Letter from MC Principal
Hello Middle Campus families,
We are quickly getting back into the swing of things at school. Teachers are spending time developing routines and procedures in their classrooms in order to build a foundation for the rest of the year. In the beginning of the year we encourage our teachers to spend additional time on this work because it’s so important.
Community building is also important. Morning Meeting is a big part of our school culture and we have been meeting outside in The Backyard so that we can be in one space together once again. The last couple of years we have had to have Morning Meeting in separate Advisory rooms. Students are enjoying this change, and they were also enjoying being back in the cafeteria for the first time in a couple years. Unfortunately, as COVID numbers have begun to rise we’ve decided to move lunch back outside to The Backyard and the courtyard (by the Media Center) as an additional mitigation when weather permits.
As you know, the school is largely mirroring Atlanta Public Schools’ policy with respect to COVID-19 quarantine and isolation. When a student is required to stay home due to a positive test or confirmed exposure, we will provide that student with instructions for remote learning based on the planned activities in their classes. This access will be provided only after our school nurse has confirmed the student’s COVID-related status. Keep in mind that it may take some time to get remote learning access set up for your child. We will, of course, continue to ensure students who miss class get the appropriate levels of support.
In general, the process involves you getting an email from Nurse Leslye, and then I start the process of getting the links set up. Once we’ve gotten things set up you will receive an email from me letting you know how to access the links. So you don’t have to reach out to us, we’ll get the information to you as soon as you have it.
Going back to school culture, this week athletics tryouts are also beginning. Look for more information about clubs in the coming weeks. Our Fall sports include Cheer, Cross Country, Flag Football, Ultimate Frisbee, and Girls’ Volleyball. Students have gotten information about tryouts – the rest of this week we’ve got Day #2 of Cheer Tryouts on Thursday, Flag Football tryouts on Thursday, and Girls’ Volleyball tryouts on Friday.
Whereas there are some sports where we do not make cuts like Cross Country, in other sports like Cheer, Flag Football, and Volleyball, having large teams makes it difficult to practice and makes it difficult to manage playing time. While we would like to keep everyone, there are other details that we have to take into consideration. If a student does not make a team and they are having a tough time with it, we make sure to take note of this so that we can support them.
For students who do join our athletics teams a big part of their learning is the benefits of hard work. In Power 30 we’ve been talking about growth mindset, and the importance of working hard in order to improve. Playing time is earned on teams, and sports are a great opportunity for students to push themselves to become both better players and better teammates – supporting each other irrespective of how much playing time they are getting.
An exciting development for this year has been the creation of a charter school sports league. Competing against other charter schools as well as having games that are generally more accessible to our school will be some of the benefits of this league. Big shout out to Ms. Santina for her work on pulling this together!
Finally, please also read the Courier letter from Dale Scott our IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) Coordinator. In addition to introducing herself, she is also sharing important information about the MYP Family Information Sessions that she will be orchestrating to help families acclimate themselves to the IB.
As always, if you have any questions please feel free to reach out.
Kind Regards,
Mark
Mark Sanders
Mark Sanders began teaching at ANCS in 2011. Before coming to the school, Mr. Sanders worked in New York City. He spent three years teaching 7th and 8th grade mathematics at Middle School 50 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and two years at Harlem Village Academies teaching Geometry and Algebra 2/Trigonometry. He taught 8th grade Math/Science/Technology at ANCS for five years.
