October 2004    Volume 18    Number 2

Newsletter of the Acton-Boxborough Regional Schools Parent-Teacher-Student Organization
RPTSO Website: http://abrptso.ab.mec.edu

FROM THE CHAIRS:

About 60 parents and guardians joined us for the first Regional PTSO Forum to hear our two principals talk about the start of the school year.  They were followed by a few words from representatives from the Regional School Committee, ABSAF, CAFY, and the Friends of Leary Field.

We began the meeting by welcoming Susan Horn, the new Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction/Community Education.  Susan will be our speaker at the February 8^th  PTSO Forum.  

Craig Hardimon, R.J. Grey Junior High School Principal, opened the presentation by telling us that as of 9/14/04, there were 935 students at RJG, and that the first days of school were “fantastic.”  He highlighted some changes from last year:

·  New first day of school procedures went well, with team notification being posted the Friday before school started using student ID numbers.  Names were not used to protect confidentiality. Students and families greatly appreciated this step to help ease students’ anxiety.

·  The two Assistant Principals and three Counselors are now assigned by team.

·  Team sizes have increased. This year, based on 9/17/04 enrollment, with eight teams at the JH, the 7th grade team size average is 114 students with 23 students per class.  The 8th grade team size average is 118 students with 24 students per class.  100 students per team are considered optimal.

·  The R.J.Grey school web site has been redesigned with a new look and several new links.  Check it out at

http://ab.mec.edu/rjweb/index.html

·  Daily announcements are now being posted on the web site (“What’s New?”) and emailed out to families who have provided their email address to the school.  To join this list, separate from the PTSO list, please send a request to CHardimon@mail.ab.mec.edu.

Questions from the audience included:

 “Why is so much of the first day of school spent doing “teambuilding” activities, and not getting right into the regular class schedule?”

At R.J. Grey, we take a more holistic approach to the social and emotional needs of the kids at this age.  Providing an opportunity for students to get to know their peers as well as their teachers creates a healthy and safe learning environment.  The development of these relationships lays the foundation for enhanced student learning and increased student success.

“What is the policy when a child is meeting a teacher for help before school starts?”

School begins at 7:15.  While students are welcome to arrive before that time, they are expected to wait in the lobby until the beginning of the school day.  A student may, however, meet with a teacher for extra help earlier than 7:15 as long as they have made an appointment.

 “Are bus passes needed to ride a different bus than a child is assigned to?”

Yes.  Parents should write a note requesting permission for their child to ride on a different bus and the note should be brought to the JH office.  Parents should be aware that there may be times when it will not be allowed if a bus is very full.  Questions may be addressed to the Transportation Office.

Principal Steve Donovan continued with news from the High School.  As of 9/14/04 there were 1757 students at ABRHS, an increase of 74 more than last year.  This includes:  465 freshmen, 444 sophomores, 446 juniors, and 402 seniors. 

There are 27 – 35 new staff members this year, depending on whether special education assistants and coaches are included. There are new department leaders in Science – David McClung, and in World Languages – Claire Dix.  Renee Voorhees is the new Librarian.

For the second year in a row, when the seniors were asked “What teacher had the most influence on you?”, 97 different staff members were recognized.  Given that there are about 130 teachers, and a number of them have never taught the seniors who were asked the question, this is pretty impressive.

Everyone is excited to be in such a beautiful building now, and looking forward to the end of construction.  The new library and counseling center spaces are particularly notable. 

Challenges for this year will include:

• Closing out the Building Project in mid-November
• Identifying new traffic patterns and consequent supervisory needs as students start using all new spaces
• Supporting the large classes sizes we have this year (the largest in our history)
• Communicating the need for an operating override for next year’s budget
• Resolving HVAC issues of how to warm and cool the five buildings that now make up ABRHS (our building square footage was increased by 1/3)
• Managing an increasingly complex organization

Questions from the audience included:

“Where are the bike racks?”

They will be moved up to the new front entrance of the building.

“Why are the girls’ sports teams’ locker rooms so cramped?”

This should improve as the new spaces open up.  Currently, 200 boys share two locker rooms for football and soccer.

“Why do so many classes have so many students in them this year?”

Enrollment continues to increase, as expected.  Due to budget constraints, we were not able to add new class sections.  Currently, there are 47 classes at the high school with over 30 students in them.

“Seniors now pay $200 for a parking sticker, an increase of $100 from last year.  Where does this money go?”

After much study by the School Committee, this was part of the increase in fees to cover items that would be cut from the budget. $24,000 of this pays for campus monitors in the parking lots, as well as inside the building.  Significant cuts were made last year.

“Why were students not allowed to skip lunch this year and take classes all eight periods?”

A clear message has been given by the School Committee that we should consider restricting students to taking only seven class periods of instruction.  This is actually not a nutritional issue, but a financial issue.  With some class sizes very large because we cannot afford to offer more sections, this is an attempt to try to reduce some classes. It has been difficult for some students to accept this and make choices.  The administration understands the frustration, and has tried to be as accommodating as possible.

Mary Ann Ashton spoke for the Regional School Committee.  She emphasized the very difficult budget cycle that we are in, and that the Committee will be trying to maintain current class sizes and services as they prepare the proposed school budget for next year. An override vote is expected in Acton and Boxborough next spring. Steve Donovan will speak at the next School Committee Meeting (Thursday, Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the High School Library) and Craig Hardimon will speak at the following one (Thursday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the Junior High Library). These meetings are always open to the public, and usually broadcast live on cable channel 8 in Acton. Parents and guardians were encouraged to attend and share their opinions on priorities as soon as possible in this budget process.  Regional School Committee members can be emailed at AB_School_Committee@mail.ab.mec.edu.

Rebecca Scheier, President of ABSAF, spoke for the Acton Boxborough Student Activities Fund.  This group began in 1981 and has donated over $1,000,000 to our schools.  They have helped to fund extracurricular activities at our junior high and high schools, including the performing arts, athletics, and academic teams. Funds are given to the principals, who decide on their allocation. The annual mailing was done in early September and will be followed by a student phonathon.  Donors of $150 or more are mailed an ABSAF Pass that allows free entrance to most home extracurricular events sponsored by the regional schools as well as two tickets to the school plays/musicals at the JH and HS for ‘04-’05.

Sally Lewis spoke for CAFY, The Community Alliance for Youth.  This group began several years ago in response to concerning results of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.  Results of the latest survey of 6th, 8th, and 9th – 12th graders done last spring will be out in January.  CAFY sponsors some excellent informational meetings, parent conversation groups, and more.  See their web site at http://www.cafy.net.

Matt Lundberg represented The Friends of Leary Field.  This group formed eight months ago to investigate the feasibility of using artificial turf to expand and enhance the use of the football field between our two schools, Leary Field.  This is one of the most used fields in the community and turf could increase the number of playing days from the current 60 to 250 or more per year, for many different activities.  A combination public/private partnership is being formed to cover the proposed $750,000 cost, and it is hoped that it will be on the agenda at the April Town Meeting in Acton.  For more information, see http://www.learyfield.org/.

Thank you to everyone who attended.  Our next Forum is on Tuesday, October 12 with Susan Serino, Chairperson of Counseling and Psychological Services, as our speaker.

- Jan and Beth

New Families Welcome Group

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·   Back-to-School Night

I hope that most of you will be able to join us for Back-to-School Night on Wednesday, October 20. We are excited about showing off our new areas. The welcoming session with Superintendent Bill Ryan and me will take place in the auditorium at 7:00. Parents attending this session should arrive in the building between 6:45 and 6:50 to pick up their students’ schedules and to be seated. Our new Student Center East will accommodate some overflow from the auditorium. Parents not planning to attend the opening session should arrive in the building by about 7:15. Parents will follow their child’s schedule for a simulated school day beginning at 7:35.

Handouts containing a school map and a timetable for the evening will be distributed along with student schedules at four locations as follows:

·    Grade 9 schedules will be in the south hallway outside the Counseling Center.

·    Grade 10 schedules will be in Student Center West.

·    Grade 11 schedules will be in the upper hallway in the west wing (inside the door next to the pool/gym entrance) at the top of the circular staircase.

·    Grade 12 schedules will be in the first floor hallway of the west wing at the bottom of the circular staircase.

Alternatively, parents can get a copy of their child’s schedule from their son or daughter. We will be following Day E of the six-day cycle (days are now designated A through F rather than 1 through 6). If you bring your own schedule, be sure you have room numbers and an indication of which wing each classroom is in.

·   School store

 ·   Student Handbook

 ·   Early release dates

 ·   AB.mec.edu/abrhs

 ·   Safety Committee

 ·  MCAS testing

 ·  Parking at A-B

- Steve Donovan

ABSAF Passes Available Now

Acton-Boxborough Student Activities Fund (ABSAF) Passes, which cover admission to sports and theater events at the regional schools, are now available for the 2004–2005 season.

Order ABSAF Passes now to take advantage of all activities from the beginning of the school year. Passes admit immediate family members to most extracurricular events sponsored by the Acton-Boxborough regional schools during the academic year.  These activities include all regular season sporting events as well as two tickets to the school plays/musicals at the junior high and the high school.  A family pass is available for a contribution of $150 or more to ABSAF.

ABSAF was created in 1981 to help keep extracurricular programs at the regional schools alive and healthy. Because funding from taxes, gate receipts, and activity fees is not sufficient to cover extracurricular costs, many programs would have been cut or eliminated without outside help.

Thanks to the generous support of the community, the schools have been able to create and maintain a high-quality, diverse, and vibrant extracurricular program that helps students to gain self-esteem and develop leadership and teamwork skills from which the entire community benefits.

To order ABSAF Passes and support extracurricular life at our regional schools, contributions can be sent to ABSAF, P.O. Box 662, Acton, MA 01720.  Passes will also be available at the first home football and soccer games.

For more information, contact Rebecca Scheier at 978-263-7047 or absafinfo@yahoo.com. Please help to keep the extracurricular activities at the regional schools strong and vibrant.

A-B Special Education Parent Advisory Council (ABSPEDPAC)

The Mission of the ABSPEDPAC is to work toward understanding, respect, support, and appropriate education for all children with special needs in our community.

The group aims to promote and support an innovative educational environment where children with disabilities have equal access to educational opportunities, and all children are encouraged to reach their full potential.  A network for parents/guardians of children with disabilities has been established to provide a forum to share information.

For more information, please contact Stephen Lowe at abspedpac@paragon-c.com.

2004 – 2005 ABRHS Musical

The ABRHS musical this year is ANYTHING GOES, a musical comedy set in the 1930’s. It will be directed by Linda Potter, with musical direction by Jeanie Furlan, and choreography by Melinda Samperi.  The schedule for the musical is earlier this year, with performances scheduled for the first two weekends in February. 

All ABRHS students are invited to audition.  Auditions will be held the week of October 10. Interested students should sign up for auditions during the week of October 4 at AB-Express.  There will also be many opportunities for students to participate offstage. Interested students can also sign up at AB-Express for these crews.

Parents and other adults who are willing to help are needed.  Set building, sewing, writing articles, preparing food, and selling tickets are only a few of the tasks requiring adult help.  There will be a meeting on Sunday, October 24 at 7:00 p.m. in the high school cafeteria for adults and students who are interested in helping with any of the various crews and committees. More information about the musical can be found on the web site (http://www.abmusical.com).

Prudential Spirit of Community Award

Students involved in community service are invited to submit an application for the Prudential Spirit of Community Award. This award will be given to two Acton-Boxborough students who in the past year participated in significant self-initiated community volunteer work. A-B’s honorees will be eligible to compete for the Massachusetts Youth Volunteer of the Year Award. More information and applications are available from Judi Bowes in the Counseling Center. Information is also available on the Prudential web site at http://www.prudential.com/community/spirit/awards. Applications must be picked up by October 15 and submitted by October 28.

Help Students with Career Exploration

Would you like to help students learn about careers and preparation for work? There are many ways parents can help the school with its career exploration program. Parents can volunteer to host job shadowing students for one-day visits at their place of work, speak to students as part of our career speaker program, offer internship or apprenticeship programs, or help in other ways. We are particularly looking for parents with biology-related careers or connections in this field. Parents who are interested can call or email Kay Steeves 

(978-264-4700, ext. 3444, ksteeves@mail.ab.mec.edu) or Bruce Oetinger (ext. 3497, boetinger@mail.ab.mec.edu) or talk to one of them at Back-to-School Night.

Academic Support Center

The Academic Support Center, in Rm. 242S, offers assistance with homework, development of study and organizational skills, test-taking strategies and more. It is a quiet environment staffed by adults and approximately 60 Peer Tutors. The Peer Tutors have been trained to work with their peers in a variety of subjects and are eager to help. Please encourage your son or daughter to avail themselves of this valuable resource. Contact Jacalyn Starr  for more information.

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The opening days of school at RJG went wonderfully.  The 7th graders came in on September 8th and received a very warm welcome from the staff and hopefully enjoyed their cook out.  It was nice to see how quickly their initial looks of anxiety were replaced by looks of excitement.  I am always impressed by the way returning 8th graders mature over the summer and this year's group was no exception.  They, too, received a warm reception from their teachers on their first day, September 9^th, and are ready to take on their new role as leaders of the school.

When you get a chance, check out the new look of our website.  The goal of the makeover was to emphasize the importance of our students and to provide easier access to information.  Our daily announcements are now posted on the web page as well as last minute updates, such as athletic and activities cancellations.  Stay tuned! 

This year I will also be posting a monthly newsletter called, Middle Years, on the RJG web site.  It is a periodical written by Resources for Educators (Aspen Publishers), specifically for parents of middle level children.  Here are two excerpts:

“Managing Time

Parents know that busy schedules require them to manage time wisely. But kids need to learn how to schedule their time. You can help. How? By setting limits on things like extracurricular activities, electronics (computer, video games, TV), and late hours.

Be specific.

Example: “We’re setting a limit of one hour of TV on school nights and two hours on weekend evenings.”

Provide explanations.

Example: “Lots of activities make you too tired to study. Why don’t you choose one club to join this year?”

Enforce limits.

Example:” Be home by eight o’clock, or you can’t go out tomorrow evening.”

Parent to Parent: The power of focus

My son and I are alike in many ways. So, when John started having trouble staying focused on his homework, I explained to him how I concentrate

when I’m at work. I start by sitting quietly at my desk and thinking about what I need to do. Sometimes I write down my priorities; other times I make a mental note. Either way, I try to concentrate on what I have to accomplish that day. I also try to estimate how much time each task will take so I can set realistic goals. If I get bored, I switch to a different task for a while. Mixing things up helps keep me interested. John said he’d give my ideas a try. We both had a good laugh when we decided that our favorite time of the day is lunchtime—because that’s when we can daydream!”

                                                -Middle Years

As the saying goes, “you can never remind people enough,” so forgive me for reminding everyone again about the new attendance procedure at RJG. If your child will be absent from or late to school, please call the absence line at (978) 264-4700 (ex: 3333) by 7:30 a.m. and state:

1.         Your child’s name (please spell the name)

2.         Your child’s grade and team, and

3.         Whether your child is absent or will be tardy

Students who are marked absent in homeroom but for whom we did not receive a call will be marked as “unexcused.”  An unexcused absence will generate a phone call home.  Please assist us in this new process and remember to call the school if your child will be absent or tardy.  Refrigerator magnets with this phone number were recently sent home with all students.  Remember that we still need your child to bring in a note for our records when he/she returns.

Back To School Night was held on September 30^th.  Hopefully, you had the opportunity to meet with your child’s teachers and learn more about the programs offered at RJG.  If, at any time during the year, you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.  Teachers can be reached easily through email or voicemail.  The format for our email is: first initial, last name, followed by our server address (mail.ab.mec.edu).  For example, my address is chardimon@mail.ab.mec.edu.  Teachers can be reached through voicemail by calling our main number (978) 264-4700 and asking for the teacher’s voice mail. 

Again, welcome to the 2004-05 school year at RJG.  It’s going to be a fantastic year!

-Craig Hardimon

High School Dates of Interest

October

8                      Interim reports for Term 1 issued

9                      SAT I & II

11                    Columbus Day (no school)

16                    PSAT/NMSQT

20                    Back-to-School Night, 7:00 p.m.

22                    Fall Harvest Dance at A-B, sponsored

                        by senior class

25                    School Council meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Junior High School Dates of Interest

October

2                      RJG Activity Night 7-9:30pm

6                      Student Council Meeting, 7:36 a.m.

8                      Grade 7 Social, 2:30–4:30 p.m.

11                    Columbus Day (no school)

12                    School Council Meeting, 7:00–8:30 p.m.

14                    Mid-Term Reports mailed

22                    Grade 8 Dance, 6:30–8:30 p.m.

29                    Halloween Dress-Up Day

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The October School Committee meeting will be Thursday, October 7 at 7:30 p.m.. Steve Donovan, the High School Principal, will be giving his annual report on the High School. The meeting will take place at the High School Library. In addition to Mr. Donovan's report, we will continue working on the '06 budget for the next school year.  Our meeting on Thursday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the Junior High Library, will include a report on the Junior High by Principal Craig Hardimon. 

At the September meeting we spent a good deal of time discussing priorities for the budget. The School Committee asked Superintendent Bill Ryan to begin creating a budget that would provide level services only, due to costs. We would like to be able to maintain our current class sizes, which would require adding some staff due to increasing student enrollment. This budget would be a starting point for the School Committee and we will continue work on the budget for the next several months.

Input from citizens is important to the School Committee as priorities are discussed and difficult financial decisions are made for next year.  It is expected that an override vote next Spring will be needed to close the gap between the expenses and revenue shortfall.  I urge you to attend our meetings and offer opinions on what is important to you and your family. You may also email the Committee with your ideas and concerns.

Members of the Committee are: Marie Altieri, Mary Ann Ashton, Jo-Ann Berry, Michael Coppolino, Terry Lindgren, Liz Markiewicz, Becky Neville, Bruce Sabot, and Jeff Vandegrift. All  nine of us can be reached by using abrsc@acton-ma.gov.
 - Becky Neville

ABRSC Chair

978-263-3285

neville317@juno.com

PTSO CALENDAR

October 7                    7:30 p.m.                      Regional School Committee Meeting

                                                                        Steve Donovan is presenting

                                                                        ABRHS Library

October 12                  12:00 p.m.                    PTSO Forum with

                                                                        Susan Serino, Chairperson of Counseling and
                                                                        Psychological Services, Acton Memorial Library

October 20                  7:00 p.m.                      Back-to-School Night, ABRHS

October 28                  7:30 p.m.                      Regional School Committee Meeting

                                                                        Craig Hardimon is presenting

                                                                        R.J. Grey JHS Library

November 4                 9:30 a.m.                      PTSO Forum

January 11                    12 Noon                      PTSO Forum – Superintendent Bill Ryan

February 8                   12 Noon                      PTSO Forum – Asst Superintendent Susan Horn

THE DEADLINE FOR ARTICLE SUBMISSION FOR THE NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER IS OCTOBER 15th