A Letter from Superintendent John Caverly
December 8th, 2022
Dear Marshwood Community,
I hope this note finds you all well. It has been a wonderful start to the school year. To have our buildings in full use and students engaged in multiple opportunities has been such a gift. I must share with you: I am so proud of the work of our district staff over the past 3 months. They have worked tirelessly to create a safe learning environment for all learners that supports the individual learning needs of our students.
Prior to the fall break, our community faced a violent critical incident hoax at Sanford High School and Sanford Regional Vocational Center that brought forth our greatest fear, the safety of our students. As you know, the safety of our students, staff, and community is our top priority. In the wake of this event, the district has taken a number of steps to review our response and test our systems. We have met as individual schools, as district leaders, and with both the Eliot and South Berwick Police Departments. These meetings have been focused on reviewing our communication protocols and procedures to ensure the safety of all.
As part of that work, I wanted to notify the community that we will continue to focus on our building-level crisis planning. This includes age-appropriate safety drills in addition to our typical fire drills. What may be appropriate at Marshwood High School may be drastically different from what occurs in our elementary schools, based on the age and development of the students. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your child’s principal.
It pains me that we live in a world where we need to be concerned about school violence, but we cannot turn a blind eye to this. It is the district's goal to strike the balance between creating a safe environment for all, while not creating fear for anyone or compromising our primary purpose of educating children. As always, I appreciate the community support as we work together to keep our community safe.
Thank you
John Caverly
Superintendent of Schools
MSAD 35
Maine School Administrative District No. 35
Board of Directors – Regular Meeting Agenda
Marshwood High School – Learning Center
Wednesday, December 7, 2022 – 7:00 PM
For complete agenda go to: https://5il.co/1livs
https://www.rsu35.org/page/board-meeting-stream-information
Reminder: As of March 9, 2022 all MSAD 35 building recommended/optional masking indoors.
6:30 PM Wellness Committee
7:00 PM Call to Order
Good News from the Marshwood Middle School and Marshwood High School Music Rooms
Choral Students Perform At Eliot Tree Lighting
Music teachers, Mrs. Bisson and Mrs. Michaud, joined students from the MMS and MHS choirs that sang carols at the Eliot Tree Lighting ceremony. Our district appreciates the town of Eliot for inviting the students and is proud of these hard-working and dedicated students for participating.
Michelle Simpson recently requested a flag be flown over the US Capitol, through the office of Congresswoman Pingree.
She thought it would be a nice thank you to the students and staff for all of their continued support to Veterans and First Responders. Michelle stated “I wanted to say thank you to MMS for organizing and hosting the recent Veterans Day Celebration. As a Veteran myself, I was honored to be a part of the celebration and humbled to learn Marshwood Middle School has been hosting this event annually since 2021.”
The US Flag is displayed in the front entryway with a certificate that states:
"This is to certify that the accompanying flag was flown over the United States Capitol. This flag was flown at the request of the Honorable Chellie Pingree, Member of Congress, in appreciation of Marshwood Middle School students and staff, for their devoted support of Veterans and First Responders."
Students on the 7 White Team had their own balloon parade in the hallway before the Thanksgiving break. Prior to the event, students met in Advisory groups and read or listened to the story Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade. This week students took on the challenge of creating their own balloon design. The balloon could be a character from their favorite book, movie or even an original design. For an additional challenge, students were asked to suspend the balloons in air just like the balloons int he Thanksgiving Day Parade. Take a look at some of their creations.
Who can? Marshwood Middle School Can! The Student Council is thankful for the success of our annual food drive. We were able to donate over 1,000 food items to the Footprints Food Pantry. To help celebrate our success, the school mascot came to visit the students!!
A big thank you to Mrs Balsiger for filling the halls of MMS with various student-created art exhibits.
Who can? MMS can! It is time for our annual food drive.
The results are in from this week's State of Maine mock election! Almost 400 students participated, choosing the next Governor and District 1 U.S. Representative for the State of Maine.
In the race for governor, Sam Hunkler received 58 votes, Paul LePage received 89 votes, and our incumbent Governor, Janet Mills, received 217 votes for a landslide victory.
For the District 1 Representative to Congress, Edwin Thelander received 142 votes, and our incumbent Representative Chellie Pingree won with 207 votes.
Thank you to Mr. Rowe and the Social Studies teachers for arranging the opportunity for our students to participate in the mock election.
Substitute Teaching Information Night
Marshwood Adult Education Free
Tuesday, November 8, 6:00-7:30 pm Mashwood High School
The Marshwood School District Needs Substitute Teacher
This session will provide you with information about the expectations and routines at each of the district schools. You will be provided with a Substitute Handbook, application information and tips for successful substitute teaching experiences. There will be time for questions..
Leader: Vicki Stewart (former teacher and principal)
To save a space, please send an email to:
Vicki.Stewart@rsu35.org
Marshwood Middle School’s Veterans and First Responders Assembly
Marshwood Middle School celebrates with its 21st annual assembly to honor veterans and first responders with the return of a live assembly, “In Honor of our Veterans”
November 4, 2022, 9:00 - 11:00 at MMS
Marshwood Middle School will be participating in the Maine State Student Mock Election. Tuesday, Social Studies classes make their way to the lobby to vote. Students will have the opportunity to vote for the candidates of their choice for the positions of Governor and U.S. Representative. The results will be shared in Wednesday morning’s announcements. In preparation for voting, students viewed a digital slideshow that informs them about midterm elections, and about the candidates who are running. Happy voting citizens of MMS!
Why was the jack-o'-lantern afraid? Because it had no guts!
Student Council is hosting a pumpkin decorating contest. Decorate a pumpkin at your home and take a picture or a short video showing off your creation. Entries will be posted to a Padlet and winners will receive a small prize. Student Council members came up with 6 categories: the MOST realistic, character, animal, Hawk Pride, wackiest and scariest. Entries can be submitted between Oct. 10th-28th. The Padlet link is posted through Social Studies Google Classroom page.
7th graders on both teams are participating in a read aloud of Andy Weir's book The Martian. Ms. White and Ms. Stauffer are sharing chapters with the students in science class weekly. The book (and eventual movie showing) provides a great connection to the topics students have been (and will be) exploring in science class this year, and highlight themes of ingenuity, tenacity and scientific thinking as a way to solve seemingly unsolvable problems. Want to know more about The Martian, ask the MMS 7th grader in your life!
The MMS school councelors have been working hard to help students find ways to relieve stress. The newest bulletin boards have been designed with this goal in mind. Students and staff are encouraged to take a minute or two out of their day to work on this collaborative coloring page. There are quite a few benefits to coloring here are a few:
relaxes your brain and improves brain function.
improves Motor Skills.
improves Focus.
reduces Anxiety.
relieves Stress.
Theater Day in Sixth Grade Social Studies
The students in the sixth grade Social Studies classes have been participating in a fun and engaging literacy-based Readers' Theater activity. Over the past two weeks students have had multiple opportunities to practice with their groups. Today was performance day and the sixth grader showed off their reading fluency!
Marshwood Middle School is a busy place. After-school activities have kicked into high gear. Students are staying after for Student Council, Yearbook Club, Soccer, Field, Hockey, Cross Country, PE Games, and more. If your student is looking to connect more with school there are a lot of options at MMS. Looking for more information check out this link https://www.rsu35.org/o/mms/page/intramurals-and-clubs
The App to Use for All Marshwood Information
News From Marshwood Theater
· Congratulations to the cast of Shrek The Musical!
Make sure you stay tuned for ticket information to see the 2022 Fall District Musical…..December 1st, 2nd, 8th, and 9th!
Want to get involved in the show somehow? Stage aspects (helping with crew, costumes, props, etc.)? Production aspects (raffles, fundraisers, sponsors, ads, concessions, etc.)?
Email Bianca.Pietro@Rsu35.org
Marshwood Middle School Families, Staff and Students
Earlier this week, the district was notified by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services that the drinking water at Marshwood Middle School had elevated levels of PFAS (forever chemicals), that exceed the safe drinking level standards established earlier this year. This testing is required to occur in all Maine Schools by December 31st 2022. Testing for PFAS is required for schools whose source for drinking water is a well.
MSAD 35 opted to test the well water at both Marshwood Middle School and Marshwood High School (our only two schools that use well water as drinking source) early in July. When we received the preliminary results from our testing, Marshwood High School’s water fell below the state threshold, while Marshwood Middle School’s was elevated (56.9 parts per trillion as opposed to the state threshold of 20 parts per trillion). After working with our State water testing consultant to determine next steps, a water filtration system was ordered. Unfortunately, due to issues with the current supply chain, the installation of the system was not completed. We have been assured by the filtration system installer that the system will be completely installed by the end of this week. The new filter system will need to run for a number of days prior to the well water being retested. We have set September 16, 2022 as the date testing will be completed, but we are optimistic that this will be resolved prior to that time. Principal David Creech will be providing updates to the Marshwood Middle School Community, as information becomes available.
In the meantime, the water at Marshwood Middle School should not be used for drinking and/or cooking. We have been assured that the water is absolutely safe to use for cleaning/washing hands etc. We have purchased a number of portable water bubblers to provide students with drinking water and for the cafeteria staff to have water to cook with. In addition, we are required to post signage at the Marshwood Middle School notifying the public of the current state of the well. In addition to this brief letter, I have included documentation that are required to be shared with families and consumers.
You will receive an update from Mr. Creech prior to Wednesday, August 31st, 2022. If you have specific questions, please feel free to contact Todd Hughes our Facilities Director at 207-439-2438.
Thank you for your continued support.
John Caverly
