Birch Lane Elementary -

Good Afternoon Birch Lane Families, Our Beginner Concert is scheduled for Tuesday, May 20th. Please see the attached letter for details. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MtTYwMVOlGUtF_rOp6IeOdmhMPDP0aqj/view?usp=drive_link Best Regards, Stephen Aspetti and Joyce Larkin

Dear Families: The Plant Sale will be held in school on May 7th and 8th. Please send your child in with a bag on the day that his or her class shops. If you ordered plants from our pre-sale, pick up will be in the Back Gym from 3:30-5:30 on May 7th and 8th. Please email Kerri Fitzsimmons and Regina Price birchlaneplants@gmail.com with any questions. Sincerely, The Plant Sale Committee

Dear Parents/Guardians, Parent Action Requested - Starting today, April 30th, we're excited to launch the Rooms feature in our district app for teacher-parent communication! Please check your email or visit www.msd.k12.ny.us/app for account setup and more information. Sincerely, The Massapequa School District

Dear Families: Join the Birch Lane PTA for a special evening as we come together to honor and celebrate the incredible dedication of our PTA members and the outstanding work of our committees. Our End of Year Dinner is a heartfelt thank you to each volunteer whose time, energy, and passion have enriched our school community. The PTA will also acknowledge parents and staff members with PTA awards. Their names are listed below. Let’s gather to recognize the collective efforts that make our PTA a vibrant and impactful organization. Honorary Life PTA Membership Colleen McCree Christine Fahey Stephanie Iannuzzi Advocate in Action Award Lauren Carollo Nikki Daku If you are interested in joining our end of the year celebration, please scan the QR code or click the link on the invitation. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vqxrpYUtq7QBaKStZnMnjU5cxtKcP_LG/view?usp=drive_link We hope to see you there!

Good Afternoon 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 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