June 6, 2025

Posted on June 6, 2025 by Sean Keating

Principal’s Hello

Dear Golden Eagle Families,

Happy final Friday of the 2024-25 schoolyear! We’re almost there!

Today we had our final all-school assembly of the year. It was super fun! We said goodbye to our 8th graders, presented a check to Bethlehem Inn from our students’ fundraising efforts, held a raffle for all students with zero unexcused tardies, and played staff-versus-students dodgeball. Staff won again–two years in a row! (Shoutout to the 6th graders who joined our team.)

As I’ve mentioned before, we tried a few new things this year to get our students to take our state tests more seriously. State test results are a major source of public-facing school and district data, and these tests represent what our students can do. If our students don’t try their best, the data is meaningless.

This year we dedicated a couple lessons to preparing for the tests, explained why the tests matter, and added the test score to our grade reports (even though the state test score does not affect the final course grade). I’m happy to say that these efforts paid off, and I hope this ushers in a new culture at PCMS where we take state tests more seriously. Here are the overall scores compared to last year. The number is the percent proficient (an overall score of 3 or 4):

Thank you for supporting this culture change with us. Please check your ParentVue to see your own student’s scores. For a more detailed score breakdown, you can email your student’s teachers. These one-pager reports should also appear in your ParentVue later this summer.

Have a great weekend! Three more days for 8th graders and four more days for 6th and 7th graders!

Sean

8th Grade | Leaving the Nest Celebration

Family members of PCMS 8th graders are invited to attend an evening of celebration and to wish them great success as they soar onto high school. Click here for invitation.

This event is intended for 8th graders only and their families.

  • 5:30 – 6:00 | Doors Open (note: parking is limited–please carpool if possible)
  • 6:00 – 6:45 | Program in Gym (slideshow, student speeches, student awards)
  • 6:45 – 7:15 | Reception in Nest w/photo booths (bring your cameras)

Countdown to the Last Day of School

The last week of school, Monday through Wednesday will be full school days. There will be no School Improvement Wednesday on June 11. On the last day, Thursday, June 12, all schools will release 90 minutes early at 2:15.

PCMS Gives Back!

Principal Keating with WEB Leader check presenters & Caroline Greenlaw from Bethlehem Inn

Once again and in the spirit of kindness, our WEB Leaders, in partnership with our parent group (PCCO), held three fundraising social events that raised a significant amount of money for this year’s beneficiary, Bethlehem Inn. At today’s assembly a check for $1,200 was presented to Caroline Greenlaw, Development Manager for Bethlehem Inn. Of course these funds could not be raised without the participation of the entire PCMS student body, staff, families and volunteers. Thank you!

Shout Out to Sources of Strength Peer Leaders!

Thank you and congrats to our 2024-25 Sources of Strength Peer Leaders – 7th grade leaders trained to be “connectors to help” and “agents of change” at our school, creating a culture of belonging and promoting positive mental health!  Together, this year they created opportunities for connection and celebrated everyone’s strengths through interactive campaigns.

In the month of May, Sources of Strength focused on a Generosity campaign, which included three different ways to practice generosity.  The first was a generosity challenge where students could complete a daily act of generosity to be entered into a raffle at the end of the month. The second was for the 6th grade students. Peer Leaders facilitated an advisory lesson where they taught students what a nice compliment sounded like, and then helped students make a card for every student in the class with a nice compliment on it. The compliments were then collected and turned into a poster to be put up on each classroom door. The third was showing gratitude to positive mentors. The whole student body wrote thank yous to their teachers. The Peer Leaders collected the notes and made giant thank you cards for all the teachers in the building. Overall, 584 students participated in the “Month of Generosity,” spreading kindness and building connection in our community.  Thank you to our dedicated and passionate Peer Leaders, and to the amazing adult advisors who support them!  

Mark your Calendar

  • June 11 | Full Day of School | Student release @ 3:45 PM
  • June 11 | 8th Grade Field Day
  • June 11 | 8th Grade Leaving the Nest Celebration | 6:00 – 7:45 PM (see info above)
  • June 12 | 6th & 7th Grade Field Day | Last Day of School | Student release @ 2:15 PM
  • June 12 | Lost & Found is donated to local charity

Helpful Links

This entry was posted in News from the Nest. Bookmark the permalink.