November 29, 2020 

Dear Quashnet School Community, 

I hope everyone had a relaxing and healthy holiday break.  It will be great to welcome back our FALCON cohort on MONDAY, 11/30, along with Grade 3 students. 

The MASHPEE cohort returns to school for their in-person week on Monday, 12/7.  For students working remotely, please be sure to check your classroom schedule and sign in Monday morning. Teachers do take attendance EACH day - so being to class on time is very important! 

COVID-19

We are all in this together and dependent on each other to follow health protocols. If you traveled out of state over the holiday break, please follow the state travel advisory linked HERE.  Currently, the only "low-risk state" is Hawaii.  All other states, even those in New England, are considered "red" states. For your reference, here is the  MPS Student Health and Wellness checklist. 

Should you have any health questions, please reach out to our District Nurse Coordinator Stacey Schakel at sschakel@mpspk12.org or at 781-775-7605 at ANY time including weekends, evenings, and holidays. During school hours, contact Quashnet's Nurse Terri at trichards@mpspk12.org  or 508-539-1550.  

If a student is going to be absent, in-person or remote, please notify the school through qsattendance@mpspk12.org or at 508-539-1550. Parent/guardians of any in-person student working remotely should also notify the school of the in-person absence. 

Reminder:  All students, even those 100% remote, are required to have a flu shot by Dec. 31, 2020.  Please send this verification to Nurse Terri asap! Thank you for your cooperation.

Picture Retake Day 

Wednesday, December 2 - Falcon Cohort + Grade 3

Wednesday, December 9 - Mashpee Cohort + Grade 3

 

Congratulations to our outstanding 

STEM teacher, Mrs. Whiddon! Mrs. Whiddon was named MassTEC teacher of the month for her outstanding effort to design and implement quality educational experiences equally to both in-person and remote students.

Students were all provided materials to design an underwater rover and then test their designs in a pool at school. After school test times were arranged for the 100% remote students to ensure ALL students were able to test their underwater bots.  The rovers needed to stay underwater, not float, and be able to move right, left, forward, and backward. 
 

          Report cards are coming!  

Report cards are scheduled to be sent home electronically on Monday, December 21, 2020. Students are assessed regularly based on state learning standards. Parents/guardians are informed of their child's progress accordingly:

(4) Exceeding the grade-level expectations 

(3) Meeting the grade level expectation 

(2) Partially Meeting the grade-level standards 

(1) Not yet meeting the grade-level standard.  

*(X) Not assessed this term 

**(I) Insufficient Work Submitted

*Not all standards are taught in each term, those standards will be left blank or there will be an X indicating that.  

**There will be a new designation this year in addition to the number scale.  You may see an "I" next to a standard.  "I" indicates Insufficient Work Submitted. In order to assess the student's acquisition of a standard, it is imperative that assignments are turned in and the student actively participates in remote/in-person learning. Active participation in school is critical.

 

Attendance is taken every day whether a student is in-person or a remote learner. Present In-person and Remote Present will be calculated as a combined total of days present. Absent and Remote Absent will also appear as a combined total on the report card. 

In prior years, students earned a grade from all 6 special subject teachers on each trimester report card.  Currently, you will only see a final grade for your child's first quinmester special, which represents the first 34 days of school.  Although we are in the second quinmester for specials, students have not earned a final grade yet. Grading for the current special will show up on the second trimester report card.  

Quinmesters, trimesters, standard-based, 4, 3, 2, 1, I, attendance, oh boy!  If you have any questions please always feel free to reach out to your child's teacher for clarification. Both Assistant Principal Kapulka and I are also available to always help and answer questions! 

Have you updated PowerSchool for the 2020-2021 school year?  

PLEASE take the time to check your information and update your contacts. If the information is incorrect, you may miss important calls, notifications, and your child's report card may not be received.  Thank you for taking the time to do this.  Below is the notice sent out by Superintendent DeBoer several weeks ago. 

Parents/Guardians:  It is imperative that you update the data listed in PowerSchool for each of your children.  It is a SAFETY issue!  We need your current telephone number and email address to ensure that we can communicate with you should your child be identified as a close contact or become ill or injured while at school.  An email from “registration@mpspk12.org” was sent out in early November containing the information needed to accomplish this task.  If you need it to be sent to you again, please contact Sean Moroney (smoroney@mpspk12.org) or Christine Fisher (cfisher@mpspk12.org). 

It is GREAT to be in Mashpee because of the generosity of our connected community!  Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. McQuiston for so many beautiful hand-made hats - there were so many EVERY third grader could get one!  Check out the pictures on the picture tab for Nov. 16.  Thank you, Mashpee Kiwanis, Barnstable County Sheriff's Department, Mashpee Patrolman's Union, and Mashpee Firefighters for all of their generous donations to support Mashpee's Cape Kid Meals.  Thank you to MMHS students, Skyla Rimple, Katrina Mayen, and Michael Kelly for their fundraising to support Cape Kid Meals. Our Grade 5 students were remembered again this year by Osterville Rotary Club with personal writing journals.  We so appreciate their support and recognition of our young authors. Our labyrinth is coming back to life with the help of the landscaping students from Upper Cape Tech. QS received 14 beautifully handcrafted student desks. There were additional donations throughout the month that also went directly to help students and families. 

Every donation, big and small, is extremely appreciated. Thank YOU! 

December 1 is a kick-off for Quashnet for Change! 

Have a wonderful week ahead.  Stay healthy! 

Respectfully, 

Principal O'Brien