Martinsville City Public Schools

It's Homecoming in Martinsville! 🏈 ❤️🤍 We want to see your Bulldog Pride! Share your photos and videos from tonight's game and homecoming celebrations by tagging MCPS or using #BulldogPride or #MartinsvilleHOCO23. We'll be watching social media and may feature some of our favorite posts on our Facebook and Instagram accounts! Show us your school spirit and give us a look into all the fun happening tonight! Let's make this a homecoming to remember. Let's go Bulldogs! 🐾🐾🐾

MCPS was representing at last night's Martinsville City Council meeting! 📝 Council recognized the top 3 winners of this year's "If I Were Mayor" essay contest with plaques and gift certificates to Uptown Pinball. Congratulations to MMS students Aubrey, Hudson, and Abbigail for their amazing work! 🇺🇸 The newly-elected representatives of the MMS Student Council shared the history of the Constitution with the audience and accepted a proclamation from Council acknowledging the week of Sept. 17-23 as U.S. Constitution Week. Sixth grade representative Kyla pointed out some of the spelling errors found in the document and told Council that the Constitution is the oldest Constitution of any major government in the world. Seventh grader Bridgette, Student Council secretary and treasurer, spoke about how the Daughters of the American Revolution initially petitioned Congress to honor Constitution Week. Student Council President Abbigail spoke about the preamble to the Constitution and shared that seven delegates from Virginia refused to sign the document because it did not include a Bill of Rights. In 1791, the Bill of Rights was ratified. 📚 City Council also read a proclamation acknowledging the week of September 18-22 as Adult Education and Family Literacy Week. Lealice Hagwood, coordinator and lead teacher for Martinsville Adult and Career Education Services, accepted the proclamation and spoke to Council about the importance of literacy and the work that is going on within the city to promote literacy.

Today is the 20th day of school! Students who have missed two or more days by this point in the school year are considered chronically absent. It's never too early to start building the habit of good attendance! Children who are chronically absent in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade are much less likely to read at grade level by third grade. Students who cannot read at grade level by the end of third grade are 4 times more likely to drop out of high school. #AttendanceMattersVA #schooleveryday

Start planning your future! MHS will host the VACRAO College Fair on Monday, September 11 from 6-8 p.m. in the MHS Commons. This is the perfect opportunity for MHS students to learn more about the colleges and universities in our region and what they have to offer potential students! The College Fair is open to all, but MHS students and their families are strongly encouraged to attend.

Please remember that MCPS will be closed on Monday, September 4 in observance of the Labor Day holiday. Classes will resume Tuesday, September 5.

On his last day of work, MCPS would like to thank Officer Shane McPeek for serving has our SRO for over a decade. Officer McPeek has worked at both Martinsville Middle School and Martinsville High School and has played played an integral role in school safety improvements during his time with us. Thank you, Officer McPeek, for keeping our students and staff safe! We wish you the best in your retirement!

Our JV and Varsity volleyball squads served up back-to-back victories last night in their first home games of the season! 💪 We're so proud of these student athletes for their teamwork, communication, and competitive spirit! Both teams play at home again tonight, taking on Morehead. Let's pack the stands and cheer our Bulldogs on to another victory! A-C-E! 🏐 🐾 #BulldogPride

We had such a wonderful time at yesterday's ribbon cutting for the new sensory garden at Albert Harris Elementary! 🌷 The sensory garden is designed to stimulate all five senses and includes wind chimes, a bird bath and bird feeder, an herb garden, a sandbox, flowers, and even a rock garden filled with rocks (decorated by our students) that contain encouraging and motivational phrases! We're so grateful for the ongoing partnership of the Dan River Basin Association, who helped install this newest component of the AHES Green Schoolyard, and for the generous support of the Community Foundation Serving Western Virginia which funded the project. Thank you for helping us provide this unique learning environment for our students! You can read more about yesterday's ceremony on our website: https://www.martinsville.k12.va.us/article/1213354

Stay up-to-date with Bulldog athletics! 🐾 📱 Notify Me gives you instant alerts when a game is postponed, cancelled, or rescheduled. As soon as a schedule change is made at the middle or high school level, Notify Me will send you a text and/or email alert, so you'll never miss a game! 👉 To sign up for Notify Me, simply visit Martinsville's Piedmont District website and click on Notify Me under the calendar on the right side of the page. https://www.piedmontdistrictva.org/public/genie/296/school/3/

Calling all MAVAHI Band alumni! 🥁🎺🎷 Registration for our MAVAHI Alumni Band Night will close this Friday! Be sure to sign up using the link below: https://forms.gle/Yg4qLhDH4KjKYmKi6 Each participant will receive an Alumni t-shirt to wear at the game. T-shirts are $10.00. Please send in your payment to Mr. Joyce at MHS or drop it off in the main office. If you have any questions, please email Mr. Joyce at bjoyce@martinsville.k12.va.us . You can mail payments to: Martinsville High School Attn: Brian Joyce - Band Alumni Night 351 Commonwealth Blvd E Martinsville, VA 24112

It was amazing to see so many smiling faces this morning on the first day of a new school year! Thank you to the Martinsville Sheriff's Office, Police Department, Martinsville Fire & EMS, and city council members who joined our staff and school board members in welcoming our students back to school! It was a great way to kick off the Year of Endless Possibilities here at MCPS! Students, your MCPS family missed you! We can't wait to see what you will achieve this year!

Curious about the upcoming school year? 🍎 🏫 MCPS is hosting a district-wide open house for all schools on Wednesday, August 9 from 12-7 p.m. This is a great opportunity for students and their families to meet teachers and staff, visit classrooms, learn about the upcoming school year, and get to know their school! ✉️ Each school will send out information to families regarding their specific open house procedures. 👉 To learn more about open house, visit our Back to School page on the MCPS website: https://www.martinsville.k12.va.us/page/back-to-school-2023-2024

Planning to participate in sports during the upcoming school year? 🏈 All student athletes must complete a physical. 🎾 MCPS will offer sports physicals on Wednesday, July 19 from 8:30 until 11:00 a.m. at the Martinsville High School gym. ⚽ The cost is $10 per person. 🏀 All paperwork must be completed prior to arriving at the gym for your physical. Paper copies of the VHSL Physical Form can be picked up in the MHS office. An online form can be downloaded here: https://www.vhsl.org/vhsl-physical-form/

Due to impending weather, all MCPS summer school programs will dismiss at 2:30 p.m. today, Monday, June 26.

Scenes from Summer Camp! ☀️ Last week was a busy week of fun and discovery at AHES! Students had a blast creating their own slime, constructing awesome air-powered vehicles, and engaging in a captivating game that taught them about the food chain.

Our AHES STEM Camp students are have a whale 🐋 of a time with their ocean-themed camp this week! The students used sidewalk chalk to create this 100-foot-long, life-sized drawing of the biggest animal on the planet- the blue whale! 🌎

Just because the academic year is over doesn't mean our teachers aren't hard at work! Last week, teachers from across the division came together for a full week of curriculum work to prepare for the upcoming year of learning. So what exactly is curriculum work? Teachers and instructional staff are working together, collaborating across disciplines, grade levels, and even schools, to examine data from this school year to adjust their pacing and build assessments to help improve the learning experience and monitor student progress throughout the next year. (As you can see from some of the expressions in the photos, some teachers handle the pressures of curriculum work better than others. Hang in there, Mr. Hackenberg!)

We loved seeing these proud families and their almost-middle school students taking full advantage of these great photo stations after Albert Harris Elementary's 5th grade transition ceremony!

Wow! Congratulations to our MMS Odyssey of the Mind team! They placed 7th overall in the World Finals and 2nd in Spontaneous! 🌎 These students have worked so hard and we were proud to have them represent MCPS on a global stage.

In honor of Rooster Walk weekend, we wanted to share a little story. This is Sara Kasey, a human resources specialist here at MCPS. A 2010 graduate of Martinsville High School, Sarah holds a special place in Rooster Walk's history as the very first recipient of the festival's Penn-Shank Memorial Scholarship! Each year Rooster Walk awards the scholarship to an outstanding Martinsville High School senior to honor the memories of the two MHS alumni for whom the festival and the scholarship are named. Sara used her scholarship to attend Randolph College, where she majored in psychology with a minor in business administration with the goal of entering the human resources field. Fast forward to 2019, when we were fortunate enough to welcome Sara back into our MCPS family as an employee. It's truly a full-circle moment for her as the office she now occupies was once her kindergarten classroom when she was a student at Druid Hills! Join us in celebrating Sara's achievements and the incredible opportunities that Rooster Walk provides for the next generation of Martinsville students.