Superintendent Jette releases updates for week of June 9, 2022

This week’s highlights include Congratulations to the Class of 2022!, Summer Reading Challenge, MHS Honor Society Service Projects, MHS Internship Program, Elementary Fun, Residency Re-establishment, and more.

From The Desk Of The SuperintendentFrom The Desk Of The Superintendent

This past Sunday, we celebrated the 152nd Milton High School Graduation on Brooks Field. It was a wonderful day of celebration for our seniors, their families, MHS faculty and staff and the Milton community as a whole. We are so proud of these young people and wish them the very best in the exciting days ahead. Many of our students have given permission to share their future plans linked here. This is not a fully comprehensive list as some of the MHS Senior Class chose not to share their plans for the future or their plans were not available.

Our day ended with our Annual Car Parade, a fun culminating event for our seniors. I understand that we unintentionally missed a section of the parade route, and I am very sorry that some of our senior families missed the excitement of seeing their senior in the parade. I know that must have been disappointing on an exciting day, please know that we will closely review the parade route for next year to ensure it is followed.

Please enjoy the video below, as it showcases a wonderful day for our community!

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As one group of students leaves the Milton Public Schools, we look to the future and are excited to welcome the Class of 2035 to MPS!

Over the past several weeks more than 330 incoming Kindergartners attended screening events as part of Ready, Set…Kindergarten. Gyms at each of the elementary school were turned into screening centers and children visited stations where they participated in fun activities to help Kindergarten teachers learn about their motor, language, and social skills as well as an understanding of early concepts.

After completing the screening process each child received the famous yellow, “I’m Going to Kindergarten” t-shirt to begin the excitement of this adventure ahead. Keep an eye out for those yellow t-shirts around town as Milton Early Childhood Alliance is sponsoring lots of fun events planned over the summer to give these newest MPS members a chance to meet future friends. There are sure to be plenty of yellow t-shirts at the Parks and Rec Children’s Concert tonight, June 9 at 6 pm at the Baron Hugo Gazebo on the Town Green at the Town Hall.

In addition to the class of 2035 we invited our incoming preschool students to participate in a similar screening. Our youngest future students were also able to have an opportunity to meet some of their preschool teachers and fellow preschoolers.

School Committee

The next School Committee meeting is Wednesday, June 15, 2022.  All information about attending School Committee meetings can be found on the Town of Milton webpage under School Committee. You can watch regular School Committee meetings live on Milton Access TV online, live on Milton Access cable channels (Comcast 22, RCN 15) or watch on-demand in the days following the meeting. Meeting minutes, presentations and other documents related to School Committee can always be found on our website under the School Committee tab.

Important Upcoming Events

• June 9 Pierce Concert
• June 15 Instrument Info Night
• June 15 Milton School Committee
• June 20 Juneteenth, No School
• June 24 Last Day of School, Early Release

MPS Calendars: 21-22 One Page School Year Calendar; 2022-23 One Page School Year Calendar; District-Wide Calendar of Events for times and details on current events.

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Instrument Information Night, June 15 at 6:00 p.m. in the MHS Auditorium.  If your student is entering 4th grade or above and is interested in learning a musical instrument, come to this info session at MHS. You will have the opportunity to ask questions regarding the instrumental lesson program and your student will have the opportunity to try instruments at our “Instrument Petting Zoo” and meet students who have taken lessons in the program. Contact Lesson Program Director Rebecca Damiani  with any questions.

Health And Safety

COVID Updates: MPS has reported 17 new student cases and 1o staff cases to DPH for previous reporting period (June 2-8).  Local and Norfolk County data can be found here: CDC COVID data tracker  and Milton COVID 19 Dashboard.

Milton Foundation For Education

The MFE has been visiting our schools and announcing winners of the MFE Teacher of the Year from each school! Congratulations to MPS and Tucker Librarian Josh Coben and Pierce Teacher Zakia Jarret who have been selected as Teachers of the Year at Tucker and Pierce! MPS is lucky to have many outstanding educators. Who will the MFE surprise next? Stay tuned!

MPS Summer

With summer approaching, it’s time for our annual Summer Reading Challenge. Our goal is to have Milton Summer Readers read ONE MILLION minutes over the course of the summer! Teachers will be introducing the Summer Reading Challenge to elementary students next week in class and all details can be found here.

Pierce readers will visit the Pierce Summer Reading 2022 website to choose, read, and respond to texts over the summer.  MHS students will have their own summer work website which will be shared with families this month.

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Milton Summer Enrichment is the perfect July option for families who are looking for a way to start the day right. Each day, our MSE kids are engaged in what THEY choose!

We have interesting and fun classes and programs for elementary, middle and preschool kids. MSE has a flexible start and end time, and is competitively priced with a family cap.

Attending MSE for an engaging morning gives families the afternoon for outings, family time, downtime, play with friends – whatever works for your family. Registration closes on June 17th, so register today for a fun July! Click here for the MSE 2022 Brochure for course offerings and registration information. Questions can be directed to [email protected]

High School Happenings

Senior National Honor Society members have been completing service projects throughout the school year, contributing to many different facets of the local community. Students carried out many drives, fundraisers, and volunteered their time for causes they are passionate about. Students cleaned local parks, held a Youth Music Showcase to support the Milton Art Center, hosted a Culture Fair, and collected an assortment of items for local organizations, such as winter coats, backpacks with school supplies, sneakers and more. The images below represent just a snapshot of all of the impactful projects the students carried out this year – well done National Honor Society seniors!

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MHS Students have completed our first MHS Internship Program! MHS seniors volunteered at various local businesses this spring and businesses provided hands-on learning opportunities as students were challenged outside of the classroom and developed civic awareness.

Thank you to BID-Milton, who hosted 7 students; Julia Bradley, Kayvoune Charles, Taliah Gabriel, Alona Lynch, Madeleine Miller, Jared Mitchell, and Kechie Onyiriuka and MPS Consolidated Service Department who hosted Joseph Pender and James Jenkins.  The Milton Times hosted Jordan Elliott, and the Eustic Estate partnered with Diana Duran. Thank you also to the Milton Chamber of Commerce who supported the program.

We ended with a celebration attended by our students, business partners, families and administration. Students expressed their gratitude by creating a video and speaking directly to their mentors. Matt Levine, Volunteer Services coordinator of BID Milton, spoke of his admiration for the students who he supervised during their weeks of service.  Thank you to everyone involved in promoting this exciting new program for the Milton Public Schools.

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Mme. Liddell shares that the MHS club Tomorrow’s Teachers works to give students who are considering a career in education a chance to actually teach in a classroom setting. Recently, Haley O’Donnell had the opportunity to lead a lesson in Mrs. Novak’s classroom at Tucker. She did a terrific job engaging with the class and creating a lesson plan around character and physical traits. Students finished off the hour with some questions from the class about Haley herself and her future teaching goals.

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We need you! Milton High School’s Launch Program is looking for community partners to work with our students during the 2022-2023 school year. The Launch Program, which services students with a range of special needs, is looking for local businesses to support students in the development of their pre-vocational and vocational skills. Your support can help our students become more involved in the community and develop the skills needed for a successful transition to life beyond Milton High School. If you are interested or have any questions, please contact Mark Harrison, Assistant Director for Pupil Personnel Services, at [email protected]. We thank you for your interest and investment in our students.

Pierce Pages

Ms. Power’s 8th grade IS English class recently finished the book, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, by James Swanson. The book tells the story of the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth and gives a day by day account of the wild chase to find this killer and his accomplices.
Students annotated each chapter and chose a topic of interest to do a deeper dive and mini-research report on. Topics included Mary Todd Lincoln, The Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address, Henry Rathbone, and Secretary of State William Seward. Students presented their research to the class in engaging and informative presentations.

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Pierce 8th graders eighth graders Tahlia Flores, Daniel Lee, Ania Robinson have asked me to share a link to their Voter Turnout Poll with the MPS community.

They write that “over the past 2 weeks in our Civics class we have been working on a service learning group project where we are trying to solve the problem in our community of low voter turnout in local Milton elections. We are trying to both bring awareness to this issue and also make a positive change in the voter turnout in next year’s Annual Town Election. We want to advertise a poll we created that asks Milton citizens about their opinions on voter turnout. We will use this data to email to the Milton SelectBoard so that they can help to make a positive change in our next election.”

I am happy to share the link and hope that many voters and potential voters in Milton will take the poll to help these 8th graders gather valuable data.

Inside Our Elementary Schools

Tucker 1st grade families attended a family outing to Brookwood Farm on May 21. In addition  to learning about this amazing gem in our community, families learned about the process of growing caring for pants and crops with Brookwood President Cathy Smith. Special thanks the Milton Garden Club for funding these opportunities in Spring 2021 and 2022!

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Thank you to Senator Walter Timilty for hosting our 5th graders across the district this month! Our students are grateful that this special tradition has returned. All of our 5th grade classes are visiting the State House with Sen. Timilty, here is a glance at some of the fun from Collicot

SEPAC

Please see below for information from SEPAC.

PARTICIPATE: Tuesday, June 14 will be our final SEPAC meeting in the Milton High School Library, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Our new Director of DEI, Claire Galloway-Jones, will be joining us for a meet and greet as we vision for 2022-23.

ADVOCATE: We need to hear from you! Please fill out this brief, 3 question SEPAC Survey 2022 to inform our visioning process for 2022-2023.

EDUCATE:  U.S. Dept. of Education – Office for Civil Rights The Civil Rights of Students with Hidden Disabilities Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 – This law prohibits public and private schools that receive federal financial assistance from discriminating against anyone with a disability. Please see Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the Education of Children with Disabilities and Section 504 here.

Art And Music

Check out our MHS Senior Music Spotlights below. Each week we will spotlight several of our graduating seniors. Click the photos below to enlarge the information. Best wishes to our talented student musicians

Residency Re-establishment

The Milton Public Schools Residency Policy linked here states that students who attend the Milton Public Schools and Out of District placements shall be required to re-establish residency prior to entering Grade six (6) and or Grade nine (9). Re-establishment of residency will take place between June 6 – 20, 2022.

On June 6, an email with “re-establishment” in the subject was sent to all families who must re-establish residency. If you did not receive an email and think you should have, please check your spam or promotions mailbox and email [email protected] with questions. That Re-establishment of Residency Letter is linked here. In addition, the MPS required residency documents can be found here.

Technology

Accidents happen. Even when you are being your most careful, sometimes Chromebooks get damaged or stop working. That’s why MPS strongly recommends that families purchase insurance for the Chromebooks issued to students. The cost is $30 per student per school year. Purchases now will cover your student through June 2023. All details on coverage and how to purchase can be found here. 

Transportation

Bus registration for the 2022-23 school year is open and will close on June 24, 2022. Please visit our Transportation Page for all details and links.

Milton Community Schools

Community Schools online enrollment for the 2022-23 school year starts on June 15 at noontime. Community Schools offers After School Enrichment (ASE) and Early School Arrival Program (ESAP). This link has detailed information. Questions? Email us at [email protected]. Check out some of ASE fun below!

Our After School Enrichment staff and students have been enjoying time outside this spring. On hot days,  the “hydration station” at each playground is especially popular.

Food Service

Thank you to MHS students Molly Bauer, Aidan Cheverie, Sophie D’Alessandro, Keanu Hiciano, Sa’nya Roache, Emma Rush, and Emily Walsh and teachers Christine Martinelli, Grace Marinelli, Wendy Kelly, Meghan Medeiros and Nicole Allen for their care of our MHS Grow Racks. We are lucky to have an abundance of fresh produce at MHS thanks to their efforts!

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MPS is unable to serve summer meals this year, as we do not meet federal guidelines. There are local resources available to all families and the list of local sites can be found here.  If your family is in need of further resources, please reach out to MPS Family Outreach Liaison Marti O’Keefe McKenna via email or phone (617-980-7343).

Athletics

Please see below from Director of Athletics Ryan Madden.

And then there was one…but first, there was a great week of Milton High School Athletics!!

The Boys and Girls Track Team did very well over the weekend. Donovan Murray (2-mile), Gretel Schewe (800m), and Mia Jilani (800) all finished in the Top 20, while Kate O’Toole and the 4×800 Relay Team finished in the Top 10. The 4×800 Relay Team, consisting of Katie O’Toole, Marilyn Roche, Mia Jilani and Gretel Schewe earned their spot at the New Balance Nationals in Philadelphia this weekend!

Girls Tennis won their first Tournament Match in over 10 years, beating Chicopee on Friday 5-0. On Monday, both the Girls and Boys Tennis Teams went on the road, each losing very tight matches 3-2 to Melrose and Dartmouth, respectively.

The Softball Team took care of business at home on Friday, beating Pembroke 2-1. The Cats then traveled to DII favorite, Westfield on Tuesday. After trailing 11-0 at one point, the ‘Cats railed back late in the game (including a Shakura Lynch Grand Slam to cut the lead to 1), but feel just short, losing 15-14. What a dramatic ending to a great season!

The Girls Lacrosse Team then hosted Leominster on Wednesday. The game was tight the whole way, with Leominster holding a slight advantage going into halftime. Though they grabbed a few goals in the second half, Leominster held on to win 9-6.

Wednesday night, Rugby traveled across town to take on BC High in the State Semifinals. After losing in the Finals to the Eagles last year, the ‘Cats fell behind 14-0 early. They responded well, making it 14-7. BC High proved to be too tough and the Wildcats lost 47-28, ending their run at another State Title.

And then there was Baseball. After cruising to a 10-3 win over Grafton on Monday, the Wildcats gritted out a 2-0 win over West Springfield on Wednesday. Foley threw another gem, and some timely hits and good baserunning saw the Cats take an early lead and never look back. They will play Leominster on Saturday at Cunningham Park at 2:00 p.m. Tickets must be purchased online through GoFan. All spectators will be checked for tickets at all entrances. Tickets can be found here.

Athletes of the Month for May

Donovan Murray; Senior, Boys’ Outdoor Track
Murray closed out his Wildcat career on a high note. Donovan captured a school record in the two mile (twice, breaking his own record in consecutive weeks) and was two seconds away from the school record in the mile. Donovan’s time of 4:32.79 at the Bay State Conference Championships was good for seventh place in the conference championships. Donovan came back the following week and placed 4th in the two mile at the Division 3 Championships, running a 9:40.30, breaking the school record in that event. Donovan continued his late season success with a 9:38 at the All-State Championships, good for 17th place and lowered his school record by two seconds. Donovan’s superior work ethic and his positive attitude optimize what every coach is looking for as a captain and leader of the team.

Charlie Walker; Senior, Baseball
Walker dominated at the plate and on the mound during the month of May. He lead the team to wins against Walpole, Braintree, Needham and Brookline. Both his pitching and offensive production were top of the team for the month of May. Walker is attending Northeastern next year on scholarship, after signing his Letter of Intent back in November. He will be hoping to finish this season strong. Stats for the Month of May: 4-0 .875 era, 24 ip, 40 k, 5 bb / .448 average, 4 HR, 2 3B, 3 2B, 14 RBI, 8 R

Off the field, Milton High School students have represented the Wildcats well! Grace Henry, Abbe Taugher and Emily MacNeil were honored at Faneuil Hall on May 20th in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Title IX.

Today, ten students attended the Sophomore Sportsmanship Summit at Weymouth High School. Abdallah Hassan, Alec Carew, Catherine Curley, Lucy Asanza, Luke Haley, Mason Pellegri, Meghan Mylod, Mia Jilani, Kyla Miller, and Mudia Odion-Ukpebor learned a lot about sportsmanship, recruiting, social media, drug and alcohol abuse, and team building. It was a great event.

The Milton Public School system does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, gender identity, transgender status, gender transitioning, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its programs, activities or operations. These include, but are not limited to, admissions, equal access to programs and activities, employment, provision of and access to programs and services, as well as a selection of volunteers, vendors, and employers recruiting at the Milton Public Schools.  We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of our staff, students, volunteers, subcontractors, and vendors. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Human Resources Janet Sheehan, (617) 696- 4808/4809.