Message from Chad Leith: March 22, 2023

Dear Morse School Parents & Caregivers,

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we managed a district-wide power outage today. Service had still not been restored by dismissal time, and many CPS online platforms were offline as teachers left the school building. Please be mindful that the disruption may delay response times to email messages you might have sent to Morse School staff during the day.

Books

Ramadan Mubarak!
The Islamic holy month of Ramadan begins this evening, and I want to wish our many Muslim students, families, and staff members a meaningful and happy Ramadan celebration. To accommodate the needs of children who plan to observe Ramadan:

  • Students who are fasting will be invited to spend lunch in the Library (where Ms. Pennell has assembled a wonderful display of books - pictured below - to acknowledge the holiday).
  • Ms. Eman will continue to provide supervision in our dedicated sacred space for children who wish to engage in voluntary prayer.
  • We have rescheduled evening meetings until after the April break to ensure that they are accessible to all of our families.
  • If there is anything else we can do to support you or accommodate your child during Ramadan, please reach out to me, Ms. Headley, or your child’s teacher!

For non-Muslim members of our community interested in learning more about Ramadan, here is a brief slideshow prepared by CPS educator Heba Abu. All CPS families are also warmly invited to attend the Cambridge Community Iftar, which will be held next Wednesday, March 29th beginning at 6PM at the Cambridge Street Upper School. Iftar is the evening meal where Muslims break their fast after sunset during the Holy month of Ramadan. Free Halal food will be served and space will be provided for evening prayer. Guests will learn more about Iftar from guest speakers and our students. For more information, please click here.

New Baby

Congratulations Amy Diaz!
Please join me in wishing Morse School Family Liaison Amy Diaz and her husband congratulations on the birth of their son Lorenzo! Both Amy and Baby Lorenzo (pictured above) are happy, healthy, and back home resting. While Ms. Diaz is out on maternity leave, Ms. Elaine and the rest of our team will be working together to make sure that Morse Families get the information and resources they need.

Spring 2023 MCAS Dates
The MCAS assessment helps to measure students’ progress towards meeting grade level standards in English language arts, mathematics, and science. It is a standardized test used by all public schools in Massachusetts. The results will give us information about teaching and learning at the Morse School and will help us to make sure that all of our students are developing the skills they need to be successful in middle school, high school, and beyond. Only students in grades 3-5 participate. Similar to the i-Ready diagnostic, MCAS assessments will be administered on computers. Testing dates are indicated below:

Subject Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5
English Language Arts April 12 - 13 April 25, 27 April 25, 27
Mathematics May 9, 11 May 23, 25 May 23, 25
Science, Tech, Engineering     May 23, 25

Student participation in the MCAS assessment is very important, and we ask that you please avoid any appointments or family travel during the dates your child’s grade is scheduled to participate. I’ll be sending more information to Gr. 3-5 parents and caregivers in early April with some additional information about Spring 2023 MCAS testing.

As always, we welcome your partnership and support as we work together to make the Morse School a great place to teach and a great place to learn.

Sincerely,

Principal Chad Leith

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