February 16, 2024

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February 19th to 23rd: No School for Winter Break!

Reminder! Winter Break is NEXT WEEK! We'll all miss each other while we are away, but wish you and your family a wonderful break.

School is back in session on Monday, February 26th.

Monday, February 26th: Tickets Go On Sale for MES Night Out with Atlanta United!

Save the date and set your alarms! Our next MES Night Out with Atlanta United will take place on Saturday, April 20th when our Atlanta United Five Stripes will take on FC Cincinnati beginning at 7:30pm at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The MES PTA has reserved a block of 300 seats (all of section 227!) for this game. Ticket sales for these seats will open at 6pm on Monday, February 26th via the MES PTA Square Site. These tickets WILL sell out, and quickly, so do not delay!

Wednesday, February 28 - Deadline to Declare Your Candidacy for the MES Go Team for 2024-2025

GO Team candidate declarations are now OPEN! If you are interested in running for a Parent/Guardian seat, please declare your candidacy by February 28th, 2024. You can read more about the GO Team election process and declare your candidacy at apsstrongschools.com. If you have any questions about GO Team or the elections process, you can contact Principal Sofianos or any of the current GO Team members who are listed on the MES GO Team webpage.

The MES GO Team works together throughout the year as a collaborative body consisting of parents, teachers, community members, and the school principal to help make MES an even stronger school for all of our kids. Thank you in advance for considering declaring your interest in representing MES parents as an elected member of our GO Team!

Thursday, February 29th - FINAL Teacher Lunch/Brunch Out!

Throughout the month of February, we have been honoring our teachers and staff with a lunch out with their teams! This was started last year and was one of our most popular events - loved by both the volunteers and the teachers alike. Each grade level plus our Special Areas teachers and paraprofessionals have thoroughly enjoyed this unique opportunity to relax and connect with their colleagues away from the classroom, so thank you to all of our volunteers for helping to make this happen!

There is still one more opportunity to volunteer to help out on Thursday, February 29th when it is our GATE teachers' turn for their Lunch Out. While we already have many volunteers for this opportunity, we are still looking for one volunteer each for Mr. Hatcher, Mr. Duncan, and Ms. Cherry.

As during our previous opportunities, during this time slot volunteers will work in groups of two to three people per class to oversee the classes for a short time while the teachers enjoy their lunch break with their colleagues. Volunteers will receive a short training from an administrator or designee who will be available to the volunteer team during their time on campus. Volunteers will also spend a few minutes with the classroom teacher for organization. Volunteer teams will have one hour in the classroom with work provided by the teachers and one hour of lunch and recess supervision. What a great way to help a teacher, work with our amazing kids, and get an inside view of life at Morningside!

Please click here to sign up to volunteer during this final Teachers Lunch Out. Our teachers are so appreciative of this very generous effort by volunteers, contacts, and organizers!

Please contact Principal Sofianos with additional questions.

Monday, March 4th - MES GO Team Meeting

The MES GO Team will meet on Monday, March 4th at 5pm for their regular monthly meeting. This meeting will be held in person in the Amy Snowden Mather Library as well as livestreamed on the MES YouTube page for those who would like to watch. Recordings from past meetings can also be viewed on the YouTube page at any time.

The agendas for these meetings, as well as past meeting materials and the protocol for signing up to speak during the public comment period can be found on the MES GO Team webpage.

Thursday, March 7th - MES Book Club Meeting

Please join us for the next monthly meeting of our amazing MES Book Club where we will be discussing the February Book of the Month "Nugly" by M.C. Ross. The MES Book Club will meet immediately after school on Thursday, March 7th from 2:45 - 3:15pm in the Amy Snowden Mather Library at MES. You can review the instructions for afterschool pick up and RSVP to attend this meeting here.

Limited copies of the book can be checked out from the school library, purchased from your favorite local book retailer, or borrowed from the public library. Additional details about the book club can be found on the MES Library webpage.

Tickets are on sale NOW for the 2024 Bust a Move Bash!

We're throwing it back to the 80s and 90s - the days of neon windbreakers, boomboxes blazin', and gravity-defying moves! Clear your calendars as we'll be rappin' about the good old days with our community while raising funds for all the epic stuff the PTA makes happen for our Morningside crew!

When: March 16th, 2024

• Patron Sponsor Reception: 6:00 - 7:00pm
• Bust a Move Bash: 7:00 - 11:00pm

Where: The Carlyle, 1919 Piedmont Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30324

Recommended Attire: Casual 80s or 90s Attire

Event Website: Click Here!

Join us for a super cool night featuring:

• A Totally Rad Silent and Live Auction
• Catered Dinner from da bomb Ibiza Catering
• Open Bar for most tickets/sponsorships
• Live band 'Members Only' performing all the hits from the 80s and 90s
• Awesome Costume Contest
• Glamour Shots Photo Booth

You're not going to want to sit this one out... so don't just stand there - BUST A MOVE! We are currently selling tickets and family/corporate sponsorships to this year's Bust a Move Bash on the official event website, Here!

Additional details about the available sponsorship and ticket packages can be found by clicking the links below:

• Bust a Move Bash Family Sponsorship Details
• Bust a Move Bash Corporate Sponsorship Details

For information please visit the Bust a Move Bash webpage or contact the Bust a Move Bash co-chairs Fabricio Moraes and Justin Hubbarth.

State of Georgia Parent Survey

Please take a few minutes to complete the Georgia Parent Survey. This survey makes up a part of our school climate STAR rating and is confidential. The results from this survey will arrive from the state of Georgia in either summer or fall of the next school year and are used to celebrate successes, as well as make improvements to the school experience for students, families, and staff. 

As of today, we have only had 27 parents/guardians complete this survey, so please check it out today! While we do not have the lowest response rate in our cluster, many of the smaller schools across the district have over 100 responses already. The school welcomes and values the input from ALL parents, so please complete this survey soon!

If you have questions about this survey, please contact Principal Sofianos.

Parent/Guardian Survey: CLICK HERE

Seeking Candidates for PTA Executive Team!

Have you thought about joining the MES PTA leadership team? We are currently seeking candidates to join our amazing PTA for the 2024-2025 school year!

Open positions include Co-President, VP Communications, VP Enrichment, VP Community, VP Operations, and VP SWAG. If any of these might be the right fit for you, or you would like to nominate a candidate, please contact the Nominating Committee at [email protected].

Summer School Open to All MES Students, June 3 – June 28

APS recently announced that registration for Power Up Summer, the APS summer school program, is now open! The Power Up Summer program for the Midtown Cluster elementary schools, including Morningside, will be at SPARK Elementary School from June 3rd – June 28th. The program will run from 7:45am to 2:45pm - a full school day program. Power Up Summer is open to all students, with APS sending special invites through the US Mail to students whose participation this summer is strongly recommended. 

Additional details about Power Up Summer can be found on the APS website. If you would like more information, K-2 families can contact Dr. Sinclair and 3-5 families can contact Mr. Baron. 

The Yearbook Needs Your Photos to be Amazing!

The MES yearbook team is hard at work on the 2023-2024 yearbook! We would love to see all our students represented in the book, so we need your help. Please send pictures you have taken this year to [email protected]. This includes candids taken at MES, any MES events (e.g. Monster Bash, Thanksgiving feast, book character day, red ribbon week, international fest, Boosterthon, spelling bee), and class events (holiday parties and field trips). If you have great pictures from the year, we would love to include them in the yearbook!

When you send us your pictures, please tell us the names of the children pictured, grade and the event it was from. We can't wait to see what special memories you've captured.

Please contact Martha Decker with any questions.

Prospective Student Opportunities!

With the flip of the calendar to 2024, many families are already starting to think ahead to the next school year, when a new group of Rising Kindergarteners and other incoming students will be joining our Dolphin Pod! Here are two opportunities to learn more about the school that may be of interest if you will have a new MES Dolphin during the 2024-2025 school year:

Save the Date: Rising K Play Date!

On Saturday, March 9th, we invite all of our MES Rising K families to join us for a play date at Noble Park from 3-5pm! This will be a great opportunity for our future Dolphins to make friends before next year and for our Rising K parents to connect with each other. Snack and drinks will be provided and we intend to meet rain or shine!

Sign Ups Open Now for Spring School Tours!

As Rising Kindergarten families begin to look ahead to next year, and friends and neighbors consider joining our MES Dolphin pod, we recognize that there is interest in touring the school to inform these important decisions. We will be holding school tours for interested families on the following dates this spring:

• Monday, March 18th
• Wednesday, April 10th

All tours will be led by MES administrators and will take place from 8:30 - 9:30am. If you are interested in joining one of these tours, please sign up in advance here.

Join the Rising K Facebook Group for 2024!

If you have a Rising Kindergartener or other incoming MES students that will be joining us in August 2024, please consider joining our private Rising K Facebook Group. Within this group, dedicated PTA parents and fellow Rising K parents will be sharing information over the coming months to ensure that all of our new families feel well prepared for the new school year, including information on:

• Key dates and instructions for registering for the 2024/2025 school year
• Meetings and events that may be relevant to new/prospective parents
• Everything you need to prepare for the first day of school

And much more! We're looking forward to getting to know everyone more within this private group!

Morning Carpool Drop Off Reminder!

Friendly Reminders: The ONLY safe and acceptable method of dropping off students in carpool is through our designated carpool route. There is no drop off allowed on East Rock Springs Road as it is extremely unsafe with traffic patterns, especially as we are a major route to Emory. We have even noticed a few cars dropping off students in the middle of the street! This is extremely unsafe for our children during a very busy time of increased traffic. We also ask that you please be kind and considerate community members to our neighbors near the school. The use of their driveways is not acceptable and we have received direct complaints.

You can find the carpool route on the MES website Transportation page, as well as in the graphic below. Please note that there should be no "cut through turns" in the middle of the Barclay Median. Please drive to the end of Barclay and make the turn around there. Thank you!

MES Principal Blog

Posts on Principal Sofiano's Principal's Blog highlight the latest happenings at Morningside, including an inside view of the work of our amazing students and wonderful staff. Reminders about blog posts will continue to be sent through the Infinite Campus Parent Portal straight to your phones and email inboxes, but you can also bookmark the Principal's Blog and check it out at any time! If you are not getting blog notices on your email or phone, contact Charlette Jackson in the front office to update your information.

Registration for NEW Howard Middle School Students Opens March 1st!

Beginning on Friday, March 1st, registration will open for students transitioning to middle school across ALL Atlanta Public Schools and charter schools. That means it's time for our Rising Rams families to register for next year!

To register, please click here and choose "Enrollment and Registration" to complete the process starting on March 1st. For questions, please contact [email protected]. Note that middle school registration will open for students outside of APS beginning on May 25th.

Rising Rams families, and anyone interested in following events happening at the middle school can subscribe to the weekly Rams Report newsletter here.

Atlanta Board of Education Meeting - Monday, February 5th

The next monthly APS Board of Education meeting will take place on Monday, March 4th from 2:30-8:00pm. All meetings are held at the Atlanta Public Schools Center for Learning and Leadership Auditorium and are typically livestreamed via the APS Board of Education Facebook Page. Interested parties are welcome to provide comments during the Community Meeting portion (which begins at 6:00pm) by signing up in person from 5:00-5:50pm.

Save the Date for the Howard Spring Wine and Dine!

The Howard Middle School PTO will host their Spring Wine and Dine fundraiser on Saturday, March 9th at 7pm. The event will take place at Hudson Grille in Little 5 Points. All MES families are invited to attend this event, which will feature food, drinks, a DJ, a photobooth, and a silent auction. Ticket information to follow soon!

The flyer for this event can be viewed here.

2024 Pre-K Lottery Open Now!

Looking to jumpstart your child's educational journey? The Pre-K lottery application window for the 2024-2025 school year opens on February 1st at 9 a.m. through March 1st. The lottery drawing will take place on March 15th.



For more information on the application process, eligibility, and required documents, visit the APS Early Learning website.

APS Adult Education Classes Available for FREE

Discover APS's free Adult Education Program, where we support individuals in navigating the official Georgia High School Equivalency (HSE) Program, formerly known as the GED Testing Program. From selecting a high school equivalency pathway to test preparation, class enrollment, and short-term training opportunities, APS is dedicated to guiding adults through every step.

Additionally, our program extends beyond HSE with English as a Second Language and citizenship classes held at multiple Atlanta/Fulton County locations.



To learn more and enroll, click HERE and share the information with those who can benefit.

Stay Up to Date with the APS Midtown Cluster

Click HERE for resources directly related to our cluster.

Stay Up to Date with the 2023-2024 APS Calendar 

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

Click HERE to view the Atlanta BOE 2024 Calendar.

Thank you to our 2023-2024 Diamond Dolphin, Dolphin, and Platinum-level sponsors for supporting our school!

For more information about Dolphin Donors, please click HERE.