Superintendent Sheehan releases updates for week of November 10, 2022

This week’s highlights include MPS Honors our Veterans, Beauty and the Beast – Starts Tonight!, Superintendent Search Update, SEPAC Meeting – 11/14, December Vacation Camp Registration, Pierce Debate Tournament, and more.

From The Desk Of The Superintendent

Tomorrow, Friday, November 11, there is no school in the Milton Public Schools in honor of Veterans Day, a nationally observed Federal holiday. This week, our schools recognized our Veterans, with in person events, letters, cards and videos and classroom lessons and presentations. Tomorrow, many of our MHS students will participate in the Town of Milton Veterans Day Ceremony at 11am at Milton Town Hall.

Milton’s Select Board and Milton Veterans Services, along with members of the American Legion Post 114, will conduct ceremonies to commemorate all our Veterans past and present. They will be joined by MHS Wildcat Marching Band and Chorus, our elected leaders, students and Milton Police & Fire Honor Guards. On behalf of the Milton Public Schools, I extend my sincere gratitude to all who have served our country.

TONIGHT: Opening night for Beauty and the Beast! This family friendly show is sure to be a crowd pleaser and is offered four times throughout the weekend – Nov 10 at 7:00 p.m., Nov 12 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., and Nov 13 at 2:00 p.m. This is a fantastic opportunity to see a high quality local show with your family while supporting our talented MHS students.  Tickets are available at this link. Break a leg, MHS Theatre!

Please read below for information about the Superintendent search and ways to participate, the SEPAC meeting on November 14, December Vacation Camp sign ups, Pierce Debate news, elementary art highlights, exciting Athletic news and more.

MPS Need To Know

Important Dates

• Nov 10 Beauty and the Beast at MHS
• Nov 11 Veterans Day No School
• Nov 12 Beauty and the Beast at MHS
• Nov 13 Beauty and the Beast at MHS
• Nov 14, 16 Superintendent Focus Groups for MPS Community
• Nov 16 School Committee Meeting
• Nov 17 Early Release K-12,  P/T Conferences Grades 6-12
• Nov 23-25 Thanksgiving Break
• Nov 30 School Committee Forum
• Dec 1 Post Secondary Planning Night

MPS Calendars: 2022-23 One Page School Year Calendar and Link to MPS Monthly Calendar.

Superintendent Search Update

The Massachusetts Association of School Committees is assisting us with the search for the next Superintendent for the Milton Public Schools. The posting brochure can be found here and the application can be accessed here. The deadline for applications is midnight on November 28th.

We hope you can attend one of our two Focus Groups for Milton Parents, Guardians, Caregivers, and Community Members:

• November 14, 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., in person, MHS Auditorium
• November 16, 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., virtual on Zoom at this link(Meeting ID: 943 0779 7087) One tap mobile +16469313860,,94307797087# US; +19292056099,,94307797087# US (New York)

The School Committee is also offering an opportunity for high school students to voluntarily participate in an after school focus group to share their perspectives on the district’s leadership needs. Mrs. Cahill sent an email this week to all MHS parents, guardians and students with all details on the student focus group.

MPS staff also has the opportunity to participate in two focus groups, and that information was sent directly to staff MPS email.

We invite all community members to share their input on the Superintendent search by completing this survey, which will be open through Friday, November 18.

Post Secondary Planning Night

Please join the MHS School Counseling Department for their annual Post Secondary Planning Night on Thursday, December 1, from 6:15 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Over two hours, families will have the opportunity to attend the information sessions that most interest them. Sessions include How to Pay for College, Alternative Paths, Training in the Military, Start Planning for your Child’s Future, Trade Talk, Admissions Advisory: Private Colleges and Public Universities and College Testing: ACT vs SAT. The evening is targeted to parents and guardians of students in Grades 8-11 but all are welcome to attend. We hope you will join us for this valuable evening as you begin to think about your child’s post secondary plans.

Please see below from the SEPAC Board.

Participate, Advocate, Educate! Milton SEPAC will kick off our new season on Monday, November 14 ONLINE by voting in the ’22-’23 board. All are welcome to attend and vote. The SEPAC Board Nomination Form is here. After we install our new board, we will be finalizing our agenda for November ’22- November ’23.  The link to attend the Nov 14 6:30 p.m. -8:00 p.m. SEPAC Zoom Meeting is here. 

Milton Community Schools

The December Vacation Camp flyer can be found here.  Registration on Family ID starts next Wednesday, November 16. All information can be found on the MCS website.

MHS Information Night

Please join us on Thursday, December 15 at 6:30 p.m. in the Milton High School Auditorium (25 Gile Rd) for an opportunity to learn about Milton High School course offerings, academic and extracurricular programs, athletics and activities that prepare students for college and life beyond high school. Current 8th grade students, parents and guardians are invited to attend this informational session and tour of Milton High School.

MPS Good To Know  

Fruit Center Shopping Week

The Fruit Center Shopping week ends on Sunday November 13, and it’s easy to participate and raise funds for your child’s school. All details can be found here.

• Download a shopping voucher for your school here. Print as many as you’d like and share them with friends, family and neighbors.
• The Fruit Center will donate 20% of your total purchase back to your school.

Thank you to the Fruit Center for their generous support of our schools!

MPS Swag

On Saturday, many of our PTOs, school and community organizations gathered at Steel and Rye for the 2nd Annual Holiday Shop. Thank to you MPS parent Bill Resnick for organizing! If you missed out and are looking for MPS and Milton SWAG – hoodies, t-shirts, blankets, hats, travel cups, flags and much more – please see the following links. MHS Boosters, MHS FAME, Pierce PTO (email), Cunningham PTO, Glover PTO, Tucker PTO, Collicot PTO, and Milton Youth Football & Cheer.

MPS Soccer Equipment Drive

Milton Soccer Uniform Program: Pass us your soccer uniforms…and we’ll pass them on to children all over the world!

Drop off your used soccer uniforms (and equipment) to collection bins located in the lobbies of Collicot/Cunningham, Glover, Tucker and Pierce schools or to 34 Cliff Rd. Milton. Collection dates are November 14- 30. Any donations of CLEAN T-Shirts, shorts, socks, shin guards, cleats, and deflated balls and pumps will be gratefully accepted. Uniforms from other sports will also be accepted.

Thank you for your support! For more information, call Madame Brown at 617-696-8125
This project is supported by the Milton Public Schools and Milton Soccer.

MPS Nice To Know

Pierce Schools To Careers

Mr. Romeo is working with Schools to Careers to offer opportunities for students to learn more about STEM careers in medicine. Last week, staff from South Shore Hospital came to talk with students about different therapy based jobs. Students had the opportunity to try to complete a task – decorating cookies –  with a physical impairment which helped our students better understand the challenges patients face and the importance of this work.

Pierce Debate

On November 5th, the Pierce Middle School Debate Team participated in the Lumos November Invitational Debate Tournament with students debating whether or not the United States should institute term limits for Supreme Court Justices.

Students used the Public Forum Debate format to discuss the positive and negative consequences of term limits. Students Danica Carino, Alicia Chan, Adam Cheairs, Alex DeGregorio, John Griffin, Jonathan Hsu, Teddy Hsu, Sara Khan, Ellis Lim, Lillie Mitchell, Ivy Muzquiz, Ben Neugebauer, Sadie Schweitzer, Avery Squiciarino, Nate Stanesa, Zara Tahir, Thinh Tran, Alisa Villar, and Ace Wetzner-Crothers competed in this tournament. Pierce students received some terrific recognition!

• Jonathan Hsu and Teddy Hsu received Speaker Awards for delivering speeches in a clear and eloquent manner.
• Adam Cheairs and Avery Squiciarino earned fifth place in this competitive tournament.
• John Griffin and Ben Neugebauer won first place in this tournament, beating out dozens and dozens of competitors from across the state.

The Pierce Debate Team was thrilled to participate in our first tournament of the 2022-2023 school year. Congratulations to the team and we look forward to hearing about your next competition in December.

Pierce English

Ms. Power’s 8th grade IS English students are currently reading “Chasing Lincoln’s Killer” by James Swanson. Students acted as reporters and wrote “breaking news” articles on the shooting at Ford’s Theatre , using only the information known at the time of the shooting. Even though they knew the outcome of the shooting, they could not yet declare President Lincoln as dead as he died the morning after at 7:22 a.m. You’ll see below that students used their knowledge of the facts and writing skills to complete their articles.

6th Grade Art

Mr. Mannings 6th grade art students have been learning about the haunting art of Tim Burton and his magical character designs. Students learned about unique character features and portraiture and used black and white charcoal and smudging tools to create these one of a kind selfies. We discussed how Burton exaggerates his facial features and how he uses unique shaped heads and crazy hairstyles. Artists had fun creating these haunting selfies inspired by the “Nightmare before Christmas”.

Cunningham Welcomes Walshville

Walshville hit the map at Cunningham last week! Mrs. Walsh’s 2nd graders have been learning about communities in both reading and social studies this fall. To support their learning, each student constructed one piece of the community and together they assembled an entire town. Students wrote letters to community members who work in their building and invited them  visit the class and speak about their job in our community. So far the class has welcomed Dr. Redden, Mr. Patel from Pleasant Street Deli, Mr. Schramm from Milton Post Office and Milton Police Officer Maria Poles. They are looking forward to a visit from employees from BID- Milton and Lifetime Fitness.

Elementary Art

Collicot and Cunningham 2n grade students completed their ceramic apples this week. Students learned how to create a pinch pot and then use the “scratch & attach” technique to add a stem, leaf and seeds to their sculpture. After the clay apples dried, they were fired in the kiln and turned into bisqueware. Students then added paint to their apples to make them totally irresistible!

Tucker Raffle

The annual Tucker Raffle Calendar is back and contains 22 chances to win over $4,000 worth of prizes in December!  100% of the proceeds go to the Tucker PTO which provides additional funding for field trip buses, library support, artist in residence, music lesson scholarships, in-school experiences and so much more.  Tickets are $10 each and you can win more than once! The more you enter, the more chances to win! Click here to purchase tickets and support Tucker.

Athletics

Congratulations to Katie O’Toole for signing her Division I Letter of Intent to run Cross Country and Track and Field at the College of Charleston.

Katie  was a part of the relay team with Marilyn Roche, Mia Jilani and Gretel Schewe (and alternate Sarah Grace) at the New Balance Nationals in Philadelphia, finishing 7th. Katie , Christina Sullivan, Norah Affanato and Mia Jilani were the 5th fastest 4×800 relay in Massachusetts for Indoor Track.

This past April, Katie won the Student-Athlete of the Month Award. She won the mile against Braintree and Walpole and then anchored the 4×800 meter to a victory at the Division III State Relay event at Oliver Ames. She also finished 2nd at the BSC Meet in May. Katie has earned All-Scholastics Honors 3 times (Patriot Ledger twice & Boston Herald). She was just named a Bay State Conference All-Star for this past Cross Country Season!

What a great week it has been for the Wildcats! You can read the Ryan Maddens full newsletter here. Thank you to MHS student Riley Donovan and Roy Chambers for our pictures this week.

The Volleyball Team got things started with an epic 3-2 win over Burlington after trailing 9-2 in the final set. They lost to Westboro 3-0 on Tuesday night to end their season.

The Football Team finished the season undefeated (7-0), earning the #1 Seed in the MIAA Division 3 Tournament. They hosted the Minnechaug Falcons, cruising to a 46-21 win. Jack Finnegan was all over the place, catching TDs, scoring 10 points with his kicking, and also intercepting a pass in the second half. They host Marblehead on Friday, 11/11 at 6:00pm. Tickets are available at this link 

The Cross Country Team showed well at the Frank Mooney Invitational on Saturday, 11/5.

• Freshman 3k – Lauren Cooper finished 8th
• Sophomore 5k – Mia Jilani finished 6th, Julie Affanato finished 12th
• Junior 5k – Alec Carew finished 3rd

Field Hockey won their first tournament game in 17 years in dramatic fashion, trailing 2-0 and trying the game with 46 seconds left. Lily Brockmyre scored both goals in regulation and Meghan Mylod scored the winner in OT to win 3-2! They lost 3-0 to Nashoba on Wednesday night, and will be looking to go even further next year.

Boys Soccer earned the #13 seed in the MIAA Division 2 Tournament. They beat East Longmeadow in OT 1-0! After rattling the woodwork in regulation, Christopher Rhoden scored just a minute into the overtime period to send the ‘Cats to the next round. They travel to Westboro tonight for a 6pm game.

The Swim and Dive Team did great at sectionals last weekend! Kaleigh Boynton finished 7th in the 100 breaststroke and dropped 2 seconds in the 200 Individual medley to finish 9th. Jackson Wagner won the 200 freestyle and the 100 butterfly, Malachi Buchanan won the 100 freestyle and placed second in the 50 freestyle, and Colby Moskos won the 200 Individual medley and placed second in the 100 breaststroke. Top three finishers in individual events were Ryan Kelly, Aidan Crummey, and Tucker Korman. The boys won all three relays and won the meet by over 100 points!

Winter Registration remains open and the user fee should be paid prior to the start of tryouts. Information can be found here.

Community News & Events

Please use the links below or visit the MPS Community News & Events page for information on these terrific community events and opportunities!

Mackie’s Barber Shop will hold the 6th Annual Veterans Day Cut-a-Thon on Saturday, November 12th from 8am to 1pm. All details can be found here. 

The Run to Change Lives is on Saturday, November 19 and starts and ends at Cunningham School. Run, Walk or Roll in support of Cardinal Cushing Centers programs that help individuals with intellectual disabilities! Register online here.

The Milton Public Library’s calendar of November programs can be found here. To learn more and to register for programs for kids, teens, and adults, please visit the MPL website.

The Forbes House Museum is offering two virtual events in November. On November 10, Professor Dane Morrison will speak about his book “Eastward of Good Hope: America in a Dangerous World.” Then on November 15, Geralyn Hughes will speak about the ancient Chinese practice of acupuncture. For more information and to register for these Zoom events, visit our website  and click on “Events.”

Brookwood Community Farm continues the season through most of November with the farm stand open Tuesday & Thursdays 2 – 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays 9:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.  Our food distribution to food pantries,  shelters, fridges will continue through Thanksgiving including box donations planned for Dorchester ABCD.  Pre-purchase a box to be picked up at our End of Season Sale on Sunday November 20 from 11 – 2 or just come to shop for bulk produce and other items like honey and maple syrup. Please see our event details here.  If we have anything left to sell, we may open on Nov 22. Want to get more involved? Please see our Volunteer page.

MECA offers “I Can Do It!” Helping Your Child Feel the Power of Independence a virtual educational workshop, for families with children ages 2.5 to 4 years old. The transition back to “normal” routines after COVID has posed many challenges for children and adults alike. This workshop will discuss factors that contribute to children’s ability to cope with change and offer tips for supporting consistent routines and smooth transitions, including separation anxiety.Thursday, December 1, 2022 at 7:00 p.m.  Registration at this link is required to receive the Zoom link and passcode.

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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 Dr. Garth McKinney, (617) 696- 4808/4809.