Amesbury Public Schools Update

I know that it has been a while since I have shared a newsletter with you. As I am sure it is with you, each day is filled with so many things. This newsletter will include lots of pictures, celebrations, and recognitions as well as some key information for the end of the year.

At this week's School Committee meeting, the School Committee took a vote on whether or not to move grade 8 (the current 7th grade students) up to the high school for the upcoming school year. The vote resulted in a 1-6 decision that means that this change will not happen for the 24-25 school year. As you are aware, like most of our neighboring communities, we are experiencing challenges around sufficient funding for our schools. This is the result of many factors, including but not limited to, a broken funding formula at the state level and the significant increase in inflation and resulting costs. As a result of this reality, the School Committee formed a subcommittee of the School Committee, to explore options to plan for these challenges. One action from that subcommittee was to hire a consultant from the Abrahams Group LLC to explore what is and is not feasible in terms of rethinking the use of our current facilities. The subcommittee meets at the end of the next week to review the report and I anticipate that once the review is complete, the report will be shared with the public. You may also recall that the Mayor received an earmark to conduct a feasibility study about the potential reuse of Amesbury Elementary School. In short, we are taking a hard look at our facilities, resources and enrollment in order to best utilize them to benefit our students.

I sincerely appreciate your support of the Amesbury Public Schools and invite you to attend my next Superintendent's Coffee on Wednesday, June 5th from 6-7 pm in the Superintendent's Office at 5 Highland Street. I wanted to change up the time to see if it allows more people to attend. Hope to see you there.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth McAndrews

Superintendent

Beginning in the fall of 2024, the Amesbury Public Schools will begin using the new Individual Education Plan (IEP) forms required by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). We hope that you join us on Tuesday, May 28th at 6:00 pm in the Amesbury High School Library to learn more about the changes.

If you have any questions, or need additional information, please contact Julie Hartshorn at (978) 388-0531 or julie.hartshorn@amesburyma.org.

We are thrilled to announce that the work to install the new CES Playground began this week. The first task at hand was to clear the new location. If you drive up to the front of CES, you will be able to see where the playground will be situated. From start to finish, it is expected that the install will take approximately two weeks. We are very excited that our Cashman students will have the opportunity to play on the new equipment prior to the end of the school year! A huge thank you to the PTO for their generous donation to assist with the funding of the playground. We also would like to share that we were able to purchase equipment that could be relocated to another area should that become necessary in the near future. This investment will serve our children for many years to come!

One might ask, "What are we doing with the old one?". It is our plan to remove the old pieces of the playground and create an area for free play that we hope will include a basketball hoop, picnic tables, and a place to play other games. We will share more once we have firmed up the details.

Thank you to all who helped to make this happen! We could not have done it without you!

On Friday, April 26th, Amesbury High School students were treated to a whole school assembly recognizing the most recent inductees to AEFI's (Amesbury Educational Foundation, Inc.) Hall of Honor. At the ceremony, Dr. Stephen Schissel was introduced by AHS senior, Trevor Landry. Former AHS principal, Jerry Schrock was introduced by AHS senior Nick Bazirgan, and former AHS standout athlete and current Boston University softball coach, Ashley Waters, was introduced by AHS senior Calista Catarius.

The assembly was followed by a wonderful lunch for the inductees and their families at Restaurante Molise (sponsored by Ozzie and Kathy Morrill). Later that evening, inductees were again recognized and many of our staff members were awarded grants to support teaching, learning and life in our schools. As always, thank you to AEFI for their generosity and appreciation for our staff and students.

Congratulations to:

Lauren Long - Shay Music Teacher for "Music My Way" - $3800

Jen Slater - CES PE Teacher for "Net Sports for Cashman PE Program" - $1865

Erika Lynch and Liz Shorter - AHS Counselor and AHS Nurse for "The Weekender Project" - $6799

Jenn Hawrylciw, Maryrose Tingle, Becky Reese, and Alli Tanzella - Shay teachers for "Pathway to Learning - Building the Woodsom Walkers Bridge - for $13,850

Jean Brockmyre and Mark Casto - AHS Teachers for "AHS Senior Capstone - Expanded Initiative" for $5,000

Lauren Egan - CES Teacher - "WINing" with Morphology for $2650

Kristen Walsh - AHS teacher for "Linking the Classroom to Primary Sources" for $800 AND

Amy Mitchell and Clancey Paul - CES teacher and AMS teacher for "SEL through Project Adventure" for $7360

Thank you to AEFI for their continued support of our students and staff! We appreciate you!

On Wednesday, May 8th, I was joined at ECLC's Showcase of Learning, by four AMS teachers who graciously agreed to share the fruits of their learning from the UDL (Universal Design for Learning) training that they received this year through our partnership with ECLC (Essex County Learning Community) and PoP (Power of Place). Stacey Fijalkowski, Pat Foley, Rachel Kezer and Jenn Ghezzi shared their lessons, structures for lesson planning and learning from the past year. The Showcase of Learning was held at the Peabody Essex Museum and not only offered educators the opportunity to show off their learning, but to learn from one another. I am sincerely grateful to these four for taking the time to share their work and for continually doing the work!

In addition, we were treated to some inspiring words from the Secretary of Education, Pat Tutwiler, who, while he was the Superintendent of the Lynn Public Schools, was an active member of ECLC. Behind Dr. Tutwiler, you can see Dr. Jane Feinberg, founder and director of Power of Place.

Thank you to all who made it a fabulous evening!

We are thrilled to welcome Ms. Whitney Day who will be joining the AMS team as our new assistant principal beginning on July 1st. Whitney has 15 years of middle school experience, all at Rockport Middle/High School. We believe that she will be a valuable addition to the team of new principal Doug Nebel and current AMS assistant principal, Jessica Stryhalaleck. Stay tuned for opportunities to meet the team in the near future!

On Monday, May 20th, the Excellence in Education award luncheon and recognition ceremony was held. Individuals are nominated by colleagues and community members for their outstanding work in their respective areas. The Excellence in Education Committee reviews the nominations and recognizes the award winners at this event.

A huge congratulations to the following staff members:

Mark Rinaldi - AMS Math Teacher

Pat Foley - AMS Social Studies Teacher

Rachel Kezer - AMS Science Teacher

Wanda Ouellet - Central Office Special Education Administrative Assistant

Mo O'Mullane - AMS English Teacher

Ashley Osborn - AMS Math Teacher

Ashley Aprahamian - CES Paraprofessional

Jessica Ladd - CES Teacher

Elizabeth Peterson - CES Teacher

Beth Cavalier - CES Math Interventionist

Virginia DeRosa - Shay Paraprofessional

Karen Myszkowski - AIHS Secretary

Congratulations to all and thank you to those who made this possible!

Below, please find the information for registering your Pre-K or Kindergarten student. The deadline to guarantee screening prior to the end of this school year is tomorrow, May 24th. Please make every effort to complete the registration process. If you have any questions, please reach out to Julie Hartshorn at julie.hartshorn@amesburyma.org.

Thank you and we look forward to having your little one join us for the 24-25 school year!

On Wednesday, May 22nd, the Amesbury Rotary Club recognized 27 year veteran science teacher, Derek Bent as their Educator of the Year. When the Rotary members and I arrived at Mr. Bent's classroom earlier this month to share the news with him, the students in the classroom were so genuinely excited for him. It was amazing to watch. At Wednesday's luncheon, Mr. Bent shared how much he still loved doing his job, how he enjoyed continually updating his curriculum to meet the changing needs of students, and how fast the time has gone. Mr. Bent is so deserving of this recognition!

As an added bonus, the 2020 Rotary Educator of the Year, Marianne Curry and the 2021 Rotary Educator of the Year, Stacey Fijalkowski, were also recognized at the luncheon. Mrs. Curry who retired at the end of last year, was selected shortly after COVID struck and was finally able to enjoy the lunch yesterday. Similarly, Mrs. Fij was recognized virtually during 2021 but finally had her lunch yesterday as well. Thank you to the members of Rotary for recognizing the work that our educators do!

On Tuesday, May 14th, I had the pleasure of attending the AMS Spring Chorus Concert at AHS. It was a fabulous concert! With the AMS Performance Center closed, there was a large amount of creativity and perseverance needed to find ways for the groups to practice together. Needless to say, Mrs. Kimball and her students put on quite the show in front of an almost completely full auditorium. Bravo!

It was quite the musical week, with the AMS Band performing their annual Spring Concert. Similar to the AMS Chorus, Mr. Fij and his students had to be creative in finding opportunities to perform as a group. Thank you Mr. Fij and students for an enjoyable performance!

The top ten percent of the Class of 2024 was recognized at Restaurante Molise on Monday, May 13th. In case you are not familiar with this amazing event, the top ten percent of the class is identified by their GPA (grade point average). Once the students are informed that they are in this group, they are expected to write a letter to a teacher requesting that they speak on their behalf at the ceremony and explaining why they selected them for this prestigious honor. Teachers are truly honored when selected and definitely attempt to outdo one another in their celebration and acknowledgement of their student. It is always a great night! Congratulations to Zoe Moccia, Trevor Landry, Nick Bazirgan, Millie Burnham, Madison Martin, Calista Catarius, Ruby Moulton, Matthew Ruccio, Anna Lussault, and Jack Nachtygal!

This past Sunday, the AIHS seniors were celebrated and received senior sweatshirts and a nice pizza dinner. Great tradition! Congratulations to Jasmine Brown, Maura Kneeland, Alexander Peters, Evan Roberts ad Phoebe York!

Congratulations to the newest members of the AHS Chapter of the National Honor Society! Keep up the great work!

Monday, May 27th - No School Memorial Day

Monday, June 3rd - AHS/AIHS Senior Walk at Shay, CES, AMS, and Barnard School

Friday, June 7th - AHS Graduation

Wednesday, June 12th - Last day of PreK and K

Wednesday, June 12th - Kindergarten Celebration

Thursday, June 13th - Kindergarten Screenings begin

Friday, June 14th - PreK Screenings begin

Friday, June 14th - AIHS Graduation

Monday, June 17th - 5th Grade Celebration

Monday, June 17th - AMS Moving On Ceremony

Wednesday, June 19th - No School - Juneteenth

Wednesday, June 20th - Last Day of School - Early Release

• Secondary: 10:50 am
• Elementary: 11:30 am

Wednesday, August 28th - First day of School for Students