Superintendent's Weekly Updates

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🎉 Scroll to read information and news from the school district, our individual schools, and information from our community partners! 🎉

If you are viewing this as an email and can't see the entire newsletter, click "view entire message" at the bottom or "view in browser" at the top.

• District Updates
• Athletic Department Updates
• Early Learning Center Updates
• Berkowitz School Updates
• Hooks School Updates
• Browne Middle School Updates
• Clark Ave. Middle School Updates
• Chelsea High School Updates
• Chelsea Virtual Learning Academy Updates
• Messages From Our Community Partners

On Saturday, January 9, 2027 at 8:30 PM, Chelsea will take on Revere in the 14th Annual James Lawson Foundation Event.

Chelsea vs. Revere
Date: January 9, 2027
Time: 8:30 PM
Location: TD Garden
Tickets: $30

The team has a goal of selling 400 tickets, and we would love to have the Chelsea community come out and support our student-athletes for this special opportunity.

Purchase tickets using the Chelsea-specific link below:
https://am.ticketmaster.com/tdgarden/buy/lawson2027?promocode=QUpMQ0hFTFNFQTI3

Donating Tickets
If you are unable to attend the game, but would still like to support the team and help them reach their ticket goal, you can purchase a ticket and transfer it to CHS Boys Basketball Head Coach Cesar Castro at clencastro@gmail.com.

Any donated tickets will be given to Chelsea students who would love the opportunity to attend the game, but may not otherwise be able to afford a ticket. With your help, we can make sure more of our students get the chance to experience this special night at TD Garden.

Please feel free to share this post and ticket link with family, friends, coworkers, alumni, and anyone throughout the Chelsea community.

We want to have Chelsea represented in a big way at the Garden. Thank you for your continued support of Chelsea Boys Basketball.

Chelsea vs. Revere — Battle of Broadway at TD Garden. See you at the Garden!

This week leaders in our Multilingual department presented at the ALAS Elevating Excellence Summit on Disrupting Systems of Inequities for all Latino Multilingual Learners in grades 5-12. Their presentation focused on identifying systems that are preventing MLLs to thrive. They used two case studies to highlight those systems. The interactive format allowed participants to reflect on their own districts, but also identify next steps to improve MLLs academic and linguistic outcomes. Participants developed impactful approaches to strengthen collaboration, program design, and leadership systems that advance equitable outcomes for Multilingual learners.

Dr. Abeyta this week participated in a presentation at the Grantmakers for Education Annual Conference titled, “Name, Strength, Story: Funding Systems Where Every Student is Known.” She joined EdRedesign Lab's Executive Director Rob Watson and Senior Director of Education Strategy & Cross-Sector Community Impact Christan Shelton as well as Manjula Karamcheti, Program Officer, Education, Barr Foundation to explore how relationship-based personalized supports and cross-sector collaboration can transform outcomes for young people.

Drawing on EdRedesign’s Success Planning approach and the work underway in Chelsea, the conversation highlighted how schools, communities, and funders can work together to ensure every young person is connected to a caring adult, has a voice in their future, and can access the supports and opportunities they need to succeed.

Dr. Brenda Ortiz McGrath, CPS Director of Social Work, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), and Specialized Student Supports, leads efforts to support student mental health, well-being, and social-emotional learning. She now adds another accomplishment to her work in Chelsea: published and acclaimed author.

Last winter, she released her first bilingual (English/Spanish) children’s book, Mami’s Coquí Song, a heartfelt story inspired by her Puerto Rican heritage that celebrates culture, family, and the power of language and music to connect generations. This fall, she joined 16 other Latina leaders as a co-author of ELLA Poderosa Volume 2, celebrating Latina voices, leadership, resilience, courage, and legacy.

Congratulations, Dr. Ortiz McGrath! Use the buttons below to learn more about her literary work.

The next meeting of the CPS Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) will be on Tuesday, October 27, from 9:00-10:30am at 77 Webster Avenue in Chelsea. All are invited to attend!

Check out our upcoming games.

Soccer: Yahira Jovel, Gabriela Febo Ayala, Angel Umanzor

Cross Country: Xavier Guzman

Unified Basketball: Angel Alarcon

Volleyball: Miley Maradiaga

Here we go again - the Red Devil Turkey Tort is coming the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Team award for the school with the most staff participation is in play again this year with the Hooks returning as defending champs! All proceeds go to the J. Barry Dwyer scholarship fund and CHS athletics. Questions: martineaum@chelseaschools.com

First graders in Mrs. Xavier and Ms. Scotts class at the ELC had a Culture & Heritage Celebration to close out Hispanic Heritage Month. Students worked with their families at home to learn more about their cultures, made posters to bring in to school, dressed in clothing related to their culture, and brought some of their favorite traditional foods to share with classmates. It was so fun to learn about each other’s unique identities!

To celebrate the end of Hispanic Heritage Month, Berkowitz students and Staff were invited to wear clothing representing their country or culture on Friday, October 16. This optional celebration honored the diversity and rich cultural backgrounds of our school community!

Hooks Room 106 is honoring Hispanic Heritage Month by exploring the cultures, traditions and countries of the Hispanic world! Through this exploration, we are celebrating the diversity of our community and building appreciation for the many cultures that make our world so beautiful!

This week in Music class the students are learning how to relate notes to solfege notation! We start with introducing the solfege terms, then adding hand signs, and then playing it on an instrument in the context of a song. We revisited a song we did recently and kids sang “Do-Re-Mi” terms as we played!

Our second graders participated in an exciting Apple Expert Learner Celebration! Students began by learning interesting facts about apples and then had the opportunity to demonstrate their learning through writing. To wrap up our learning experience, we celebrated by baking delicious apple pies!

What a wonderful way to bring learning to life through reading, writing, and hands-on experiences!

Way to go, Second Grade!

Families attended our first Coffee Hour Workshop series this morning focused on learning more about Special Education. Hooks ETL, Ms Menna shared some insightful information with our families as we enjoyed coffee and pastries. It was a lovely way to start our Friday spending time with our families.

During Hispanic Heritage Month, in ADLE class, 5th grade students enthusiastically celebrated by researching and honoring prominent Hispanic leaders who have profoundly shaped cultural history and modern society.

We are proud to share highlights from our Fall Showcase at Browne Middle School! Our students had the opportunity to showcase the work they have been doing in their classes while also celebrating and honoring Hispanic Heritage.

The showcase was a wonderful opportunity to highlight our students’ learning, creativity, cultural pride, and the diversity that makes our school community so special. We are proud of our students and grateful to our teachers and staff for creating meaningful learning experiences that bring academic growth and cultural appreciation together.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this event a success!

Students in 6th Grade Technology Class at CAMS tested materials to determine which would be the most effective insulator from heat. Then they choose which material they would use to build a cooler that would keep medicine the coolest.

We had the 2nd First Friday Event of Pumpkin Paint Night. We had over 20 kids and 10 staff members join us for an incredible evening where students were able to relax, paint, eat and have a great time. We also want to give a HUGE THANKS to teachers that donated pumpkins and made this evening memorable for our students.

Members of Christian Fellowship Club at CHS signed up for a tour of Appleton Farms with the Chelsea Department of Recreation & Cultural Affairs. Students learned all about raising cattle and sustainable food systems. We even got to pick vegetables in the touch and taste garden at the end of the tour.

¡Gracias de corazón!

A special thank you to our wonderful Student Volunteers for sharing their time, kindness & smiles. absolutely priceless!!!

A heartfelt thank you to Julia McDonald & Craig Simons. The students did an amazing job creating the beautiful signs that added such a warm and welcoming touch to the evening to the entire CHS Community, we are so grateful

Gracias de Corazón! - thank you from the bottom of our hearts

We will be celebrating our 2nd annual Chelsea school district girls in aviation day. The school that brings the most girls will get a pizza party. Come and learn about aviation and explore if this is a career path you want in the future. Please sign up as soon as possible.

CVLA students attended a performance of To Kill a Mockingbird at the Huntington Theatre, giving them an opportunity to experience literature brought to life through live theater and connect their learning to themes of justice, empathy, and community.

CVLA also held its first School Site Council meeting! We welcome parents and community members who are interested in getting involved and helping support our school community. Our next meeting will take place on Monday, November 2, 2026, from 2:45–4:00 PM via Zoom. We encourage interested families and community members to join us and share their voices as we continue to strengthen the CVLA community.

Sunday, October 25 | 4-6pm | $5
Come show off your favorite costume! Children receive a wicked trick or treat bag filled with delicious candy! Walk-Ins are welcome, however due to the event’s popularity registration is strongly recommended.

Infants and toddlers attend for free | Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Coordinators: Chelsea Recreation Staff & Volunteers
Location: Williams Building, 180 Walnut Street

Pre-Registration can be done online: https://recreation.chelseama.gov

In-person at the Williams Building, 180 Walnut Street

Email: recreation@chelseama.gov

Phone: 617-466-5233

Tomorrow, the Chelsea Fire Department will have an Open House from 10:00am-2:00pm. Residents are invited for hands-on activities for all ages. Pizza will be served too!

The Open House will be at CFD's Central Fire Station at 307 Chestnut Street.