- Carlisle Public Schools
- Superintendent
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Superintendent
James F. O'Shea
Phone: 978-369-4102
Email: joshea@carlisle.k12.ma.us
Assistant to the Superintendent
Mary O'Regan
Phone: 978-369-4102
Email: moregan@carlisle.k12.ma.us
Scout
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March 1, 2024
Dear Carlisle Families,
As many of you may already be aware, our 100th day of school has already come and gone and we are moving forward towards spring. March brings with it one of those long stretches of time when there aren’t any school holidays or vacations to break up the learning, though we do have a day off for parent teacher conferences later in the month. In addition to observing Ramadan and St. Patrick’s Day this month, there are a variety of activities to keep students and families both engaged and entertained.
The Annual PTO Book Fair will be held in the school library from March 4-8, 2024. Mark your calendars for the PJ Storytime on March 4th and an author visit from James Bird on March 5th. For more information on the Book Fair visit http://www.carlislemapto.org/book-fair.html
Also during the week of March 4th, CPS will be celebrating Read Across America. The National Education Association’s Read Across America event is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading. This year’s theme is focused on creating and celebrating a nation of diverse readers. CPS is looking forward to having a wide variety of community members in the building on Wednesday, March 6th to serve as guest readers.
On Wednesday, March 6th we also have a Jazz performance in the Auditorium at 5:30 PM that is open to the public and all are welcome to attend. We want to recognize our CPS Middle School students who auditioned and were accepted to participate in the Massachusetts Music Educators Association (MMEA) Junior District Festival taking place this month. This year we have six students representing CPS, four choir students and two band students. Congratulations to Aster, Annabelle, Idan, Harry, Alex, and Gavin. Best of luck to everyone performing this month.
Another highlight of March will be the 7th Grade Play, which will hold three performances starting on Thursday, March 21 running through Saturday, March 23. This year’s production is “Newsies, Jr.” Our students have been working hard preparing for this show, so don’t miss this opportunity to see our 7th Graders in this high energy musical, which draws inspiration from the historic Newsboy Strike of 1899. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to https://www.carlislemapto.org/.
We are happy to share that our 7th grade students will once again participate in Challenge Day this year. Activities planned for the day are centered on five competency areas: self management, social awareness, self awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making. On Wednesday, March 27th our 7th grade students will go off-site to participate in the Challenge Day program. We are incredibly grateful to the WBYC for sponsoring this powerful program, designed to build empathy and compassion in our community.
Parent teacher conferences are being held at the end of the month for both elementary and middle school families. There will be an early release day on Thursday, March 21 and no school on Friday, March 22.
During the last week of March, we will begin the annual MCAS state assessments. Students in grades 3-8 will be participating in assessments in ELA and Math in March and April. Also in April there will be Science assessments for grades 5 and 8 and a new Civics assessment for grade 8. These assessments are a bit of a disruption to the ordinary school day, but they do provide us with some insightful and informative data. That being said, we do want to make every effort to limit, as much as possible, any negative impact these assessments may have on our students or our school. We try not to over emphasize these assessments as well as work to minimize student anxiety. Principals will be sharing more information about the schedule as the dates approach and the entire schedule can also be found embedded in the District Calendar on the website.
We hope you are able to participate in some of these events over the next few weeks.
Warm regards,
Jim O’Shea
Superintendent