MTA Families,

If you have not heard, all Madison middle schools were awarded School Safety Officers (SSOs) through the School Safety Program. The SSO will be visible on the MTA campus from 7:30 to 3:30. Here is a short description of what an SSO brings to a school.

• School Safety Officer (SSO):

• Role: An off-duty police officer or security personnel working at schools, particularly those without SROs.

• Training: May have less extensive training than SROs, potentially receiving a shorter overview or specialized training.

• Responsibilities: Focuses on school safety, working with school personnel to conduct site assessments, and may assist with law enforcement duties as needed.

• Funding: SSOs are often funded through the state's School Safety Grant.

• Approach: SSOs are sometimes seen as more approachable than SROs, aiming to build positive relationships with students.

The grant funding for the SSO will last through the 2025-2026 school year. The SSO should start this Monday, March 24, or March 31. The SSO will be in their official and complete uniform, which they would have while on regular duty with the Phoenix Police.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

• No volunteers on campus during state testing dates(see dates below)
• If your student(s) will not be attending 25-26 school year email us at mtaoffice@madisoned.org

Bathrooms throughout the campus are for students only. The adult visitor bathroom is in the front office.

Kindly reminder to ALWAYS be prepared to show photo ID to sign your child out of school early and to volunteer on campus. We are fortunate to have wonderful subs who help when we are short-handed in the front office but they will not recognize you and CANNOT send a child home with you or allow you onto campus without following this mandatory district-wide safety procedure.

If your student is currently an MTA student, there is no need to submit a new open enrollment interest form. Current MTA student's automatically rollover.

For records request and 8th grade high school records email District Office at Records@madisoned.org

We’re excited to let you know that we’ve added new books to our library. To keep you in the loop, we’ll be listing these titles on our website for the next sixty (60) days. The review period will start on Monday, March 17, 2025 and end on Friday, May 16, 2025.

If you have any questions or need more information, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We appreciate your involvement and support!

https://www.madisonaz.org/families/family-resources/district-resources/parentguardian-access-to-library-collections

Steps to Locate New Book Lists

Step 1- Log onto madisonaz.org

Step 2- Click on Families and then Family Resources

Step 3- Click on Library Resources

Step 4- Click on Parent Access to Library materials

Step 4- Select the school

The Shamrock Shuffle Dance will be Friday, March 28th from 6-7:30pm in the cafeteria. This is a semi-formal dance. Cost will be $5. Permission slips with rules will go home on Monday, March 24th. They must attend the school day from 8 am-1:45 pm minimum to participate in the dance and have no behavior issues that week. Please read it with your child so they understand the expectations. We need 8 parent chaperones of 7th/8th grade families. We are asking parents to be at school at 5:30 pm to help with setting up the cafeteria (moving the tables) and stay after, til 8 pm to help reset the cafeteria for Monday. You will be getting volunteer hours for all this. When emailing, please email both Mrs. Buskirk abuskirk1@madisoned.org and Miss DiPede cdipede@madisoned.org. We need your legal name in Raptor, your child's legal name and their homeroom teacher. Thank you for your support!

MARCH

• 3/24 Guild Meeting (Cafeteria 6:30pm)
• 3/24 Site Council Meeting
• 3/26 Top Chef Competition (Madison #1 Cafeteria 4:30-5:30pm)
• 3/28 7/8th Grade Shamrock Shuffle (Cafeteria 6:00-7:30pm)
• STATE TESTING (see dates below)

2025 State Testing Dates: In Spring, we will administer the Arizona Academics Standards Assessment (AASA) for 3rd-8th graders and Arizona's Science Test (AzSci) for 5th and 8th graders. For test security purposes, there will be no volunteers on campus during the day, which will be in effect for all grades and includes volunteers during lunch. The only volunteers will be during the morning before school, and they must be off campus by 8 a.m. Please save the following dates below:

If you have questions about AASA or AzSci testing, please contact Assistant Principal Shannon Smith.

If you know your child will be absent on any of these dates, please email your child’s teacher.

Yearbooks and Happy Hoots!

It's time to order a yearbook for the 2024-2025 school year to guarantee your memories! They are only $22 (including the service fee)! All sales will be online this year to pre-order your memories. This year’s yearbook will include 96 color pages filled with school portraits (Pre-K through 8th), team photos, club photos, different school events, Happy Hoots and pages for autographs. Do you want to send a special message in the yearbook for your student? It's only $5 extra per Happy Hoot (click on the ad and follow the directions).

Please go to buytheyearbook.com to order your yearbook and buy a Happy Hoot to be included. All ONLINE yearbook and happy hoots orders will close MARCH 14th, 2025. (In person cash sales will be available in May if you miss the online deadline for $25 - first come, first served.)

Email rwehrenberg@madisoned.org for questions.

PARENT RESOURCES/ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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All students must have AIA physicals uploaded into Aktivate to tryout. Directions in link.

https://aktivate.helpscoutdocs.com/article/38-how-do-i-begin-a-registration-for-a-sport

*Aktivate registration needs to be completed and AIA Physical needs to be uploaded to tryout and participate and make sure your athletic fee is paid.

All games imformation can be found on the MTA Athletics website. If you need to pay an athletic fee per sport, see below “STUDENT FEE (S)” for directions. Athletic fees are $100 for each sport. If a tax credit donation was made and you would like to apply part or all of the donation towards $100.00 athletic and or $50.00 activity fee, email us mtaoffice@madisoned.org and provide a copy of your receipt. You can also drop off a copy at the office.

We are absolutely thrilled to announce The Madison Performing Arts Summer Camp, presented by Britestar Touring Theater!

• Mark your calendar: June 9th - June 13th
• Who can join?: Students aged 8-14
• Registration Starts: March 17th
• Registration Fee: $165 (Includes lunch)

Join our Production Theatre Camp at The Madison Center for the Arts, where young stars will experience the thrill of bringing a full-scale show to life!

Under the expert guidance of our professional team, campers will hone their skills in acting, singing, and stagecraft. We'll provide everything from scripts to costumes, ensuring a spectacular performance on the final day of camp.

You do not want your students to miss out on this experience!

If you have any questions need additional information, please feel free to reach out to Theodore Guillot at tguillot@madisoned.org

Thank you for your support in making this summer an unforgettable experience for your young performers!

Hello, amazing MTA families!

Our MTA students are showing incredible behavior, reflected in the tickets collected at the OWL Store. We collected a total of 5229 tickets at our January store -- incredible! If you'd like to support our OWL Store, we are appreciative of donations including:

• Chips (especially spicy chips!) and other snacks




• Small ticket items (e.g., slap bracelets, keychains, erasers, etc.)




• Tiny toys and items that can fit in our gumball machine

We have updated our Amazon wishlist (find it here: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/UZ69GPQQ7ZOM...) to reflect some of the things that have been very popular and have sold out recently. We are also getting creative by raffling off some big-ticket items and have experiences that students can use their tickets for, like "Lunch with a Friend" or song requests at lunch!

We want to thank all the families that have supported the Owl Store by donating and volunteering this year. We could not do it without you!

-- The OWL Store Team

MTA Teachers Tutor List

ADE https://www.azed.gov/achievement-tutoring

If a tax credit donation was made and you would like to apply part or all of the donation towards $100.00 athletic and or $50.00 activity fee, email us mtaoffice@madisoned.org and provide a copy of your receipt. You can also drop off a copy at the office.

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 https://www.madisonaz.org/families/family-resources/pay-a-fee and not the PowerSchool Parent Student Portal, MTA does not receive receipts for our parents who have paid online. If a tax credit donation was made and you would like to apply part or all of the doantion towards $100.00 athletic and or $50.00 activity fee, email us mtaoffice@madisoned.org and provide a copy of your receipt. You can also drop off a copy at the office.

End of Quarter 4 is May 23rd 2025

• Volunteer requirement is a minimum twenty (20) hours per family during the school year.
• Each family must complete at least five (5) volunteer hours per quarter
• Both legal guardians are required to have a registered RAPTOR account.
• Only parents/guardians/grandparents can volunteer.
• The process for legal guardians (including step parents, grandparents) process can take 1-2 weeks to complete. They MUST go through a secondary background check and need to get their fingerprints taken.
• Hours do not roll over to the following quarter.
• It is the Volunteer's responsibility to track their hours in Raptor and to seek volunteer opportunities.
• 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.
• Off campus volunteering requires that the Teacher, MTA staff or Committee Chairs, identifies a job and a predetermined amount of time to correspond with that job. Teachers, MTA staff, Committee, Chairs, are responsible for electronically submitting your hours for off campus work and when you volunteer at an event.

• For volunteer application questions contact us at volunteers@madisoned.org
• For volunteering opportunities or missing hours contact the Guild at mtaguildboard@gmail.com The Guild manages all volunteer opportunities and keeps track of all volunteer hours. https://www.mtaguild.org/
• 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 volunteers@madisoned.org or call 602-664-7580

BREAKFAST & LUNCH SignUp

In order for you to volunteer for breakfast and lunch you must SignUp. If you have not signed up you will not be able to volunteer. To avoid volunteers overlapping, please DO NOT CLOCK IN before your SCHEDULED TIME.

https://signup.com/mobileweb/2.0/vspot.html?groupkey=88318611804#group_page

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 602-664-7580 or volunteers@madisoned.org

ABSENT : Call the 24-hour attendance line at 602-745-4021.

All absences must be timely reported to the attendance line, even if you have notified your student’s teacher.

If your student will be absent multiple days, please leave ONE voicemail with the range of dates.

TARDY : Students who arrive late must be signed in at the front office by a parent or caregiver and receive a tardy pass before they are allowed into the classroom.

A student is tardy if they are not in their classroom at 8:00 AM.

REMINDER: MTA is a school of choice. To maintain open enrollment, students are expected to attend a minimum of 90% of the school days for the full-time school is in session. 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) is classified as excessive by the state. Regardless of the reason, excessive absences or tardies may result in the loss of open enrollment at MTA.

TIPS TO SAFEGUARD YOUR OPEN ENROLLMENT:

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

• Schedule trips and appointments outside of school hours.

• Have your student 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