Friday, December 2 - The Adults Are Talking: Kinder Parent Meet Up

Kindergarten parents, please join us for a casual coffee meet up at San Francisco Coffee in Virginia Highlands! Drop in to meet other Kinder parents and learn about upcoming PTA volunteer opportunities while grabbing your morning coffee.

Time: 8:00AM

Location: San Francisco Coffee, 1192 North Highland Ave

Friday, December 2 - Principal Coffee Talk

Please try to join our Principal Coffee Talks. or Principal Chats this year! These will be in-person, in our Morningside Auditorium, and we will do our best to livestream to our MES You Tube Channel. These talks are informal and sometimes include special speakers from our staff and beyond! There are many engagement opportunities at Morningside, so please do not worry if you cannot attend in person

Time: 12:00PM

Location: MES Auditorium

Friday, December 2 - 5th Grade Movie Night

5th grade parents, please RSVP here for your children to attend our special movie night on Friday, December 2nd from 5:30-8pm...a long-standing Morningside tradition!

There's also a few spots left to volunteer to contribute snacks and supplies. If you're able to help us out, please sign up here.

Saturday, December 3 - Morningside After School (MAS) Extracurriculars

Registration for MAS Winter-Spring 2023 Extracurricular Programs will open online on Saturday, December 3 at 9AM on www.myafterschoolprogram.com.

Parents will login to the parent portal at that time to register. Before registration opens, a preview of classes offered for the upcoming semester can be found HERE. You do not need to login to the parent portal to view the preview documents.

Please note that classes will fill quickly at MAS. MAS offers programming to Grades K-5. If you still have questions, please email BETH.

Monday - Wednesday, December 5-7 - MES Dine Out

'Tis The Season to support MES PTA and our Morningside community through our December Dine Out! Order your dinner from Doc Chey's (Morningside location) Monday, December 5 - Wednesday, December 7 and they will donate 25% of your purchase to help support our school's PTA enrichment programs!

This applies to dine-in or take-out (not valid on deliveries!) and you need to mention MES to get credit. If ordering take-out, call 404-888-0777 or order online (be sure to select the ‘School Dine Outs’ option under ‘category’) and enter our school's name. Reach out if you have questions!

Monday, December 5 - Volunteers Needed

Volunteers are needed to help put together the STEAM Kits on Monday, December 5th from 8am to noon. Please check into the office and Ms. Owens will direct you where to go!

***These kits will be sent home for Tuesday’s asynchronous school day!

Tuesday, December 6 - Asynchronous School Day

Like many other schools, our campus is an Election Day polling site for the ongoing runoff election. As a result, APS made the decision to designate this day as an asynchronous learning day for all students. This will be a full asynchronous day for students, device free. 

A STEAM activity, with needed supplies, is being sent home with each child, as well as any other work needed for curriculum progression, as directed by the teachers in the various grades. 

Our teachers and staff will use this amazing gift of time to plan, meet with their teams, look at our most recent MAP data, and, of course, to vote!

Friday, December 9 - SWAG Playground Clean Up

Join the SWAG beautification team for the final MES clean up of 2022. Meet at the walker pad after school and help keep MES @ Inman beautiful! Gloves, bags and snacks provided. Hope to see you there!

If it is raining, we will pick a day the following week to meet.

Friday, December 16 - Holiday Cookie Swap

Calling All Bakers & Treat-Makers 

The Teacher Appreciation Committee would love your help making the holiday season special! We are hosting a Holiday Cookie Swap on Friday, 12/16. If you are interested in baking up some holiday cheer for the amazing teachers and staff, please sign-up HERE.

Any questions, contact Stephanie Mayfield

*If you are baking, please include either a recipe or an ingredient list in case there are any allergens!*

New MES Spirit Squad

Calling all Dolphins who are full of School Spirit! Is your child dreaming of dolphins at night?!Do they insist on painting their face blue for Sunday dinner?! Do they sing the MES alma mater before bedtime every night?! They might be the perfect addition to the new MES SPIRIT SQUAD!

We’re looking for a group of 3rd-5th graders interested in being the “hype team” for Spirit Days and other select school events. Requirements include the following:



• Ability to attend a Spirit Squad meeting one morning per month at 7:15 AM
• Attendance on Spirit Days at morning carpool line and bus drop-off (first Fridays of every month)
• A highly energetic personality
• Interest in possibly donning a Dolphin costume and dancing like only a Morningside Dolphin can

If interested, please complete Google Form below by December 16th. For more information, please contact Jeanie Joye.

PTA General Meeting Save the Date and Nominations Committee

Mark your calendars for the PTA’s next general meeting on Thursday, January 26 at 8am!

We are sure to have lots of exciting agenda items, including the election of a Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee is charged with preparing the slate of PTA Executive Committee Officers for the 2023-24 school year. The Nominating Committee is composed of five members and one alternate. Committee meetings will run from February through early April and will be scheduled per the committee members’ availability. You must be a member of the PTA to serve on the Nominating Committee. Please contact Emily Cooper before the January 26th PTA meeting if you are interested in serving on the Nominating Committee.

Donate Prizes to the MES Go B.L.U.E. Weekly Raffle!

Every Friday, we celebrate two of our amazing students for upholding the school code of conduct by holding a raffle for prizes donated by our community. Your prize donations can help motivate our learners to Go B.L.U.E! (Be respectful, Listen and Learn, Use self-control, and Embrace diversity).

If you would like to donate prizes to the MES Go B.L.U.E. weekly raffle, please do so by selecting an item (or items) from our Wish List, and have the item(s) sent to the school address: Behavior Committee 774 VIRGINIA AVE NE. ATLANTA, GA 30306-3631.

Principal's Blog

Principal Sofiano's last blog is LOADED with lots of information covering all fun activities related to the Boosterthon to reminders of her Coffee Talk, 5th Grade Movie night, MAP Fluency testing, APS BOE meeting covering naming recommendation of "Virginia-Highland Elementary" and the Asynchronous School Day (device free) due to the runoff election. Don't miss this all and much more!

To see the full schedule of Principal Coffee Talks for the year and to read about recent events at the school, please click HERE to view Principal Sofianos' blog posts!

APS Inclusive Schools Week

At Morningside, we are joining with APS to celebrate Inclusive Schools Week by incorporating school wide inclusive activities for ALL of our students this week! Please see the flyer below for more details.

Howard Middle School Principal Search

APS recently released information about the process that will be followed to identify the new principal for Howard Middle School. They recognize that engaging with community and staff is essential for finding the best leader for Howard Middle School. Please review the timeline below for planned engagement related to this search so that you can provide your valuable input into this important process:

December 5 - 9: School Level Tier 3 Interviews

December 12 - 16: Superintendent Tier 4 Interviews

January 2 - 6: Communicate finalist selection to school staff and community

January 9: APS Board of Education Meeting

Stay Up to Date with the APS Midtown Cluster

Click HERE for resources directly related to our cluster.

Stay Up to Date with the 2022-2023 APS Calendar 

Click HERE to view the district calendar and start planning for all the breaks.

Click HERE to view the Atlanta BOE 2022 Meeting Schedule.

Legacy/Grandfathering Intent Form Reminder

In late October, rezoning notification letters were sent to families impacted by the rezoning for the new Midtown Cluster Elementary School. If you are impacted but are interested in having your rising 4th and 5th graders (and their siblings) remain at Morningside Elementary, please note that the window to apply to stay is now OPEN.

If this applies to you, please note that you have until December 16th to submit the Rezoning Intent Form, which can be found HERE.

Additional information about rezoning and legacy/grandfathering, including information for non-sibling rising K-3 students, can be found on the APS website, here.

Upcoming Community Meetings

Monday, December 5th - APS Board Meeting where the board will be voting on the Naming Committee's recommendation to name the new school Virginia-Highland Elementary School. Feedback on this recommendation can be submitted via the Let's Talk platform.

Tuesday, December 13th at 6:30pm - Town Hall for All Re-Zoned Families at Inman Auditorium

Wednesday, December 14th at 8am - Virtual Coffee Talk with Principal Harness for families who were unable to make the Town Hall the previous night.

PTA/PTO Formation

The new PTA is already being formed in order to support the preparations for the school! If you are interested in joining this PTA, you can do so via this google form, with a minimum required $5 contribution.



All of these details can be found on the APS website for the new school PTA, here.

APS has created a distribution list for families about the New Midtown Elementary including recaps from past meetings which you can sign up for HERE.

As always, please visit the temporary website for the new Midtown cluster Elementary School to view materials from previous community meetings, to submit questions and feedback related to the new school, and to learn more about the overall process, the naming committee, and the new attendance zones.

Thank you to our Diamond Dolphin, Dolphin, and Platinum-level sponsors for supporting our school!

For more information about Dolphin Donors, please click HERE.