November 3,2025

June

Last Day for Students Monday June 15 Early Release @ 11:00

Dear Parents and Guardians,

School bus registration for the 2026-27 school year is underway. We need to begin to collect data on riders for the fall, so efficient routes may be developed for the start of the school year. Registering now helps prevent overcrowding on the buses.

An “early bird” payment discount is available for registrations completed by June 30, 2026. Information pertaining to school bus transportation may be found on the Transportation page of the Chelmsford Public Schools website.

Also, please see the attached flyer and registration directions for more details. It is very important that every student is registered to ride the bus regardless of if there is a fee. Registering now allows the transportation department to begin building routes for optimum efficiency, and if you are required to pay a fee it saves you money by registering early.

A few reminders about student transportation:

• ALL STUDENTS who desire to ride the school bus to or from school MUST REGISTER EVERY YEAR, even if they are not required to pay a fee.
• ALL REGISTRATIONS AND PAYMENTS are processed ON-LINE using MySchoolBucks
• When registering, each student must be entered separately in MySchoolBucks. This means for families with more than one child riding the bus, a registration must be completed for each child.
• MySchoolBucks will provide assistance for using their on-line registration system if needed during the registration process. MySchoolBucks may be reached directly at 855-832-5226.
• If using a daycare, you must email the transportation department after registering for the bus . All addresses reset to the home address every year.

REGISTRATION PROCESS

You will need to look up each student in MySchoolBucks and add each student to your account. Looking each student up will require name and LASID or birthdate. Each student must be registered separately. New students to the district please allow 24 hours prior to registering on MySchoolBucks. Current students in grades 4 and 8 may need to search for the student using the 2025-26 school until the next school is updated in the school record, which will happen in July. Please base the registration on where the student will be attending for the 2026-27 schoolyear.

As the school year comes to a close, the McCarthy PTO would like to thank our amazing families, staff, and community for their support throughout the year! From family events and enrichment programs to staff appreciation activities, we loved creating opportunities to bring our school community together.

Thank you for your participation and partnership in making this a fantastic year. Wishing our entire McCarthy community a fun, relaxing, and wonderful summer! ☀️🍉🏖️

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to McCarthy PTO at PTO.McCarthy@gmail.com As always, thank you for your continued support of our school community!

Lunch/Cafeteria Reminder:

Our school is considered to be "nut aware" and not nut free. Although nuts are allowed, no students are permitted to share food in the building. It is also considered best practice not to have students bring in shelled peanuts for the safety of others. It is important for students to understand that if they are bringing in nut products, they cannot share them regardless of whether the other student is allergic or not. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that no student experiences an anaphylactic response and we can help prevent those events together.

While we have these discussions with students throughout the day, it would be helpful and appreciated if you would address this at home as well.

REMINDER:

Students are required to have a current physical on file with the health office, per Massachusetts state law. The specific requirement can be found HERE. Physicals can be sent in with your student, faxed or emailed. We are here for any questions or concerns. Thank you!

Your Nurses,

Nurse Maeghan and Nurse Clancy

hughesm@chelmsford.k12.ma.us

clancyr@chelmsford.k12.ma.us

F: 978-256-9230

We want to remind families of the Chromebook damage and loss fee structure. If a device is damaged or lost, our ticketing system will notify you directly.

Tiered Device Repair Costs

• $50: Broken hinge kits, keys/keyboards, exterior housing, trackpad, or camera
• $100: Screen replacement, or multiple $50-tier items (e.g., hinge + keyboard)
• $150: Motherboard damage (e.g., broken port, spill) or a combination of screen + $50-tier damage
• $300: Loss/theft, or multiple damages across tiers (e.g., screen + hinges + keyboard)

Thank you for your attention and support as we work together to ensure responsible and safe use of technology in our schools.

Sincerely,
Bill Silver, Director, ICTS
silverb@chelmsford.k12.ma.us

Moya Charig Covers students A-G @ charigm@chelmsford.k12.ma.us ext.7478

Elyse Seero Covers students H-N @ seeroe@chelmsford.k12.ma.us ext.7465

Jessica Weaver Covers students O-Z @ weaverj@chelmsford.k12.ma.us ext. 7477

They will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Email: mccarthy_attendance@chelmsford.k12.ma.us

Please Send Email: Prior to 9am on the day of the absence (same as current voicemail option) Please Include: Child’s name, Grade, and Reason for absence.

We encourage you to use the email option when reporting an absence, dismissal, etc. Parents are still free to use the phone system to report absences, but you are encouraged to use email for greater office efficiency.

If you prefer, you can certainly call the attendance line prior to 9:00am, at 978-251-5122, please press 1.

**PLEASE READ**

We will continue to send automated emails home when students are absent. You will receive the email whether you notified the school or not. In order for an absence to be marked as "Excused", families will need to provide medical documentation.

Thank you for your understanding.

McCarthy Middle School

Attendance Matters

For an absence to be “excused” families need to provide medical documentation. This includes dismissals from the health office, unless your school nurse is requiring the dismissal based on the “Illness Policy” (ie: temperature over 100, vomiting, etc.) set by the Chelmsford School District or nursing judgment based on concerning symptoms that require further assessment or monitoring. Any absences over 3 days require medical documentation to be considered excused.

Just a reminder to have your licence with you when dismissing your student and entering the building for meetings.

Thank You

• Front Doors open @ 7:55 a.m.
• Warning Bell to go to class @ 8:08 a.m.
• First Period bell rings @ 8:10 a.m. (students should be in First period Class at this time)
  

• Dismissal is @ 2:30 p.m.

• Arrival Time: Arrival time for students at the McCarthy Middle School is 8:10 a.m. There is no supervision for students before that time.Students are not allowed in the building before 7:55 .