Principal, Karen Lindquist - klindquist@maynard.k12.ma.us

Assistant Principal, Kate Murray - kmurray@maynard.k12.ma.us

Administrative Assistant- Kathy Sullivan - ksullivan@maynard.k12.ma.us

Administrative Assistant- Nancy Dangelo - ndangelo@maynard.k12.ma.us

School Nurse, Maria Bourgeois - mbourgeois@maynard.k12.ma.us

Main Office Line - (978) 897-8246

Absentee Phone Line - (978)897-0310

3/1 - 3/28 - Read Across America Challenge

3/25 - Report Cards for Term 2 available in Aspen

3/28 - Early Release Day, 11:45 AM dismissal, GM Conferences, No Preschool

4/4 - All School Pajama Party!

4/8 - 4/9 - Grade 3 ELA MCAS testing

4/11 - Early Release Day, 11:45 AM dismissal, GM Conferences, No Preschool

4/21 - 4/25 - April Vacation, no school

5/6 - 5/7 - Grade 3 Math MCAS testing

5/8 - ELPAC Sponsored Multicultural Night (Details to follow)

5/13-5/19 - Green Meadow Book Fair

Traducción Española

Tradução para Português

Good morning everyone,

I hope this email finds everyone doing well as we rapidly head toward spring.

As we continue to recover from the effects of the COVID pandemic on our students academically, socially, and emotionally, we are all aware that students, their families, caregivers, and staff members are all feeling unprecedented levels of stress and concern regarding how our children are doing in school. More effectively and precisely understanding the nature of these feelings would greatly help our whole school community formulate thoughtful and effective responses to these challenges.

A difficulty that all districts face is getting quality and complete information about how community members, staff, students, and families/caregivers feel about their experiences in school or related to school in order to respond more effectively to people's concerns.

Surveying stakeholder groups can help address these concerns by giving us accurate information about how everyone feels about the Maynard Public Schools in terms of academic quality, school climate, and the social and emotional needs of all.

District-made surveys that are reliable, valid and fully vetted are exceedingly difficult to create and response rates can be low, resulting in limited value for use as tools for school and district improvement. Concerns about the anonymity of survey participants frequently contribute to these low response rates. Finally, analyzing the results generated by surveys can also be very challenging and time-consuming.

To help overcome these challenges and obtain reliable, valid, and high-quality survey results on the important topic of how students are feeling in school around a variety of academic, social, and emotional areas, the Maynard Public Schools has partnered with the Education Commonwealth Project (ECP) to administer student surveys on Friday, March 28th. ECP is currently located at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and was formerly housed at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell when we began our partnership three years ago.

This is the third year our teachers and students are being surveyed with the support of ECP, and we are now building data over time to help us see trends and inform district decision-making. Last year, over 90% of teachers completed ECP surveys designed for faculty, and over 90% of students completed surveys designed for them. We are anticipating similar results this year.

These surveys have been extensively field tested in districts across the state for more than 8 years thanks to a grant from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, are available in multiple languages, and different versions of the survey have been developed, depending on grade level, for students in grades PreK-12. More than 10% of all public school students in Massachusetts are now taking the ECP surveys, which help districts across the state assess areas of strength in programming and areas in need of additional support.

The research creating the surveys has also gone through the Institutional Review Board process at the University of Massachusetts, which ensures the materials are safe and appropriate for student use and guarantees participant anonymity.

ECP oversees the survey process. The surveys are administered through links generated by ECP, and responses are encrypted and sent directly back to ECP at Umass/Amherst, ensuring anonymity for the students and staff.

Student LASIDs (student identification numbers) are required on each survey, not to reveal the student's identity but to gather demographic information to generate meaningful data analysis of student subgroups. For example, do female students feel the same way as male students on a particular question? Do students learning English respond in a particular way to a given question differently from native or fluent English speakers?

ECP compiles student responses to help us look at such questions and sends aggregated data stripped of all identifying information for individual students back to the Maynard Public Schools. Should any aggregated group contain 10 or fewer students, that result is not reported separately to prevent students from being identified even inferentially.

Part of the work the ECP team has done for Maynard is creating a data dashboard based on the survey results. This dashboard allows us to examine student responses from a wide array of demographic perspectives, enhancing data analysis.

Since all of the work the ECP team has done is state grant funded, there is no cost to the Maynard Public Schools for any of this work.

The District has also partnered with ECP to develop a parent/caregiver survey for use. We will be using the parent survey for the second time this spring, with surveys going to parents and guardians on Friday March 28th, with the window to complete the surveys open until Friday April 11th.

Stay tuned for more information about the student surveys on March 28th. We’ll also keep you posted regarding the parent/caregiver surveys slated for release on March 28th as well.

This message includes a link for the handout and script that teachers will use before the start of the online survey for your reference - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1byOij9MQ2SxPJxyX9kfw45jN1TlfwsbQ?usp=sharing

Finally, any parent or guardian who does not wish to have their child take the survey may opt-out. Contact your students' schools and let them know you do not want them to take the survey.

Sincerely yours,

Brian Haas

Superintendent Maynard Public Schools

On Monday, March 17, Mrs. Murray's husband came to Green Meadow to demonstrate Hurling and Gaelic Football. Hurling is an Irish team sport that is played outdoors by men and women. Its origin dates back almost 3,000 years. It is played with a wooden stick (a hurley) and a small ball (a Sliotar). Gaelic Football is another team sport that is similar to rugby. Mr. Murray demonstrated the various equipment for each sport. Students had the opportunity to try some of the skills needed in each of the sports. Mr. Murray also shared that singing a song together is a tradition that players share at the end of a match. He shared one of the songs his former team would sing. The students loved learning about both sports and little Irish culture.

You can visit our Green Meadow virtual library to see all of the new resources for the month of March by clicking on the link below.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vS9N5oVUxeotzDnMNzSJr-jznVJ2lrK7QyxrQ59laSBiJ0XWb16TLNUuGsjpWhdkOPhPuhBi0Wx1swk/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

Green Meadow students are currently learning about flexible thinking, the ability to think about things in a new and different way. Being a flexible thinker allows us to change our plan when warranted, without getting stuck in the disappointment around making the change. As adults, we can help children with flexible thinking by validating their emotions, involving them in brainstorming alternatives and by modeling flexibility ourselves. This article about Helping Kids With Flexible Thinking offers some guidance in these areas. Additional SEL resources can be found on the Green Meadow Social Emotional Learning Resources website.

Questions or feedback? Please contact Julie Danforth at jdanforth@maynard.k12.ma.us

We are happy to share that our Music Room is open again! We anticipate that our conference room will open at the end of next week. We are awaiting furniture and some final details.

You can read the most recent building update from Superintendent Haas by clicking on this link: https://secure.smore.com/n/gjvhu

Click on the link to read the lastest school lunch menu options: https://www.fdmealplanner.com/

Calling All New Families - Check out our PTO website and join our email list to stay on top of news and events. We can't wait for you to get involved!

https://greenmeadowpto.membershiptoolkit.com/

The next PTO meeting will be virtual on Tuesday, March 11, at 7:00. Please see the PTO website for the meeting link.

ELPAC (English Learner Parent Advisory Council) Resources

Multilingual Learner Resources

SEPAC (Special Education Parent Advisory Council) Resources

Join Maynard SEPAC and Diane Baum from The Children's Dyslexia Center for a discussion on identifying and supporting children with dyslexia.

https://meet.google.com/gqa-veej-tbp?hs=122&authuser=0

Students at Fowler School are presenting Mean Girls this weekend. There will be a show Friday evening, at 7:00 PM. On Saturday, there will be two shows, one at 1:00 PM, and one at 6:00 PM. Tickets are available at the door, cash only. Adults are $5.00 and students are $3.00.

The Maynard Education Foundation is hosting the Taste of Maynard again this year on Sunday, May 18, from 2:00 - 4:00 PM. This year we have a twist: its an outdoor event at Memorial Park. Restaurants will be serving yummy food around the park while music, games, raffles, and seating will be at the center. It will be a festive atmosphere and allow folks a chance to hang out while sampling food. This is a celebration of our adored Maynard community. Tickets can be purchased at: https://givebutter.com/7SJIpu This event is made possible by our sponsors, the restaurants, and folks like you who donate to MEF. The Taste is a rain or shine event. All funds raised will go towards the grant programs that support Maynard Public Schools. Tickets are considered a donation and are non-refundable. Thank you for your support!

Author Appearance - Bob Shea - 11:00 AM - Maynard Library (Roosevelt Room) - Ages 3 and over

He's coming.....Bob Shea.....to the Maynard Public Library! We love all his characters - the Dinosaur, the Unicorn, the Shark, Leon.....okay, I'm running out of space! As part of the library's big Book Festival, our favorite author will do a presentation and then sign whatever books you want to buy. But the point is, you'll actually get a chance to meet this unbelievable author. We love all his books so how can we not love his program? You don't get a chance like this very often so come on over! (No registration needed)

Read-to-a-Dog - Wednesdays - April 16 & April 30 - 4:00 - 4:10 PM - 4:10 - 4:20 PM - 4:20 - 4:30 PM

Finn the Reading Dog visits the library every two weeks and he'd love for you to come and see him. Finn won't read to you but you can read to him. You can sign up for one of three ten-minute sessions and read one-on-one to this caring canine. He could be the dog you always wanted, for ten minutes anyway. To register, go to the library's website at www.maynardpubliclibrary.org and then look for the children's program calendar

The Friday Family Movie Club - Friday, April 4th at 3:00 PM

What better way to relax after a full day of school than to kick back and watch a movie at the library? Wait, what's this, there'll also be free popcorn and snacks? Do we really have to promote this any further? You have the rest of the weekend to do your homework, come to the library and watch "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!" (No registration needed)

Outdoor Storytime - Thursdays - 4:00 PM - in Memorial Park - ages 3 and over -

Winter's almost over so storytime is moving back to Memorial Park. Do you know how happy the squirrels will be to see us - they went two months without hearing any stories? And you'll get to see the birds, you know, those things that have beaks and fly around. But best of all, we'll all be together listening to stories in the fine sunshine of Springtime. You'll feel great - as long as you don't sit on a rock! (rain location - the Story Room - no registration needed)

With only a few weeks left until Spring Soccer there is still time to sign-up for our in-town Tiger Cubs and Grade 1/2 Programs. Please sign-up using the link below.

Grades PreK-2 registration link: https://maynardyouthsoccer.sportngin.com/register/form/476727968

• Rate - $110
• Players must be age 4 by 9/1/24
• Kindergarten and Pre-K players will be on separate teams
• Registrations after start of the season are subject to late fees

The Open Table Food Pantry (www.opentable.org; 33 Main St, Maynard) is open on Tuesdays, 3:30 - 6:30 PM and Thursdays, 1 - 4:30 PM and offers free bags of groceries 1x/week. Open Table also allows families to pick up frozen meals for family members weekly.

The Maynard Food Pantry (www.maynardfoodpantry.com; 82 Main St., Maynard) is open on Mondays from 10 AM - 12 noon 1-2x/month

The Maynard Food Pantry offers a weekly Backpack Program for all students in PreK-Grade 5 that aims to offer food assistance to families. Each backpack is filled with nutritious, non-perishable food at no cost. Forms were sent home to families in backpacks last week. If you need a form, they are available in the Green Meadow main office. You can also request one by emailing Kate Murray at kmurray@maynard.k12.ma.us.

Interested in learning more about the Maynard community and the many wonderful things happening around town? Check out the monthly Maynard Advantage Newsletters by subscribing at maynardadvantage.org

Learn what's happening at the Fowler School by clicking here.

Learn what's happening at Maynard High School by clicking here.