Lt. Elmer J. McMahon School

HPS kicks off attendance campaign with celebration tomorrow, January 18! Holyoke Public Schools will celebrate students’ attendance achievements with festivities scheduled for 4:15-5:15 p.m. on January 18 at Holyoke High School North. During the event, Mayor Joshua Garcia and HPS Superintendent Anthony Soto will be joined by 50-70 students and their families from throughout the district to celebrate the students' excellent attendance and/or significant attendance improvements.

Our staff at McMahon is AMAZING! To thank them for all they do and wish them a happy holiday we had Murphy’s Mobile Pub Grub On Wheels stop by our school to treat them to a well deserved delicious lunch!

Holyoke Public School’s “community-centric” approach to strategic planning was featured in a recent article published by consulting firm Education Resources Strategies (ERS), shining a bright light on both the process and the outcomes. The article can be found here: http://bit.ly/3G9tSUN “While many districts often struggle to execute a planning process that fosters widespread community buy-in, HPS leaders were able to design for equitable, long-lasting engagement,” ERS wrote in the article. “They embedded the community directly and authentically in the work to create full alignment and a bold plan that will guide them over the next few years.” The district’s Strategic Planning process began in September 2021 as Superintendent Anthony Soto launched his entry plan work and included an inclusive planning process throughout spring and summer 2022. Under the umbrella of the district’s existing turnaround plan, Holyoke Public Schools released a new multi-year strategic plan in August. The plan reflects all the work that had been done under the turnaround plan over the last almost seven years and articulates focus for the next few years. Throughout the process, more than 400 staff, family members, students, and community members provided input for the plan, in addition to the 1,150+ people who contributed to Superintendent Anthony Soto’s entry plan process that concluded earlier this year.

Viruses and bacterial infections are on the rise: Please take precautions. RSV, Flu, COVID-19, and Group A streptococcus infections also pose combined risks. Like schools and communities across the state and country, Holyoke has recently experienced overlapping surges of viral illnesses among our students and staff, including the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), the flu, and COVID-19. Some parts of the country have also seen an increase in Group A streptococcus infections (such as scarlet fever and strep throat) in children. Massachusetts health officials are bracing for these bacterial infections to be on the rise locally, too. All of these illnesses are contagious, and spread can occur relatively quickly. It is particularly concerning that it is possible for individuals to have two or more of these viral conditions serially, simultaneously, or even paired with bacterial or other infections. And because the symptoms for these three viral illnesses share some similar symptoms, it can be hard to tell them apart. If your child is symptomatic, we recommend keeping your child at home and reaching out to your healthcare provider for guidance. Likewise, we recommend the same for staff members. You can read more about these illnesses on our website, along with important steps you can take to help keep yourself and your family healthy this winter. https://www.hps.holyoke.ma.us/page/health-wellness-nursing

Need help understanding the Phase 2 rezoning decisions made by Holyoke Public Schools? To help provide answers, we've posted a Frequently Asked Questions section on our website https://bit.ly/3iGpxQK. If you have any other questions or issues, just email us at enrollment@hps.holyoke.ma.us with your address and your child's current grade level, and we'll be happy to help.

McMahon School welcomed so many students and families for Winterfest last week! It was ‘snow’ much fun!

Last week was a busy week here at McMahon School! We dressed in pink to support Breast Cancer awareness, students and staff dressed up for our annual Halloween parade, and some of our staff even found some pretty powerful red belly bling spiders that were scattered around our building. We also held our annual Trunk or Treat over the weekend which had the best turnout we’ve EVER had! It was a blast!

Today we celebrate our friend and colleague Jenn Consedine. It was an honor to share our love for Jenn today with her Mom, Estelle. Thank you Jenn, for always pushing us to do our best, both in the classroom and with our fashion. We miss you and we love you. 💜

What an awesome Open House! So many families joined us to see our classrooms and the hard work our students have been doing, and in honor of hispanic heritage month, got to learn about a different country as they stopped in each classroom!

Happy National Custodian Day!! We can't thank our custodians Mikey, Deb, and Pedro enough for all that they do every day! Our Custodial staff is AMAZING! 💜

We welcomed Bombas de Aquí to our school to celebrate Hispanic Heritage month and learn about Puerto Rican culture and traditions through music and dance!

Meet your McMahon School Admin Team! Dean of Management and Operations: Anthony Rios, Interim Principal: Kate Ritchie, and Interim Assistant Principal: Destinee Meeker. We can't wait to see everyone bright and early tomorrow morning!

It was awesome having our staff back this week! Everyone worked so hard getting ready to welcome our students back on Monday! We are ready to rock this year! #JuntosPodemos #TogetherWeCan