Hello Marblehead Community Charter Families,

We had a taste of winter this week. When winter weather will impact the school day with a cancellation, delayed opening, or early release, we will make that call as early as possible. We will then notify the local TV stations, post on social media, and text and email families. It is highly unlikely that we will have an early release once we are already all at school. You can of course pick up your own child early if you have any concerns about weather or travel. While the winter has been mild to date, please continue to send students to school with the gear they need to go outside for recess. At times the field can be muddy, so an extra set of boots/shoes for recess is a good idea. Today we arrived to ducks swimming on the pond that had formed on the field, so we have indoor recess until the field dries out a bit.

Next week we turn the calendar to February. It is at this time of year that we send out a form for each family to fill out to indicate your plans to return for the next school year. These intent to return forms provide us with the data we need to notify prospective students of how many seats will be available in each grade level. We will ask for this information twice; once next week and then again in April or May. This preliminary response is so that we have early indicators prior to the enrollment lottery at the end of February. Be on the lookout next week for the online intent to return form.

We are appreciative of the new newspapers in town. Over the past two weeks, MCCPS has twice been featured in the Marblehead Weekly News. We rely on word of mouth to recruit students to join our school community. Please continue to like and share our social media posts and spread the word about the opportunities available to students at our school. In order to be included in the primary enrollment lottery, applications need to be in by February 8. We do continue to accept applications after that date for future enrollment lotteries to fill every seat. While we are allotted up to 230 spaces across the five grade levels, in order to keep class sizes down, we will be aiming to have a total enrollment between 210 and 220 students next year.

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, I wanted to remind families that our student council distributes a sweet treat to all students on February 14. We do not permit the exchange of valentines between students in classrooms. Please do not send students to school with valentines. This should only be done outside of school to limit disruptions to the learning environment. Thanks for your attention to this.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Peter Cohen, Ed.D

Head of School