Dear MMSD Families and Community,
We are in the final phase this week of preparing to bring all students back to MMSD school buildings for full days of in-person learning. Please continue to stay in close communication with your school leaders during this transition as they will have the most relevant information for you regarding your student’s new classroom routine and daily schedule. While the challenges we have faced this school year during COVID-19 are an unprecedented experience that we will always remember, I am already excited and looking forward to a more normal and familiar school experience when our students and families return for the 2021-2022 school year.
Today is the last day to be part of a BIG opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our students, staff and MMSD school communities. This month, we launched the Big Idea campaign to collect the biggest, boldest and most creative ideas from our families and Madison community members with the goal of redefining and rebuilding the MMSD community. With $9.5 million to spend, your idea could have a truly transformational impact. Find more information and submit your Big Idea here.
Finally, I would like to remind you that Teacher Appreciation Week is May 3rd-7th. If there was ever a year to say thank you for all the hard work your student’s teacher does, it would be this year. Words cannot express how much I admire and appreciate what each and every one of our teachers and school staff members have done this year to teach, nurture and care for your children. We are truly grateful to have such amazing educators in the MMSD community, and I am hopeful you will show your support for them with kind words and a special acknowledgement next week.
Sincerely,
Carlton D. Jenkins Ph.D.
Superintendent
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Your family may still be eligible for grocery benefits through the Pandemic EBT program
Throughout our district, children who normally get free or reduced-price meals at school have been learning from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. To help, the federal government created the Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) program to provide $6.82 to families for each day that a student in a free and reduced-price meal program learned from home.
At the end of March, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) provided $46 million in P-EBT benefits to families all over the state for the months of August, September, October, and November of 2020, based on the best information it had available.
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Teacher Appreciation Week is May 3-7: Get Creative and Spread Gratitude |
In the wake of COVID-19, teachers are making a tremendous difference in students’ lives each day. Please join us in celebrating our amazing educators this week with a special shout out of appreciation for everything teachers do to ensure our students continue to thrive during these unprecedented times. Get creative and celebrate your child’s teacher today!
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Share a special teacher Shout Out online at mmsd.org/shoutout.
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Send Virtual Flowers - Have your child provide a virtual breath of fresh air by drawing, painting or taking a picture of some flowers and emailing it to their teacher.
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DIY Teacher Appreciation Collage/Card/Video - Create a virtual card or video from your child or collaborate and collect photos/videos from all the students in their class.
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Celebrate on Social - Send a big Thank You to an important teacher in your life on Facebook or Instagram by tagging your teacher’s school, for example, @huegel.eagles and using the hashtag #MMSDFamily
Here are some free tools you can use:
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Latino Youth Summit brings young people together for college, career and cultural exploration |
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The Latino Youth Summit (LYS) began in 2011 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a consortium of campus and community partners who came together to provide a pathway to support Latino middle and high school students in the Madison area. The goal each year is to unite our Latino youth and families at a two-day conference to identify college and career opportunities through mentoring, career readiness workshops and cultural exploration.
Key Latino Youth Summit partners include The MMSD Family, Youth And Community Engagement (FYCE) Department, UW-Madison’s Office School of Education; UW-Madison’s Office of the Vice Provost and Chief Diversity Officer, Division of Diversity, Equity & Educational Achievement; and the Centro Hispano Community Center - together these groups planned this year’s virtual conference, engaging students in conversations and activities centered around leadership, identity, social justice and higher education.
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Last call for your BIG ideas |
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The Big Idea campaign we recently launched is a BIG deal for the MMSD community! If you have not heard about this opportunity, click here for details. With $9.5 million to spend, we are asking school leaders, staff, students, families and all of Madison to bring us ideas that will help us reimagine, redefine and rebuild the MMSD community. These funds were awarded to the district in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund. Idea submissions are due today, April 28. Learn more.
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Reminder: Join us tomorrow night to learn about
full-day 4K
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Join us Thursday, April 29th at 6:00pm on the MMSD Facebook page for a community conversation dedicated to the expansion of MMSD’s Four-Year-Old (4K) Kindergarten Program. We are broadening educational equity in MMSD by increasing our number of 4K school sites across the district and enrolling more students of color and early learners with special needs, ultimately adding essential learning opportunities for diverse demographics in the Madison community. This is a one-hour interactive presentation with live Q&A featuring insight from Culleen Witthuhn, MMSD Director of Early Learning, current 4K MMSD educators and Board of Education member, Savion Castro. Learn more about full-day 4K here
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Coming up: Hmong American Day Read Aloud |
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In the MMSD, we celebrate Hmong-American Day by hosting Hmong American Day (HAD) Read Alouds the entire week that May 14th falls in. This school year will be May 10 through the 14. Hmong American Day Read Aloud is meant to highlight and uplift Hmong language, literacy, culture, and history with community readers, artists, history keepers and storytellers. Stay tuned for more information. |
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Sustain Dane works with Leopold and Stephens to reduce waste |
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Sustainability is important to students, families and staff at MMSD. This spring, Sustain Dane helped to pilot a recycling initiative in Stephens and Aldo Leopold Elementary to encourage recycling during breakfast and lunch in the classroom. Congratulations to the students and staff for reducing waste from meals! Lessons gathered from this year will help improve processes for future breakfast and lunch recycling in classrooms and cafeterias.
Milk, juice, and other cartons are important to recycle. Families also play an important role in continuing to practice good recycling habits at home. Remember, cartons are recyclable! With new COVID-19 processes in place, let's keep in mind how we can continue to promote sustainable actions. Sustain Dane and MMSD welcome more schools to establish meal-time recycling solutions that grow sustainability champions among our students, teachers, staff, and volunteers. If your school would like to join the recycling initiative, please contact Sustain Dane at [email protected] and for more information on recycling cartons, please visit www.RecycleCartons.com.
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Emergency broadband benefit program and device troubleshooting |
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The FCC Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (EBBP) is a $3.2B broadband subsidy program to help households struggling to pay for internet service during the pandemic. Eligible recipients of the Emergency Broadband Benefit include students participating in the National Free and Reduced Price Lunch Program (FRPL). This subsidy only works if families opt-in to participate.
Things To Know about the EBBP Program:
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The enrollment process begins April 26; funding is first-come, first-serve. Please visit this website for enrollment information.
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The FCC has created a FAQ website, for families frequently asked questions regarding this program.
- Eligible households can receive a monthly discount from participating internet service
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providers (ISPs). For a list of providers, please visit the following website. The discount is up to $50 per month off the standard rate for Internet service and associated equipment. On Tribal lands, the monthly discount is up to $75 per month.
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All households with students in Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) schools are automatically eligible for the benefit.
At Home Troubleshooting for Student Issued Devices
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Let your voice be heard: Innovative Educational Supports Study |
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Are you a Black/African American, Indigenous/Native, Latinx/Latina/Hispanic, Asian or Multiracial person who is caring for children in the Madison schools? Want to share how you are supporting your own children and/or other children during the pandemic?
IF SO, YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE TO A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF HOME AND COMMUNITY-BASED SUPPORTS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH. Interviews will be conducted via Zoom or Phone and will last 40-60 minutes. Confidential information will not be included in reports. You will receive $25 for your input!
For questions or to participate in an interview, contact Rachel Johnson: Call/Text: 414-522-1105 Email: [email protected]
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Discover Madison College's High School Fire Academy |
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Learn more about Madison College's Fire Academy for High School students, on May 10 from 9am to 12pm. This is a FREE opportunity for MMSD high school students to earn college credit and high school credit. Current Fire Academy students will speak about their experiences in the program and demonstrate skills and tactics learned from the courses. Join this in-person event and bring others. View the flyer for additional details.
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Badger Precollege Summer Programs
Badger Precollege Summer Programs at UW Madison has extended our application deadline to May 31st and our financial aid deadline has been extended to May 15th. We are hosting a drop-in Financial Aid Information Session via Zoom on May 1, 2021, from 10-11am. This session is primarily designed for families to bring their questions and learn more about the financial aid process, but staff are always welcome to attend! Full and partial scholarships are still available for most of our programs. Register in advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
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Need help paying your MGE bill? |
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There has always been a winter moratorium which prevents utility shut offs from November to April. The decision was made last year to extend the moratorium from April 2020 to November 2020, and now the State of Wisconsin Public Service Commission has decided to end this moratorium in the spring as it usually does, on April 1, 2021.
At this time, MGE is not disconnecting residential customers.
However, MGE is offering customers personalized payment plans that will help them avoid late payment charges and disconnection. Without a payment plan in place, customers with past-due balances will be subject to late payment charges starting April 1 and could face disconnection in the future. MGE is offering more flexibility in payment plans than in previous years.
To understand your options, contact MGE at one of the numbers below. Also, join us at www.facebook.com/fycemmsd on Saturday May 8th from 10-11am for a Facebook Live event with MGE to hear more information.
Call (608) 252-7144 (English), (608) 252-7120 (Spanish) or (608) 252-7033 (Hmong) between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. to set up a personalized payment arrangement. Visit their website to learn more.
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MMSD Alumni Stories: Meet Ebrahim Amara |
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Ebrahim Amara graduated from Madison East High School in 2007 and ten years later accepted a position as a Multicultural Services Coordinator. This year, Mr. Amara has helped recruit over 100 qualified students of color to take Advanced Placement classes.
Mr. Amara says, “It’s important that we’re not just pushing this so we can say we have more kids of color in AP, so we’ve created our Level Up, Brotherhood, Sisterhood and Kings Journey groups, the Upward Bound Program.” These groups help support students and keep them in their AP courses.
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In case you missed it
Wisconsin's Department of Health Services has come out with a vaccine registry, where you can sign up to get notified of opportunities to be vaccinated once you're eligible. The registry is available in English and Spanish.
Our attendance practices changed slightly due to the asynchronous day moving from Wednesday to Monday. Learn more here.
The Regent Tutors, in partnership with MSCR, is offering free drop-in tutoring sessions via Zoom for students in grades 3-5 on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 3:30-5pm. The tutoring is offered by our bright scholars in West High School and can help with subjects such as math, reading, science, and history. View the flyer.
Project Recovery has a FREE, confidential, local support and education line to help people cope with COVID-19 and this stressful time. Learn more.
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The Foundation for Madison's Public Schools has been raising emergency relief funds and collaborating with community partners to ensure our MMSD and MSCR students, families and staff have the resources and financial support to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more here.
NAMI Dane County has a free support line from 8:30-4:30pm and provides numerous support groups and classes for individuals impacted by mental health needs. Learn more.
The City of Madison recently launched a free Financial Resources Hotline to help residents navigate financial issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Financial Navigators provide free guidance, over the phone, to help residents access available programs and services to manage income loss and other financial concerns they may be experiencing.
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Madison Metropolitan School District | 608-663-1879 | Email | Website
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