The Mustang Round Up
February 20, 2023
Happy Presidents Holiday
Good Evening Mustang Families,
Welcome back from the long holiday weekend! We hope everyone had a restful time away from work and school.
We had a busy week last week leading up to the holiday. Our administration team hosted our spring behavior assembly for all students where we reviewed our behavior expectations. We emphasized topics like bullying, sexual harassment, hate speech, and theft. For our 8th graders, we also reviewed the requirements to participate in promotion activities. I made sure to emphasize to our students that despite so much focus and attention on the negative behaviors, we have so many students making positive choices and doing the right thing every day. Yes, we have work to do as a school, but we can't lose sight of the great things most of our students are doing. The feedback from students and staff has been positive, so our administrative team feels optimistic about behavior moving forward.
Last week, I also participated in a grading presentation with Scripps Ranch School Committee. We had a district representative present the broader picture of standards-based learning, while Dr. Lawson from SRHS and myself gave updates on our work at our sites. When making such a large transformational shift in something as foundational as grading, communication is critical. We received important feedback from parents that will certainly help our teams as we make this transition. Many parents felt they did not know where to go to learn more about SGL. If you'd like to learn more about the vision, the resources for teachers, and the "why" behind SBL, parents can visit this site. Most importantly, if you have questions or concerns about grading practices, please be sure to ask your student's teacher. This will help clear up any misunderstandings and help us get clarity on what areas we need to prioritize as a staff. I'm grateful for the SRSC for initiating this community dialogue and we look forward to working with parents to make grades a better reflection of what students know and can do.
Have a great week!
Josh Way, Ed.D
Black History Month Student Conference- Feb. 25th
The San Diego Unified School District Black Student Union Coalition is presenting a Black History Month conference for SDUSD students and staff. The conference will be held at UCSD Park & Market on Saturday, Feb. 25th from 10am-3:45pm. Transportation and food are provided. Students who are interested can sign up here.
Entrepreneurship Training Opportunity for 8th Graders
Marshall Middle is excited to share a great opportunity with our 8th-grade families. In partnership with Miramar College and USD, the company 21iQInnovation is offering a great experience for students to learn about developing their entrepreneurship, innovation, and start-up skills. Click on this flyer to visit an information session.
Boys and Girls Flag Football Registration is open!
Registration for Spring Flag Football is now open. If MMS has enough students sign up, we can have a boys and girls team. Be sure to sign up here by March 6th. For more information, be sure to check out the the Parent FAQ's or visit the Middle School Athletics webpage.
Summer School Applications
Enrollment forms for Summer School are now available until April 14th. Fill out the paper enrollments forms and turn in the MMS front office. You can download the forms here: English; Spanish; Vietnamese; Tagalog
Enrollment forms are not necessary for students who are already enrolled in the ESY through their IEP. Marshall Middle School is not a Summer School host site this summer.
NEW EVENT- Festival of Cultures!
Did you know there are 39 languages spoken at MMS? Let’s celebrate all the many different countries and cultures represented at MMS at our first ever FESTIVAL OF CULTURES! It will be on Wednesday, May 10 at lunch. We are looking for students who would like to host a country table, perform a cultural dance or song, or make a video sharing their culture. If you’d like to participate, fill out this Google Form and more information will be sent to you!
San Diego Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Film Screening
The San Diego Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force is hosting a screening of a new documentary called, "Sextortion: The hidden pandemic" on Thursday, Feb. 23rd, 6-8pm. This event was shared with schools by the SD Unified School Police. If you're interested, you can open the flyer here
Who's Who at Marshall...
MMS is excited to introduce you to our school resource officer Officer Allensworth. You may have seen Officer Allensworth helping with traffic or supporting the front office. New to the Scripps Cluster this year, Officer Allensworth makes sure to come by campus during lunch or before school to get to know our staff and students. Rather than coming by only when he's called, Officer Allensworth has made connecting with our school and students a priority this year. Here's more about Officer Allensworth:
How many years in education?- 29 years with San Diego County Sheriff's Dept. I was a School Resource Officer for more than 6 years and Juvenile detective for 6 years.
Why middle school?- I chose the SDUSD PD to continue working with families and kids. I enjoy being a part of their successes and assisting when I can.
What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend?- Working on Home projects.
What impact do you hope to make at Marshall?- I hope to share my experiences good and bad to prevent the youth from making the same mistakes.
ASB Corner
Marshall Middle Parents!
Here is a quick reminder of our special events coming up:
A Spirit Week is coming up in March, so watch out for details!
Save the Date: ASB is organizing a Spring Dance with a red carpet theme on Friday, April 28th from 5:00-7:00.
Be sure to check out our new logos to our ApparelNow shop, so there are more options for customizing your Marshall Spirit Wear! All proceeds help fund ASB activities on campus, so be sure to check it out! Show your school spirit all year!
Website: https://sites.google.com/sandi.net/marshallmiddleasb/home
ApparelNow: https://apparelnow.com/marshall-middle-school-spiritwear
TikTok: @theactualmarshallasb
Instagram: @asb.marshall
Facebook: @Marshall ASB
Some Things to Consider...
This is a repost based on the ongoing conversations we've been having with parents about standards-based learning. A common question that parents have asked since SDUSD secondary schools switched over to standards-based grading is, "Will standards-based grading impact our student's college admission?" At first glance, most would think it shouldn't since colleges have been accepting students from schools with alternative grading and environments for years. Yet, what do college admission officers say about it? In this article from 2018, admissions counselors from MIT, Pomona College, and USC weigh in on what they think about standards-based grading and how they believe it will impact college admissions.