Girls On The Run DC recently held its 10th Anniversary Sneaker Soiree and honored two of Murch’s own!

School counselor, Lauren Miller, and 1st grade teacher, Kathleen Bergin, were honored for their tireless efforts coaching Murch girls through the GOTR program. The two coaches built the program from the ground up, and this spring 25 girls are building confidence, getting great exercise and enjoying being part of a team And, as seen in this recent news segment on WUSA9, the program and the coaches make a lasting impression.

GOTR is a non-profit program designed to build strength, stamina and perseverance through running, but most importantly, participants are taught valuable life lessons and encouraged to realize their “limitless potential.” Donations to GOTR support curriculum enrichment and development, coach and volunteer training and materials, and outreach to underserved communities. If you’d like to donate to the GOTR program, please click here.

The Murch School Improvement Team (SIT) sent the following letter on Wednesday to Dr. Nathaniel Beers, Chief Operating Officer of DC Public Schools (DCPS), and Christopher Weaver, Director of DC Department of General Services (DGS). The agencies previously set a deadline of May 1st for determining if additional funding would be available for the project. As that deadline nears, they still have not shared information that the builder has given them about ways to save money without drastically changing the design that the community approved last summer.

Dear Dr. Beers and Director Weaver:

Thank you very much for taking the time to make yourselves and your staff available for the April 5 meeting at the Wilson Building. We very much appreciated DCPS and DGS, along with representatives from MCN Build and the architects, sitting down with members of the Murch School Improvement Team (SIT), and Council Members Mary Cheh and David Grosso to discuss opportunities to review and “true up” some of the exceedingly high cost estimates from the October design of the Murch renovation in order for everyone involved to understand clearly the actual costs. We thought it was a good meeting and were happy to hear from the experts that they too had also already identified a number of areas where those cost estimates were excessive and could be adjusted downwards.

We all understood that it would take a week or so to come up with hard numbers on what could be saved by cutting some of the over-estimated or misunderstood aspects of the design. However, it has now been three weeks without any word and the May 1^st “deadline” to settle on a final design is now less than a week away. We understand that the builder shared those revised budget numbers with you almost two weeks ago now, and yet you still have not shared those numbers with Councilmembers Cheh and Grosso, or the Murch SIT. We ask that you forward us those new budget numbers without delay.

As you know, we have worked very closely with your teams to ensure that the renovation of Murch is done in a way that is appropriate for Murch’s geographical constraints and historical considerations and, at the same time, is consistent with the needs of the neighborhood, the community, and the city. We need to make the very best use of every dollar Murch has been budgeted to build a top-notch learning environment with the majority of the limited space available on the site used for educational components and play space. We also want to ensure that our tax dollars are being spent wisely, not wastefully. It is hard to proceed and to do so in the absence of full transparency from your respective agencies.

At this point, we have not had a substantive response from anyone in either of your agencies for over three weeks, except for an email to cancel an already scheduled meeting. As you can imagine, the Murch community finds this completely unacceptable when construction is scheduled to begin in less than two months and the design has still not been finalized.

We would appreciate receiving the information that the builder has shared with you today, and we would ask that you schedule our next SIT meeting quickly.

Sincerely,

The Murch School Improvement Team

The DC Council will be marking up the Mayor’s budget in committee over the next several weeks. Councilmember Mary Cheh has been reviewing options for obtaining additional funding for the Murch project. In recent budget hearings, Education Committee Chairman David Grosso expressed concerns about the priorities and funding for school modernizations outlined in the Mayor’s budget proposal and stated that his committee would be carefully reviewing the modernization budget. We will continue to keep the community posted about any developments.

Murch’s staffing plan for 2016-17 is almost completed and there are many changes heading into our swing space where change, flexibility, and adaptability will become our most commonly used words.  By next Friday, May 6^th, I will share a staffing plan via this blog.  Prior to its release, I would like to reemphasize that next year we will have 4, not 5 sections, per grade level (K-5).  We will retain 3 Pre-K sections (capped at 20 students).

The decision to reduce by 1 section in grades K through 3^rd is dictated both by the number of classrooms we’ll have at UDC and our enrollment projections.  We currently have 34 spaces for classrooms including the library this year.  Next year, we will have 31 spaces for classrooms including the library.

Our projected enrollment also decreased from 634 (2015-16) to 600 (2016-17) to reflect boundary shifts which recently went into effect.

I remain committed to small class sizes, and I believe these two factors (# of sections and our enrollment numbers) will balance each other out.  However, if a K-3^rd grade classroom exceeds 25 students, I will consider adding a section at that grade level.

I strongly encourage you to ENROLL NOW so we can make staffing adjustments if needed.  In addition, if you are moving to another school, specifically Lafayette or Hearst, and would be willing to share that information confidentially, it would help tremendously to know this when predicting final enrollment numbers.

We also invite you to check out our enrollment challenge tracker, which is posted by the lunch line.  Students can see which class is in the lead in our enrollment contest.  The class with the highest percentage re-enrolled by June 3rd gets to Silly String me!

If you have questions about any of these changes, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.   I hope you have a nice weekend.

Every month, we have a school wide Theme of the Month.  The theme focuses around ideas and questions that students explore with their class during morning meeting.

The Theme of the Month for May is Citizenship.  Below is a list of guiding questions:

Week of May 2^nd:  What is citizenship?  In what ways do you cooperate?

Week of May 9^th:  Are you a good neighbor?

Week of May 16^th:  Do you protect the environment?

Week of May 23^rd:  Do you stay informed?  Do you vote?

Click May Book List for a list of suggested books around the theme of Citizenship.  Consider reading these books and exploring the questions above with your children.

The monthly theme is explored in morning meeting (which is held every morning in each classroom).  Morning meeting includes the following components:  Greeting (to create a sense of recognition and belonging), Share (to develop community, practice speaking to a group, and strengthen vocabulary development), Activity (to contribute to community culture through shared activities such as songs, games, etc.) and Morning Message (to get students excited about what they’ll be learning that day).

Along with daily morning meetings in each classroom, School Wide Morning Meetings are held once a month to build community school wide.  To more comfortably fit our student body in the gym, we divide our student body for this activity.  Some classes have School Wide Morning Meeting as part of Group A.  Some classes have School Wide Morning Meeting as part of Group B.  Click School Wide Morning Meetings Groups to see when your child attends.

During budget committee hearings this week, Councilmember Mary Cheh was successful in adding an additional $5 million to the Murch renovation budget. With this additional money and anticipated savings that the builder was able to identify after a meeting with the Murch SIT and Councilmembers Cheh and David Grosso in early April, we are hopeful that we will now be able to return to the design that was approved by the community last summer. We owe a huge thanks to Councilmembers Cheh and Grosso for getting the renovation back on track.

The SIT, however, has received no updates from either DCPS or DGS since the Community Meeting on March 24, so it is unclear what the agencies are currently planning for the modernization. We are hopeful that they will soon share with us the cost savings identified by the builder and will begin moving forward with the community-approved design.

The full council will vote on the budget on May 17 and the budget is expected to be finalized in late May or early June. We will share any information from DCPS and DGS when we receive it.

Girls on the Run is organizing a lemonade stand.  The lemonade stand will run on Tuesday, May 10th at 3:30 PM on the Murch bluetop.  Lemonade will cost $1.

Money raised through the fundraiser will help provide clean drinking water to communities in need (www.water.org).

Thanks for supporting GOTR in this effort!

A heartfelt “ruff” and “meow” – uh, that means “thank you” in pet-guage – from the Fourth Grade Community Service Club.

In partnership with the Humane Society, the 4th grade service minded students collected donations for the Paws and Claws program.  Paws and Claws is designed to help pets in local area shelters by providing much needed items such as pet food and toys. Per usual, our community heard the call for help and rallied!  Thank you!

A group of 4th and 5th grade students are about to embark on an exciting writing project.  Bringing together the 4th grade writing unit on memoirs and biographies with the 5th grade ELA unit on the Civil Rights Movement, students will interview individuals who grew up or lived in Washington DC when the city was segregated.  Students will then write oral histories of these individuals’ experiences.

Often, as we study issues like the Civil Rights movement, we are so focused on what was happening nationally that we don’t focus on what was happening locally.  It is always both educational and fascinating for kids to see their city come alive.

If you or anyone you know lived in Washington in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s as the city began to integrate and would be willing to spend time with our student authors, could you please contact Vicki Otten.

Thanks so much for your help with this project.

I am excited to release the final staffing plan for next year.

 **New to Murch

#Current Murch teacher in a new position

Pre-Kindergarten

Ms. Daniela Silver has been hired to join Ms. Alicia Garfinkel and Ms. Jackie Hines to round out our Pre-K teaching team.

Ms. Silver comes to us from American University where she is completing her Master of Arts in Teaching (Early Childhood Education).  Most recently, Ms. Silver worked as a student teacher at Bethesda Elementary School.

Ms. Silver fills the position held by Ms. Ariel Landsman who will be moving to Cleveland, Ohio. Ms. Landsman’s husband Marc matched into a gastroenterology fellowship with Case Western MetroHealth Hospital. They hope to return to the DC area when his fellowship is complete!

Kindergarten

Ms. Rachel Chalfant, Ms. Sophie Schwadron and Ms. Sarah Seltzer (current K teachers at Murch) will be joined by Ms. Wendy Cresswell, who will move from 1^st grade to kindergarten.  Mr. Charles Chalfant will become the instructional technology coach, supporting the use of technology in instruction and curriculum development at Murch.

1^st Grade

Ms. Kathleen Bergin and Ms. Alyssa Pinks (current 1^st grade teachers at Murch) will be joined by Ms. Katelyn Fitzpatrick, who will move from kindergarten to 1^st grade, and Ms. Athena Kopsidas.

Ms. Kopsidas joins us from her most recent experience as a first grade teacher at the Inspired Teaching Demonstration Public Charter School.

Ms. Kopsidas has a Master’s degree from George Mason University in Teaching with an emphasis in arts integration and urban education along with a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland in Early Childhood Education.

Ms. Bergin and Ms. Pinks’ classrooms will be self-contained.  Ms. Fitzpatrick and Ms. Kopsidas’ classrooms will be departmentalized. Students in those classrooms will spend half the day with Ms. Fitzpatrick for ELA and half the day with Ms. Kopsidas for math & science.

2^nd Grade

Ms. Elizabeth Schafer and Ms. De’Anna Walton (current 2^nd grade teachers at Murch) will be joined by Mr. Allen Travitz and Ms. Heather Hsu, both of whom currently teach 1^st grade at Murch.

Ms. Schafer and Ms. Walton’s classrooms will be self-contained. Mr. Travitz and Ms. Hsu’s classrooms will be departmentalized.  Students in those classrooms will spend half the day with Mr. Travitz for ELA and half the day with Ms. Hsu for math & science.

Departing 2^nd grade teachers include Ms. Laura Dorn, Ms. Meribeth Heitbrink, and Ms. Sally George.  Ms. Dorn will be attending graduate school at the University of Georgia next year.  She will miss Murch and hopes to return to work in D.C. the following year.  Ms. Heitbrink will be moving back to Chicago to be closer to family and friends and will continue to pursue her career in teaching.

3^rd Grade

Mr. Tim Brady and Ms. Monica Davis (current 3^rd grade teachers at Murch) will be joined by Mr. Scott Colman and Ms. Elizabeth Thompson.

Mr. Colman currently serves as the science coordinator at Murch, and Ms. Thompson comes to us from H.D. Cooke Elementary School in D.C., where she teaches 3^rd grade ELA.  Ms. Thompson has an English Literature degree from Trinity University and a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from American University.  She has a passion for teaching literacy and loves to learn new ways to make content exciting.

The 3^rd grade team will be departmentalized.  Mr. Brady will teach math, Mr. Colman will teach science and Ms. Davis and Ms. Thompson will teach English language arts.

Departing 3^rd grade teachers include Ms. Samantha Chung, Ms. Vanessa Robin and Ms. Maria Samenga.

Ms. Chung’s husband is starting a new position within his company and relocating them back to New Jersey.  Ms. Chung plans on continuing her teaching career, but will forever hold fond memories of Murch close to her heart.

Next year, Ms. Robin will be a full-time student, pursuing her MSW through Columbia University. Outside of her graduate studies, Ms. Robin will be tutoring kids in the DC area (including some Murch students!), which will allow her to keep in touch with the community and remain in the field of education. She will always cherish the time she spent at Murch and the relationships she’s built with students and their families.

Ms. Samenga just bought a house out in La Plata, Maryland. While she is sad to leave DCPS, she is very excited about this new adventure with her family.

4^th Grade

Ms. Meredith Grindrod, Ms. Sarah Heist and Ms. Asha Mathur (current 4^th grade teachers at Murch) will be joined by Ms. Lauren Reed.  Ms. Reed currently serves as the Murch geography teacher.

The 4^th grade team will be departmentalized.  Ms. Heist will teach math, Ms. Mathur will teach science and Ms. Grindrod and Ms. Reed will teach English language arts.

5^th Grade

Ms. Karen Levy, Ms. Avis McCoy and Ms. Vicki Otten (current 5^th grade teachers at Murch) will be joined by Mr. Peter Snyder.  Mr. Snyder currently teaches 4^th grade ELA.

The 5^th grade team will be departmentalized.  Ms. McCoy will teach math, Ms. Levy will teach science and Ms. Otten and Mr. Snyder will teach English language arts.

Departing 5^th grade teachers include Ms. Sabrina Sanford.  Ms. Sanford and her husband will relocate to Charlotte, NC early this summer.  Ms. Sanford will miss Murch, its staff and community, and living in the DC area, but she is excited for the new adventure that waits down in North Carolina.

Enrichment (Schoolwide Enrichment Model)

We are excited to welcome Ms. Roxanne Bentley as our enrichment coordinator.  Ms. Bentley is a SEM specialist who became acquainted with the SEM model during her Master’s degree work in Gifted and Talented Education.  She has since utilized the SEM model as a gifted and talented classroom teacher, has facilitated enrichment professional development, and was one of two pilot teachers who introduced the SEM model to DCPS Middle Schools in 2012.  She looks forward to transitioning back to elementary, her first love, and is excited to become part of the Murch community.

Resource Teachers

Ms. Nichole David (art), Mr. Timothy Johnson (physical education), and Joseph Casten (Spanish) will be joined by Mr. Eugene Branch (music) to complete our resource team.  Mr. Branch comes to us from H.D. Cooke Elementary School in D.C., where he teaches music.

Eugene “Gene” Branch, Jr. will join Murch Elementary School as the new music teacher for SY 2016-2017.   He comes to Murch with 24 years of teaching music at the elementary and middle school levels.  Gene plays and teaches piano, saxophone, flute, drums and clarinet.   He enjoys singing and performing, building and painting his own sets and designing costumes for shows in collaboration with parent volunteers.

Gene has a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance, along with two master degrees in Curriculum and Instruction and Education Administration.  He is currently attending Northcentral University, working towards a doctorate degree in Curriculum and Instruction.  Gene’s goal is to bring music, singing, and performing and music direction to its highest level at Murch as well as to make every performance memorable for the entire school community.

Dr. Christopher Lyon will continue his cross-disciplinary work with pre-k students as well as working with both Pre-k and Kdg. teachers in developing their understanding of Reggio Emilia which will be fully implemented in Pre-K and Kdg. starting with the 2018-2019 school year.

Departing resource teachers include Ms. Catherine Pruett (music), who is looking for new adventures in other places and Ms. Lauren Reed will be joining the fourth grade team!

Support Teams

We have added a Special Education Inclusion teacher to our staff.  Ms. Katie Fischer comes to us from Truesdell Education Campus in D.C., where she serves as a special education inclusion teacher.  She holds a Master of Science degree in teaching from Fordham University.

We also welcome Ms. Alison Williams as an additional instructional coach (joining Ms. Tashima Hawkins in the coaching office).  Ms. Williams is a Washington, D.C. native who attended James F. Oyster Bilingual Elementary School and Hardy Middle School.  She holds her BS from Hampton University and Master’s from University of Maryland, College Park and is beginning her 21st year as an educator—12 years as a classroom teacher, 4 as a Reading Specialist and the last 5 as an Instructional Coach.

Our ELL (English Language Learners) team will remain the same, but we will add one ELL aide. This decision has yet to be made.

We look forward to welcoming these new team members to Murch for the 2016-17 school year!

Have a great weekend.

We are seeking volunteers to help form the Murch Beautification Committee!  The committee is responsible for creating an inviting school atmosphere that breaths elementary school life into our temporary campus at UDC.

WE ARE MURCH is the theme, but leave the mice and the huge-crater-in-the-middle-of-the-playground on the renovation site, please.  Think more along the lines of garden art, banners… any ideas to help make our temporary site our Murch away from Murch are welcome!

We are looking for painters, sewers, gardeners, and those handy with a skill saw.

Anyone interested in helping, please contact fabulous art teacher, Nichole David.

Congratulations to our Murch Mustang track and field team!

Our fleet-footed team placed 2nd overall for boys and 3rd overall for girls in the DCIAA Elementary City Track and Field Competition… With gold medals earned by several of our Mustangs for individual and team races.

Please mark your calendars for the upcoming Murch Home and School Association  (HSA) 2016-2017 Budget and Elections meeting on May 24th at 7pm in the Media Center.

Why is this meeting so important? Candidates for vacancies on the HSA Executive Board and the Local School Advisory Team (LSAT) will be announced soon and the community members who attend will be asked to vote on the slate of candidates for the HSA and to elect the 4 parent representatives to the LSAT. It is crucial that we have enough community members to make this vote happen.

So, come learn about the 2016-2017 HSA Budget and vote on and meet your new HSA and LSAT committees! This is the one HSA meeting you won’t want to miss!

If you would like to discuss the 2016-17 school year with Principal C, he will schedule appointments to begin on June 20^th.  These appointments will take place at Wilson High School.

Due to time constraints between now and the end of the school year—with packing and other pressing needs related to the end of the year and the upcoming renovation—he will not be able to hold appointments before June 20th.  To schedule an appointment for this summer, please contact Jasmin Coleman in the Murch front office.  Thank you for your understanding.

Congratulations to our students, teachers and staff on successfully administering PARCC this year.  Our regular PARCC testing schedule is complete (with a few make-up sessions taking place next week).

We had minimal technology or scheduling issues, and we trust our students did a good job demonstrating the knowledge they’ve acquired this year.  As always, we will use the data once we receive it to inform our teaching practice.

A few concerns have been raised about PARCC testing and with instant access on the internet, it is easy to read the opinions of others regarding the appropriateness of PARCC testing and whether or not students should be taking them.  Of course, there are two sides to every story.  In the summer, I would like to hold a parent forum about the role of standardized testing in public schools.  I believe it would be beneficial for interested parties to have their voices heard.  Full disclosure:  I do not have the authority to make policies for DCPS but I do have to execute them.  Stay tuned for a date and location.

Switching gears, thank you (belatedly) to our HSA and parent/student community for the support you showered on our teachers and staff during Teacher Appreciation Week.  It is a well-received tradition at Murch, and we appreciate your support.

Have a great weekend.

Save the date for Family Fun Night on Wednesday, June 8th from 5:30-7:00 PM! Come out for fun, family and fitness! This is a great evening in which participants will get a chance to come together and be involved in various physical activities. Classics such as dodgeball, kickball, soccer, and flag-tag will be among some of the activities that participants will enjoy! Come out and get ready to be active and have a blast!

If you’d like to help organize the event along with gym teacher Mr. Johnson, please consider volunteering here.

See you at Family Fun Night!

Book swap! This Monday, May 16th from 3:30-5:00pm on the Murch playground. Bring a book & get a new-to-you book, or just clean off your shelves & donate any unwanted books! (No travel guides or textbooks, please.)
All remaining books at the end of the drive will be donated to Books for America (www.booksforamerica.org).

Today, DC Public Schools asked Principal Cebrzynski to disseminate a letter regarding the results of recent water tests conducted at Murch.  As the letter indicates, one water source (a sink in the counselor’s office) came back above actionable level.  To read the letter, please click below:

DCPS Murch ES Water Test Results Letter — May 13, 2016

As a reminder, Monday, May 23^rd is parent-teacher conference day, and there is no school for students that day.  If there is a particular topic or area of concern you’d like addressed during your conference time, please email your child’s teacher in advance so that they can fully prepare for the meeting and/or bring classroom work that supports the discussion.

DCPS has prepared a checklist with tips on what to do before, during and after the conference to make sure you get the most out of your time with your child’s teacher.  To view the checklist, click HERE.  The document is also available in Amharic, Chinese, Spanish, French and Vietnamese by clicking HERE.

As a friendly reminder, current teachers are not able to provide insight into next year’s classroom placements.  Thank you for respecting the process that is in place to create balanced classes.  I will be available to listen to concerns you may have for next year beginning on June 19^th.  As a reminder, our office will be moving to Wilson High School while we wait for our swing space to be completed at UDC.

Have a great weekend.

Adventure Theatre and the student cast of The Jungle Book have been hard at work preparing for the upcoming performances of this year’s Murch musical! Make sure you don’t miss it. Mark your calendar for Friday, June 3 at 6:30 pm and Saturday, June 4 at 1 pm. Performances will be in the Deal Middle School Auditorium.

You can reserve your tickets now. Please note, there is no reserved seating. Pizza and drinks will be available for sale prior to each show. Food sales will begin one hour prior to the show and end 10 minutes before the start of the show.

Do you know someone who had been working hard this spring to bring the jungle to life? Reserve a spot in the program to congratulate members of the cast, wish them well, or tell them how super you think they are. Make sure your favorite cast member knows how proud you are of their hard work!

All proceeds from tickets, food sales, and program ads help to support theatrical productions at Murch.

On Tuesday, May 17, the full DC Council held its first of two votes on the DC budget. The Council’s budget includes an additional $5 million for the Murch modernization. These funds had been approved previously by Council committees. The Council’s procedures require a second and final vote on the budget in June.

The School Improvement Team (SIT) believes that these additional funds, combined with cost savings identified by the builder, would allow the modernization to move forward based on the plan approved by the community last year. The SIT has reached out again to DCPS to try to schedule another meeting and move the planning process forward, but has not yet received a response.

We do know that DCPS is continuing to plan for the move to swing space at UDC for next school year. For more information on the swing space, please read our FAQ’s about the swing space. If you have additional questions, please email them to HSAMurch@gmail.com. The SIT will compile the community’s questions to submit to DCPS next week.