! Any remaining items will be discarded. Thank you for your cooperation!

FALL SPORTS SIGNUP!!!!!

This coming fall Mohawk Trail will again be offering many great athletic options including…

-Football

-Field Hockey

-Cross Country

-Volleyball

-Soccer

Registration for all sports open on JULY 1st through our Family ID platform and can be found at

mtrs.mohawktrailschools.org/Athletics

Please reach out to District Athletic Director Greg Lilly at glillyAD@mtrsd.org with any questions.

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