Dear Murch Families,

As we head into our final term of the 2023-2024 school year, I want to update you all on one item, in particular, and take a moment to reflect on how I am feeling as a school leader as we complete only our second full year, post-pandemic.

SY24-25 Class Placements
Teachers have already started developing class rosters for next year. As you may recall, it has been our historical practice to release class rosters in early to mid August. For next school year, however, we are aiming to have class rosters out by early July.

In addition to using the latest scheduling software that better enables us to take into account various factors before creating class rosters, I am also asking for parental input, just as I have done in past years. My request to parents is that if you have input for your child’s placement next year, please take the time to communicate your thoughts with your child’s current teacher(s) before they close of business on May 17th. We are not taking specific teacher requests.

Reflections 
I have worked in education for over 35 years, and as many of you know, this is my 13th year as the Principal of Murch. Pre-pandemic, I would have told you that this job, like most jobs, gets easier with every passing year, but not because there aren’t challenges and new and different hurdles to overcome each year, but because there are pieces that become routine and more predictable.

Since the pandemic, however, I have, in many ways, felt like a brand new Principal all over again – routine and predictability can be elusive, and external pressures on educators are extreme (trying to make up for years of learning loss in a finite period of time) and ever-changing demands are very real (health protocols, new curriculum, budget cuts at both the federal and local levels etc…). In our efforts to keep up, there are pieces of my job that have definitely suffered, most namely communication. In some instances the lack of communication has been intentional, perhaps as a way of protecting myself and my staff, but in lots of instances, it has been unintentional and simply a product of exhaustion.

Over the last few weeks in particular, I have had an opportunity to discuss this with a handful of parents and I am committed during this final term and as we move into the next school year, to figuring out protocols that address how and when information is communicated to the school community and/or to individual families that are being affected by a specific issue.

To this end, I will be creating a short survey to solicit feedback that will go out in the next week or so. I sincerely hope that our community takes time to respond, remembering that solutions will only reflect community input if there is actually input!

 

With Much Gratitude,

Principal Cebrzynski

Dear Murch Families,

I hope this newsletter finds you and your families in good spirits. I would like to provide an update on the school budget process and share a bit about how I approached this very challenging budget cycle. However, I will be sharing the details of budget decisions first with the faculty/staff and our Local School Advisory Team (LSAT) before sharing specifics publicly, so please be patient with me.

In mid-February, Murch received its initial school budget for the 2024-25 school year, after which the LSAT and I began reviewing the allocation and soliciting feedback from the school community via a parent survey and two LSAT meetings. As of this week, our budget has been submitted back to, and approved by, DCPS Central Office. While this is not necessarily the end of our budget process – things could change between now and when the DC Council approves all budgets in June – I am pleased to announce that while tough decisions had to be made, our budget continues to reflect our school vision, which states that, “Every child will feel safe and welcomed as they develop as a compassionate person and inquisitive learner. All children will be celebrated for their individuality and will be prepared to contribute positively to our school and the world.”

Every day, we strive to ensure that EVERY Murch student, along with their family, can see themselves in this vision. We also recognize that every decision made (and there are many) will not necessarily be reflective of individual priorities. I wish that our budget was infinite and that we were able as a school (and as a society) to meet every need of every student, but with what we have been given, I feel confident that we are continuing to move in a positive direction.

The following four areas of the budget are a reflection of our continued efforts to realize our school’s vision:

1. Continued Investment in Academic Programs: We are dedicated to maintaining and enhancing our core academic programs to ensure that every student receives a well-rounded education that meets their individual needs.

2. Support for the Arts: We understand the importance of a vibrant arts program in fostering creativity and receiving a well-rounded education.

3. Maintaining Resources for Student Support Services: We are committed to providing comprehensive support services to help every student thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. Our budget allocates resources for counseling, special education, multilingual learners, development of our core principles as a member of the TRANSCEND group which focuses on the development of the whole child, and other support programs.

4. Staff Professional Development Opportunities: We believe in the importance of ongoing professional development for our educators to stay updated on best practices and innovative teaching methods. Our budget provides resources for staff training and development programs.

I want to express my gratitude to our school community for your continued support and collaboration throughout the budgeting process, particularly to the Murch staff and our LSAT. The input and feedback from everyone has been invaluable in shaping our priorities and decisions. Planning for next year will be underway soon, and together we will make the upcoming academic year a rewarding and successful experience for all of our students.

As always, should you have any questions or would like more information about our approved budget, please do not hesitate to reach out to me, Assistant Principal Hawkins, and/or the LSAT. As I mentioned, more budget details will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

Warm regards,

Principal Cebrzynski

Greetings Murch Families,

As we conclude 2023, I want to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for your support and collaboration in making the start of this school year a resounding success. While I am very much enjoying winter break, I am really looking forward to the second half of this wonderful school year.

Our collective efforts have created a positive and engaging learning environment for our students, and I am truly appreciative of the dedication you have shown to your child’s education. Your involvement, whether through volunteering, attending parent-teacher conferences, or supporting your child at home, has made a significant impact on their academic journey.

I hope this festive season is filled with joy, laughter, and cherished moments with loved ones for all of our families. Whether you’re traveling or enjoying a quiet staycation, I hope you each find time for relaxation and rejuvenation.

Thank you once again for your partnership and commitment to our school community. I look forward to continued success and growth in the coming year.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Warm regards,

Principal Cebrzynski

Hello Murch Families,

I hope everyone had an enjoyable time over the Thanksgiving holiday, spending time with family, friends, and those that you love. My wife and I celebrated the holiday by ourselves for the first time in 28 years, the age of my oldest child. I am grateful for the spirit of giving that exists within and around the Murch community. As we move toward winter break, I hope that there will be many opportunities to celebrate with our community and families.

The month of November, I suspect because of holidays like Thanksgiving and days like #GivingTuesday, is often the start of the Season of Giving. But the act of giving is something that comes in all shapes and sizes, is not always about fundraising, and is a practice I hope we all use year-round. Giving is also about inclusivity and ensuring that all members of a given community feel welcome. The way that Murch families “give,” whether it’s through donations or time, is truly extraordinary and I want to thank all of you for the many acts of giving that take place in our community on a daily basis.

I also want to express my deep gratitude for our teachers and staff and the countless contributors who give so much to ensure that every single Murch family is supported – from our HSA, to community partners like the D.C. Food Project, to the small businesses surrounding our school. It really does take a village.

In the spirit of giving, the most important opportunity to give financially to Murch is through our HSA led, Support Our School (SOS) Campaign. To date, the SOS Campaign has reached 63% of its fundraising goal for this school year. As a reminder, the budget we are provided by the District does not (unfortunately) cover all of our expenses. The funds raised by the SOS Campaign support activities for every grade level including field trips, the Green Scene, additional supplies for our Art, Music, and PE classes, after-school programs like Murch Plus, the Spring Musical, scholarships, and so much more. I hope that all of our families will give to the SOS Campaign, no matter the amount, and help us reach our year-end goal.

Giving can also be sharing, and one of the events I look forward to all year is Murch’s Festival of Lights, a  sharing of cultural traditions and music from around the world. This year, the Festival of Lights, directed by our music teacher, Dr. Branch, will take place on December 18. We hope everyone will be able to join us! The event is always a great opportunity for us to come together as a community and celebrate. And as best as you can, please arrive before the program begins.

A few notes about the new and shorter program format:

• Pre-K will host their festival in their classrooms where parents will have the opportunity to celebrate with the grade level and classroom communities. Pre-K teachers will share information about dates/times and content of the program with families soon.
• Grades K-2 will start performing at 9:15 in the gym.
• Grades 3-5 will start performing at 10:15 in the gym.

Song Selections:

• 5th Grade: Festival of Lights in Sweden, Norway – “St. Lucia Day,” arranged with new words, by Sally K. Albrecht
• 4th Grade: Kwanzaa – “Child of Kwanzaa,” Words and Music by Roger Emerson
• 3rd Grade: Ramadan – “Ramadan,” Words and Music by Lois Brownsey and Mati Lunn Lantz
• 2nd Grade: Diwali – “Aeyaya Balano Sakkad,” Words and Music by Chandra Bhat, and M. R. Srinivasan English Lyrics
• 1st Grade: Christmas – “Los Reyes De Oriente,” “The Kings from the East,” by Aguinaldo from Puerto Rico
• Kindergarten: Hanukkah – “Hanukkah Is Here,” Words and Music by Judith Eisenstein and Frieda Prensky

I look forward to seeing everyone at the Festival of Lights and all of the other community activities that take place through the month of December.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season of celebration and giving,

Principal Cebrzynski

Good Evening Murch Families,

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone celebrating has a fun and safe night of festivities. In this second installment of Mr. C’s Corner, I want to take an opportunity to reflect on another great month of school and all of the exciting opportunities coming down the pike as we wind down our calendar year.

October was chock full of activities. Murch Plus began in grand fashion. Over 15 courses are being offered and over 300 students have signed up. That is an incredible number of students who are taking part, which is very exciting. As we move through the school year, we hope to be able to identify ways of bringing in additional programming opportunities for our students, like chess, dancing, and karate, while bearing in my mind costs and continuing to ensure that ALL students are able to take part. I also want to say a huge THANK YOU to Ms. Berger and Ms. Eckstein for once again getting Murch Plus off to a great start.

I would also like to take a moment to thank our Fall Fair committee for making the fair such a smashing success. And many thanks to every volunteer who made this event happen. It has always been a wonderful community building event and our students always have a great time attending, myself included.

I am also excited about all of the field trips that have taken place already this school year. Field trips play an important part of opening the classroom walls to learning and what better place than Washington DC and the surrounding areas to explore. Our Kindergarten classes went to Sunrise Nursing Home. The First graders went on a trip to the Kid Museum. Our Second graders have gone to the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum and to Politics and Prose. Our Fourth and Fifth Graders had an opportunity to go to the National Museum of the American Indian, as well as the Fifth grade trip to the Adventure Park at Sandy Spring. There will be other field trip opportunities for all grades as the school year goes on, and I hope that ALL eligible parents will take the opportunity to chaperone.

October also brought many other exciting opportunities for community engagement.  Over 90% of Murch parents took part in parent-teachers conferences this month. While this is tremendous, we would love to see 100% engagement from all of our families. If you have not yet had a conference with your child’s teacher, please reach out to schedule one.

Last week, two different and very robust meetings took place. The first was our LSAT meeting on Wednesday evening. The major points of discussion were Murch’s upcoming enrollment projection, factors that will influence this projection, and the LSAT’s response should the projection come in lower than anticipated. We should be receiving the enrollment projection within the next ten days so will have more to report on this issue in the coming weeks. We also discussed the limited information we currently have on the budget timeline for SY24-25 and the role that the LSAT will play in helping to create and advocate for Murch’s budget needs. The LSAT meeting was also an opportunity for us to discuss family engagement, the reconstitution of the school’s equity team, and various opportunities for families to provide additional staff and classroom support as we get deeper into the school year.

On Thursday evening, we held this school year’s first Data Night. The purpose of these meetings is to share what our school priorities are, both from an academic and social/emotional standpoint based on our comprehensive school plan and the data we currently have for each child in reading and/or math. We looked at the trends in our data and shared our plan for how we were going to work toward closing the achievement gap. We also shared information about last year’s PARCC results and shared our plan for creating an advantageous testing environment for every student who will be taking the PARCC assessment this school year.

And on Saturday, the first Parent Forum was held. There are four more forums planned for the  school year and we hope that everyone will take the opportunity to join AP Hawkins and me. They have always been a fantastic way for us to hear directly from our families and engage in deeper, more meaningful conversations about issues impacting our community. Prior to the remaining meetings, we will communicate some additional information, so please be on the look out.

Lastly, I want to take this opportunity to celebrate some of the fun and inspiring moments that took place this month. I am so proud of Murch’s entire cross-country team! Our team not only performed well at their various meets, but they represented Murch with pride, showing amazing displays of team camaraderie. Unity Day was also a celebration of the commitment we make as individuals and as a school to prevent bullying from impacting anyone’s life in a negative way. I want to thank Ms. Miller who organized an anti-bullying assembly where students had the opportunity to sign their name as part of their commitment to make Murch bully free. And the Halloween parade, as per usual, was a ton of fun! I always love seeing the creativity that students and teachers come up with. Shout out to our first grade teachers for their very creative costumes, reflecting their love of the book, “The Day the Crayons Quit.”

Looking ahead to November, I want to remind everyone that while school is not in session most Fridays (November 3rd and 10th, and then we are off for Thanksgiving from November 22-24th), there is still a lot of work getting done, by students and teachers. On Friday, November 3rd, teachers will be in a training session and working to increase their understanding of the whole-child model by working with staff members from TRANSCEND. On Friday the 10th, there is no attendance for staff and students to celebrate Veteran’s Day. We celebrate the heroism of the men and women who served honorably for our military. Not only their service during times of war, but also peacetime. During our Thanksgiving break, I hope everyone has an opportunity to rest, be with loved ones, and celebrate and honor all of the things we have to be grateful for.

With much gratitude,

Mr. C

Happy Sunday Murch Families,

This school year, I will be writing to the Murch community at the end of every month, instead of every week. So welcome to the first installment of “Principal C’s Corner!” I hope that each and every family in the Murch community has experienced a smooth transition to this school year, but please know that my door is always open should concerns arise.

As we move into the month of October, there are a handful of changes and up-coming engagement opportunities that I want to highlight.

Starting tomorrow, Monday, October 2nd, there will be a change in arrival procedures for grades 1-5. As a part of our Strong Start practice, a set of rituals and routines that focuses on the “whole child” and gets students ready to learn by fostering a sense of safety, belonging, community, and self-efficacy, students in grades 1-5 will enter the school building and go to their respective classrooms on their own starting at 8:30 a.m. Kindergarten students will continue to line up and be met by their classroom teacher on the soccer field. When K students are ready, they will also implement this practice.

The rituals and routines continue as students enter the classroom and begin their day with morning meeting. As students enter the classroom, they choose their own greeting which can be a fist bump, high five, verbal hello, hug, a wave, or a handshake. The teacher personalizes their greeting, so it is unique to each student. This is one of the many whole-child strategies we will be incorporating into the “Murch Way.” Teachers love it because they make a personal connection with each student to start their day and the students enter the room knowing they are loved, they can accomplish all they attempt, and that they have a voice in their classroom community.

We will continue to work with an organization called Transcend, which supports schools in implementing the whole-child model. You can learn more about Transcend and the work they are doing in other DC schools here.

All school morning meetings are also back, a Murch tradition that existed for many years and was interrupted by the pandemic. On Friday, we celebrated as a school, everyone in the gym participating in a greeting, a share, an activity, and a positive morning message. Students and staff were excited to bring this back and we are looking forward to more of these all-school get-togethers as the school year progresses.

One final change announcement – Starting next school year, DCPS will no longer be utilizing the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessment. Instead, the CAPE assessment will be used. This is an OSSE (Office of the State Superintendent of Education) decision and I will provide additional details as soon as I am able. Our PARCC scores from last school year have arrived, however, and will be sent home in your student’s backpacks as soon as as possible.

Now, a few engagement announcements. As a part of our community’s effort to strengthen inclusivity and ensure that EVERY student feels engaged, I want to remind our families that Student Attendance impacts learning and affects how a student and their family connects to the school. It’s that simple. If you or someone you know in the Murch community is struggling with attendance, please reach out to our school Guidance Counselor, Lauren Miller.

This year, DC Public Schools (DCPS) is teaming up with EveryDay Labs to enhance attendance strategies and will reach out to families by sending mail and text messages to help keep attendance on track. This partnership work will begin on October 4th with an introductory text message. Families of students who have missed five percent (5%) or more of the school year (excused or unexcused) will receive these messages which are designed to help reduce student absenteeism and motivate student engagement.

Assistant Principal Hawkins and I are planning several opportunities to connect with families. Starting tomorrow, we will officially start our “Lunch with the Principal/AP” and these student engagement opportunities will continue throughout the year. We want to listen to what our students have to say and want the same for the parent community. Published dates for these family outreach opportunities will be posted in next week’s HSA bulletin and on the Murch calendar.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your weekend. See you all at school tomorrow and hopefully, everyone will consider attending the Fall Fair on October 14th!

To a wonderful week ahead,

Principal Cebrzynski