Mustang Matters

Greetings MMS Families,

Hard to believe it is mid November already! The short days and early evenings can weigh on our energy – please ensure your Mustang is getting lots of rest and also some fresh air and exercise each day. We have a regular full week of school next week, so set their alarms so we can see them every day. Then it will be the week of the Thanksgiving holiday already – the fall is flying along. Please see some key dates below.

Our November PTO meeting is on Tuesday – hope to see another large turnout this week! It has been great to have food and time to connect to open the evening as well. We also have our 8th Grade HS Fair that night, so it’s a great opportunity to come and bring your Mustang to both events! It will be a busy evening at MMS but promises to be a great one – see you there!

Have a great weekend,

Cooke

November PTO Meeting – 18th 6:00pm - MacFarlandMSPTO@gmail.com, Dinner provided!

High School Fair for 8th grade – Tuesday, November 18th, 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM

Next Curbside Coffee – Friday, November 21st – out front 8-8:45

Picture Day is Coming! – We are hoping all staff will take an updated picture this year and we need folks to message to students and families to look their best and be present on Monday, November 24th for Picture Day!

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

Parent Resource - November Resources – 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 our colleagues at Eliot-Hine Middle School Mr. Grenier and Principal Magrino – thank you for opening your school and classroom to MacFarland Thursday! I was excited to read Dr. Lee’s notes and reflections and it seems this was a great experience for him to connect and visit!

Shout out to Office Spriggs for keeping me in shoes! I wear out shoes like you wouldn’t believe and Officer Spriggs has been kind enough to donate my past two pairs of sneakers so I can keep moving around and staying on top of everything. Thank you Officer Spriggs!

Have you seen our growing forest? We have had so many trees planted in the past few weeks that I can’t wait to see how everything blooms in the spring. It will be beautiful! Shout our to our parent partners as well as Mr. Cordoba and his students who have gotten out and gotten their hands dirty beautifying our front lawn!

If you haven’t read it yet make sure you check out our November Wellness Newsletter sent out last week. Thank you Ms. Raphael and the Wellness Team for collaborating on this and sharing out key information and shout outs!

Ms. Henderson shared this great shout out/thank you for the 7th grade field trip this Monday and I wanted to thank her for the coordination and share her shout out with the community:

Dear Chaperones and Admin Teams,

Thank you so much for helping make our 7th-grade field trip a success! 🌟

Glow: Students truly enjoyed the film and were able to relate and make meaningful connections. Based on their survey feedback, they also loved the pizza and had fun riding on the school buses. They even got a special chance to see the star of the film on Zoom , although they did get a little antsy with excitement!

Grow: The trip reminded us how powerful collaboration is. I appreciate everyone’s flexibility, support, and patience as I coordinated details across the whole school. The pizza went fast, but it was a hit with the students!

Thank you again for your teamwork and dedication to making this experience memorable for our scholars.

Shout out to our enrollment hustling team who was out and about visiting elementary schools this week to help families and students learn about MacFarland! Mr. Novoa-Marcano helped us get going at Dorothy Heights this week as well as helping prep materials for AP Ojeda and Ms. Castro who were at Cleveland ES the same night. This is critical work for our school to ensure we grow and stay stable and strong!

Via email or by appt. – lucas.cooke@k12.dc.gov

Next Curbside Coffee – Friday, November 21st – out front 8-8:45

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!

• Monday, November 3rd, 2025 - 11:00am-12:00pm
• 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.

Critical ignoring is a way to help your brain handle all the information online by deciding what to ignore and what to focus on. In this lesson, you’ll learn three steps to practice critical ignoring and think about how to make your online spaces less overwhelming.

Before watching, please print out the attachments

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

The goal of the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) Safe Routes to School

(SRTS) program is to get more students walking and biking to school and doing so safely.

Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts in this anonymous, 10-minute survey to

help us customize our programs and services around the challenges faced at your school.

https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8271328/58f491c68c8e

A través de nuestro programa de Rutas Seguras a la Escuela (SRTS) del Departamento

de Transporte del Distrito (DDOT), queremos conseguir que más niños vayan a pie y en

bicicleta a la escuela y que lo hagan de forma segura.

Le pedimos que participe en esta encuesta anónima de unos 10 minutos y comparta

con nosotros su opinión y experiencia para que podamos adaptar nuestros programas

y servicios a los retos a los que se enfrentan las personas.

https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8271328/1a5e102c9600

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.