Dear Millbrook Families...

October 2026

MMS Families,

Blazers are back and better than ever! We would like to thank all the families that came out for our MMS Back to School Night. It is such a pleasure to meet with you and see the incredible supporters our students have at home. Our MMS teachers are gushing about what an amazing start we have had with our students. There have been very NO issues with student cell phones and inappropriate behavior. We have seen many big smiles and helpful faces. As evidenced at Back-to-School Night, our maintenance crew continues to support us with creating a learning environment with the most up-to-date facilities especially during our capital project. Above you will see an incredible word graphic that our students created when asked, "What does being a Blazer mean to you."

We NEED Your Help! If you have any cool pictures of our students in action, we would LOVE to see them and promote them on Instagram and our Newsletter. Please email any images to mms.attendance@millbrookcsd.org

Attendance, lateness, and student sign-outs will be handled in the main office. Call 677-4210, x3129 to report an absence as soon as possible in the morning. An email communication to MMS Attendance is an acceptable and legal form of communication: mms. attendance@millbrookcsd.org

Call the main office in the case of an extended absence (two or more days) so that we are aware. Please be sure that work is done and submitted in a timely fashion so long as your child is well enough to complete it. Having our students in the building is the only way we can truly ensure students are getting everything they need in order to be successful. As a school, we will contact families and work with students who have excessive absences in order to create a plan to be in class daily.

We have a lot of important information to share with you below!

Click Here to See Our Blazers Opening up the School YeaR!

-Steven Cabello

MMS Principal

Dates to Note for the October:

October 5- School Pictures
October 6- 6th and 7th Grade SEL Screener
October 9- 1/2 day early dismissal for students at 11:05 AM
October 12- Columbus Day School closed
October 13-16 Spirit Week
- October 13th- 8th Grade SEL Screener
October 30th- Happy Halloween! (Students are encouraged to come in school-appropriate costumes for our parade)
November 25-27 Thanksgiving Recess
December 2- Parent Teacher Conferences early dismissal (Evening conferences available)
December 3- Parent Teacher Conferences early dismissal
- A seperate invitation will be sent to sign up for PTC Conferences... Coming soon!

Attendance Matters

“Chronic absence” is defined as missing at least 10% of the school days for which a student is enrolled over the course of an academic year for any reason. It serves as an early warning sign that children may be falling behind academically and are at risk of academic failure.

As a friendly reminder, our the Commisioner of Education emphasizes that consistent, daily attendance is essential for student success. We are committed to reducing unexcused absences, tardiness, and early departures, and we need your partnership to make this possible for your child. We will continue to monitor attendance closely and be in communication when we see these trends and work collaboratively with families to find solutions that ensure we provide interventions aimed at our students maximizing their potential. Our team led by Dean of Students, Ms. Scherer, will be working with students and their families who are regularly missing school to create personalized plans of support to ensure we get the most of our time at MMS!

***IMPORTANT*** The auditorium entrance doors will be closed at 7:45 am. HomeBase starts promptly at 7:50 am. If you are entering through Alden Place and it is after 7:45 am you should drop your child at this sign so they can enter the building through the main doors. This will expedite entry into the building. Please remind your child to go directly to HomeBase so they are not late.

Arrival to MMS is 7:35 am. This allows our students time to see their friends, enjoy a meal and calmly go to HomeBase with plenty of time to start their day off on the right foot. Please help by ensuring students are here at that time.

Opening Days at MMS!

This past month all students met in the gymnasium with Mr. Cabello and we discussed kindness and inclusion. Millbrook Middle School is a place where we welcome, embrace, empower and celebrate our differences. The first three days of school students made grade level charters, did RULER activities, particpated in team building excercises and we built expectations for our learning community. We encourage all students to get to know those who are different than we are and learn about our differences. It was made clear that intolerance, hate speech and general mean behavior will NOT be tolerated at MMS. Students were informed of DASA and its implications when it disrupts the learning environment and negatively affects a student’s life at school. Students were very receptive and have proven so with their actions as we have had no infractions of this type to start the school year.

One great way to be a part of the fabric of the Millbrook Learning Community is to get involved in after school activities. Students also were gathered separately to discuss all of the opportunities that they have to get involved after school. We encourage students to take part in clubs, sports and after school help provided by our incredible staff here at MMS.

Click Here to learn about our clubs and activities

Safety At MMS

We have been working hard on preparing our students on all of the necessary safety procedures that could possibly happen to ensure our preparation. Our teachers have been trained and have spent the beginning of the year educating students on these procedures in all of their classrooms. Over the course of the last few weeks we have successfully completed 4 evacuation drills. We cannot thank our SRO Deputy Rhoads, our local and state police, and our safety team members that ensure that we are prepared in the event of any emergency. We work to make our drills as realistic as possible utilizing teachers and staff to be put in situations where they must react to take measures to keep us safe. We have prioritized real life situations where we have faculty and staff (especially new ones) use our pull stations during drills. We have recently updated all of our pull stations to ensure that we are up to date and maintaining all of our saftey procedures. Great work by Ms. Taylor, Ms. Eramo and Ms. Derosa on locating and sucessfully activating our drills.

Another safety measure that we utilize is our sign out procedure. If you or a family member are picking your student up from school early, please make sure that you have an ID available to show the greeter, Mr. Bianco.

***As a reminder, on November 9, 2026, we will be doing a simulated shelter in place / shelter drill that will culminate with an early evacuation drill at 2:15 PM. Please make sure to recognize your child will arrive home roughly 15 minutes earlier than usual on this date. After school activities will still be available to students on this date***

This and next week will continue to practice our safety drills throughout the week. Students and staff are doing an incredible job!

A.C.Es (Adverse Childhood Experiences)

Supporting our children mentally, emotionally, and socially is of the utmost importance to the faculty and staff at MMS. Many children may have difficulty expressing how they feel or adjusting to the social and academic rigors of school. Our staff are learning how exactly these circumstances are impacting the overall well-being of our children, students, and families and want to help navigate these challenging times together.

Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, are stressful or traumatic events that can lead to social, emotional, and cognitive impairment that impact the overall functioning of a student. Exposure to ACEs produces chronic stress that often leads to children struggling in school because of their inability to focus, process information, and or cope emotionally.

The importance of continuing to support our children and putting in place protective factors are essential. Understanding how our children experience various circumstances is pertinent for their overall growth and success. Therefore, the mental health staff at the middle school are committed to sharing information about ACEs with school personnel to help guide social-emotional support throughout the building. Thank you for supporting your children at home and partnering with school staff.

If you are interested in learning more about ACEs please visit the following websites:

Simply send an email to mms.attendance@millbrookcsd.org and we will make sure to speak with your child's team of teachers to make sure we are sensitive to their needs.

Please contact Jennifer Obrizok (School Psychologist) or Kelly Domino (School Counselor) for any questions or concerns.

Jennifer.Obrizok@millbrookcsd.org

845 - 677 - 4210 ext. 3108

claire.wood@millbrookcsd.org

845 - 677 - 4210 ext. 3109

What can I do to help?
Parents as Partners!

Schedule Changes & Drops

Schedule changes and drops will be made only when needs are clearly indicated.This year’s deadline was Wednesday, September 30th. After this date all requests to drop/change courses will require a parent conference with the teacher, counselor, student and principal. These requests will only be granted if absolutely necessary. The request will not receive final approval until the appropriate steps have been taken.

SchoolTool & Parent Portal

We are very happy to announce that the SchoolTool portal is now available to all MMS and MHS students! The tech team has created and enabled accounts for all middle and high school students which they can now use to access SchoolTool via the Google account sign-on option from the web portal. The attached document provides step-by-step directions on how to access their accounts.

A HUGE THANK YOU to our Technology Team for putting in the work to get this activated, tested, and provide the attached directions document to simplify the process as much as possible.

MMS_MHS Student Portal 2024

Early Bird Special -
Order your yearbook now!

MS Yearbooks are now on sale for a reduced, "early bird" price of $25 until November 30th. The price will increase to $35 on December 1st.

Go to https://yearbookordercenter.com/ and enter our school code of 13773 to reserve your student's copy now so they don't miss out! Contact cathie.morton@millbrookcsd.org with questions.

Blazer Appreciation

At MMS, we have LOTS of pride in being Blazers. Every Friday is Blazer Friday and everyone is encouraged to wear blue & gray (our school colors), team uniforms and anything that shows their Blazer pride. Ms. Anson's HomeBase really stepped it up and earned a hot cocoa & donut brunch with the Admins. We look forward to recognizing more Blazers in the coming months.

Our students also showed their appreciation for their teachers. Ms. Guley and Mr. Peek were recognized for their efforts in the classroom. They were given a small token of our gratitude and a certificate with all the kind things students said about them. GO BLAZERS!

Get Your Gear!

Every Friday we encourage students & staff to show their Millbrook Pride by wearing our school colors,

Get your Blazer Friday Fresh Gear Now!

Click here to visit the Millbrook School Store

20% off on Blazer Gear!!!

A note from the Dean of Students, Ms. Scherer &
School Counselor, Miss Wood

Greetings, Millbrook Middle and High School Families,

I am beyond excited to join the Millbrook Central School District in my new role as Dean of Students!

Over the past ten years, I have had the privilege of serving as a Middle School and High School Health and Physical Education teacher and most recently, as a High School Assistant Principal. Each of these experiences has strengthened my passion for supporting students and helping them reach their full potential.

As Dean of Students, I look forward to working closely with our building principals, staff, students, and families to support our students in a variety of important areas, including promoting consistent attendance, increasing student engagement, supporting social-emotional learning (SEL), fostering a positive school culture, providing guidance and support, and developing plans that promote academic success—and so much more.

I am excited about the opportunities ahead and look forward to building strong relationships with our students, staff, and families. Together, we can continue to create an environment where every student feels supported, connected, and empowered to succeed. If you have any questions or would like to connect, please feel free to reach out. I look forward to a wonderful year ahead!

Sincerely,

Rebecca Scherer
Dean of Students

A note from the School Counselor, Miss Wood

Hi Blazers!

My name is Miss Wood, and I am SO excited to be working with you all this school year! I can’t wait to get to know each of you, learn together, and make lots of fun memories along the way. I’m looking forward to seeing you grow and shine throughout the year! Feel free to stop by the office to say hi anytime, or reach out if you have any questions, comments, or just want to chat.

-Miss Wood, School Counselor

Updates from Pupil Personnel Services

Consistency Across Schools
We’re working to make sure families have the same smooth experience with PPS District Wide.

504 Plans
Annual and reevaluation consents have been sent out. If you haven’t received yours, please call the PPS office. A special thank you to Danielle Leonardi for organizing this process!

IEP Collaboration Portal
Consent forms were sent home so families can receive secure updates and notifications. Need another copy? Contact PPS and we’ll resend it.

Staff Training

CPI Training: Small group sessions have been organized for staff in CPI
CPR/AED Training; Targetted staff have been organized and trained to keep our students safe

English as a New Language (ENL) Services
ENL support started on the first day of school. We’ve welcomed many new students this month. Thank you to Ms. Ellis, our ENL Coordinator, for helping with assessments, placements, and family communication.

As always, if you have questions regarding your child, please do not hesitate to contact the PPS Office:

Danielle Leonardi - Administrative Assistant
- 845-677-4200 ext. 1107
- danielleleonardi@millbrookcsd.org

Alexandra Ellis- ENL Coordinator
- 845-677-4200 ext. 1109
- alexandra.ellis@millbrookcsd.org
Joann Hobson- Special Education Coordinator
- 845-677-4200 ext. 1107
- joann.hobson@millbrookcsd.org