Superintendent Jette releases updates for week of October 28, 2021

This week’s highlights include MFE Monster Dash – Sunday!, School Committee Virtual Forum – Tonight, MHS HOCO ’21, MPS Inclement Weather Information, Pierce Student v. Staff Volleyball, and more.

From the Desk of the Superintendent:

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we dealt with the unpredictable conditions of yesterday’s storm.  Given the many challenges we faced and the subsequent school cancellation, I thought it was important to send a reminder yesterday afternoon about how we approach inclement weather in the Milton Public Schools. My letter outlined 4 options we have when faced with weather that impacts the school day: a typical full day of school, a two hour delay, a remote half day and a full cancellation. Each of these options is outlined in detail in my letter yesterday and you can read it in full here. 

This past week saw two fantastic MPS events – Homecoming 2021 for our MHS juniors and seniors and a Pierce Student vs. Staff Volleyball game. I was pleased to be able to attend both events and enjoyed seeing our students and staff engaged in these terrific activities.

HOCO ’21 would not have been possible without the partnership among Student Government, MHS staff and administration and MPS parent volunteers. A very special thank you to Student Government Advisor Jennie Beliveau for her leadership of this event. Our students were the real superstars though – every student who attended was respectful, appreciative and enthusiastic. I could not have been more proud of our students.

The Pierce Volleyball game was a great experience for everyone – friendly competition, school spirit, and lots of fun! Funds raised from ticket sales ($537!) will be donated to the Sideout Foundation, an organization committed to providing support and treatment options to people living with metastatic breast cancer.

Another great community event is upon us. Sunday is the MFE’s Monster Dash 5k, Fun Run & community event which falls on Halloween this year! Join the fun on Sunday, October 31, at Cunningham Hall. There are prizes for best costume! Register now,  details of the day are below.

Saturday, October 30

School Committee 

The Milton School Committee will be hosting a second virtual Community Forum tonight, Thursday, October 28 to receive feedback from the community on the findings of the Quality Review report prepared by Cambridge Education.  This report was first shared in the Superintendent’s Blog dated September 23, 2021 and is posted on the Milton Public Schools website.  Tonight’s Community Forum will be held from 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.  (Evening session Zoom link; Meeting ID: 869 3301 8294; Passcode: 077175)

Members of the School Committee will be joined by members of the MPS administration, and we encourage all stakeholders in the MPS community to come share your questions, perspectives, and priorities as the district moves forward to address the report’s recommendations. Whether or not you are able to attend, you are welcome to pre-submit questions or share feedback through this google form.

The regular Milton School Committee meeting is on November 3 at 7:00 p.m.  All information about attending School Committee meetings can be found on the Town of Milton webpage under School Committee. You can watch 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.

Health And Safety

Test and Stay: Just over 60% of MPS students have completed the Opt In form for Test and Stay and Symptomatic testing. If you have not yet opted in, please consider doing so now. All details can be found here.

Superintendent Jette’s September 9, 2021 letter about the Test and Stay Program can be found here. You must OPT IN to Test and Stay to participate.  You can opt in at this link.

For the time period of Thursday, October 21 – Wednesday, October 27, MPS had  3 positive student cases, and 0 positive staff cases. Each of these positive cases impacts close contacts at every school. All health and safety information can be found on our Health Services website.

Important Upcoming Dates

• Oct 28 School Committee Forums
• Nov 2 No School – Teacher PD Day
• Nov 3 School Committee Meeting
• Nov 4, 6, 7 Chicago at MHS
• Nov 11 No School – Veterans Day
• Nov 17 School Committee Meeting
• Nov 18 Early Release Day K-12 (PT Conf Gr 6-12 only)
• Nov 22 MHS Cabaret

Please refer to the District-Wide Calendar of Events for times and details. The 21-22 School Year Calendar can be found here (Revised 2/24/21) Note: This calendar is intended as a guide ONLY. It may be necessary to change this schedule to better serve instructional purposes.

In roaring twenties Chicago, chorine Roxie Hart murders a faithless lover and convinces her hapless husband, Amos, to take the rap… until he finds out he’s been duped and turns on Roxie. Convicted and sent to death row, Roxie and another “Merry Murderess,” Velma Kelly, vie for the spotlight and the headlines, ultimately joining forces in search of the “American Dream”: fame, fortune, and acquittal. This show has it all and is guaranteed to please! Tickets are available now at this link.

Also, please continue to refer to the MPS website for all information about Covid safety, transportation, School Committee updates, district wide presentations, Special Education information, school handbooks, anti bullying policy and reporting system, food service menus and more.

Come celebrate Taco Tuesday on November 2 from 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at Chipotle at 60 Newport Ave, Quincy and support the Class of 2023. Show the flyer at right or order online using code, GVV4ERR, and 33% of the proceeds from your order will be donated to the 2023 student government. The MHS Junior Class thanks you!

High School Happenings

Students in MHS 2D Studio Art, explored the Element of Line by drawing blind contour lines, modified contour lines, continuous lines and cross contour lines to describe objects, people and furniture in Ms. Lee’s art room. You can see Ms. Lee in one of the drawings below.

Last week, the Milton High School Student Leaders successfully held the annual Freshman Olympics! It was an exciting week filled with costumes, door decorating, lawn games, and a thrilling final showdown. Though all freshmen fought valiantly for the title, Mr. Midura’s homeroom (Midura’s Explorers) prevailed and claimed the gold medal. We are so glad that the freshmen were able to bond with one another and with the broader school community, and we look forward to continuing this tradition in the coming years.

Inside Our Elementary Schools

4th grade students are wrapping up their amazing pinch pot jack-o-lanterns in the Collicot and Cunningham art room.  Students reviewed how to make a pinch pot and the “scratch and attach” technique to create a hollow sphere.  Next, students learned how to use various clay tools to carve their jack-o-lantern faces.  After firing their clay sculptures in the kiln, students applied crayon and oil pastels to their pumpkins and dipped their sculpture into black ink to create a dazzling wax resist effect!

5th grade students in the Cunningham and Collicot art room have begun a Boston cityscape painting.  Students are learning how to use a palate and mix various shades of yellow, oranges and browns to create the buildings in their cityline.  Students have to apply strategy when mixing colors from their palate as a means of mapping out their picture too.  As you can see, they are off to a great start!

Mme Maliel’s 5th grade Glover students have been writing “pourquoi tales” to explain how animals came to have their traits. First, they read several pourquoi tales and studied the elements of narrative writing, and then they went through the steps of the writing process to create their own. To celebrate the completion of their original and entertaining stories, they met Mme Koita’s 3rd graders on a perfect day outside and read them their stories. It was a treat for all.

For a fun STEM Week challenge, Mrs. Mile’s Cunningham 3rd graders took part in a cup stacking challenge. The challenge: Can you stack cups without using your hands? Students were placed into groups and given the following materials to use: 6 plastic cups per group, 2 straws per student, 2 feet of string per student, 1 rubber band per student, and 1 cotton ball per group. The challenge was for students to make a tower using all six of their cups without touching the cups with their hands. Once they built their tower students needed to put the cotton ball on top without touching it with their hand as well. As groups were able to complete this challenge, to increase the challenge, materials were taken away and students tried to stack with fewer materials.

Tucker students enjoyed a fun Fall Spirit Week in recognition of their hard work to start the year. Today, they put on their crazy creative writing hats to participate in a special creative writing assembly featuring Story Pirates.  They will end the week in style wearing the colors that represent their homeroom College or University as part of Tucker’s college bound focus.

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Collicot and Cunningham students in Mrs. Allegrezza’s music classes enjoyed exploring and making music on the barred percussion instruments in the music room. First, students learned the game/song “Pass the Pumpkin” and practiced passing a pumpkin to the steady beat while singing. Students then learned to play two patterns from the song on a class set of glockenspiels so everyone could practice at the same time and at their own pace. Finally, students transferred their knowledge to playing Orff xylophones and metallophones and had fun while singing and playing the game.

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The Diverse Reads Book Club is back! Please use this form to sign up for upcoming Book Clubs – all elementary students from any school are welcome.

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month we welcomed Kim Baker, a bicultural Latinx author, to talk about her novel The Water Bears with grades 3-5 this week. There was a small but mighty group of students from all elementary schools for our first meeting. Thank you to MPL librarian Sara Truog for leading the rich discussion.

Family Resources

In an effort to support and foster a strong home-school connection MPS knows that families may sometimes need resources for their children and family beyond the classroom.  In addition to the Milton Public School Resource Guide we will be highlighting local community resources families may find beneficial in our Family Resource Newsletter.  If you need additional assistance please don’t hesitate to reach out to Marti O’Keefe McKenna, MPS Family Outreach Liaison at 617-980-7343 or by email at [email protected]. If your family needs assistance with fees for athletics, clubs, activities, please email Ms. McKenna, your principal or adjustment counselor. All calls and emails are confidential.

Food Service

MPS Food Service is hiring for all positions – permanent and substitute, both full and part-time. Pay is $17.28. Email Jackie Morgan at [email protected] for details. Come join our MPS team!

SEPAC 

Please visit the Milton SEPAC website, as along with our weekly newsletters, this will be the way to stay in the know!

We are pleased to welcome two new reps from Glover and three new reps from Tucker. Thank you to Collicot Principal Holly Concannon and Tucker Principal Elaine McNeil-Girmai, as well as others, who helped us invite new school reps to the board.

If you missed the October 19 workshop, no worries –  the Federation for Children with Special Needs (an outstanding MA resource!) will hold many useful workshops in November. Now is a great time of year to tune in.  To register, you need to click on the link for the calendar and registration and then click on the event you want to attend. Once you register, you will receive an email with the zoom link. All details on upcoming workshops can be found here. 

The next SEPAC board meeting will be held on November 16, 6:30 -8:30, the Zoom Link can be found here.  Yearly elections will be held and this meeting will operate in compliance with Open Meeting Law.

Milton Glows Gold

The William James INTERFACE Referral Service is a mental health resource and referral Helpline available Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It assists Milton residents and/or public school students to access outpatient mental health services. What makes INTERFACE unique is that we do not provide merely a list of providers, but rather matched referrals to mental health professionals and practices who best meet the caller’s needs, insurance or fee requirement, specialty request, location, and availability. The Helpline is staffed by mental health professionals, as well as graduate level students from William James College. For more information about INTERFACE, please visit their website.

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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.