Dear PVMS Families,

April is here and we will be entering the fourth quarter of our school year!  To say this month is busy would be an understatement!  Our temperatures are slowly warming up and precipitation this month always leads to May flowers.  With the change in weather we see our students able to get outside more often than not.  Please make sure that your children dress appropriately for outdoor recess as we will try to get outside as often as possible.

I wanted to take a moment to congratulate the cast and crew of Once Upon a Mattress.  Four shows took place over the weekend of March 20th.  We have such an incredible music department! A special thank you to JeanMarie Craane, Jocelyn Kraus, Jen Cahill, Mike Soprano, Ashley Bennett and Ben Durland for your dedication and hard work and participation in preparing our students for Once Upon a Mattress. If you were able to attend, you might agree that it was a comedy with many laughs and great talent on stage.  It truly takes a village – so many staff members came together to participate in four dress rehearsals and make the weekend of four shows such a success. Year after year, we are  reminded of the remarkable talent within our student body. It’s inspiring to see them take ownership of every aspect of the production – from stage crew and lighting to costumes, makeup, choreography, and acting. Well done to everyone involved!

The third quarter finishes up on Friday, April 17th.  Our students get a fresh start to the fourth quarter and the final ten weeks of the school year beginning Monday, April 20th.  Please check PowerSchool on Friday, April 24th for finalized grades regarding the third quarter.

With this time of year, we must remind our children to stay focused on their goals and continue to work hard as some students develop “Spring Fever” and, recognizably, have busy lives outside of the school day.  Executive functioning and planning the day outside of school is even more important when life becomes hectic.  Please ensure to plan accordingly and finish the year strong academically.

Speaking of academic excellence and determination, please join me in recognizing and congratulating those that earned induction into our National Junior Honor Society.  To be considered for induction, middle school students needed to have a 92.5 average in all subject areas for grade seven and for the first two quarters of grade eight. In addition, there could be no report card grade under an 85 in grade eight for the first and second quarter. Student applications were then reviewed and assessed by a faculty committee.  Congratulations to our 26 NJHS students who were officially inducted on Wednesday, March 25th at 6:00PM on our PVMS Stage.  Thank you to those who were able to join us for this ceremony.

	Saarina Asif	Ella Mallick
	Terra Connolly	Maevry McCarty
	Hudson Conte	Samantha Molnar
	Peyton Conte	Anthony Mondelli
	Leah Craane	Shpend Paloka
	Elijah Cruz	Breana Paterno
	James Curran	Lukas Platt
	Lauren Driscoll	Carly Smith
	Grace Gibbs	Caden Sullivan-Quinones
	Erin Kilian	Stephanie Tellez
	Katherine Lau	Alejandro Velez-Benenson
	Robert Leisengang	Claudia Vukcaj
	Marcel Lomot	Rhyan Alexis Zubradt

Our New York State assessments that will directly impact your children are approaching in late April and early to mid May.  We have been working extremely hard this year in addressing NYS standards while writing and integrating our International Baccalaureate work into our daily instruction.  Our intention this year has been to grow and improve academic rigor.  We use multiple measures to assess the progress of our students that include New York State assessments (once a year), iReady benchmarks (3 times a year), and ongoing classroom formative and summative classroom assessments.  The data is used for placement with academic intervention support services (AIS) and help to inform teacher instruction.  These assessments are developed by New York State teachers and address the standards that all students in the state are working toward all school year.  It is a wonderful opportunity for our students to show off what they have learned and help teachers identify standards that they should continue to focus on moving forward.  The test is also untimed.  I encourage you to have conversations with your children about taking advantage of this opportunity!  We rely on this information as the results inform our practices as well as give us insight into the needs of our students.  Please know that our high school has many exams (Regents, IB, AP, etc.) that our students will need to complete, and the assessments offered this year will also help our students prepare for the stamina required of those high stakes exams in future years.

Although most middle school children do not want parent involvement with academics and social decisions, this is a critical time. Please partner with us in monitoring your child’s homework, academic progress, and social media choices.  Here are a few ways you can support your child:

1. Check your child’s understanding of reading assignments.  We often find that they have a better understanding when you check for understanding.
2. Encourage your children to read nightly.  Reading 20 minutes a day enhances their comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and background knowledge.
3. Help your child plan ahead for long-term projects.  Projects are an opportunity for children to express talents and apply themselves in an authentic way.  Projects should be taken seriously and turned in on time!
4. Check your child’s assignment pad, Google Classroom assignments and Power School nightly to make sure all work has been completed.  Nightly homework assignments review and reinforce material covered daily.
5. Review class notes with your child.  A quick review of daily notes will aid in the understanding of materials covered and will help prepare your child for the final exams.
6. Talk to your child about their school day.  Building relationships through communication is such an important aspect of fostering life-long learners.
7. Monitor your child’s social media presence.  We continue to investigate situations where poor choices are made in group chats, Snapchat, and Tik Tok where students are sharing images and using inappropriate language with one another.  Once this is brought to our attention, we must investigate.  Please help us in monitoring your child and their use of these platforms.

Key Dates

Spring Recess will continue through Monday, April 6th. We will return to school on Tuesday, April 7th.

NYSESLAT testing (speaking portion) will begin Thursday, April 9th (8th Grade), Monday, April 13th (5th/6th Grade), April 14th (7th Grade).

Our PTA Book Fair will take place from Tuesday, April 14th – Thursday, April 16th during lunch and recess periods.  Our PTA is looking for volunteers to make this year’s book fair a success!

Erin’s Law Presentations (6th/8th Grade) will take place on Wednesday, April 15th and Thursday, April 16th. Separate email communications have been sent to families.

Washington DC Trips – 2026 and 2027          

• On the evening of Wednesday, April 15th there will be a Washington DC parent interest meeting for current 7th graders for our May 12th – 14th, 2027 trip.  This will be held in our MS Dining Hall starting at 6PM.
• We will also have our mandatory Washington D.C. parent/guardian info meeting starting at 7:00PM in our Dining Hall for all parents and guardians of the students we have going on our trip May 13th – May 15th.  All students must attend with at least one adult.

The third quarter ends on Friday, 4/17/26 and our fourth quarter will begin Monday, 4/20/26.  Please log-on to PowerSchool on Friday, 4/24/26 and review your child’s grades with them.  This is a great opportunity for you to communicate expectations and reflect on the year up to this point.

April 23rd – MS Spring Fling 5:00-7:00PM

Our New York State English Language Arts assessments (computer-based) will take place on Thursday, April 30th and Friday, May 1st.  All students need to bring their fully charged devices and an independent reading book on these days.  Students have worked so hard this year and it is an opportunity to show their skills and apply what they have learned.  Please note that these are untimed, do not impact teacher APPR, and are a great opportunity to practice standardized assessments that students will need to take in high school.  Good luck to all!

As always, we appreciate your continued support as we continue to keep our children focused on the importance of school, their social and emotional well being and to ensure a successful last few months of the year.  Please contact us at any time with questions or concerns that you may have.

Sincerely,

Travis W. McCarty
Principal