MURSD District Update

Email: mcohen@mursd.org
Website: https://www.mursd.org/
Location: 150 North Ave, Mendon, MA, USA
Phone: 508-634-1585
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MURSDInspires/
Twitter: @mendonuptonrsd

As this week of May 2-6 is Teacher Appreciation Week and May 1 was Principal Appreciation Day, I would like to begin with a warm and heartfelt thank you to all of our teachers, staff, and administrators who make up the MURSD. It is the people in our district that make us so special. I have worked in a number of districts throughout my career, yet Mendon-Upton is unique because we are not just a close-knit community; we are a family. The MURSD family is filled with dedicated professionals who show up each day with a smile and commitment to create the best environment for learning for each and every one of our students.

As we are transitioning back to more in-person events and activities this spring, it is sometimes easy to forget (or maybe we try to forget) how difficult the last two years of education have been through COVID, yet we are all still impacted by its effects in many ways. Despite these challenges as we continue to transition out of the pandemic, I remain hopeful, optimistic, and grateful to be leading an extraordinary district like the Mendon-Upton Regional School District.

• I remain inspired by the educational conversations taking place right now in our schools around authentic learning, new courses, project-based learning, and expanded co-curricular activities.

• I remain hopeful as we collaborate alongside students to meet their individual needs in support of their interests and goals. Our students never cease to amaze me with their insight and perspective.

• I remain enthused by the new ideas we create and our commitment to continuous improvement. Whether it is our strategic plans, future technology planning, pursuit of creative grant support, or actionable feedback from stakeholders, we are always committed to improvement each day.

• I remain in awe of our parent and community volunteers who engage and partner with us through school councils, school committee, advisory boards, councils, PTOs, education foundations, and at-school events.

As we finish our school year strong over the next few months, I hope you are able to find a moment to pause and take in these special moments for your child, whether it is the celebration of our seniors as they embark on the conclusion of their MURSD education, your 4th grade student eager for their concert, your 8th grade student focused on their engineering project, or your Kindergarten student participating in their first Memorial Day event. These are the moments that will stay with them for a lifetime. Please enjoy some of our MURSD moments in the photos below from the last month in the district.

Warm Regards,

~Maureen

We had a number of students participate in our Math Acceleration Academy Program during April vacation. As you may know, MURSD received a grant to host a Math Acceleration Academy over both February and April vacations. This week-long academy was an academic program designed to accelerate student learning through hands-on, project-based lessons. The April academy was designed to support students in grades 3-10 in advancing their understanding of mathematics concepts learned over the course of the last two years. Our hope was that students will not only get the support they need but will also build confidence around the mathematical skills and concepts that will support their success in the classroom.

To provide you with a snapshot of some learning that took place, our HS students were given some real-world applications focusing on the themes of slope/equations of linear functions and probability/statistics. One sample activity was to calculate the slope of the auditorium seating. Another sample activity was to combine statistics with linear function work to see the correlation between a person's height and the distance they could jump.

Thank you to all of our educators, staff, and students for a great week of math!

We will be having an early release day this Friday, May 6th for a professional development day for our teachers and staff. Some highlighted topics include the following:

Implementing Fundations in grades K-2. In this workshop K-2 educators, special educators and El Teachers will work with a team of Clough and Memorial educators who will share details about Fundations, an early literacy program that emphasizes critical skills such as phonemic awareness, high frequency word study, reading fluency and comprehension.

Launching into PLTW: An introduction to Project Lead the Way. This session offers elementary educators in grades 3 and 4 and technology teachers the opportunity to learn more about the Project Lead the Way Launch STEM program through a hands-on, project-based experience.

Looking ahead: Project-based learning at the middle level: In this workshop, we'll introduce the Miscoe Hill community to project-based learning (PBL) with the hopes that educators will understand how project-based learning can enrich their instruction and provide authentic learning experiences for all students.

High School--Leveling-up our authentic learning experiences. During this session, we'll extend our work from Monday's staff meeting by meeting in departments after our launch to collaboratively imagine how we can enhance a departmental experience in ways that will make it more "authentic." We'll then work in pairs to tackle some aspect one of your own courses to which we can, likewise, apply these principles. location: Nipmuc PDC

Our District International Night is back! We hope you can join us on May 12th at Nipmuc. All ages welcome.

The Mendon-Upton Regional School Committee will be honoring educators and staff members who have gone above and beyond to partner with families to make a significant difference in the education and well-being of students. This recognition program called the Golden Apple Award was created in 2016 by the Regional School Committee to recognize excellence. This year the Committee will be recognizing staff members at their June School Committee meeting. Please consider a nomination for the Golden Apple Award by using the following Nomination Form. The nomination period will close on May 19th.

Thanks in advance for your nominations!

BVExcel is a collaborative program that offers free evening credit-bearing classes throughout the semester at local schools in the Blackstone Valley. The purpose of BVExcel is to develop a collaborative model for the Blackstone Valley School Districts to provide non-traditional course offering that will expose students to career options, building industry skills, and provide workforce opportunities that would be difficult to offer in isolation. BVExcel works to combine resources in order to offer students unique courses which would be impossible for each district to offer individually. Each of these courses is credit bearing towards high school graduation, will be reflected on each students’ transcript, and each student will receive a grade. We are very excited to be opening the BVExcel fall registration on May 1st. It will be open to students until May 15th.

Available classes are listed below. Click here to view course descriptions.

Manufacturing I

Tuesdays - 6-8 pm (plus two Saturdays during the semester), Location - EdHub (Whitinsville, MA)

Cybersecurity & Programming

Day TBD - 3:15-5:00 pm (some hours assigned virtually), Location - Hopedale Jr.-Sr. High School

2D Game Design

Wednesdays - 6-8 pm (plus two Saturdays during the semester), Location - Bellingham High School

NEW - Food for Thought

Tuesdays, 3:15- 5:00 pm (plus two Saturdays during the semester), Location - Douglas High School

NEW - Introduction to Health Careers and Care Essentials

Day TBD, 6-8 pm (plus two Saturdays during the semester), Location - Northbridge High School

Please find summer courses for your reference. These courses are tuition free with grant assistance from MA Office of Economic Development and would be most appropriate for any graduating seniors who are interested in entering the workforce or trade.

Click here to view the spring Athletics Schedule.

This portion of the newsletter will be dedicated to celebrating all members of our school community who are difference-makers. If you have someone you would like to highlight that is making a difference, please let us know by using the link below. Some will be highlighted here and everyone will receive individual recognition.

YOU INSPIRE ME: Kati Dunton, Technology Teacher, Memorial ES

TEAMWORK! Kati is all about teamwork when it comes to her colleagues. She is always willing to take time away from herself to help out when needed. She has much respect for her students and INSPIRES them in her classroom. Memorial is a better place to teach because of her!

YOU INSPIRE ME: Evan Hanson, School Counselor, Clough ES

Evan always has a smile on his face as he skirts from room to room and deals with the good and maybe not so good of each day. He's never very far away and is always checking in on all students. You can even find him playing basketball in the gym or out at recess with the students. He always has a positive attitude about any situation!

YOU INSPIRE ME: HS English Department and Students

I was able to attend the Nipmuc English Language Arts Night and was blown away by the depth and breadth of student presentations, drama performances, poetry slam, and informational sessions. Best of all, it was student led!

YOU INSPIRE ME: Bill McInnis, P.E. Teacher, Miscoe Hill Middle School

Nothing makes us smile more than to be welcomed with such enthusiasm each morning at Miscoe by Mr. McInnis. It's a great way to start a school day.

The school calendar for the 2022-2023 school year was approved at the last School Committee meeting. Here is a link to the 2022-2023 calendar.

Upcoming Events

• May 1-Principal Appreciation Day
• May 3-Teacher Appreciation Day
• May 2 Miscoe PTO Mtg
• May 5 Upton Town Meeting
• May 6 Mendon Town Meeting
• May 6- PD Day, Early Release
• May 6-Nipmuc Prom
• May 9th and May 10th Math MCAS Grades 3-4 (ES)
• May 9 and May 10 Miscoe Science MCAS
• May 10 Clough PTO Meeting
• May 10 Nipmuc Lead Learner Workshop
• May 11 Memorial PTO Mtg
• May 11 School Nurse Appreciation Day
• May 12 International Night for all students at Nipmuc
• May 16 SEPAC Mtg
• May 17 and May 18 Nipmuc Math MCAS
• May 18 and May 19 Miscoe Science and Tech MCAS
• May 18 Nipmuc Pops Concert
• May 19 Nipmuc FAST
• May 24 Memorial Day Program at Clough ES
• May 25 Nipmuc Art Show Opens and Senior Music Night
• May 26 Literacy Night at Clough ES
• June 1 4th Grade Move Up Day
• June 4 Nipmuc Graduation
• June 4 Family Fun Festival-Sponsored by Memorial PTO
• June 7 4th Grade School wide Concert at Clough ES
• June 7 and 8 Nipmuc Biology MCAS
• June 8 Fourth Grade Concert at High School
• June 9 Nipmuc Civics Symposium
• June 11 8th Grade Semi-Formal
• June 14 District Inspired Learning Day
• June 16 8th Grade Awards Ceremony
• June 17 Last Day of School, Early Release

ESY: Extended School Year (ESY) is a Special Education program for students with disabilities whose IEP Team has determined that, in order to minimize substantial regression and reduce substantial recoupment time, a student is required to attend ESY.

Programming will run from June 27, 2022 - August 11, 2022. The week of July 4th there will be no ESY because of the July 4th holiday. (Days and times contingent on program needs).

Grant Award: Through the generosity of the Dough Flutie r. Foundation for Autism, the Memorial Elementary School will be receiving a Playground Communication Board this Spring.

Transition Information Night: Upcoming transition information nights will be held at Nipmuc for incoming 9th grade families and Miscoe Hill for incoming 5th grade families. More information will be emailed to families.

For more information regarding our district's student support services, please go to our departmental webpage: https://www.mursd.org/page/student-support-services.

May 16th, 6:30pm at Nipmuc and Zoom here: https://mursd.zoom.us/j/85110892836?pwd=VkpyeWR4QTM4YWxrdUVtaXB4b3ZuUT09

Join us for our May meeting in-person or on Zoom!

We will vote on SEPAC board members for the 2022-2023 school year in this meeting! WE WANT YOU! Want to join the board? Learn more about SEPAC, the process for getting involved and voting in our bylaws document here and come to this meeting.

What is the MURSD SEPAC? The MURSD Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) is a group of parents and guardians of children who are supported or who are seeking special education support in the Mendon-Upton school district. Our SEPAC not only provides a support network for other parents, but a forum for open communication about special education in our district, an opportunity for collaboration with district leadership, and more. To be added to the SEPAC email list, please reach out to mendonuptonsepac@gmail.com. More information here: Mendon-Upton SEPAC | Mendon-Upton Regional School District (mursd.org)

If you are interested in full or part-time work, we have multiple opportunities within our district. In particular, with an increase in absences related to COVID-19, we are seeking community members or college students who might want to assist with coverage to help us get through the next few weeks. For applications, you can go apply on SchoolSpring.com or you can reach out to buildings for more information.

• MURSD COVID DASHBOARD AND RESOURCE WEBPAGE
• DESE/DPH Protocols December 2021
• MURSD FAQs regarding COVID January 2022
• DESE FAQs--most recent update January 6, 2022
• DESE/DPH Protocols for Responding to COVID-19 Scenarios - SY 21-22
• DESE/DPH COVID-19 Guidance for Districts and Schools: Fall 2021-English
• DESE COVID Flowchart on COVID/Exposure/Testing
• DESE Decision-Tree for Identifying Close Contacts
• DESE Extension of Mask Requirements
• DESE Policy on Vaccination Threshold

Please click here to view Dr. Cohen's January 26th letter to parents/guardians that outlines the updated MURSD COVID-19 testing program. Please reach out to your school nurse with any questions.