Mustang Matters

Greetings MMS Families,

It was great to see so many of you again in person and online for our PTO meeting Tuesday evening! I also want to wish you all a great holiday. For myself, I remain truly thankful to be a part of this community. Each year we grow and make progress as a collaborative, collective group, and I am so proud to count myself a member of the Mustangs! Thank you for allowing me to serve alongside you!

I hope you and your family have a peaceful and restful break this coming week. We have a short, but busy two day week ahead of us. Some key notes for this week:

Picture Day is Monday! Please reach out to Mr. Novoa-Marcano if you have any questions. There will be a makeup date if your Mustang misses the day.

We have a mini Spirit Week next week! This means Mustangs CAN dress down in the theme for each day as long as their attire fits within the typical scope of school appropriate wear.

• Monday – Fall/Winter Color Battle – rep your favorite season in fall or winter colors as we are in the ‘shift’ between the two seasons!
• Tuesday – Rep your favorite team or artist – the more creative the better! Favorite sports team, singer, rapper, visual artist, etc. or be your own art!
• The BEST two outfits in each grade level as voted by STAFF (next time is student votes) will win lunch on Friday 12.5!

Let’s have some fun to close out the month and lean into the break!

Please note we will NOT have a new parent message next week, so enjoy the weekend and the holiday and I look forward to connecting in December!

Cooke

November 24th - Picture Day!

November 24th, November 25th – Fall Spirit Week!

November 26th-November 30th – No school for students

December 3rd—Staff Meeting/No afterschool programming!

December 9—December PTO Meeting 6-7 PM

December 11th open house—reach out if you are interested in supporting!

December 18th - Winter Arts Showcase –– more details to come!

Parent Resource -Gratitude Challenge! – please see the calendar from our Wellness Team for a different gratitude task each day of the month. All students who participate fully will join us for a celebration at the end of the month so keep a copy of their calendar to track their progress!

PTO Liaisons have been coordinated to support each grade level and grade level families. You can expect to see them at PTO meetings and connect with them if need be. For 25-26 SY the staff liaisons are:

- 6th Grade – Jessica Gibian – jessica.gibian@k12.dc.gov

- 7th Grade – Fadwa Hussein – fadwa.hussein@k12.dc.gov

- 8th Grade – Sarah Riggen – sarah.riggen@k12.dc.gov

In addition, the family Grade Level Liaisons for this year are:

• 6th Grade – Anita Rechler and Julie Gallo – rechlera@gmail.com, julie.schwenk@gmail.com

• 7th Grade – Patrique Smellie – pacamp01@gmail.com

• 8th Grade – Nidia Dence – nidia.dence@gmail.com

A huge thanks to all of our liaisons for this year, and a reminder to all families: be sure to join the PTO’s WhatsApp or email list if you haven’t already (see info at the bottom of this message)!

Shout Outs and Celebrations: Please check out a few shout outs to MacFarland community members who are embracing our belief that we are one MacFarland!

Shout out to Ms. Gibian who shared some parent feedback and gave her time and insights to help streamline this weekly communication to be more readable and accessible. More input welcome but thank you Ms. Gibian for relaying the input from staff and families and personally helping try to refine the communications and share ideas to make it more useful, digestible and appealing!

Shout out from Ms. Raphael for the awesome collaborative work by the Wellness Team this week:

Greetings Support Squad! I want to take a moment to say a BIG thank you for spending this week's Wellness Meeting as a working opportunity to submit those wellness referrals! We did so well with boosting our numbers so quickly to the point that Carla (Director of School Mental Health) herself called me personally 1) to make sure we weren't in crisis... but 2) also to confirm the dramatic level of support needs and active interventions brought to her attention!

This is good! Because we need to collect all the data to ensure our scholars continue to be in the forefront of any Wellness matters, discussions, and supports! So again, thank you! Despite my absence- We all came through as a Team! 🙂

Our High School Fair Tuesday evening was a huge success thanks to the hard work of Ms. Thompson and the support of her team and additional teachers and staff to support this experience for our Mustangs and families! We had a large turnout of potential high schools for our students and had parents and students alike engaged and learning about the great options out there for them.

The Our Minds Matter team supported by Ms. Raphael and Ms. Kent showcased their work for the board and CEO of the group in the library on Wednesday! This was a heartwarming experience where they led 6th graders in creating gratitude leaves and shared what their group is for potential recruits. The OMM leadership was rightfully impressed as our young people really shone!

This month’s LSAT Meeting was a great meeting mostly because we were blessed with student presence and input! 6th and 8th grade students Osa, Olivia and Emma participated in the meeting along with our LSAT team and answered a long series of questions and probing about student experiences and sense of belonging. They provided some great insights into student experiences – what is good and what could be better – that was thoughtful and gave the adults some insight into how we can improve our students’ joy. Thank you team and student voice leaders!

Our PTO Meeting this week was another great chance to connect as a community and thank you to our liaisons who have been consistently in attendance! Ms. Gibian and Ms. Leonor provided translation in person, there was amazing food again, we had lots of families in person and virtually and great staff presence from Mr. Samper, Mr. Dance, Mr. and Ms. Chapman, and Ms. Hussein virtually and Ms. Bax, Mr. Ring, Ms. Gibian, Ms. Leonor, Ms. Kent, and Ms. Walker-McLean in person. These team members also helped with our food drive for the month providing essential supports and goods to some of our community families. Thank you to Robin for leading and continuing to grow our Mustang PTO family and all of our participating families! A great and inspiring evening!

Georgetown University's men's basketball team will hold an Educators Appreciation Day during their game on Saturday, November 22nd vs. Wagner College. During the game, they will honor an Outstanding Educator of the Game. I'm happy to share that, by the recommendation of Chancellor Ferebee, Ms. Sarah Bax, math teacher at MacFarland Middle School has been selected for this recognition! Congrats Ms. Bax! n addition to celebrating Ms. Bax, Georgetown will also host a school supply drive in support of MacFarland. Supplies may include traditional school items or non-school essentials like hygiene products. An amazing and well deserved honor and recognition for Ms. Bax and support for MacFarland!

Our Minds Matter student leaders did an outstanding job in today’s Lunch Bunch session in front of the CEO and funders for the program's DCPS partners! They guided the group with confidence, kept the conversation welcoming, and made sure everyone felt included. Their ability to listen, encourage their peers, and keep the discussion on track showed real leadership. We’re proud of the supportive space they created and the positive energy they brought to the room.

Stay Tuned: The OMM student leaders are looking forward to planning a schoolwide engaging event for all our MacFarland scholars to promote Sense of Belonging.

Short Clip of presentation at link below:

IMG_3407.mov

Dear Families,

Is your student ready to get a head start on college while still in high school?

Join Bard High School Early College DC for our Open House on Monday, December 8th at 5:30 PM at 1351 Alabama Avenue, SE!

Bard is a DCPS high school where students can earn up to 60 college credits and an Associate in Arts (A.A.) degree — for free — while earning their high school diploma.

At Bard, students experience:
✨ College-level courses taught by Bard College professors
🏫 A caring, small-school community with a strong 9th Grade Academy
🎓 New career pathways in Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA)
🎨 Clubs, sports, and student-led initiatives that inspire leadership and creativity

🍕 Dinner will be provided!
📅 Monday, December 8, 2025 | 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
📍 Bard High School Early College DC – 1351 Alabama Ave SE, Washington, DC 20032

Families can register using the QR code on the flyer or by visiting our Instagram page @BHSEC_DC for more information.

Come see why Bard is where students succeed academically, connect deeply to school, and prepare for what’s next!

Open House Dates: if you would like to support an Open House please reach out at least one week prior!

Also, please share with any potential MacFarland families!

• Thursday, December 11th, 2025 - 5:30pm- 6:30pm
• Thursday, January 8th, 2026 - 5:30pm -6:30pm
• Monday, January 26th, 2026 - 5:30pm-6:30pm

Empower your family with tools to navigate the digital world! Based on the trusted Common Sense Media curriculum, this series offers short videos, parent tip sheets, and family engagement guides to help parents support their kids in making healthy, informed choices online. From media literacy to digital well-being, each resource is designed to spark meaningful conversations and build lifelong habits for safe and responsible tech use.

The internet is an amazing place to find information. But, how do you find the right information, from reliable sources, when you need it? This lesson focuses on teaching the SEEK method, a strategy that supports your information searches through asking specific questions, exploring sources that answer your questions, evaluating sources for quality, and keeping track of what and where your sources of information came from.

By practicing the SEEK method, you can become a responsible internet user.

S.E.E.K.ing Information Common Sense Media.mp4

Please click the link below to watch Ms. Beckett, MacFarland's School Librarian discuss her November book recommendation, Blueberry Pancakes Forever.

Blueberry Pancakes Forever book talk November.mp4

Dear MacFarland community, as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) tightens its stance on food support to families, MacFarland is seeing more pull on our food pantry that supports students and families year-round.

Most of the items that are typically used to support families have been depleted. If you have any unexpired, non-perishables in your pantries and cupboards, please think about supporting our families with these items. Protein meals (including beans, and other grains, canned fish/meat) are of value to our families. With every school break comes more stress for families; because we’re a school community that supports the whole child, this is our way of ensuring care beyond the walls of the school campus.

If you are able to support, you may drop off the non-perishable goods in the main office, so that we can sort, store, and support families immediately in need.

Thank you for all that you do to support our school community.

The Petworth Library will be closing for a building refresh project on December 12th and we will likely be closed for the remainder of the school year. For more information please visit the link below:

https://www.dclibrary.org/news/petworth-library-renovation

NEW ATTENDANCE EXCUSE NOTE PLATFORM: Families can now submit attendance excuse notes via the Aspen GO (Parent Portal). Step-by-step instructions attached below.

At DC Public Schools, we want every student to feel loved, challenged, and prepared to positively influence society and thrive in life. To reach this ambitious goal, every student needs to be in school every day. However, too many of the young people in our city are not coming to school every day.

The Office of the State Superintendent’s (OSSE) finds that one in four kids in DC are chronically absent from school – which means missing 10 percent or more of the school year. At some DCPS high schools, three out of four students are chronically absent.

DCPS believes that every day counts.

Students, families, and the community must be empowered to track our progress in helping every young person get to school. By being transparent about our challenges, our city can work together to reduce the barriers that too many students and families face.

Definitions

• Truancy: Measures the percent of students aged 5-17 who are considered truant. To be “truant” means that a student has 10 or more unexcused absences from school – with or without – parental knowledge, consent, or otherwise securing prior approval from the start of the school year.
• In-school Attendance: Measures the average percent of students who are attending school.
• Chronic Absence Rate: Measures the percent of students who miss 10 percent or more days in a school year from the start of the school year.
• Attendance Entry Rate: Measures the percent of classes for which a school has entered attendance.
• 60/40 rule: Students are considered legally absent for the day if they miss more than 40% of their classes.

Regular school attendance is critical for academic success. Our goal is to ensure that every student attends school regularly and on time. Daily presence in school has a huge impact on a student’s academic success, starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school. Even as children grow older and more independent, families can continue to play a key role in making sure students get to school safely every day and understand why attendance is so important for success in school and in life.

We realize some absences are unavoidable due to health problems or other circumstances. But, we also know that when students miss too much school—excused or unexcused—they can fall behind academically. Your child is less likely to succeed if he or she is chronically absent—which means missing 18 or more days in a school year. Research shows that:

Children that are chronically absent in kindergarten and 1st grade are much less likely to read at grade level by the end of 3rd grade. By 6th grade, chronic absence is a warning sign for students at risk of dropping out of school. By 9th grade, good attendance can predict graduation rates even better than 8th grade test scores.

Questions/Concerns:

If you have any questions or concerns please contact Ms. Claribel Salgado via email at claribel.salgado@k12.dc.gov or by phone at (202) 671-6033.

• https://dcps.nutrislice.com/menu/macfarland-middle-school

The allergy season is here and many individuals who suffer from frequent asthma attacks are beginning to feel the impact of the various allergens and irritants in the air. For students and families, we are sharingthis link to Children’s National -- https://www.childrensnational.org/get-care/departments/impact-dc-asthma-clinic -- as a resource for helping to manage your students’ asthma related-illnesses. If your child suffers from asthma, be sure to complete and submit the Asthma Action Plan and Medication Plan and Procedure to the Nurse. The Anaphylaxis Plan must be completed for acute allergy sufferers who need to be administered an Epi-pen. Also, if your child is on any medication during school hours—including over-the-counter medications—a Medication Plan and Procedure Form must be completed and submitted to the Nurse along with your child’s Medication Treatment Administration Form, signed by your child’s primary care physician. All these documents must be provided to the Nurse by parents, along with the medication/s your child is taking during school hours. Students are not permitted to self-carry or self-medicate. All the forms mentioned in this message are attached, for your convenience.

For Mental Health Support Resources in English and Spanish for Students, Parents, and Teachers. Topics include: Stress, Grief and Loss, Anxiety, Suicide and Self-Harm, Healthy Relationships, Social Media, and much more! -- Mary`s Center (maryscenter.org)

This school year, DCPS is partnering with Children’s National Hospital to support our students’ health and attendance through the Collaborative for Attendance Resources in Education and Health (CARE-H); CARE-H is now available in all DCPS schools. Through this program, parents or guardians can give permission to DCPS to securely share attendance information with their child’s doctor(s), nurse(s) and medical office staff. This information will help these healthcare professionals to provide special outreach and medical attention to children that might be missing school and their families. Information about this initiative can be found here.

POC: Andrea.Allen@k12.dc.gov

The MacFarland PTO has set up an email list for discussion and connection among current and enrolled MacFarland families. Any family member or guardian of a MacFarland student can join by either of these methods:

Attention families, anyone with a child that would like a Kids Ride Free SmartTrip Card can sign up for one in the main office. We will process and distribute on a rolling basis.