I hope everyone is faring well through this stormy weekend. So far the days at McCall have been busy but quiet given that students are not around. Therefore, I am looking forward to having the incoming 6th graders at school for the next two weeks as the Great Expectations Programs will be taking place. Please do not forget that I am holding Meet and Greet sessions tomorrow and next Monday at the end of the Great Expectations Program. So I invite all incoming 6th grade families to come by and chat with me during those times.
I would also like to take this moment to fill you in on how I communicate with McCall families. I maintain a Principal's Blog (http://mccallprincipal.blogspot.com/) which can be accessed through the school website. I update it weekly to communicate updates, reminders, and other McCall happenings to the families. I will send out direct emails to all of you to communicate need-to-know information. I am hoping this communication practice will prevent your inboxes from being inundated by emails from the school or the district and help you separate “good to know” from “need to know” information. Please note that you can subscribe to the Principal’s Blog by entering your email in the subscription box located in the right column of the Blog. You will receive email notifications alerting you that the Blog has been updated. Also, my Twitter handle is @jlin_principal for those of you who tweet. You are invited to follow me to receive McCall updates through that medium.
Here are some more updates and reminders for the week:
Team and Homeroom Assignments – We will be sending home this information during the week of August 20th. During the middle of last week, the Aspen Portal was opened briefly while we were getting it ready for the new school year. Some students and families inadvertently accessed their team and homeroom information during that time. Please know that the information they were able to retrieve during that window may not be accurate since our staff is still in the process of finalizing the students’ schedules. At this moment, no students or families are able to access the Aspen Portal and you will receive an error message if you attempt to log in. I ask everyone to exercise patience and wait until we formally notify you to access your homeroom and team assignment information.
Staffing Updates – We have quite a few teachers who will not return to McCall due to retirement or to accept opportunities outside of McCall. I would like to introduce the following staff members will be joining us in September to replace the outgoing teachers. Please join me in welcoming the follow faculty members:
Grade 8 Science Teacher (Gold Team) – Corinne Herlihy
Grade 8 Science Teacher (Silver Team) – Stephanie Noble
Grade 8 Science Teacher (Platinum Team) – Katherine Little
Grade 8 English/Social Studies Teacher (Diamond Team) – Lilly Benham
Grades 6-8 Special Education Teacher (Partnership Program) –
Hannah Bjornson
Grades 6-8 Special Education Teacher (Connections Program) –
Joie Vaughan
Grade 7 Guidance Counselor (Maternity Leave for Ms. Ashley
LeBlanc - Olympians & Marathoners Teams) – Elena
Pizzotti
Grade 6 Special Education Teacher (Titans Team) – Elizabeth Conlin
Grade 7 Special Education Teacher (Globetrotters Team) – Sarah Mutter
Psychologist (Leave of Absence for Ms. Alexis Cabral) – Rachel Cameron
Chorus/Music Teacher - Emily
Sebastian
Part Time Technology/Engineering Teacher – Donna Giangregorio
Part Time Italian Teacher - Romina Crociani
Grade 8 Special Education Teacher - Sarah Chambers
In addition, Mr.
Terry Sheehan will be joining the staff as the new Assistant Principal and Ms.
Mary Ellen Madden will be transferring to McCall as the Special Education
Supervisor after working the past two years in the same capacity at Lynch and
Lincoln. Lastly, I welcome Ms. Lynn
Vozzella who will be replacing Ms. LaMuraglia as our full time school
nurse. Ms. Vozzella was the long time
school nurse at Lincoln.
We are still in the
process of hiring a 7th Grade ELA teacher for the Marathoners Team, a
6th Grade Science teacher for the Titans Team, and a couple of
Teaching Assistants. I am confident we
will be able to fill all our openings with excellent candidates before the
school year starts.
Thank you and enjoy
next week!
James Lin
Principal
McCall Middle School
