MARSHFIELD MATTERS
Superintendent's Newsletter: 10/18/2024 #WeRMarshfield
EDUCATOR OF THE WEEK
We are thrilled to recognize Mrs. Jennifer Wiedemann of EWS Kindergarten! Mrs. Wiedemann is a shining star at Eames Way and an invaluable member of our kindergarten team. Mrs. Wiedemann is a true master when it comes to the art of establishing relationships with her students and families. In addition to making every moment of every day an absolute blast, she is a talented teacher who always goes the extra mile to support her students. The Eames Way School community adores Mrs. Wiedemann and we are proud to call her our colleague and teammate!
Just a reminder to please drive carefully and slowly on our school campuses. Over the past few weeks, we have had reports of fast moving cars during drop-off and pick-up, and we wanted to remind you of the importance of driving carefully so that we can ensure a safe environment for all. Thank you for your help.
SUPERINTENDENT'S GOALS FOR 2024-2025
GOAL #1: Throughout the 2024-2025 school year, I will create an entry plan in order to gain familiarity with stakeholders, to identify effective past practice and potential areas for improvement, and to facilitate a successful transition into the role of Superintendent.
GOAL #2: Throughout the 2024-2025 school year, I will focus the District on student voice and engagement through the theme of “Through the Eyes of the Student.”
GOAL #3: Throughout the 2024-2025 school year, I will collaborate with district and school leaders, staff, parents/guardians, school committee members, and students to create a “Belonging Team,” which includes Social-Emotional Learning, Wellness, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion subgroups, set goals for the district and team in these areas, and begin to implement these goals within the school community.
Goal #4:
Throughout the 2024-2025 school year, I will collaborate with leadership, and when appropriate, the Marshfield Police Department and Marshfield Fire Department, to foster effective protocols, procedures, and systems throughout the District.
The complete presentation, including the Strategic Actions and Benchmarks for each goal, can be found below by clicking on SUPERINTENDENT GOALS.
I look forward to collaborating with the entire Marshfield School Community to realize these goals.
Sincerely,
Patrick Sullivan, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Marshfield Public Schools
CURRICULM CORNER, DR. ELLEN MARTIN, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT
Massachusetts STEM Week 2024
Mass STEM Week 2024 will take place from October 21–25 and is a statewide collaborative effort organized by the Executive Office of Education and the STEM Advisory Council in partnership with the state’s nine Regional STEM Networks, which plan and coordinate activities with local school communities, community leaders, and business partners. Visit the STEM Week webpage to learn more.
Educators and students are invited to participate in one of the STEM Week 2024 Design Challenges
- Wade Institute for Science Education- Extreme Zoo Makeover: A STEM Approach to Habitat Design
- Kids in Tech - STEM Goes Green: The STEM Challenge
- The STEM Education Center at WPI - "I Am STEM" Lesson Library
- Museum of Science – Environmental Engineering Challenge
- PBLWorks - The Future of Work
Great Learning Happening Throughout the District
Our Learning Walks this year will revolve around Deep Student Engagement, Task Development, and Learning Environment for Students. The District Leader established look-fors are inspired by Amy Berry and her book Reimagining Student Learning, From Disrupting to Driving. This is a multi-year focus, which will involve all stakeholders.
In a nutshell, we will focus on those elements in the classroom that move students from disrupting to driving learning, while also focusing on the development of strong tasks to engage the students within a culturally responsive climate that promotes inclusion.
These lookfors are being unwrapped at staff meetings across the district.
As we continue these learning walks and classroom visits, we remain inspired by the wonderful teaching and learning. Here are some images from our walks through Furnace Brook Middle School, Daniel Webster Elementary School, and Marshfield High School this week.
8th ANNUAL MARSHFIELD ELEMENTARY XC INVITATIONAL
The 8th Annual Marshfield Elementary School XC Invitational, sponsored by the Marshfield Boys & Girls Club, Marshfield Road Runners Youth Track, Furnace Brook XC/Track & Field, and Marshfield District-wide PTO will take place Wednesday 10/23/2024 at the Marshfield Boys and Girls Club (37 Proprietor's Drive, Marshfield) with check-in beginning at 3:00 PM. Races begin at 3:30. A fun, free event for all Marshfield Elementary students! Free registration here and share with your friends!
RACE SCHEDULE
3:30 PM GIRLS GRADES K-2 * 0.62 MILES
3:45 PM BOYS GRADES K-2 * 0.62 MILES
4:00 PM GIRLS GRADES 3-5 * 1.24 MILES
4:15 PM BOYS GRADES 3-5 * 1.24 MILES
WEAR YOUR SCHOOL COLORS!
DWS – WHITE, EWS – RED, GWS – MARSHFIELD GREEN, MES- DARK GREEN, SRS –BLUE
TROPHIES FOR TOP SCHOOL TEAM IN EACH RACE (5 MUST FINISH TO SCORE)
MEDALS TO TOP FIVE ELEMENTARY STUDENTS IN EACH RACE, PLACE RIBBONS TO 6 - 20 AND PARTICIPANT RIBBONS FOR ALL FINISHERS! AWARDS WILL BE PRESENTED AT 4:30 PM
ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE EMAIL: MRRYOUTHTRACK@GMAIL.COM
SCHOOL NURSES' CORNER
Thank you to each of our school nurses for creating fun fall bulletin boards. These boards engage students while reminding them to create healthy habits!
Jenny Goodwin, School Nurse at MES, with the help of custodian, Will Sullivan
Alison White, School Nurse at EWS
Julie Stiles, School Nurse at SRS
FOCUS FOR THE YEAR
Our targets for this year are developed from the Strategic Plan and Vision of the Graduate and are informed by on-going data gathering, including my ongoing entry-plan work. As a District, these will be our targets and focus for the year. I realize that this year we will not finish our work in any of these areas, but the goal is to make measurable improvements in all of these areas by the end of the school year.
Family and Community Engagement: All buildings will explore Joyce Epstein’s 6 Dimensions of Family Engagement looking at the communication, community collaboration, learning at home support, parenting support, volunteering, and family input in decision-making in each building.
District and School Culture: Each building will look at the level of voice and choice of staff in each building, types and reasons for celebrations, processes for collaborative decision making, structures for collective responsibilities and governance, and traditions within the school.
Student and Staff Equity Belonging and Wellness: As a district we will be reformulating the Social Emotional Learning, Wellness, and Diversity / Equity / and Inclusion teams as subgroups under one expanded Equity Belonging and Wellness team. This team will include students and families from across the district and will function as ambassadors for the work throughout the district.
Data Driven Decisions: We will continue to build our data structures throughout the district, engage in data dialogues, and analyze and explore data to make needed changes.
Rigorous Curriculum Development: We will be firmly establishing the stages of our district-wide curriculum review cycle and engaging in curriculum adoption, including the new elementary ELA curriculum district-wide.
Financial Stability: We will be looking closely at capital and operational budget priorities and working collaboratively with existing budgets as we firm up our curriculum review cycle.
Efficient and Effective Protocol, Procedure, and System Development (including safety): We will look closely at all our procedures and protocols (at least as many as we can) through a systems thinking lens and make any needed improvements.
Collective Teacher Efficacy (which is another way of saying our ability to work effectively together in teams): This is an important focus for us. Emphasizing the importance of educator collaboration is certainly nothing new; however, through research of John Hattie in New Zealand, we now can confidently say that working well together is the most important initiative in which we can engage to produce strong academic and social emotional achievement for our students. Hattie researched over 1000 meta-analysis, 50,000 quantitative and qualitative student and teacher peer-reviewed research reports, and data covering over 250 Million students world-wide, and found that the largest effect size on student achievement is made through collective teacher efficacy. Schools and districts where educators collaborated best had the highest achievement growth.
Student Voice and Engagement in the Teaching, Learning, and Leading: Also featuring prominently in effect size are strategies that make learning visible and explicit to the students. That brings us to our theme for the year, “Through the Eyes of the Student” and our greatest focus for the year, which is student voice and engagement in the teaching, learning, and leading throughout our schools. There is nothing more paramount and important this year than continuing to foster an environment that places students first and which provides them with a culturally responsive and inclusive environment that promotes student agency and voice.
ELE UPDATE
Thank you to all of the parents who attended our 1st ELPAC meeting! We look forward to planning the next meeting with you soon. Email Kate Lyons Mailloux at kmailloux@mpsd.org for information.
MHS ATHLETICS
As the Fall Season heads into the home stretch, MHS Athletics continues to heat up.
The MHS Golf Team (top 6 Golfers) started off the State Tournament Season by traveling down to the Acushnet River Valley Golf Course on Wednesday. The Ram Golfers, as they have all season, battled to the end. The Team ended up finishing in 6th place, with the Top 4 advancing to the next round. JD Ambrose (78) and Justin Ford (82) led the Rams at Acushnet. Congratulations to the whole Team on a great season.
Both the Girls and Boys Soccer Teams had big wins this week against Patriot League rivals, Whitman-Hanson. The Girls came from behind in the 2nd Half after trailing 1-0. Junior Rowan Malvey scored 2 goals for the Rams to give them 2 big points as they make their final push towards the State Tournament. The Boys Soccer Team went on the road and defeated Whitman-Hanson 3-1. Senior Joe Ciocca scored 2 goals for Marshfield and Junior Brendan Kiziuk added one as well for the Rams.
The MHS Cheerleaders finished 3rd in their Division at the Durfee Cheerleading Competition and will look to compete next in Natick before hosting their own Cheer Competition at Marshfield High School on Sunday, October 27th.
The Volleyball Team continues to play and improve on their season. The Rams have been strengthened by the play of Freshman, Maddie Whitaker and recent call up to Varsity, Freshman Hailey McDonald.
The Football Team had a strong League win against silver Lake on the road, 48 – 6. Senior Will Devine and Junior Dylan Burhoe both had interceptions returned for touchdowns in the win.
In Sunday’s loss to Hingham, Senior Aubrey Finn made 25 saves as the Field Hockey Team fell to
Hingham. The Rams faced a very tough Hanover Team next and lost 1-0. Again Aubrey Finn, in net, and Olivia Audette on D, played well for the Rams giving them the opportunity to win.
The Girls and Boys Cross Country Teams will be idle, from competing until their League Meet in Silver Lake on Saturday, October 26th.
Please join us this coming weekend for Homecoming. We have a jammed packed athletic schedule,
starting Friday, as the Field Hockey Team kicks us off in the Stadium (4:00 PM) with their game against Silver Lake. Join us inside as the Volleyball Team takes on Plymouth North at 5:30 PM. Saturday is a triple header with Boys Soccer at 9:00 AM, Girls Soccer at 11:00 AM and Football at 2:00 PM. All these games will be held in the Stadium. Food trucks, tables with swag and raffles will be around both days. Happy Homecoming!!!
PTO UPDATE
SEPAC UPDATE
Save the Date - Navigating Aspen & Canvas for the Caregiver
Thank you to the Special Education Parents' Advisory Council (SEPAC) for their excellent work in supporting Marshfield Families. Here is an upcoming event for all families:
Navigating Aspen & Canvas for the Caregiver
When: Thursday, October 24, 2024, 6:30 pm
Where: MHS Presentation Center
Registration: Here
Learn how to access and get all needed information regarding:
- Daily school work
- Grading & evaluations
- Bus/teacher assignments
- Work flows
- Schedules and more
Presented by the Marshfield Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC).
Kiwanis Thanksgiving Box
Kiwanis Thanksgiving Box for those in need
Deadline date for signing up is November 3rd.
Limited number of boxes are available.
Please click below to fill out the form.
For over ten years, Marshfield Education Foundation has provided opportunities for enhanced learning by working in partnership with Marshfield’s educators to fund grants that complement the social, emotional and academic development of our students.
As we enter the season of giving, we hope you’ll consider supporting the Marshfield Education Foundation with a donation to our 5th Annual Fall Giving Campaign. Donate Today!
https://givebutter.com/marshfieldfallgiving
Please click on the link to access information regarding the MEF. We are thankful for their amazing support.
AROUND THE DISTRICT
The McKinney Vento fundraiser is at
Nagle Gym
822 Webster Street
October 19th from 10:15-11:30AM
Dear Parents/Guardians,
We are excited to invite you to the 6th Annual Dance Camp hosted by the Marshfield High School Dance Team! This camp will allow your student to experience what it’s like to be an MHS Dancer, learn a fun routine, and perform with us during the halftime show at the Homecoming Football Game.
Camp Details:
- Date: Saturday, October 19th
- Time: 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
- Location: MHS Auditorium
- Participants: Grades K-8
- Cost: $30 (includes snack, t-shirt, & entrance to the game)
Performance Details:
- Game Time: 2:00 PM
- Location: Marshfield High School Football Field
- Admission: Parents/guardians must purchase a ticket to the game to accompany their student. Participating students are free (must wear t-shirt).
- Arrival: All participants must arrive by 2:30 PM at the football field gate closest to the high school, wearing their camp t-shirt.
- Performance: Dancers will perform during halftime. After the performance, they will be escorted back to the same gate for pick-up.
Important Information:
- All dancers must be supervised by a parent or guardian during the game.
- In the event of rain, a special performance will take place at 11:30 AM in the high school auditorium.
- Don’t forget to RSVP by October 10th using the QR code provided!
For any questions or further information, please contact Paula Minchello, Dance Team Coach at pminchello@mpsd.org.
Other Information
DOWNLOAD THE MPSD APP
IN THE COMMUNITY
Are you, or someone you know, interested in joining our fantastic team of educators? We would love to add you to our dedicated team of Substitute Teachers. We also have a few ESP, SESP & Tutor positions we are still looking to fill. Click the link(s) below to learn more:
BUS DRIVERS WANTED
IMPORTANT DATES
Oct 19 - MHS Homecoming
Oct 23 - District Wide Early Release
Oct 24 - SEPAC Navigating Aspen & Canvas for the Caregiver
Nov 3 - Friends of Music Mattress Fundraiser
Nov 5 - No school for students/PD for teachers
Nov 6 - Elementary Conferences (afternoon)
Nov 7 - Elementary Conferences (evening)
Nov 8 - MHS/FBMS Term 1 ends
Nov 11 - Veterans Day (no school)
Nov 15 - MHS/FBMS Report Cards
SCHOOL NEWSLETTERS
MPSD School Committee Meeting
Tuesday, Nov 12, 2024, 06:30 PM
Eames Way School, Eames Way, Marshfield, MA, USA
Contact Information
Email: psullivan@mpsd.org
Website: www.mpsd.org
Location: 76 South River Street, Marshfield MA 02050
Phone: (781) 834-5000