The best and most meaningful part of each week for me is when I can step away from emails, phone calls and meetings and interact directly with our students, staff and families. Classroom lessons, assemblies and special events, games, matches, performances and more are all opportunities for connection and I try to visit each of our schools regularly.

This week I checked in with a Pierce Health and Wellness class as they discussed their goals and hopes for the future, both personally and in a more global sense. I was impressed by their thoughtful discussion. Thank you to Mrs. McEvoy and the students for welcoming me into their classroom.

I also visited Tucker this week, after school on the Wednesday early release day, during their planned visit from therapy dogs. The role these service dogs play in schools and communities is priceless. I saw the excitement from the students and their eagerness to interact with the dogs and I was impressed by each dog’s temperament, especially with so many hands and bodies in front of each dog. Thank you to the MPD Police Officers, Resource and Community Officers from other school districts, colleges, universities, and Milton’s own therapy dog Marley for visiting with our Tucker students and staff.

This week we posted the Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion position (renamed from Senior Director of Education Equity). The Director will work collaboratively with the Superintendent as a strategic planner in order to ensure an inclusive, anti-racist, anti-bias, academically rigorous and dynamic school culture across Milton Public Schools. The full position description can be found here and the timeline can be found here. Two weeks ago, we posted the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources and Curriculum position and all details on that search timeline can be found here.

Both the Director of DEI and the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Human Resources positions are key members of MPS leadership and we look forward to filling these positions in the coming months. All information will be shared in my weekly blog, your Principal’s weekly newsletters and at School Committee meetings.

At last night’s School Committee meeting, I shared that I have applied for a mask waiver for both Milton High School and Pierce, our two schools that have met the 80% vaccination threshold. In addition, the DESE mask mandate is due to be reviewed on February 28. This week we began our new testing program through DESE with 300 staff members and 1400 students participating. This new at-home testing will run through April 22, 2022 and as part of this shift in testing programs, we will be discontinuing the Test and Stay program and will no longer be contact tracing for in-school close contacts. If you would like to opt in to at home testing, all details are here.

In January, due to a significant surge in positive Covid cases, we adhered to a stricter mask policy and attempted to limit time indoors without masks (i.e., when eating and drinking). As we had a large number of students who were back in school on Day 6 of positivity, this was the safest way to prevent transmission. Since then, our community has done a great job of limiting community spread and keeping our numbers down. While our students and staff (per DESE guidelines), still wear masks inside,  much of our school day looks like it normally does, with lunch, recess, specialist classes, small and large group work, sporting events with spectators, art and cultural events, parent volunteers, etc. We all look forward to a time when all Covid protocols are eliminated and we will continue to update you at School Committee meetings, the blog, the MPS website and via email.

After this weekend’s major storm, I want to thank the Milton DPW, MPS custodial staff and Milton Consolidated Facilities for their incredible work clearing the substantial snow from the schools and the sidewalks and roads around the schools and throughout Milton. Many districts were forced to cancel school on Monday but due to the hard work of many in Milton, we were able to have a safe and productive day of school. Thank you as well to Milton drivers for your continued attention to all traffic safety rules at our schools, never more important than during inclement weather.

School Committee

The next regular Milton School Committee meeting is on February 16, 2022 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.

If you have not yet given feedback on to the Equity Steering Committee on a shared definition of equity, please do so in a short 2 question survey linked here.

Important Upcoming Dates

• Feb 16 Milton School Committee
• Feb 17 Pierce Science Fair
• Feb 21-25 February Recess
• Mar 2 Milton School Committee
• Mar 3 Early Release K-12
• Mar 9 1st Grade Info Night

Please refer to the District-Wide Calendar of Events for times and details. The 21-22 School Year Calendar can be found here. (Updated 1/7/22)

During the week of March 7th, MPS will be participating in the DESE Targeted Review. You can read all details in the letter sent to all MPS families and staff on Monday, January 31 and linked here. The DESE review, which MPS was randomly selected for, was also discussed at the School Committee meeting on February 2. All School Committee meetings can be watched on Milton Access TV.

Health And Safety

Save the date! Milton Public Schools considers the health and well-being of our students a priority. With that in mind, we are partnering with the Department of Public Health to host school vaccination clinics for your eligible children ages 5 and up. These clinics will offer the Pfizer vaccine as an initial vaccine, second dose or booster. Clinics will be held on Saturday, March 5 at Milton High School and Saturday, March 26 at Pierce Middle School. More information including links to register will be available next week.

Covid Reporting: For the time period of Thursday, January 26 – Wednesday, February 2, 2022, MPS reported the following information Covid positive numbers to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as requested.

• MHS- 8
• PMS- 10
• Collicot-8
• Cunningham-16
• Tucker-5
• Glover- 11
• MPS – Staff – 9; Students – 58

All updated Covid guidelines and documents can be found on our website linked here. 

High School Happenings

This past weekend, Milton High School students joined students from all over the world to debate issues pertinent to past, present, and future crises on a global scale at the Harvard Model UN. Not the COVID-19 pandemic nor a historic blizzard could stop students from problem solving and engaging in diplomacy. Our Milton delegates were impressive – they negotiated, engaged in public speaking, cooperated to think critically about the problems facing various peoples through the world, and worked diligently to solve small- and large-scale issues as student representatives and future leaders.

All Milton students in attendance were recognized in committee for their contributions – so please join me in congratulating all attendees! In addition to more general commendations, eight of our students were recognized for their excellence among thousands of student attendees. Kiera Glazer and Moth Trafton were recognized for their contributions during their sessions. Anderson Korman, Jonathan Waldmann, Rory Martin, Alex McEttrick and Sam Boucher were all recognized as outstanding delegates on their various committees. Will McElroy and Barron Clancy were awarded honorable mention for efforts within the trade and development committee and Tucker Korman was given a diplomatic commendation for his work within the commission on science and technology for development, which focused on artificial intelligence.

A huge shout out to all who participated – as they faced many challenges in order to participate and worked incredibly hard to excel. Go Wildcats!

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Five MHS students have been accepted to the Massachusetts Music Educators Association’s All-State Festival. Big congratulations to our students! From Chorus- Isabelle Feloney, Lucy Hays, and Nessa Malin; from Band- Claudia O’Neill,  and from Jazz Band- Timothy Fay. This prestigious honor is bestowed upon students who were recommended to audition based on their high scores from the Eastern District festival back in November. These students prepared audition videos and were judged alongside students from all districts in Massachusetts. They will be performing with the All State Ensembles at Symphony Hall on March 5th. Bravo!

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The MHS Culture Club shares the following. Even a looming snowstorm could not stop the nearly 200 people who came to the Asian Culture Club’s Culture Fair on Friday, January 28. Milton High School’s library was alive with culture and diversity! The community came together to enjoy games and activities such as table tennis, origami and hacky sack. Visitors had the option to enrich their minds with artifacts of the Hispanic Culture Club, or take a dive into French culture through games presented by French Club. Presentations by GSA, as well as individual students, also enriched the Fair. The highlight of the night came at 7 o’clock with an incredible lion dance by performers from Kwong Kow Chinese School. The evening was a huge success and the Asian Culture Club would like to thank everyone who helped out and visited. Thank you, and we hope to see you next year or in the foreseeable future!

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Students in Ms. Lee’s 2D Studio Art class have been learning about the human figure through movement and proportion. They made gesture drawings and added volume around the line of action on different types of paper to create a figurative collage communicating a story, emotion or expression with the human body.

Pierce Pages

Congratulations to Pierce student Avery Squiciarino for being named a finalist in the We Veterans Pin Design Challenge!  Mrs. Magill’s FUSE students participated in this national competition in November and Avery’s submission, “Blossom of Appreciation” was chosen as one of 10 finalists. More information about this project can be found here.

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Each month, Pierce recognizes students who demonstrate the values of safety, responsibility, respect, and kindness. Teachers nominate students and one student from each grade is selected by Pierce’s culture and behavior committee. Please join us in congratulating Finn Spaulding, Adam Cheairs, and Harper Zoll who were honored for the month of December!

Inside Our Elementary Schools

Collicot students and staff were excited to celebrate the Lunar New Year this week. Students and staff dressed in red and gold to mark the special day and the day kicked off with Kindergarten teacher Mimi Tran leading the school in the morning announcements and teaching the school community about the Lunar New Year. Later in the day, the entire school joined a virtual assembly with students from all classrooms celebrating the New Year. Students showed traditional clothing, shared traditions, and New Year’s greetings in Mandarin, Cantonese and Vietnamese.Click this link to hear and see our Collicot students wish you a Happy Lunar New Year in several languages.   Thanks to the generosity of the PTO, all Collicot students went home with a Red Envelope and lucky gold coins.

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Music students in Mrs. Allegrezza’s Collicot and Cunningham music classes learned about the tradition of the Lunar New Year through a play-along music activity and the Chinese song, “Gong Xi Gong Xi.” The lyrics of the song express how the Lunar Year is a time for celebration, congratulations and best wishes, and students who celebrate shared with their class their family’s traditions for the special holiday. Students also enjoyed reviewing and learning new rhythm patterns and notation while playing rhythm sticks to the song and you can enjoy some of their music at this link.

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On February 2nd Tucker students celebrated World Read Aloud Day. Each class in PreK-5 had a visit from at least three authors to read their books aloud virtually. Students learned about the writing process and steps it takes to publish a book. We are looking forward to seeing our aspiring writers’ and readers’ work after this week’s visits!

We will finish World Read Aloud week off with a visit from author Winsome Bingham. Winsome is the author of Soul Food Sunday and recent honoree of the Coretta Scott King award. We are looking forward to her whole school assembly.

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Mrs. Walsh’s Cunningham 2nd graders celebrated the Lunar New Year with a ROAR! Students learned about Lunar New Year traditions, made paper lanterns, created dragon puppets, and practiced using chopsticks. Thanks to our wonderful parent volunteer Pamela Azar-Peou for making this special lesson possible.

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Glover is excited for their first Glover Read-A-Thon to support their efforts to host authors in virtual and in-person visits and to bring much-needed new books into classrooms and the school library. Conceived by Glover’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and supported by literary agent and Glover parent, Sara Crowe, the Diverse Reads Book Club aims to bring authors of diverse backgrounds to speak to our students and inspire them. School author visits are a fun, powerful learning opportunity that gets students excited about reading, writing, and the creative process. Glover has been lucky to host some wonderful authors over the last few years. This year, they have been able to offer opportunities for students across all 4 elementary schools to participate in our Diverse Reads Book Club Author Visits. The Read-A-Thon will allow them to continue to bring diverse authors to the students of Milton.

Students are logging minutes and sponsorships as we speak. One enterprising third grader, Jack Murray, has created a “Bedtime Stories” opportunity to help him raise money. Jack is offering a “read aloud” for younger kids who may not be able to read independently yet. As part of “Jack’s Bedtime Stories,” Jack is hosting 15 minute “Zoom” personalized reading sessions in the evening. For each session, Jack is requesting a $10 donation through his read-a-thon page to the Glover PTO. We are so proud of Jack’s love for reading and his passion for connecting and supporting his community. We look forward to many years of Diverse Reads Book Club to come!

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Cunningham is happy to share this short video clip of the virtual Cunningham PAWsitivity Award Ceremony held this week.  It was great having the opportunity to recognize students demonstating respect, responsiblity and safety!  They’re looking forawrd to moving the ceremony back outdoors in the warmer months, but thought that this virtual and interactive one was fun. Congratulations to our January PAWsitivity winners (listed in the video)!

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Milton Community Schools: ASE (After School Enrichment) and ESAP (Early School Arrival Program) students have been participating in various STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) activities. Students love these hands on and fun activities! Check out the fun below.

MPS Gives Back

MHS Soup Drive: The Milton Food Pantry is currently experiencing a soup shortage, and we are here to help.  The food pantry is in need specifically of soup donations: Progresso, Dinty Moore, and Campbells are preferred brands. The drive will run from Monday, February 7 to Friday, February 11.

Donation bins are located in the MHS Cafeteria and students should place your donations in the bin that has the team that you think will win the Super Bowl. Thanks to MHS Freshman Reilly Bergin for coordinating and thank you to all for coming together to help others in our community!

Kindergarten Information

We look forward to welcoming the Class of 2035 to the Milton Public Schools!  Thank you to all who attended Kindergarten Information Night. The presentation is linked here.  The link to pre-register for Kindergarten is here and Kindergarten registration for the school year 2022/2023 will begin in the early spring.

MPS Employment Opportunities

There are ongoing employment opportunities within the Milton Public Schools. All details can always be found on the main page of the MPS website  and on our Employment Page. There are currently positions posted for Substitute Teachers, Food Service Subs, Paraprofessional Educational Assistant, Speech Language Pathologist, Adjustment Counselor Elementary, the Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Human Resources and more. Please visit our Employment Page for more information.

SEPAC

If you missed last week’s MPS/SEPAC presentation about Tourette’s, don’t despair! The recording is now available at this link. The talk by Susan Connor, a nationally-recognized expert on Tourette’s Syndrome, was eye-opening, thought-provoking, inspiring and funny, and provided concrete strategies to help students and their families, both inside and outside of the classroom.

Athletics

AD Ryan Madden shares the following.

I am happy to announce that the Milton High School Athletics Boosters’ Club has generously donated nearly $9,000 to help fund the cost of the 14-passenger vans. These vans will allow greater flexibility for our Athletic Scheduling and help our student-athletes attend various sporting events and functions throughout the school year.

They have also approved thousands of dollars worth of equipment for our Athletic Teams. These items will be essential in improving our programs. Keep an eye out for the equipment as it comes in. As always, we appreciate any and all support towards funding our Athletics Program!

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Spring Sports are right around the corner! Tryouts begin March 21st. Be sure to register if you haven’t already.  If you have already registered for a Fall and Winter Sport, all you need to do is add a Spring Sport to the existing registration, or email Ryan Madden, Director of Athletics, [email protected] asking to add a Spring Sport.

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Save your cans! The MHS Girls Soccer Team will be hosting a Cans for Cats fundraiser on Saturday, February 5th from 9:00 a.m. to noon at Milton High School.