Tag Archives: elem

School Committee Update

Dear Friends,

This update is for the 05/30/2018 Newton School Committee meeting:

With over 1800 views, our first School Committee “Virtual Office Hours” was a huge success.  We held our second one last night and you can view the video on the district Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/newtonps.

  • To start, we held a public meeting and voted unanimously to decline participation in the Massachusetts School Choice program. To clarify, this is not related to school choice for Newton residents within the district. The School Choice program allows students from outside of Newton to apply to attend Newton Public Schools. It is a statewide program in which districts can choose to participate or not. This public meeting and vote is required by law and it is a decision that must be reaffirmed annually.
  • Toby Romer and Mary Eich were joined by Interim IT Director Tom Gwin, to provide an update on the One Student/One Device Pilot.  The pilot will continue next year when, starting in January, Chromebooks are planned to be distributed to the entire 10th grade at Newton North and Newton South. To learn more about the program and to view the presentation to the School Committee, visit: www.newton.k12.ma.us/laptop.
  • Members of the Equity Committee presented an update to the Equity Guidelines.  Most notable changes to the guidelines were a lowered per pupil spending cap of $80 and the formation of a Working Group to consider pooled PTO funds.
  • We had a chance to recognize Newton Public School students including:
    • Our Newton School Committee student representatives, Brooke Hackel, Michael Ryter and Max Teszler, all who are graduating this year.
    • The Newton North Graphic Design students who participated in the project to redesign the district logo: Arthur Dutra, Liam MacIntyre, Mia Patriacca, Emma Nephtali, Li Shandross and Grant Yee. A special thank you to Li Shandross for designing the logo chosen for district use.
  • Lastly, we unanimously voted to relocate the Horace Mann Elementary School to 225 Nevada Street, currently the site of the Carr Building, in September 2019. This was the official vote to affirm the long-term facilities plan we have been using.

Upcoming Meetings:

  • June 11th @7PM: Year-End Reports: Superintendent’s Goals and Systemwide Goals, Student Assignment Working Group (SAWG) Recommendation, Student Services Update, Vote: EDCO Board Member.
  • June 18th @7PM: SEPAC Update, High School Start Time Update, Fiscal and Operational Update and Facilities Update, Discussion of Superintendent’s Assessment.

We hope you have found this summary useful. You can access all School Committee meeting documents via the NPS website (https://www.newton.k12.ma.us/domain/69). Additionally, if you are interested in watching an SC meeting from home or a recorded meeting, you can obtain access via www.newtv.org.

As always, we are very happy to answer any questions or discuss any concerns you may have. Please feel free to contact us via the email address below. Have a wonderful week!

Sincerely,

The Newton School Committee

Washington Street Vision

Participate in Hello Washington Street to provide input and help shape the future
of Washington Street. Public Design Week will feature a Pop Up Workspace
June 5th -12th, 8:30 am – 9:00 pm.

For information, email wa**************@******ma.gov, call 617-796-1120, visit
facebook.com/hellowashingtonstreet or check out this notice
http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/89637

Newton Firefighters want to help extinguish hunger in Newton!

From June 8th to June 22nd, Newton Firefighters will be holding a food drive on behalf of the three food pantries in Newton; the Centre Street Food Pantry, the Newton Food Pantry and the Arabic Baptist Church, which together serve more than 1,000 families a month in our community.

Please donate canned or packaged non-perishable food items (that are not opened or expired) and toiletries (standard size) to your local fire station. Let’s support the Newton Firefighters in their fight to end hunger in our neighborhoods!

Final Open House

The Newton Highlands After-School Program, just for middle school children, is hosting a final spring Open House. This is a terrific opportunity for parents of 5th graders to learn more about the program as they plan for the next school year. Space is limited … Sign up today! For more information please contact Rochelle Acker at 617-999-4617 or visit highlandsafterschool.org.

June 4th, 5:30 – 6:30 pm
Brigham House, 20 Hartford Street, Newton Highlands

Newton Community Farm’s Annual Dinner on the Farm is on the Horizon!

Join Dinner on the Farm, an annual celebration of summer that brings together food lovers, chefs, musicians and friends from across the community to share in a delicious, farm-fresh meal.

Executive Chef Chad Burns of Newton’s own Farmstead Table will once again treat guests to an artfully-crafted meals using some of the freshest produce from NCF’s fields and surrounding local farms.The Dixie Butterhounds will be back performing their irresistable, old-time southern string jams to help set the mood. And you can join in giving a warm farm welcome to new Executive Director, Karyn Novakowski.

This is an evening you don’t want to miss! Purchase your tickets at https://www.z2systems.com/np/clients/ncfarm/event.jsp?event=9441&.

Tickets are $75.00 for Friends of the Farm and $85.00 for non-Friends of the Farm. Friends of the Farm can also purchase tables for up to eight or ten guests. Find out more about the Friends of the Farm program at http://newtoncommunityfarm.org/about/support/join/.

Your ticket covers the cost of the dinner and an additional tax-deductible contribution to NCF education programs. Please email Cristal at ad***@*****************rm.org with any questions, or if you need any assistance with your online registration.

Dinner on the Farm is an outdoor event, which makes for an unforgettable evening. Registration closes July 11th. Dinner on the Farm is sponsored by Village Bank.

July 16th, 6:30-8:30 pm (In the unlikely event of bad weather, the rain date is July 17th)
Newton Community Fram
303 Nahanton Street, Newton Centre

Please help combat food insecurity

9% of students in Newton Public Schools are economically disadvantaged. In some of our grade schools, it’s 20%. Every year, NPS runs about $10,000 in school lunch debt.

Many families slip through the cracks and fall behind due to a variety of things such as:
· They hesitate to apply for SNAP food assistance
· They are unaware they qualify
· The paperwork is daunting
· They send some lunches, but must pay for milk or snacks

Our district is compassionate, ensuring all our children get the same lunch and our community can help raising funds to offset this debt. The target for this drive, organized by a Newton parent,  is $5,000 by the last day of school.

If you’re food insecure – or know someone who is, there are links and information on Project Bread, The Centre Street Food Pantry and Newton Food Pantry in this GoFundMe campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/npslunchdebt

Engaging themed art camps

Join a summer of playful creativity at Atelier! They are excited to offer engaging themed art camps including Art and Magic; Color, Texture and Pattern; and The Art of Exploration.

The Paper Mouse Atelier, a one-of-a-kind art studio in West Newton Square, now offers summer vacation camps for children ages 7-12. These camps are immersive creative experiences where students explore traditional media and techniques such as drawing, painting and printmaking, as well as art created from nontraditional materials and found objects, and craft projects such as bookmaking and paper marbling.

Options include weeklong (full days or mornings) and single day sessions. Find out more at www.thepapermouse.com or 617-663-8722.

1280 Washington St, West Newton