Student & Family Update

It has been another busy week at MTRS. Here are some quick bits of info:

The Junior/ Senior Prom takes place tonight at Branch View Farm- news and photos next week!

Finals schedule for grades 7-11 on June 20, 21 & 22nd June:

• Monday June 19th - no school, Juneteenth holiday
• Tuesday June 20th - two hour delay: 9:45-2:20
• Wednesday June 21st - two hour delay: 9:45-2:20
• Thursday - June 22nd - early release: 7:45-11:30am
• The schedule in detail can be found, here: Link

Chrome book return for all students:

• Seniors 9-11 on Friday May 26th
• HS: 1-2:30 on Weds 21st June
• MS: 8-10 am on Thursday 22nd June

Chrome book and charger must be handed in. If you are leaving the school and do not return your device and charger, you will be sent an invoice and your final transcript will be withheld until payment is made.

If you are in grades 7-11 and do not return either your device or charger, you will not be issued a new device next year. Additionally, your current device will be shut down remotely so you can't use it anyway!

Student Council HS officers for 23/24 have been decided by the students:

New Officers for 2023-2024 President: Kaylin S.

Vice President: Sophia G.

Treasure: Rachel P.

Historian: Addie L.

Secretary: Chay M.

WMASC Rep: Sophia G.

Grade 10 Civic Action Projects - we need parent volunteers to help supervise and potentially drive students to and from project sites in the next few weeks. Please contact the following amazing educators if you have questions: bbasal@mtrsd.org, cglennon@mtrsd.org

District Calendar for 2023/24: Link

Q4 Caregiver survey: May 15 - 26th: Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts, here

Come to the SEPAC meet-up! What is SEPAC? MTRSD’s Special Education Parent Advisory Council is a group made up primarily of parents of children with learning challenges and other disabilities, although local allies are welcome at meetings. SEPAC's goal is to support families and students' needs within the public school system and to work with the district to enact change, when needed.

If your child has a 504 or an IEP, or you are wondering whether they might need one, SEPAC can help you figure out who to talk to, what steps to take, what questions to ask and where to turn next at every step of the process. On Saturday, May 20, at 2:00 PM, we will be hanging out on the playground at BSE, with popsicles! Stop by, meet the interim group leaders, ask questions if you have them, and connect with other parents and allies.

Finally, for those of you planning summer activities, the first day of school for 23/24 is Wednesday August 30th. This is a half day - 7:45-11:30am. The link to our full calendar can be found below in the Important dates and information, section.

Please read on to see what else has been happening at MTRS this week!

Enjoy your weekend

Best wishes

Chris

Upcoming dates

• May 22nd - Grade 8 GCC Civics Field Trip

• May 24th- District Musical Concert: BSE (rain venue - MTRS)

• May 24th - Franklin County DEI Leadership Summit at GCC

• May 26th: Last day for Grade 12

• May 29th - Memorial day (no school)

• June 1st - Awards Evening: 5-7pm

• June 3rd - Graduation (Saturday)

• June 9th - Step up day

• June 9th - 6;30-9 Grade 8 Semi-Formal

• June 10th - MTAA Spring Fling

• June 15th - Grade 9 Field Trip

• June 16th - HS Civic Action projects and Field Day

• June 19th - Juneteenth (no school)

• June 20th - Grade 8 Field Trip

• June 22nd - Last day of school for students

Early Release Wednesdays (12:50pm)

• May 3,10,17,24

AP and MCAS Schedule :Link

Academic Calendar: Link (Please note that Q3 started on January 25th and subsequent dates have yet to be adjusted for snow days. Thanks for your understanding.)

District Calendar for 2023/24: Link (First day of school 23/24 - August 30th: 7:45-11:30am)

End of Year dates:

Finals Schedule

• 20, 21, 22ndJune: 2 hour delay 20 & 21st, 22nd is a ½ day: 11:30 dismissal

Mohawk Trail students, staff, and family members are invited once again to march in the Franklin County Pride Parade in Greenfield on Saturday, June 10th. We will have participants from the middle, high school, and several elementary schools joining together to represent our district!

All participants must arrive at Greenfield Middle School at 11AM to lineup for the parade which begins at 12pm. The parade route goes down Federal Street and finishes at Energy Park where there will be celebration and rally featuring performers and speakers from 1-3pm.

As a reminder, the Mohawk Trail Equity Alliance and Equity Council have been working with GCC to organize the Franklin County DEI Youth Leadership Summit which takes place at GCC on May 24th.

The MTRS auditorium was well populated and enjoyed an evening of singing and musical performances as part of the MTRS Spring Concert.

Act 1

All For Us

Talking To The Moon

7 Years

Nights

No Surprises

Take 5

House Of The Rising Sun

Act 2

Interstellar

Can't Help Falling In Love

Beach House

Home

God Help The Outcasts

Can't Stop

Bohemian Rhapsody - battle of the bands

Performers and audience enjoyed the evening tremendously and we hope to see you at the District Concert at BSE on Wednesday 24th!

On Tuesday the Marine Science class went to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Falmouth, MA. We went on a boat with a guide and we put a camera in the water to look at the ocean floor. Then we helped put a lobster trap in the ocean equipped with an experimental buoy system meant to show fishermen where the trap is without lines up to the surface that could entangle whales. We also dredged up sea animals such as hermit crabs, blue crabs, starfish urchins and shrimp. We also explored the research lab, aquarium and ALVIN, the human occupied submersible that explored the titanic in places otherwise deemed unexplorable. - Jessica and Charlotte, Class of 23

This year MTRS staff have been working with the building Instructional Leadership Team shifting towards standards based teaching and learning with a focus on development and application of skills . As a key part of our Trailblazer model, this shift will continue to help students take more ownership over how they apply these skills at school and beyond!

As part of this shift, on June 7th we are piloting a student-led conference in Grade 11. Advisors will be reaching out to families of students in Grade 11 in the next week. They will be asking care providers to attend a 20 minute virtual or in-person meeting with them and their student so that the student can show and tell their care providers about some of the academic work they have produced this year.

Following this pilot, our hope is that we roll out student-led conferences twice a year during the school year. This will be in addition to the regular opportunity to speak with teachers at the Open House in the fall and the Celebration of Learning in the Spring.

Link

Dates to be aware of:

Grade 12: Finals, Reporting and Progress Grades

No SENIOR finals schedule, if you need to give a final please use class time prior to May 26

Senior sign off forms are due on May 26th . These were shared with students earlier this week- you should also bring in your chrome book and charger!

Grade 12 Q4 Term Grading Window: Wednesday, May 24 - Tuesday May 30 @ 11:59pm

Grade 12 Reports Cards available: Wednesday, May 31

Other events:

• Prom - Friday 19th May
• Senior Send off - Weds 24th May
• Senior Soak - Thursday 25th May
• Senior/ Staff sports challenge - 1-2:20, Fri May 26th
• Last day - Friday May 26th
• Rehearsals for Awards/ Graduation - Tuesday 30th May
• Elementary school visit and MTRS staff cookout - Wednesday 31st May
• Awards Event - Thursday 1st June (5-7pm)
• Graduation Celebration - Sat: June 3rd: 1-3pm (If it rains, we will be in the auditorium)

Social Hosting information

With the upcoming prom and graduation season, the Northwestern District Attorney’s office has produced a social host law informational flier for parents/ caregivers who may be hosting a graduation/ celebration party. Social Host laws do apply to both alcohol and cannabis. Please explore the guidance, here:: Link

Please also note that the school is working with local and state police to prepare an EMT/ DUI presentation for students in 10-12 for later in May. More information will be shared as details are confirmed.

We have been really fortunate to work with the Police, the District Attorney and Emergency Services who put on a Dangers of Driving Under the Influence demonstration and legal workshop for Grade 11 and 12 on the morning of May 18th. Students watched an EMS teams working at the site of a mock accident and listened to a talk from law enforcement about the legal consequences of an OUI or a DUI. The demonstration ended with students trying on "drunk googles" and attempting to complete a sobriety test to understand how physical and mental capacity is reduced when operating under the influence.

Sensory Garden

The OAC is working on creating a Sensory Garden this spring in the newly created Mohawk Trail Outdoor Classroom (MTOC). This space is situated between our building walls creating easy access to the outdoors for staff and students to use during the school day. Our community felt creating a sensory garden would be beneficial to our students.

We are in need of plant and seed donations. We are looking for plants (and small bushes only) that are fun to touch, smell or taste as well as pretty plants to enjoy looking at. We prefer things that are native, but are open to plant ideas that don’t profusely spread. Some ideas are bee balm, chives, rosemary and yarrow (nothing taller than 5 feet).

Have something to donate? Are you interested in helping plant items this spring? Email Chris Buckland: cbuckland@mtrsd.org

Local Education Council (LEC)

This meets virtually every second Wednesday of the month between 3:45 and 4:30pm. More information can be found here. The next meeting will be on May 17th

The virtual joining information is as follows:

Meeting ID

meet.google.com/gzo-toke-ibz

Phone Numbers

(‪US‬)‪+1 813-435-9650‬

PIN: ‪741 012 215#‬

Outdoor Advisory Committee (OAC)

The OAC has become a sub-committee of the LEC and OAC issues and ideas will be discussed at the scheduled LEC meetings.

Please explore the OAC page on the website and have a look at the list of initial projects we gathered from surveying students, staff and community as well as OAC priorities created from this initial list.

Principal Drop-ins

As was the case last year, I will hold regular virtual office hours. You don’t need an appointment to come and talk with me and share your thoughts on what goes on at MTRS. I will try to be available for the whole 60 minutes but can't always guarantee it at our busy school.

Second Friday of each month: 8:00 to 9:00 a.m.

Meeting ID: meet.google.com/jtz-yhet-ipo

Phone Number: (US)+1 (813) 773-5581

PIN: 636 883 303

Welcome back folks! We are in the home stretch of the spring athletic season, and our athletes are primed to make some postseason waves! Both our softball and track and field teams are peaking just at the right time, and are looking to enjoy a long run into their state tournaments.

Coach Lannon’s softball squad is currently ranked 21st in the state and is heading into the WMASS tournament next week winning 6 of their last 7 games! Tournament seedings will come out after this newsletter release, but check the Mohawk Trail Athletics Facebook Page for up to date information!

On Friday, May 19th, we will be hosting the WMASS Division 2 Track and Field Meet! The meet starts at 4:30, and will feature many Mohawk Trail athletes. Coach Chadwick and Coach Shearer are expecting great performances from both our boys and girls, especially in relays!

Coach Caity Mans and her tennis squad are currently sitting at 8-8 with one remaining match against Greenfield on Tuesday, May 23rd. To qualify for the MIAA state tournament they must finish with a .500 record or better, so their last remaining match will be for all the marbles! Senior Paige King is looking to extend her season a little longer by continuing her red hot play and propel her team to the postseason!

Please keep an eye out for Fall Sports Registration! See you next week with hopefully some good results from our athletes!

Mohawk Trail SEPAC Member and Parent

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Do you have a question about your child, their services, or resources specific to your needs? If you or someone you know would like to be added to the private list and receive emails and event notifications, please send an email to: MOHAWKSEPAC@gmail.com Please indicate your email, title (such as parent of a student with IEP/504), District, Interested Party or other)

Disclosure: SEPAC maintains the list of contacts and keeps the information private. This email is maintained by a parent and volunteer. Our goal is to respond in a timely manner. We will get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

Principal, Mohawk Trail Regional School

Email: cbuckland@mtrsd.org
Website: www.mtrs.mohawktrailschools.org
Phone: 413-625-9811
Facebook: facebook.com/mohawktrailregional