Administrator's Corner
Archived Posts
Welcome to the Administrator's Corner. Shawn Gonyaw, Principal of Marion Cross School, and Greg Bagnato, Student Services Coordinator will post their weekly messages here. The intent is to keep you updated on important topics that are happening at school.
These posts can also be found in the weekly Who's Wise Words newsletter, which we highly encourage you to read. We hope you find all this information helpful, informative and fun. We encourage you to reach out to us with questions and comments.
Regards,
Shawn and Greg
Most Recent Post:
Week of March 13 - 17
Important Dates
- Friday, March 17 - Parent Teacher Conferences
- Thursday, March 30 - Spring Choral Concert 6 pm (Grades 3-6)
- Thursday, April 6 - 7pm - PTO Annual Meeting at the Norwich Inn
- Thursday, May 25th - 2pm - Mayfest Celebration on the Norwich Green
Message From the Principal
Specials Rotation for the week of March 20
Monday - A
Tuesday - B
Wednesday - C
Thursday - D
Friday - E
You may wonder why we are so prompt with Who’s Wise Words this week? This week at parent/teacher conferences you have the opportunity to talk with teachers about your child’s progress. For you to get the most out of your conference, I encourage you to do a thorough review of your child’s report card. Thus the reason for receiving the newsletter a day early! Below are the directions for how to access the parent portal, where the report card can be found. The parent portal will open at 5pm this afternoon. Again, I encourage you to take some time to review the report card and come to the conference with your questions and wonders written down. Twenty minutes go past quickly!
Below are the directions for accessing the parent portal. If you should happen to have difficulty, please email shannonhowe@sau70.org for assistance. If you have any questions, concerns, or wonders about your child’s report card please reach out to the classroom teacher.
- Please go to the PowerSchool portal
- Once logged in go to the ICON on the left-hand side and choose Student Reports.
- Click on the report that matches the grade your student is in.
- Your student report will then show. Feel free to print your students' report.
- If you have any problems accessing your students report cards please email shannonhowe@sau70.org.
In other news, I am asking for your assistance with attendance. I recently reviewed our school-wide attendance and am concerned with the number of days that MCS kids are missing. During the pandemic we sent a lot of kids home, we even sent home kids who looked perfectly healthy! Also, during the pandemic, families limited their travel and vacation plans to more local events. Now that we are moving past the pandemic we are still seeing a large amount of absences.
Frequent and extended absences not only impact the students who are out, but also those who are at school. When students return to school after a vacation they require attention from the classroom teacher to catch them up to the group. Often if several children in a class are absent, the teacher struggles to know how much new content should be taught. How can you help? Please be mindful when scheduling vacations; a week or more out of school is significant. We have seen “mental health day” be used often for students who are absent from school. If this is the case, I encourage you to reach out to our guidance counselor, student service coordinator, classroom teacher, or me to ask for help. Of course, if your child is truly ill, then you should certainly keep them home to recover. Our goal is to provide the best quality education for all students. This is most achievable if we have students in school ready to learn.
Enjoy the weekend,
Shawn
Student Services Update
The State of Vermont requires that each publicly funded student takes state-wide assessments that are aligned with the Common Core State Standards (for ELA and math) and the Next Generation Science Standards (for science). Students in Grades 3-6 will take the ELA and math tests, while 5th graders will also take the Science test.
Every few years the Agency of Education evaluates the platform that administers these assessments. This year there is a new company with a similar but different test platform. Thus, the state wide testing is no longer called SBAC, but rather VTCAP. Some of the changes to be expected will be:
- Shorter testing time 🙂!
- Multiple translations/accommodations to create a more accessible test.
- Science, Math, and ELA will all use the same platform.
- There will be a more diverse group of readings and authors for exam passages.
Yesterday the staff worked on scheduling when these tests will be given. We will send out a letter with more specifics after Spring Break.
Have a fantastic conference day!
Greg