Letter from the MC Principal

Hello MC families,

I hope that you are having a great week. I’d like to start off with some school family news. Jenelle Hanes, our Operations Manager, is going to be moving on from her role as Operations Manager to pursue other endeavors. Her last day will be Friday, October 27th. Join me in wishing her well in her next ventures. Ms. Hanes will certainly be missed, but we are putting plans in place to cover her duties.

Next I have some exciting sports news! This past Saturday, our Cross Country team competed in the Division I Georgia Middle School State Championships. After a successful season, including a repeat City Championship for the boys’ team, the JV Boys placed 3rd in the state, and the Varsity Boys brought home a first place trophy! Following up a City Championship with a Georgia State Championship is a tremendous accomplishment. Congratulations to the Cross Country team, led by coaches Dale Scott and Trey Jackson.

This week students are preparing for their Student-led Conferences. We look forward to students leading these meetings with you to let you know both how they are performing in class, and how their commitment to the Guiding Principles (their study habits and behavior) are impacting their performance in class. Part of this process will be students showing you this information in ManageBac (formative data, summative data, etc.) so you can see how to check on their progress using this information moving forward.

October is LGBTQ History Month and in recognition of that, Morning Meeting on Monday was kicked off with a performance by Mrs. Hardon’s daughter, Imari. She sang a mashup of “Brave” by Katy Perry and “Roar” by Sara Bareilles. Following the performance the Gender and Sexuality Alliance, a club led by LGBTQ+ students and allies, conducted our Brain Smart Start (BSS). In the BSS we United by listening to student interviews of various staff members talking about how they support students, and we ended with each Advisory coming up with ways that they can support their LGBTQ+ peers. 

Continuing this week, the second day of girls’ basketball tryouts will be on Thursday. On Friday we will close out the week with a Pep Rally in which we will celebrate our fall sports and clubs.

Next Friday the 27th we will have Grandparents and Special Friends Day, an event that we were last able to engage in pre-COVID. On Grandparents and Special Friends Day students are able to invite grandparents or special friends (aunts, uncles, family friends, but not parents) to come to the school to spend some time in their Advisory and tour the building (including visiting the farm and the Media Center for the book fair). Families who are inviting grandparents and special friends are still able to RSVP using this link.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

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.