This week has been a difficult and sad one for many, especially for parents and educators across the country, as we watched the horrific events unfold in Uvalde, TX. Our heartfelt sympathy is with the families and community as they navigate their loss after this terrible week.

As I wrote to you Tuesday night, what happened in Texas this week seems unimaginable, but unfortunately is not terribly uncommon. I want to reassure you that the Milton Public Schools remains a safe and supportive environment for our students and staff. Please know that we have a strong relationship with the Milton Police Department, and we have ongoing conversations and training to enhance our safety and security protocols. In addition, the School Resource Officers who work in our schools provide us with an additional level of security.

We are always working to foster a sense of community in our schools, utilizing calm classrooms, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), and Restorative Justice, while giving students individualized attention, and cultivating positive relationships with and between students and staff. Ensuring that everyone feels they are a valued member of our community is paramount. Additionally, we also use the Intellispark screener to capture student motivations and provide a “temperature check” for Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and well-being; student relationships and networks; and engagement, connection, and belonging. Our goal has always been and will remain on supporting the “whole student”.

There is no school on Monday, May 30, as the country observes Memorial Day, which honors the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. As you enjoy this long weekend, and the coming days of summer it promises, I know you join me in remembering our service members who have died while serving.

I wish our MPS community a safe and restful Memorial Day weekend.

School Committee

The next School Committee meeting is Wednesday, June 1, 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 Dates

• May 30 Memorial Day, No School
• May 31 Senior Awards Night
• June 2, 4 Pierce Players
• June 5 MHS Graduation, 2:00 p.m. Brooks Field
• June 9 Pierce Concert
• June 15 Instrument Info Night
• 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 (Draft) 
• District-Wide Calendar of Events for times and details on current events.

______

Get your tickets now for Golly Gee Whiz, Pierce Players newest (amazing) production!  Tickets on sale at this link and shows are on June 2 and 4. Join us for some terrific family entertainment!

Milton Summer Enrichment: Registration is open, and all details on classes and the program can be found at this link. MSE runs Monday-Friday, July 5-29, from 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at Milton High School. Classes are creative and varied – academic, sports, art, games, and more. So many options to choose from!  Please email [email protected] with any questions. MSE is a great way to start your summer day – join us for a fun and enriching summer!

Health And Safety

COVID Updates: MPS has reported 50 new student cases and 12 staff cases to DPH for previous reporting period (May 19- May 25)  with the following breakdown per school. Cunningham -4; Collicot -4; Glover- 2; Tucker-1, Pierce-13 and MHS- 26. Local and Norfolk County data can be found here: CDC COVID data tracker  and Milton COVID 19 Dashboard.

DESE has announced a change to guidance for quarantine after exposure for students. All details can be found here.

Communications Survey

If you have not already done so, please take this short survey about communication in MPS.  Please help us learn about our strengths and areas which need improvement by sharing feedback on our communication practices. Thank you for your responses.

High School Happenings

On Friday May 13, over 400 9th and 10th graders filled the MHS courtyard for Spring Fling. It was an awesome evening of dancing, cornhole and spike ball, and most importantly a fun time with friends! It was amazing to see all of the smiling faces and everyone enjoying themselves. This event would have not been possible without the generous donations from families of snacks, desserts, waters, decorations, lights, as well as their time to help decorate. We are so thankful for all of the support!

______

The Milton Parks and Recreation Department is holding community service sign ups for grades 9-11 in the MHS cafe on Wednesday, June 1 st from 2:20 p.m.  –  3:00 p.m. for all  2022 summer programs. If your child is unable to attend this meeting, please email  [email protected] after June 1 to see if there are any available weeks left for community service. Space is limited so please make every attempt to attend this meeting.

Pierce Pages

Our 8th graders have had terrific field trips to the Museum of Science this month. One team still to come!

Inside Our Elementary Schools 

Read all about it! The Cunningham Newspaper Club is proud to share the current edition of the Milton Times, Jr., with hot off the press news on the Celtics vs. the Heat, the weather, Ethiopia, movie and book reviews, black holes and more!

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!

Transportation

Bus registration for the 2022-23 school year is now open. Please visit our Transportation Page for all details and links.

Milton Community Schools

Our After School Enrichment programs have been taking advantage of the spring with outdoor activities ranging from building habitats to playing basketball. MCS wishes everyone a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

SEPAC 

Please see below for information from SEPAC.

PARTICIPATE:  Mark your calendars! Tuesday, June 14 will be our final SEPAC meeting in the Milton High School Library, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. We will be meeting live with refreshments, a guest speaker, while we connect before the summer and vision for the 2022-23 school year.

ADVOCATE: Please fill out this brief, 3 question SEPAC Survey 2022 to inform our visioning process for 2022-2023.

EDUCATE: In reviewing our year, one of the exciting happenings was a therapy dog event at Tucker. One may ask, why therapy dogs? Therapy dogs are known to help relieve anxiety and stress, provide comfort, and increase socialization. Thank you to Co-President of the Tucker PTO, (and Babson University employee) Marybeth Flakes for coordinating this event. Babson started a community resource dog program after students identified a need for additional resources for mental health and wellbeing on campus. Roger, Babson’s therapy dog, has been a huge asset on the Babson campus, and having seen the power of what dogs can do, Marybeth wanted to bring therapy dogs to the Tucker community. Roger from Babson was joined by Marley, trained therapy dog of a Tucker family and other therapy dogs from Chelsea, Holbrook, Northeastern, Dedham and more. Apart from Marley, the rest of the dogs are trained by Golden Opportunities for Independence (GOFI) – the dogs and their handlers (mostly police officers) are trained for approximately 18 months and the dogs, and their handlers have a tight community. Over 80 students sign up for the therapy dog event at Tucker -it was beyond successful, allowing so many children and families to experience these amazing dogs firsthand.

Food Service

This week, the MPS Food Service Director and Nutrition Coordinator attended the “Healthy Kids, Healthy Programs Summit” sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Education.  Among a terrific line up was a Project Bread’s Scratch Cooking session provided by Chef Sam Icklan. He prepared a delicious Arroz con Pollo and “Less-Meat” Veggie and Beef Burrito, and we are excited to implement his tasty and nutritious recipes next year.

Athletics

Please see below from MPS Athletic Director Ryan Madden.

The Softball Team capped off their Senior Night with a walk-off comeback win over Framingham, 4-3. Anna Radley hit a 2-out, 2-strike single with the bases loaded to move to 11-6 on the season! Watch the excitement here! 

Track and Field athletes Mia Jilani, Gretel Schewe, Marilyn Roche, Sarah Grace, Donovan Murray, Alec Carew, Abdallah Hasaan, Kai Quinones, Moses Mann, Aidan Crummey, Lucy Asanza, Liam Faherty, Elana Pukel, and Abigail McMenamy will be participating in Division III States in Westfield on Friday. Good luck this weekend!

A belated congratulations to our student-athletes who were unable to attend the Varsity Banquet as they were competing at the Coaches’ Invitational at BC High. All of these students received Varsity letters for Spring Track & Field and many received letters for sports in the Fall and Winter!

• Congratulations to Aidan Crummey, Fabrice Hippolyte, Alec Carew, John Carew, Donovan Murray, Moses Mann, Colin Truong, Tyler Lum, Osa Egbon, Liam Faherty, Zoe Panucci, Katie O’Toole, Gretel Schewe, Marilyn Roche, Norah Affanato, Sarah Grace Chave, Donna Gauvin, Elana Pukel, Finn Queally, Kai Quinones, Niamh Mannion, Lucy Asanza, Lydia Turner, Kate Karimbikas, Luka Juric, Sifa Mwosa, Ava Duggan, Christina Sullivan, Julie Affanato and Williams Cayo.

Our Crew Teams competed in the Mayor’s Cup this past weekend. Boys’ Varsity made it to finals and placed 2nd overall in the both events (both 8+ and 4+) and put up an excellent fight! Girls’ Varsity placed 3rd overall in both the 8+ and 4+. Boys’ 2nd varsity 4+ placed 3rd in their event. The girls’ 2nd varsity placed first in their events as well as won the finals! Congrats on a great weekend.

All of our teams now await seeding over the next week to see if they have qualified for the Tournament and what seed they may be.  Baseball, Softball, Rugby and Girls Tennis automatically qualified, posting a record of .500 or better. We are looking forward to an exciting postseason!