Principal's Message

Morse has almost reached the mid-point of the school year. Students were engaged in mid-term exams this week. First-semester courses will soon be complete, and second-semester courses will begin on Monday, January 26. Of course, most courses extend for the full year, and most students’ daily schedules will not change significantly. This is a week when we pause regularly scheduled classes to conduct cumulative exams and projects for semester and year-long courses. This week’s exams are the culminating activity of the semester, as the second semester begins on January 26th. This week’s exams are the first time that many of our students have experienced cumulative exams or projects, and it can certainly be a source of stress. I am hopeful that the work of Morse teachers with their students around study techniques and preparation methods will help students develop new strategies that will transfer to similar experiences in the future. 

Morse will launch a new peer tutoring program in the second semester called Peer Assistance Lab (PAL). Students have been nominated by teachers to serve as peer tutors by their classroom teachers and many of these students have taken us up on the offer. The PAL will take place in the Morse Library during most periods throughout the week, offering assistance with homework, studying for assessments, etc. The establishment of PAL is part of a continued effort to help students find the assistance they need to be academically successful. 

Morse continues to benefit from ongoing funding from the Maine Health Community Health Improvement Fund (CHIF). We have applied for and received almost $100,000 in grant funds to support our work with students at Morse this school year. Projects include: snacks for after-school activities, a weekend-long unified trip, yoga programs, an after-school business program, a proactive coaching program for all MHS coaches and athletes, financial assistance with dances, financial assistance with graduation expenses for seniors, CPP trips, after-school dinners for students involved in theater productions, making MOHIBA a donation-based production, and much more. 

The winter athletic season is in full swing, with many programs finding regular-season success, including: 

• Boys Swimming, who just experienced their first regular-season loss (in years!) last Friday, when Greely narrowly defeated them. They are favored to win KVACs and will be ready to face Greely again at the state championship. 
• Boys & Girls Indoor Track are off to an outstanding start, with fast runs and top overall team performances. Bella Gerow beat her own school record in the 55m hurdles.
• Boys and Girls basketball are battling for playoff positions with just six games remaining in the regular season.
• Cheer finished fifth in the KVAC Championship, which was a significant improvement over last year’s performance

Believe it or not, the Montgomery Theater is very busy with rehearsals, set creation, and other preparations for our spring musical, Jekyll & Hyde. Ms. Coleman and Ms. Foreman are getting excited and have relayed to me that this performance should be another great show for the Morse Theater. 

All Morse Administrators, School Counselors, and Social Workers (along with the rest of the district) participated in Tier I and Tier II Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG) training over the last two months. These safety trainings are another step in our ongoing school safety structure and allow us to form school and district-based teams to evaluate and make recommendations in the unfortunate event that a student makes a threat of harm. The administrative and counseling teams found these trainings to be helpful. 

It is hard to believe that February vacation is just three weeks away. We are entering the period of the year with the highest probability of a cancellation due to weather conditions. As a reminder, we have already had two traditional snow days, which means that we have one more traditional snow day remaining this school year. If we were to have more than one additional snow day this year, we will conduct remote-learning days. Remote learning days mean that students need to log into Google Classroom or Brightspace, attend virtual classes during their scheduled class time, and complete assignments. If your student were to be unable to do this from home, parents/guardians should call or email the attendance secretary, Kennedy Orr at, 207-443-8250 ext 2 or korr@rsu1.org. 

Sincerely,