JANUARY 29, 2023

We need your feedback and support as we continue to make progress on addressing the fundamental issues facing Masterman.

Masterman HSA issued an executive summary of how the selection process has affected the school and presented the findings to the community at our last HSA meeting. We forwarded the executive summary to Superintendent Watlington and Board President Streater, who agreed to meet members of the Masterman HSA Executive Board on February 8, 2023 to discuss.

Now, we are asking for your input. We would like everyone to fill out a survey articulating your main “asks” of the School District for the changes you would like to see at Masterman.

For those who went through the lottery selection process this year or last, we also ask that you provide your feedback on the process.

We intend to go into this meeting with a list of things that we would like the District to address and we need your input right now. We also look forward to your participation at our next in-person HSA meeting on February 7.

Thank you for your continued support of Masterman HSA.

Mitchell Orenstein

Masterman HSA President

Masterman Asks of SDP

Selection Process Feedback

School Title I Meeting Rescheduled for THIS TUESDAY

The administration's Winter Title 1 Meeting is to gather input from the school community concerning the upcoming school budget season.

Questions for input include:

What are some of the barriers to student success that exist within the school community? What are the possible solutions to the barriers?
What barriers to student success do parents and families experience?
What do parents need to help their students achieve academically, socially and emotionally? What are possible solutions to the barriers presented?

This meeting has been rescheduled for TUESDAY 1/31/23 at 6:30 pm. Click here to join the Zoom meeting.

Parent-Teacher Conferences This Week!

Wednesday–Friday, February 1–3: School will dismiss early and teachers will be available to meet with parents.

NEXT HSA MEETING:

FEBRUARY 7, 6:00 PM IN PERSON

This meeting is being organized jointly with Masterman administration and SAC to discuss the vision and mission of the school.

Before attending, we invite you to look at the documents we have shared on the HSA website from the last meeting.

FUTURE HSA MEETINGS

March 7 | 7:30 pm | Zoom

April 11 | 7:30 pm | Zoom

May 9 | 7:30 pm | Zoom

Masterman's Spring Auction Is Approaching!

Saturday, March 18, at Rodeph Shalom, 615 N Broad St.

The auction committee needs your help! Email auction@mastermanhsa.orgto get involved.

Other Important Dates

Friday, February 17: HALF DAY, teacher professional development

Monday, February 20: NO SCHOOL, Presidents Day

Friday, March 24: 6th Grade Family Social, after school at Masterman

GET ACCESS TO YOUR CHILD’S GOOGLE CLASSROOM

The HSA is coordinating with the middle school and high school deans to facilitate adding guardians to students’ Google Classroom accounts.

This is a great way to stay informed about your child's activities and opportunities at school. Once you are entered in the system as a guardian, you can choose to receive a daily or weekly summary of posts to the Google Classroom feeds for each subject your child is enrolled in, as well as grade-wide announcements about events, activities, and other things you need to know. Once you are added, it stays in place from year to year throughout your child’s time at Masterman.

What you need to do:

Enter basic info—child’s full name, grade, advisory, and student ID, as well as the guardian’s name and email—in THIS GOOGLE FORM. (FYI: This form is hosted by Dean Gilken, not the HSA. The HSA is merely helping to facilitate the process, not collecting this data itself.)
Help spread the word! We hope every guardian who wants access will be able to find out about this initiative. So please forward, text, share on Facebook. Teachers, please tell your kids to tell their parents!

The sooner you submit your info, the sooner you can get access. In the final week of January, the school will begin entering guardian emails on a rolling basis and we will send you instructions for completing the process and choosing your settings.

AROUND MASTERMAN

High School Winter Formal

The event will take place at NOTO (Not Of The Ordinary) on Saturday, February 18, 6:00–9:00 pm.

The school still needs 20 chaperones! Volunteers must have clearances and can have children in any grade. Sign up here.

The deadline to buy tickets for Mastermanners ($20) and guests ($25) has been extended to Tuesday. The ticket price includes food and drinks and the HSA is also offering financial support for any students in need of assistance, just see Ms. Nelson.

HS Athletics Update

The Blue Dragons had a "double dub" on senior day! Congrats to our girls and boys basketball seniors and all the fans who packed the MasterDome to cheer them on. The last home game of the regular season is Monday @ 3:15 - Girls Bball vs. FLC!

Did you know?

The girls basketball team is undefeated 13-0 and the last time they lost a regular season game was 3 years ago!! Let's keep the streak going!

Shout out to our Soccer Stars!!

Kai Rosser (senior) was named to the PA All-State Boys' Soccer Team and the Southeastern PA Regional Team. Tori Okorodudu (sophomore) was named to the Southeastern PA Regional team and voted Philadelphia Public League Girls Soccer MVP!!!

To share your athletics news (or ask questions) - please email Athletics@MastermanHSA.org

Congratulations, HS Economics Club!

The Economics Club has GREAT news!! Ocean Anchor Bankers Seniors Christopher Yuen, Jeffrey Yin, Edmond Li, Salena Cho, Tina Jiang, Denny Cao and Dev Shah are Semifinalists in the 2022-2023 Wharton Global High School Investment Competition.

Wharton selected 55 teams out of 1,400 worldwide to advance to the semifinals. They were impressed by the strength of the team's investing knowledge, creativity and teamwork. The Ocean Anchor Bankers will now create a video and compete to be part of the 8 in the Global Finale on April 22, 2023.

Congratulations to them and good luck in the next round!!

9th Grade Parent Reception

Thank you to everyone who came out for the 9th-grade parent reception! Looking forward to more chances to meet and build community.

Masterman is a SpeakUp! School

Save the date! Masterman will be hosting a night of conversation through SpeakUp! on Thursday, February 16, at 6:00 pm.

This is an opportunity for students, parents, and school adults to have safe and brave conversations on topics that are important to and selected by students. A registration link will be shared at a later time.

Meanwhile, Ms Robinson is recruiting students for the Student Leadership Team. Team members will guide the school in building an honest and inclusive culture, develop speaking skills, decide what topics are important to them and their peers, and help create space to discuss them.

Please contact mrobinson@steppingstonescholars.org for information.

RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES

Mental Health Corner

Many members of our community are experiencing disappointment and frustration this week after the results of the school selection lottery were released. We can all relate. While it does not resolve the problem, sometimes it helps to take a moment for a reset and think about how to move through it. The Berkeley Well-Being Institute offers some reflections.

ICYMI: Eyes on College

Huge thanks to parent Elaine Shenk and counselor Heather Marcus, who compiled a grade-by-grade guide to college preparation. It includes a summary of what to keep an eye on—and what not to sweat over!—each year, along with links to helpful resources.

Also note this upcoming event for HS students from the College Board BigFuture program:

Five Tips to Manage Stress as You Plan Your Future

Wednesday, January 25, 7–7:45 pm

Dr. Laurie Santos, the professor of Yale’s popular course on happiness will answer live questions and give five tips to help make students' lives a little less stressful.

Rep Your Profession at Career Day

The Masterman HS chapter of the National Honor Society is bringing back Career Day. NHS students are looking for parents, friends of parents, and alumni who would be able to represent their profession by running a workshop.

Career Day will take place at Masterman on February 24, 10:45am–2:05pm. Each presenter will speak to rotating groups of students, for about 25 minutes at a time. Consider telling students about how you chose your career, your accomplishments, and how they can possibly pursue your career. There will be technology and assistance available to project Powerpoint presentations or any other digital information.

Willing to help out? Please email Ms. Solomon at esolomon@philasd.org.

Reminder: NHS Tutoring Always Available!

Students in all grades can drop in as needed for help from Masterman HS student members of the National Honor Society during these hours:

Mondays, 7:30am – 8:15am in Room 214 (for everyone)

Tuesdays, 8th Period in Room 312 (for HS students)

Wednesdays, 8th Period in Room 305 (for 5th- and 6th-grade students)

Thursdays, 8th Period in Room 312 (for 7th- and 8th-grade students)

This is a free resource for everyone! If you have any questions please contact the HS Dean, Mr. Gilken, at jgilken@philasd.org.

Spread the Word

Do you have news or announcements that you want to share with the school community? Is there information you'd like to see featured here?

Email newsletter@mastermanhsa.org.

Connect others with the HSA by forwarding this email or sharing this link to subscribe to the newsletter!

SUPPORT

There are many ways to give to the Masterman community. Here are a few.

HSA ANNUAL FUND

Donations fund the many programs and initiatives of the HSA that support our school, teachers, families, and students. Whether you are able to give $5 or $500, your gift is meaningful, and signals your commitment to our community.

TEACHER WISH LISTS

Want to give direct support to specific teachers or your child’s classroom? Masterman teachers have updated their Amazon Wish Lists with the items they need to supplement the HSA’s Teacher Grant program.