Letter from the MC Principal

The beginning of the 2024-2025 school year is fast approaching! I hope that your families are enjoying the remainder of your summer break. Our instructional support team and various non-instructional staff members are back in the building this week, we’ve held another successful round of Wolf Prep Camps for our rising 6th graders, and the teachers come back next week. Teachers will return for our annual K-8 faculty and staff retreat on Monday before moving into pre-planning for the rest of the week. 

To help you get yourselves prepared for this school year I’ve added some important information below. Be sure to continue reading the Courier for information that I have not covered here.

Your Student’s Advisor This Year

You will receive an email on Friday 7/26 after 3pm letting you know who your student’s advisor is. Students will receive their schedules and have an opportunity to meet their Advisors and some of their teachers on Monday 7/29 during our various Orientations and Meet and Greets (more detail below).

Orientation (6th grade and New Families) and Meet and Greet (7th and 8th grade) Schedule

Our Orientation day will take place on Monday, July 29th. Our Orientations and Meet and Greets are grade-level specific, so look for your particular category below:

• 6th grade New to ANCS Student/Family Orientation (this session is ONLY for 6th grade students and families who DID NOT attend school at the ANCS Elementary Campus) will take place from 9:00 – 9:20 am. We will begin at 9:00 am in the Gym.
• 6th grade Orientation (for 6th grade students and families) will take place from 9:30 – 11:00 am with a session that will begin in the gym at 9:30 am. Students will sit on the floor in the front of the gym and there will be chairs for parents to sit in.
• 7th and 8th grade New to ANCS Student/Family Orientation (this session is ONLY for 7th and 8th grade students and families who are brand new to our school community) will take place from 1:00 – 2:30 pm. We will begin at 1:00 pm in the Media Center.
• 7th and 8th grade Returning Student Meet and Greets will take place from 2:30 – 3:30 pm – This is not an orientation, it is an open house. Students will enter the building through the gym entrance, go to their Advisory rooms to meet their Advisors, spend some time with them, and get their schedules at any time between 2:30 and 3:30 pm. Parents are welcome to come to the Meet and Greets, but 7th and 8th grade students are also welcome to come on their own.

Weekly Schedule (Student Arrival and Dismissal)

• Student arrival begins at 8:00 am through the Gym entrance (the entrance closest to the flagpole and up the ramp – towards the corner of Essie and Emerson) and students can arrive any time between 8:00 and 8:30 am. The building will not be open to students who are arriving before 8:00 am. Students who arrive prior to 8:00 am will often wait outside for a few minutes before we open our doors.
  • Breakfast will be available between 8:00 and 8:30 as well. For more information about our Nutrition Program (breakfast and lunch) read the general section of the Courier.
• On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays students will be dismissed at 3:10pm.
• On Wednesdays students will be dismissed at 2:00pm.

AfterCare and Office Hours

• Once AfterCare begins students will be able to stay at school with adult supervision until 6:00 pm. Look for more details on this in the general section of the Courier.
• During the second week of the school year Office Hours will begin. Teachers will have Office Hours on designated days after school between dismissal and 4:00 pm. On these days students can see their teachers to ask questions and seek extra help. If students are attending Office Hours they need to go directly to their teachers after dismissal, they cannot go home and come back for Office Hours.
• Students who are attending AfterCare will be able to go to Office Hours to work with their teachers before transitioning to AfterCare if they would like.

Dress Code

Three years ago we began the process of re-evaluating and modernizing our current dress code and we finalized the process last year. You can find the updated dress code here. That is the official version, and we have a more kid-friendly version here.

School Supplies

As we’ve done in the past, ANCS will be purchasing school supplies and materials for all of our students. Each year we ask families to donate $45.00 to help cover the cost of the supplies and, if you are able, to donate extra to cover the cost for another family who is unable to donate at this time. You can donate using this link. You will also be able to give your donation by check or card when you come to our 6th grade Orientation or 7th/8th Meet and Greets.

Morning Meeting

At the Middle Campus we have our Morning Meetings once a week on the first day of each week from 8:30 – 9:05 am. Typically the first day is a Monday, but if we have a three day weekend for example, the first day of the week may be a Tuesday and we would have our Morning Meeting that morning.

We will have a Morning Meeting just for students the first week of school (this will be a practice run – learning where to sit, etc.), but we will begin opening up our meetings to parents on Monday, August 5th. Interested parents can join us in the back of the gym on that day. Look for more details in my Courier letter the first week of school. 

Thanks for reading. Each week when the Courier comes out there will be additional important information for you to check out, so please make a habit of reading the Courier each week over the course of the year. If you have any other questions 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.