MacDowell Main Office : 414-935-1400

School Hours:

K3-K4,  8:00 am – 11:20 am, dismissal beginning at 11:15 am

K5-6th grade,  8:00 am – 3:00 pm

7th–12th grade,  8:00 am – 3:25 pm

Please take the time to fill out the MPS School Engagement Survey– takes 5 minutes.

Your responses help identify improvement areas in our school’s engagement efforts and can provide valuable insights into family involvement, satisfaction, and connection with MacDowell. Let your Parent Coordinator know what your family needs. 

https://mpsresearch.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8vthsN2BBv09xpY

**Please be sure to have the most up to date contact information with our office staff. Email addresses and phone numbers are crucial to receive timely communication. In addition to newsletters, we send notice for conference sign ups, special/evening events, and attendance matters. Call the Main Office at 414-935-1400 or stop in to update your information.

Upcoming Events / Meetings

FUNDRAISER – CLUB’S CHOICE

September 10th – September 26th

Forms sent home today!

Pick up – October 27th

PAPA JOHNS FUNDRAISER

Wednesday, September 17th

10am-10pm

7520 W Greenfield

FLYER 

THIRD FRIDAY COUNT DAY

Friday, September 19th 

On this day the State of Wisconsin will count all students to determine the amount of funding provided to schools this year. Help MacDowell by making sure your child is in attendance on September 19! It is vitally important for our school funding. 

BACK TO SCHOOL PICNIC

Saturday, September 20th

1:00-4:00 pm

Hawthorn Glen FLYER RSVP https://tinyurl.com/4tuufdu6 by September 15 !!

MacDowell Gear Swap: 

Do you have used and too small or not worn MacDowell Gear?? Bring them to the picnic and offer it to other families. Maybe your family will find some gear to start the year.  

~Watch later this fall for our MacDowell gear sale through Dunn’s Sporting Goods.~

HOMECOMING WEEK

September 29 – October 3

7th – 12th grade students

More information to come

WELLNESS DAY 

7th-12th grade students

October 3rd

More information to come

HOMECOMING DANCE

Saturday, October 4th

Middle school students 5:00-7:00 pm

High school students 7:30-10:00 pm

NO SCHOOL

Friday, October 17th & Monday October 20th

SAVE THE DATE – PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES
Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on the evening of Monday, 10/13 and Wednesday, 10/15. 

Please stay tuned for more information, including Conference sign ups!

UNABLE TO ATTEND DUE TO ILLNESS – MAKE UP OPPORTUNITY

When a school has been notified by a parent that their child is not able to attend due to illness, the student attendance will be marked as Absent Excused. But, absences due to illness do not have to negatively affect your student’s attendance. If your student completes the assignment(s) or work missed on the date of absence and you notify the teacher, the attendance can be updated from Absence Excused to Unable to Attend Due to Illness (UADI). Remember, the student may only have their excused absences updated after they have submitted instructional work. 

*Students that have the UADI code will not have those days calculated into their absence percentage. 

Please make sure you discuss with your child the importance of submitting assignments after an excused absence due to illness so that the attendance can be updated accordingly.

If your child will be out of school for any reason make sure to call our attendance secretary at 414- 935-1460. 

If you have further questions please speak with the attendance secretary.

 Thank you,

Principal Corona

General Reminders

PRIMARY AGED CHILDREN (K3-K5) should wear clothing that is easy for them to manage on their own when using the bathroom.  Pants with elastic waistbands are easier to manipulate than buttons, zippers, snaps, and belt buckles. Rompers and overalls are also difficult to take off and on for most students.

DROP OFF AND PICK UP SAFETY – Traffic moves North to South. Be sure to pull over to the curb to allow students to exit a vehicle. Encourage the child to exit car doors on the curbside. For the safety of all and allow for our Hug and Go space to continue to flow for all families, DO NOT stop in the middle of the road to drop off or pick up children. The road also needs to be clear for the Milwaukee Fire Department at the south end of 64th St. Midday families should exit your vehicle and join the pick up lines inside the fence line (name card in hand). You may greet the child after teachers dismiss to parents/guardians waiting at the green cones.  

Parents should not drop off students prior to the entrance doors opening at 7:55am.  There is no staff available to supervise students prior to that time.

TRANSPORTATION CHANGES – If a student needs a change to end of day transportation please call the main office BEFORE 2:15pm so that communication can get to the teacher in a timely manner. In addition please be sure to communicate to the child’s teacher any ongoing pick up instructions. Teachers are not to rely on the child’s communication alone. In relation to early pick up for appointments etc, call the main office ahead of arriving for the student to be ready in the office when their ride has arrived.  

MacDowell Main Office : 414-935-1400

LOST AND FOUND – **Parents are strongly encouraged to label their child’s belongings, including water bottles, lunch boxes, sweatshirts, jackets, and backpacks. Young and older children have a tendency for backpacks and other personal items to be misplaced. The Lost and Found has already started to grOW

SLEEP MATTERS: Why we ALL need good sleep and how to get it!  Our bodies and brains NEED sleep to heal and renew. Sleep is when the brain processes information and strengthens memory. This helps us learn, function, and create!  More information HERE

RESEARCH DEMONSTRATES THAT GOOD SLEEP = BETTER…

• Emotional control 
• Outlook
• Relationships 
• Communication
• Attention
• Problem solving & learning
• Safety and driving
• Physical health and weight
• Motor skills

 HOW MUCH SLEEP? 

Ages   : Hours per night

3 to 5   : 11 to 13 hrs

6 to 13 : 9 to 11 hrs

14 +     : 8 to 10 hrs

💉VACCINES – ALL STUDENTS

School Required Vaccines Include:

K-6                                                                                                    7th thru 12th

DTaP                                                                                                 ALL those in K-6 AND

MMR                                                                                                 Tdap Booster

Polio                                                                                                  Meningococcal

Hep B

Varicella

Clinics to be held at:

Northwest Health Department 

10/3/2025 from 3pm-6pm

10/11/2025 from 10am-2pm

Southside Health Department

10/4/2025 from 10am-2pm

10/10/2025 from 3pm-6pm.

On Monday September 22nd the first round of letters go out to those who are behind on immunizations. Tuesday October 7th the second letter and exclusion notification goes out to those who are still behind. 

MANDATORY EXCLUSION PERIOD FOR ALL STUDENTS WHO ARE BEHIND ON IMMUNIZATIONS IS October 13th thru October 29th. This means if your student is behind on immunizations they are required to be out of school during this time until immunizations are updated or a current waiver is on file with the school nurse and updated in Infinite Campus. 

The waiver form can be found here: https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/forms/f04020l.pdf Once completed and signed, it needs to be turned into the school nurse.

SCHOOL COMMUNICATION BASICS:

• I send school newsletters via email every week, on Thursday evening. You will receive this via email and also text message if you have opted into text messaging. School newsletters often include timely resources, school information, events, meetings, photos of our students, and so much more. If you want to receive this link via text message you must opt into the system. To opt in, families should send a text message to the number 67587 with “Y” in the message.
• Other school messaging is pushed out to families as needed, so please continue to check your emails.
• In addition, for K3-6th grade families, red folders are sent home weekly on Thursday. These Thursday folders may include schoolwork, field trip permission forms, extracurricular permission slips, teacher letters, homework, and other school communication. Please help your student remember to be responsible for sharing this information and bringing the folder back to school promptly.

All school newsletters will be sent via email and text on Thursday and will not be sent as a paper copy unless requested. If families would also like to receive a paper newsletter for red folders, please fill out this form HERE:    https://forms.gle/WUsG3pQrntwtqtN36

• Please also follow and like us on Facebook HERE
• Please join our MacDowell PTO Facebook group, which you may request to join HERE. Let us know your child’s name and teacher when you request to join.

BREAKFAST PROCEDURES K-6 – once again this school year breakfast will not be served in the classroom. When students arrive they should report to their classroom. Upon entering the room they will be asked if they have eaten breakfast and given the option to take the pass to a designated breakfast room on their floor. Breakfast rooms are open 8:00-8:30 am. Be sure to arrive at the 8:00 am start of the day to allow children ample time to eat breakfast, if they require, and get back to class for their studies.

SCHOOL FORMS:
Please make sure you return our school forms to your child’s teacher or the main office as soon as possible:
–MPS Media Release Form
– Census Verification Report
–MPS Protocol Medical Consent Form
–Alternative Household Income Form –– It is vitally important that we receive the Household Income Form, as it is tied to funding for our school. 

 **As we begin this school year please take time to review our MacDowell School Handbook and review important information with your child. The link to the handbook is HERE. 

Parent Teacher Organization (PTO)

Club’s Choice PTO Fundraiser going on now 9/10-9/26 

• Club Choice Order flyers and forms were sent home in Thursday Folders. 
• Sell items online https://seller.clubschoicefundraising.com/Home/SchoolPage/MACD23 Use group code MACD23

• Forms and monies are due by September 26th to the school office.
• One check payable to MacDowell PTO
• Pick up will be October 27 
• PTO raises funds for events and programs that are not covered by the school budget, such as prom, back to school picnic, field trip transportation and more.

If you wish to support the PTO but do not want to fundraise, please consider a donation to the Un Fundraiser. 100% of your donation goes directly to the PTO. Cash or Check only.

Un fundraiser form HERE

Middle and High School Families 

The school day starts at 8:00am. REMINDER – any 7th-12th grade student arriving after 8:10am will need a tardy slip.

MacDowell Montessori Middle and High School Tardiness Policy

Parents, we are working to establish a strong culture for learning here at MacDowell Montessori. That starts with students being to class on time and being ready to learn when the bell rings. Please review our procedure for tardiness with your 7th-12th grade students as we are also discussing it with them in grade level meetings.

1. If a student arrives late to class they will get marked tardy in the computer.
2. 5 or more tardies = “No Pass’ list for the following week”

1. The list is generated by the principal and sent to teachers weekly.
2. Consequences  —>

 FOOD DELIVERY is not allowed per MPS district guidelines in the Family Manual. This includes…

• No family members are allowed to drop off or deliver food from fast food or other restaurants during the school day.
• No services such as GrubHub, DoorDash, etc. 

All deliveries will be turned away by school staff.

 *Please review the DRESS CODE policy for MacDowell 

• Clothing that exposes private areas will not be allowed at school. 
• Tube tops, bra style tops, undershirts (beaters) are prohibited.
• Swimsuits are not permitted for wear outside of the pool area.
• Sheer or see-through clothing is not permitted. 
• All clothing with inappropriate language or imagery is prohibited.  For example, clothing with references to alcohol, illegal drugs, weapons, gang paraphernalia, nudity, or foul language are prohibited. 
• Ski masks and gaiters are prohibited.
• Shoes with rollers or wheels are prohibited.
• Wearing heavy wallet chains is prohibited.
• Heavy coats, heavy jackets, blankets, and raincoats are not approved items and are not to be worn during the school day.

Sports and Activities Update

High School Fall Sports:

Fall sports are in full swing!  There is still time to register for volleyball and cross country (Juneau), football (Marshall), and boys’ soccer and girls swim (King).  Registration is fully online and must be fully completed before a student-athlete can start practice. The registration link, schedules, ticketing information, and other items can be found at the following link:  https://mps.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/en/Programs/Athletics.htm. 

**The DEADLINE to register and participate in fall sports is-  FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19.

• Athletic Schedules:  https://www.mccathletics.org/public/genie/1190/school/64/
• Purchase Online Tickets:   https://gofan.co/app/school/WI19445 

Winter sports season (basketball, cheer, and wrestling) will begin in November. Stay tuned for more details in upcoming newsletters.  If you have any questions, reach out to the athletic director, Ms. Schenk at schenkao@milwaukee.k12.wi.us

Elementary & Middle School Fall Sports:

*Please return any uniforms from last school year.

Coaches Needed!!!!

As we prepare for an exciting year of youth sports for our 4th-5th grade players, we’re in need of a parent volunteer to step in as the head coach for the teams. Unfortunately, we’ve lost our previous coaches, and we are reaching out to our parent community to find someone who can help lead and support the teams moving forward. We are specifically in need of 4-5 coed basketball coaches this winter and 4-5 coed soccer coaches this spring. If you are available or interested in more information please contact Ms Wanta at wantalm@milwaukee.k12.wi.us. 

Join Remind!

Questions about your students’ sports teams? Join the Remind group where all practice and game information is updated regularly, or email Ms Wanta at wantalm@milwaukee.k12.wi.us 

Spring Sports Remind Links

• ⚽1-3 Soccer TEAM 1 Coach Josh: https://www.remind.com/join/e74hh6h 
• ⚽1-3 Soccer TEAM 2 Coach Katie:  https://www.remind.com/join/h62e48 
• 👟5-8 Cross Country: https://www.remind.com/join/eehh64 
• 🏐4-5 Volleyball: https://www.remind.com/join/346288 

How To Reach Me
If you need to reach me, my phone number is 414-935-1339 and my email is: mossergj@milwaukee.k12.wi.us

Welcome Back – I look forward to a fun and exciting year! ~ Ms. Jaeger 

OUR 2024-2025 YEARBOOKS ARE STILL AVAILABLE!

Extra copies are available in the main office on a first come first serve basis.

Elementary Yearbooks – $15, 

Middle / High School Yearbooks – $25

QUICK LINKS:

• MPS School Calendar
• MacDowell School Handbook
• School Website
• Lunch Menu – K-8th September
• Lunch Menu – 9-12th September