The MSK Messenger

MSk Families,

We would like to thank everyone who attended the band concert last Thursday. It was wonderful to see our students’ hard work and dedication in action. Under the guidance of Mrs. Ellis, their daily efforts came together in an impressive performance.

Our “Winter Two” sports season begins next week. Please be sure that all required paperwork and physical forms are submitted so students do not miss any practices. The first practices will begin on Monday, and the first games are scheduled for February 24. It is great to see so many students participating in our sports and clubs.

On Wednesday, February 11, students will participate in ELA Maine Through Year (MTYA) testing. Please help your students prepare by ensuring they get a good night’s sleep and eat a healthy breakfast that morning.

Lastly, our 8th grade students are excited to provide “Revolutionary Service” tomorrow, Friday, February 6, at the grand reopening of Redcoats and Revolutions at MSK. This unique and interactive experience allows students to develop their communication skills while celebrating their learning of American history with the community. We encourage you to come support our students during this engaging event.

Middle school is an important time in our students’ lives as they grow and learn at tremendous rates. Academics are critical to this growth and development, and just as vital is the social development of our students. At MSK we focus on Work Habits and Citizenship, which include such characteristics as persevering on tasks when they are difficult and contributing to a positive learning environment. These Work Habits and Citizenship qualities are the criteria for selecting Student of the Month. These lifelong, transferable skills help our students overcome obstacles, demonstrate empathy, and become productive members of our middle school community. Students from each team will be nominated, and a small recognition ceremony will be held at the beginning of each month to highlight the many great students in our building. We want to congratulate the inaugural Students of the Month for January: (Allied Arts) Cornelia Botha, Sam Coleman, Piper Pearson; (Grade 6) Graham Kelly, Lily Montgomery, Olin Sparling, Leah Squires; (Grade 7) Max Martin, Brynne Moulton, Sebastian Smith, Elsa Toll; (Grade 8) Jesse Bostrom, Amelia Clark, Sam Coleman, Oliver LaPierre.

The Middle School of the Kennebunks has been selected to participate in The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on March 16th. “The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the only assessment that measures what U.S. students know and can do in various subjects across the nation, states, and in some urban districts.” It is administered by the National Center for Education Statistics, within the U.S. Department of Education.” NAEP has randomly selected approximately 50 of our 8th grade students to take the assessment. In the near future, students who have been selected will be notified by letter via email, or USPS, if email is unavailable. If you have any questions regarding the assessment please contact Pam Meads or Brian Grant at pmeads@rsu21.net bgrant@rsu21.net or by calling 467-9033.

We are excited to announce the upcoming Career Day at MSK, which aims to provide students with an invaluable opportunity to learn about the wide range of career paths in their future. Career Day will coincide with our Spring testing, which will be held in mid-May. Specific dates will be confirmed in the next few weeks. This event will take place in the afternoon from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm.

To make this event a success, we are looking for enthusiastic volunteers who are willing to share their experiences, insights, and expertise with our students. If you are interested in volunteering, please reach out to Luke Myers (lmyers@rsu21.net ) or Craig Hemond (chemond@rsu21.net).

Due to the wonderful work of The Community Gourmet, We are now able to offer food/snack bags for students to take home every Friday! These kits contain kid-friendly snacks and easy to make meals for one. If your family could benefit, please reach out to Nurse Amy at amurphy@rsu21.net

Regular attendance is essential for academic success, social development, and the development of strong lifelong habits. Students are expected to attend school each day unless they have an excused absence. Maine law and School Board policy define excused absences as: personal illness; necessary medical appointments during the school day; observance of a recognized religious holiday; family emergencies; approved planned absences for educational or personal purposes; or education disruptions as outlined in Policy JEA.

A student is considered chronically absent when they miss 10% or more of the school year (approximately 17 days), for any reason—including both excused and unexcused absences. Even when absences are excused, extended time away from school can affect a student’s learning and overall progress. When a student reaches this 10% threshold, a meeting will be scheduled with the family to work together on strategies that support regular attendance and ensure the student stays on track academically and socially. This meeting is meant to be a supportive step, focused on partnership and problem-solving.

To further support regular attendance, letters will be sent home when a student accumulates 8 unexcused absences. If a student reaches 10 unexcused absences, a formal attendance meeting will be held to develop a plan moving forward. These efforts reflect our shared commitment to each student’s success.

If a student is absent, he/she may not participate in any co-curricular events on the day of the absence unless excused by a physician and/or an administrator

Tardiness

Students are expected to arrive on time each day, ready to learn. Any student who arrives after 7:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m. on Wednesdays, will be marked as tardy in attendance records. Upon arrival, the student must report to the office to sign in before going to class. Office staff will provide the student with a tardy slip, which must be given to the classroom teacher upon entry. This process ensures accurate attendance records and minimizes classroom disruptions.

To support consistent and timely attendance, students will be assigned Extended Learning Time (ELT) for every three unexcused tardies. ELT is a one-hour session held after school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. During this time, students can complete academic work, receive support, and reflect on the importance of arriving on time. The goal of ELT is not punitive but to reinforce positive habits that contribute to academic success. Students will receive extended learning time for every 6 excused tardies.

February 11

NWEA Reading Test

February 16 - 20

Winter Break - No School

Click here for the full calendar

Best Buddies - Will meet Thursday, Feb. 12 in Room 505

Debate Team - Meet on Mondays in the Library

Math Team - Meet on Wednesdays in Room 706

SAGA - Meet on Mondays in Room 802

Friday, February 6: Redcoats and Revolutions

It's that time of year again... Redcoats and Revolutions! The 8th grade US Studies students at MSK will again be hosting a mock restaurant simulation this year, and look forward to providing community guests with their “revolutionary service.”

This event will take place during Blocks 1, 4, 5, and 6 on Friday, February 6, 2026.

** The PTG was asked to provide some volunteers to help out with the event behind the scenes by serving snacks. If you are interested, please sign up below.**

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4AABA62BA4FCC16-61591605-friday

THANK YOU!

MSK Unified Basketball – Food Donations Needed!
Winter 2 sports games begin February 24th, and we’re looking for snack, drink, and candy donations to sell at our Unified Basketball, Volleyball, and Wrestling home events. 100% of profits directly support the MSK Unified Basketball team.

Calling all MSK Softball Players!

Join Mr. Rousselle, the high school coach, in the MSK Gym for Skills & Drills practice every Thursday in February. Get touches on the ball, learn 1:1, and meet new friends. Can't make it to all? No worries!

5th / 12th / 26th @ 4:15 - 5:30pm

19th @ 2:45 - 4:15pm

CALENDARS & SCHEDULES for Winter practices & games:

-- FEBRUARY 2026 (tentative)

-- MARCH 2026 (tentative)

HERE ARE SOME GREAT RESOURCES FOR PARENTS:

--ATHLETICS PAGE on the MSK WEBSITE – Contains ALL of the schedules for MSK home and away Games, as well as the locations of away events, and important daily announcements for sports, helpful documents for parents to download, monthly calendars, and plenty of pictures of MSK athletes in action!

--MSK SPORTS 2025-26 (handout containing sports information/dates for the entire year)

--Link to the RANK ONE PARENT PORTAL (instructions to help you register your athlete for MSK Athletics for the 2025-26 school year)

Any questions? Please email MSK Athletic Director Christine Jarowicz cjarowicz@rsu21.net

Click Here

Call or Text 988 or 1-888-568-1112

Kennebunk

Kris Fogg

207-604-1394

Arundel

Wendy Lank

207-985-4201 ext. 113

Kennebunkport

207-967-4401

Kennebunk Chamber of Commerce

Laura Dolce

207-967-0857

English:

You have the right to an interpreter at no cost to you. If you would like to request an interpreter's assistance to communicate with our schools and teachers, all you need to do is ask. We will make sure interpretation services are arranged in advance of your meeting.

Burmese:

သင့်အတွက် အခကြေးငွေ မယူဘဲ စကားပြန်လုပ်ပိုင်ခွင့်ရှိသည်။ ကျွန်ုပ်တို့၏ကျောင်းများ၊ ဆရာများနှင့် ဆက်သွယ်ရန်အတွက် စကားပြန်တစ်ဦး၏အကူအညီကို သင်တောင်းဆိုလိုပါက၊ သင်လုပ်ဆောင်ရန်သာ လိုအပ်ပါသည်။ သင့်အစည်းအဝေးမတိုင်မီ ဘာသာပြန်ခြင်းဝန်ဆောင်မှုများကို သေချာစီစဉ်ပေးပါမည်။

Chinese:

您有权免费获得口译员服务。如果您想请求口译员协助与我们的学校和老师沟通，您只需提出请求即可。我们将确保在您的会议之前安排口译服务。

Gujarati:

તમને કોઈ પણ ખર્ચ વિના દુભાષિયાનો અધિકાર છે. જો તમે અમારી શાળાઓ અને શિક્ષકો સાથે વાતચીત કરવા માટે દુભાષિયાની સહાયની વિનંતી કરવા માંગતા હો, તો તમારે ફક્ત પૂછવાનું છે. અમે ખાતરી કરીશું કે તમારી મીટિંગ પહેલા અર્થઘટન સેવાઓ ગોઠવવામાં આવી છે.

Japanese:

あなたには無料で通訳を雇う権利があります。学校や教師とのコミュニケーションのために通訳のサポートをリクエストしたい場合は、リクエストするだけです。会議の前に通訳サービスを手配いたします。

Portuguese:

Você tem direito a um intérprete sem nenhum custo para você. Se desejar solicitar a assistência de um intérprete para se comunicar com nossas escolas e professores, basta solicitar. Garantiremos que os serviços de interpretação sejam organizados antes da sua reunião.

Russian:

Вы имеете право на бесплатного переводчика. Если вы хотите попросить помощи переводчика для общения с нашими школами и учителями, все, что вам нужно сделать, это попросить. Мы позаботимся о том, чтобы услуги устного перевода были организованы перед вашей встречей.

Spanish:

Tiene derecho a un intérprete sin costo alguno para usted. Si desea solicitar la asistencia de un intérprete para comunicarse con nuestras escuelas y maestros, todo lo que necesita hacer es preguntar. Nos aseguraremos de que los servicios de interpretación se organicen antes de su reunión.

Ukrainian:

Ви маєте право на безкоштовний перекладач. Якщо ви хочете попросити допомоги перекладача для спілкування з нашими школами та вчителями, все, що вам потрібно зробити, це попросити. Ми подбаємо про те, щоб послуги усного перекладу були організовані заздалегідь до вашої зустрічі.

Vietnamese:

Bạn có quyền có một thông dịch viên miễn phí. Nếu bạn muốn yêu cầu sự trợ giúp của thông dịch viên để giao tiếp với trường học và giáo viên của chúng tôi, tất cả những gì bạn cần làm là yêu cầu. Chúng tôi sẽ đảm bảo sắp xếp dịch vụ phiên dịch trước cuộc gặp của bạn.