Birch Lane Elementary -

Good Afternoon Birch Lane Families, Our class placement process for the 2025-2026 school year has begun. Please see the attached letter for details. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H-7iilzLxhbw53GDGmJYnz8ioJYcKDfT/view?usp=drive_link Best Regards, Stephen Aspetti and Joyce Larkin

Dear Parents and Guardians, This is a reminder that the “Rooms” communication feature in our Massapequa School District app will be ready on April 30th. With this new feature, all of our instructional staff and parents will be able to communicate through this common platform to streamline communications. With Rooms, you’ll have access to even more exciting features like: • Stream: A place where teachers and staff can post announcements and communications • Messages: Direct communication between teachers/staff and parents On April 30th, you will receive a text message and email with detailed instructions on accessing your account through our app and/or the web. If you haven’t downloaded our app yet, please visit the Apple or Google Play store and search for the “Massapequa School District” or visit www.msd.k12.ny.us/app. Sincerely, The Massapequa School District

Dear Parents of Grade 3-8 Students, Last week we paused our ELA assessments due to technical issues with the state. We understand this was disappointing and frustrating for everyone involved. We have received assurances that the system is ready to go, and we are committed to completing the assessment as planned. Session II of the New York State English Language Arts (ELA) Assessment is scheduled to take place on April 23, 2025. You can expect additional follow-up from your buildings on Tuesday, April 22. Thank you for your patience and attention to this matter. Sincerely, The Massapequa School District

Dear Parents and Guardians, We would like to thank you for your ongoing support with our new website and app! If you haven’t downloaded our app yet, please visit the Apple or Google Play store and search for the Massapequa School District. As a reminder, our district app currently offers: • District, school, and community communications • Access to our spotlight, events/calendar, lunch menus, and district/school webpages As we shared at the end of last school year and throughout this school year, we are excited to announce the launch of our “Rooms” parent-teacher communication app/website feature! After ongoing district planning and training, the “Rooms” communication feature will be ready on April 30th. With this new feature, all of our instructional staff and parents will be able to communicate through this common platform to streamline communications. With Rooms, you’ll have access to even more exciting features like: • Stream: A place where communication/announcements can be posted by teachers/staff • Messages: Direct communication from teachers/staff to parents and parents to teachers/staff We will be sharing additional information and directions on how to access your account in the near future! Sincerely, The Massapequa School District

School Supply Kit Reminder... It's time to order School Supply kits for the 2025-2026 school year! Click the link to order. School Code is BIR098. https://drive.google.com/file/d/13De81d7K-pJVNFY-pU14ukOkYVhMWwAl/view?usp=drive_link

Dear Parents of Grade 3-8 Students, We are writing to provide an important update regarding the New York State English Language Arts (ELA) testing that resumed today, April 9, 2025. Unfortunately, NYS encountered another round of technical issues with its online testing platform this morning. Due to these issues, NYS instructed us to pause, and then later to resume testing. While many students at Berner and our elementary schools managed to complete their tests, some couldn't even start. We will contact those parents/guardians directly. Given these ongoing complications, we are pausing testing district-wide until after the break, awaiting further guidance from the state. Tomorrow, April 10, 2025, will be a normal school day without state assessments. We will provide updates on the continuation of the ELA assessment as soon as we receive details and assurances of testing capabilities from the state. This situation is incredibly frustrating due to the loss of instructional time and the time invested in preparing for this test administration. Additionally, there are now questions about the validity of this assessment which we hope will be addressed once we receive further guidance from the state. We will update the community as soon as more information becomes available. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding. Sincerely, William Brennan, Ed. D. Superintendent of Schools

Dear Parents of Grade 3-8 Students, We are writing to provide an important update regarding the New York State English Language Arts (ELA) testing that resumed today, April 9, 2025. Unfortunately, NYS encountered another round of technical issues with its online testing platform this morning. Due to these issues, NYS instructed us to pause, and then later to resume testing. While many students at Berner and our elementary schools managed to complete their tests, some couldn't even start. We will contact those parents/guardians directly. Given these ongoing complications, we are pausing testing district-wide until after the break, awaiting further guidance from the state. Tomorrow, April 10, 2025, will be a normal school day without state assessments. We will provide updates on the continuation of the ELA assessment as soon as we receive details and assurances of testing capabilities from the state. This situation is incredibly frustrating due to the loss of instructional time and the time invested in preparing for this test administration. Additionally, there are now questions about the validity of this assessment which we hope will be addressed once we receive further guidance from the state. We will update the community as soon as more information becomes available. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding. Sincerely, William Brennan, Ed. D. Superintendent of Schools

Good Morning Birch Lane Families, Please see the attached flyer for the PTA's Taco and Trivia Night. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kK4PwhgbPU9L_4CzIinhE9GrmdWkaAfv/view?usp=drive_link Best Regards, Stephen Aspetti and Joyce Larkin

Dear Grade 3-5 Elementary Parents/Guardians, As previously communicated, due to unforeseen technical issues and as directed by NYSED, the administration of the NYS ELA assessment scheduled for today was postponed. The District received notification this morning that the NYS testing platform, Nextera, was having technical issues across the state. At this time, the district has received notification that the technical issues have been resolved. Therefore, Session 1 of the NYS ELA Assessment will be administered tomorrow, April 9, 2025, and Session 2 will be administered on Thursday, April 10, 2025. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Thank you for your support. Sincerely, The Massapequa School District

Dear Families: Wednesday, April 9th, is the last day to send in the Plant Sale Pre-Sale forms (please see attached). If you would like to volunteer to assist with the in-person sale on May 7th or 8th, please visit Plant Sale 2025: Volunteer Form. This form will close on April 11th. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CBbeIrwSQPtLbQ6ecOzPaCw9bN8s9TrF/view?usp=drive_link Please email Kerri Fitzsimmons and Regina Price at birchlaneplants@gmail.com with any questions. Sincerely, The Plant Sale Committee

Dear Parents of Grade 3-8 Students, We are writing to inform you about an important update regarding the New York State English Language Arts (ELA) testing that was scheduled for today, April 8, and tomorrow, April 9. Due to a statewide technical issue with the NY ELA testing platform, testing is postponed for today, April 8. We will follow-up with additional communication once we confirm the issue is resolved and we receive further guidance from NY State. At this time, buildings will be resuming their regular schedules. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we work to ensure a smooth testing process for all students participating in the assessment. Thank you for your continued support. Sincerely, The Massapequa School District

Good morning: We wanted to extend our deepest thanks for the generosity of our Birch Lane family. We exceeded our fundraising goal by nearly $7,000 for a total pledged of over $26,000! Truly, truly incredible! We are utterly blown away by your support! We had so much fun the past week and a half during our FUNdraiser and in particular at the Fun Run this past Friday. We hope we brought some extra smiles and joy to all of the children. We certainly enjoyed it! We are so grateful for the incredible support you have extended to us and we will be sure to put every dollar into programs and activities that will further enhance our children’s experience at Birch Lane. We are so proud to boast that we have more Arts & Education programs than any other school in the district and would not be able to do so without the generosity of all of you. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!! Sincerely, Birch Lane PTA

Good Morning Birch Lane Families, Please see the April edition of the PTA's Birch Twig https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XLPjTPptKo2PUp8y1zeOJZNILwCDosh0/view?usp=drive_link

Good morning Birch Lane families! We are ecstatic to announce that we have already exceeded our initial fundraising goal!! We are absolutely blown away by the support and promise to put all of the funds raised to great use! Moving forward, the additional funds raised will go directly toward making this year's end of year events like Field Day and the Summer Kickoff Bash more robust, so please be sure to donate if you are able. Every dollar counts, and with many of our donors covering the fee, we have been able to keep 96% of every dollar raised! https://give.mybooster.com/birch-lane-elementary-school Our FUN RUN is tomorrow! Please have the children dress in school spirit wear and wear sneakers! We have so much fun in store, and this event has truly turned into one of the most favorite events of the school year! We hope the children have been enjoying all of the things we have had going on in school during the FUNdraiser. Yesterday we were able to drop off all new equipment (games and a variety of sports balls) for recess for the kids with some of the money raised so far - so THANK YOU!! We are so grateful! Sincerely, Birch Lane PTA

Dear Families, The PTA Spring Plant Pre-Sale is coordinated with the same nursery everyone loved last year. There is an extensive selection of hanging baskets, vegetables, flats, trees, potted plants, etc. Attached is the order form for the pre-sale. Please send in your order by April 9th. It can be sent to school in an envelope labeled, "Plant Pre-Sale." Pick-up for these orders will be in the afternoon on May 7th and 8th. At our in-person sale on May 7th and 8th the children will be able to purchase smaller plants. The day and time your child’s class is scheduled to attend the in-person sale were noted on a flyer that went home. If you would like to volunteer to assist with this event, please visit Plant Sale 2025: Volunteer Form. The form will close on April 11th. Please email Kerri Fitzsimmons and Regina Price at birchlaneplants@gmail.com with any questions. Sincerely, The Plant Sale Committee

Good Afternoon Fifth Grade Families, Just a reminder that today is your last day to purchase a personalized lawn sign. Orders must be placed before midnight.

Good Afternoon Birch Lane Families, Just a reminder that the New York State English Language Arts and Mathematics Assessment in Grades 3-8 will be administered in April. The Science Assessments for Grade 5 and Grade 8 will be administered in May. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j6LixQmhFljQDgR_2NyI3xG5Y73IksD3/view?usp=drive_link If you do not wish your child to participate in the exams, we ask that you complete the 2025 NYS Assessment Participation Refusal Form located on the Parent Portal no later than tomorrow so that we can safely and appropriately plan for all students on those dates. As always, we thank you for your support. Best Regards, Stephen Aspetti and Joyce Larkin

Dear Birch Lane Families: Our Boosterthon Fundraiser kicked off on Wednesday 3/26, and we are thrilled about this year's theme: “Spreading Kindness and Joy during our FUNdraiser”. We hope your kids have been coming home with a little extra pep in their step, and we have so many more fun things planned for this week, including our culminating event, the FUN Run! The school’s goal is to raise $20,000 for so many of our amazing PTA events. WE'RE ALREADY 60% THERE!! Thank you to our AMAZING Birch Lane Family!! Make sure to support our school! https://give.mybooster.com/birch-lane-elementary-school REGISTER your child on MYBOOSTER.COM SHARE mybooster.com with family and friends GIVE if you are able Thank you so, so much for your support!

Good Morning Birch Lane Families, We hope everyone enjoyed the weekend! We are writing to inform you that we will continue to practice our emergency drills this week. Best Regards, Stephen Aspetti and Joyce Larkin

Good Morning Birch Lane Families, Please see the attached letter regarding Autism Awareness and activities planned at Birch Lane. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MgirUUqTzzWRiRcmJ8SYv4bpYN8ctigV/view?usp=drive_link Best Regards, Stephen Aspetti and Joyce Larkin