Good afternoon Woolie families!

We are happy to share that our second semester is underway and off to a great start. Students and staff are settling into the new courses nicely. Just a friendly reminder that add/drop period for the second semester closes on Friday, February 3. Most students who have wanted to adjust their schedule have done so already, but if your child is interested in making a change, please reach out to their counselor.

We are excited about much of the academic and curricular work we have embarked on for the upcoming 2023 - 2024 school year and cannot wait to share all that is happening! In this edition of the Community Newsletter, we will share a small snapshot of what is to come! We have been working hard over these months to coordinate the implementation of some amazing new programming and are in the final stages of approval from the Department of Education. We will know in March if we will receive our Innovative Pathway School designation and will be sure to share that information with the community. In preparation for this designation, you will notice an adjustment to our program of studies which reflects this coursework.

In addition to all of this work around academic programming, we are hard at work for preparations for MCAS in February, March, and beyond! However, have no fear as we are continuing to ensure that our students have a well-rounded experience by providing plenty of extra-curricular and social activities to keep them busy outside of the classroom!

We will be sure to posting about some of the upcoming events on social media and our website!

As always, we continue to appreciate your continued support!

Sincerely,

Chris Lowe

Back Row: Jake Black, Grade 12, Oboe; Nolan Hartshorn, Grade 12, Mallet Percussion; Ajay Bissoondial, Grade 11, Timpani; Tanner Swanson, Grade 11, Trombone

Front Row: Ella Canney, Grade 12, Soprano; Ronitt Dhalliwal, Grade 11, Alto Saxophone; Anna Canney, Grade 10, Soprano

Congratulations to the 7 students from Millbury Memorial Junior-Senior High School who were accepted into this year's Central District Massachusetts Music Educators Association band and chorus festival: Ajay Bissoondial, Jake Black, Anna Canney, Ella Canney, Ronitt Dhalliwal, Nolan Hartshorn, and Tanner Swanson. These students went through a rigorous audition process and were selected from students all over central Mass. Earlier this January, they performed at Mechanics Hall in Worcester with these ensembles.

Ella, Ronitt, and Tanner will be representing Millbury in the All-State chorus and band this March, which will be performing at Symphony Hall in Boston.

Furthermore, congratulations to Ella who was selected for the All-Eastern mixed chorus which will be performing in Rochester, NY this April. This group is selected from the top performers across New England and the mid-Atlantic.

We are so proud to have this many students representing the MHS music department at these events.

A special thank you to both Mr. Dooley and Ms. Hammer for their guidance, support, and dedication to the students and program at MMJSHS.

Two members of our junior class and National Honor Society, Maya Bravo and Isabela Ornopia, have put together an upcoming clothing drive as part of their NHS Service Project!

They are asking for donations of clothing for all ages and have drop boxes placed all around town. Please see the informational flyer below for more information!

Thank you to Maya and Isabela for putting together such an amazing project!!

Our Innovative Pathways programming and implementation is coming together as we make preparations to implement in the fall of 2023! We are in the final stages of the application process with the State and hope to find out about being awarded our designation sometime in March.

As we know that people are excited to hear about all things Pathways, we wanted to share information out about the programming. In the upcoming days/weeks, we will be sure to have our Innovative Pathways Website go live with all of the necessary information related to the programming that we have been hard at work to implement for next year.

In addition to the website, we will have brochures and hard copies available in the guidance suite for students to take home in case you prefer a hard copy.

We are extremely excited to share out all of this information with you all as we are deeply proud of how we are providing opportunities for our students in thriving 21st-Century Industries!

We are happy to share that we applied for and were awarded a $25,000 implementation grant from the State as part of our Innovative Pathways programming.

This grant will assist us in making sure that the programming is established and ready to implement for the start of the 2023-2024 school year.

There have been many hours that have gone into the preparation and planning for this to roll out.

We are thrilled to announce that we applied for and were the recipients of a $10,000 My Career and Academic Plan (MyCAP) implementation grant! This grant helps supports the implementation of MyCAP programming as part of our efforts to support career and college readiness initiatives.

My Career and Academic Plan prepares students for college, career and civic readiness. The MyCAP process engages students in authentic postsecondary planning through a continuum of learning focused on the individual student's interests, skills and talents. This process allows students to be the drivers of their education and empowers them to connect their course-taking with career interests, to seek out career development opportunities such as internships, apprenticeships, capstone projects, and to identify the personal, social, and behavioral skills needed to be successful in the workplace.

This work is also directly connected to our Innovative Pathways Implementation work as students continue throughout their academic journey here at MMJSHS to prepare themselves for post-secondary planning!

https://www.doe.mass.edu/ccte/ccr/mycap/

As part of the implementation of MyCAP, we are excited to be partnering with MEFA pathways as part of our programming to support career and college readiness!

MEFA Pathway: YourPlanForThe Future is an online tool for MyCAP development offered free to districts/schools. This is an initiative of MEFA (Massachusetts Education Financing Authority) in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Massachusetts Department of High Education. This tool allows students to create a secure personal portfolio, search for college and career information, complete the college Common Application, and have a solid postsecondary plan upon graduating from high school.

Rest assured that we will continue to utilize Naviance for the upcoming school year in order to prioritize the college application process as that is a process that we as a school community have grown familiar with over the years of using the program.

As many of you know, we have been working diligently to expand our Unified offerings through both our academic and co-curricular offerings. We have seen so much success and pride come from the implementation of these programs!

We are excited to share that for the 2023-2024 school year, we are expanding our academic programming to include a Unified Music and a Unified Art course! These two classes will join our Unified PE class which is already running during the 2022-2023 school year!

We could not be more excited about continuing to incorporate Unified programs to the Junior-Senior High School! If you have a student that is interested in being in any of our Unified Classes, please check out the course descriptions in the new Program of Studies! I have shared screenshots of them below.

Our Term 2 Honor Roll notification has been shared with the Millbury Sutton Chronicle on Tuesday, January 31.

Please be on the lookout for their post in an upcoming edition of the newspaper.

Greetings Parent and Guardians,

We are happy to share that the Program of Studies for the 2023-2024 is going live on the Guidance Website on Monday, 1/30/23. The Program of Studies rollout starts our course selection process. On Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, students will be able to see teacher recommendations using their portal access. We will also have a presentation in the auditorium with the class of 2023. Each grade will have a week to choose courses in the X2 Aspen portal after a grade level presentation. See below for the schedule. We ask that students check their school email accounts on a regular basis for updates. We also encourage parents/guardians to have a discussion with your child(ren) about their future goals when considering which courses to take.

Grades Dates for Students to Select Courses
Juniors (YOG 2024) Jan. 31 - Feb 6, 2023
Sophomores (YOG 2025) Feb 7 - Feb 13, 2023
Freshmen (YOG 2026) Feb 14 - Feb 28, 2023
Grade 8 (YOG 2027) March 1 -8, 2023

Grade 7 (YOG 2028) will take place at a later date.

For current grades 9-11, students will meet with their current counselor in most cases. All grade 8 students will meet with a counselor, but it may not be their counselor for next year. We look forward to meeting with the students and answering any questions that you or they may have.

Additions to this year’s Program of Studies are sections on our Innovative Pathways and information about our Partnership with the Carpenter’s Union! These new programs provide opportunities for both our underclassmen and our rising seniors. More information will be shared out via Community Newsletter, social media and the High School website.

Feel free to contact us at our emails below if you have any questions.

The Guidance Department

Stephanie DeLucia - sdelucia@millburyschools.org

Heidi Desautels - hdesautels@millburyschools.org

Ann Meservey - ameservey@millburyschools.org

Ashlee Cabral - acabral@millburyschools.org

Taryn Holman -tholman@millburyschools.org

Here is a link to the newly revamped 2023-2024 Program of Studies which is currently live. You will notice that within the program of studies, there are departmental overviews that outline all of the course offerings that we have, as well as sample careers.

Students also have the option to participate in a career clusters assessment to see where their interests might take them post-secondary. This connection to career and college readiness is an additional extension of the MEFA, MyCAP, and Innovative Pathways programming that we are implementing.

In addition to the departmental overviews, you can also notice all of the updated information regarding new course offerings, overview of the Carpenters Union Pre-Apprenticeship/Shop Friday program, as well as our upcoming Innovative Pathways programming.

So many amazing things that we are excited about sharing with the community!

Our school counselors shared this presentation with students prior to the course selection process. We hope that this provides you some insight into how students use Aspen to select their courses.

Our next cohort of students attending the Shop Friday series at the Carpenter Union will begin attending on February 10. They will attend Shop Friday once a month to be exposed to the skills and training associated with the carpentry trade.

Shop Fridays will take place once per month. Completing the Shop Friday series will allow for eligibility into the Pre-Apprenticeship program during its next availability.

We will be sharing out iReady reports with families of our Junior High students following the completion of the upcoming Winter benchmark sessions.

You should be receiving these reports shortly.

In order to help best understand the reports, we have created a website page to support families with familiarizing themselves with iReady and the reports.

This website is still under construction but we wanted to share the link with you all to assist in understanding the reports.

If you have any specific questions about iReady, please do not hesitate to reach out to Mrs. DeMaria or Mrs. Comeau directly.

Students participating in the Worcester State Dual Enrollment Sociology Course will have classes scheduled throughout the month of February. Students have been issued the schedule from their professor

Students who were absent for the retest sessions on February 1 and February 2 will be participating in make ups on February 6 and February 7

Our Peer Ed group and their advisors will be headed to the Shaw school to continue their work with our Junior Woolies.

Please come and support our performing arts program for our annual Winter Showcase which takes place on February 9 @ 7:00 pm in the Auditorium.

It is sure to be an amazing night and we cannot wait to see you all there!

We are excited to be hosting a night of one-act performances from our Jr. High on Friday, February 10 @ 5:00 pm in the Auditorium. More information about the event will be shared out in the upcoming days!!

Check out the link to our online store where you can get some great Woolie Gear. This store is open 24/7!

Be on the lookout for more gear that will be available during the year through fundraisers and extra-curriculars!

The Millbury Public Schools ensures equal employment and educational opportunities for its employees and students and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex or sexual orientation, gender identity (M.G.L. c. 151B and 151C, Title VI, Title VII, and Title IX), or on the basis of disability (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973/ADA) or homelessness. In addition, the Millbury Public Schools does not discriminate against its employees on the basis of age (M.G.L. 151B/ADEA) on the basis of veteran's status, or genetic information.