Tiger Times Superintendent's Update

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Technology Department Spring Newsletter

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DHS Counseling Department Spring Newsletter

We’re thrilled to announce that Douglas Public School District is now on Facebook and Instagram!

FACEBOOK LINK HERE!

INSTAGRAM LINK HERE!

DHS Facebook Link

DMS Facebook Link

DES Facebook Link

DPS Facebook Link

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Follow us!👍
Like our pages!👍
Stay informed!👍
Stay connected!👍

Don’t miss out on all things Douglas—follow us today and be part of our growing online community.

Let’s celebrate the Douglas Tiger spirit together!

As we pause this Memorial Day to honor and remember the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country, we are reminded of the courage, dedication, and selflessness of those who gave their lives to protect the freedoms we enjoy each day. Memorial Day serves as an important opportunity for reflection, gratitude, and remembrance of our nation’s fallen heroes and the families who continue to carry their legacy forward.

As the holiday weekend concludes, Douglas High School will begin Graduation Week — a time filled with celebration, reflection, and recognition of the accomplishments of the Class of 2026. Throughout the week, our seniors will participate in several special traditions and events leading up to Graduation on Friday evening at 5:30 p.m..

We are incredibly proud of our graduating seniors and all they have accomplished during their time in the Douglas Public Schools. We look forward to celebrating this important milestone with our students, families, staff, and community.

Congratulations to the Douglas High School Class of 2026!

The Approved 2026-2027 School Year Calendar is also posted on the main District webpage.

Douglas Public Schools is now accepting School Choice applications for the 2026–2027 school year. As we continue to strengthen and grow our programs, we welcome families from surrounding communities to join a district focused on student success, opportunity, and a strong sense of community.

School Choice plays an important role in expanding opportunities for students while supporting the continued strength of our schools.

2026-2027 School Choice Application

This weekend will be designated as our LAST recharge weekend of the year:

May 22-25

The following guidelines will be put in place to ensure that everyone has the ability to recharge:

1. I will ask staff not to check emails, correct exams, or grade projects during these weekends. I want them to be able to step away for a weekend and recharge.

2. Athletics and Activities – There will be NO practices or activities that relate specifically to the Douglas Public Schools during these weekends with the exception of a practice on Sunday if there is a game on Monday. These practices cannot start before 3pm on Sunday.

3. Teachers will follow the guidelines set below:

1. Ensure that long-term assignments are not due on the Monday or Tuesday following the Recharge Weekend.

2. Educators will NOT increase student workload leading up to the Recharge Weekend.

3. Teachers will adequately plan their lessons and assessments around these weekends.

4. Educators will not assign any schoolwork over the weekend.

5. Educators will not schedule exams or quizzes on the Monday following the Recharge Weekend.

6. Advanced placement classes may still assign work.

Students should also be able to step away for the weekend and be able to relax physically and mentally.

Should there be a major issue that you need to connect with us on, please contact your building principals and they will work with you to address any issues. We are all cognizant of the stresses that are on all of us this year and hope these monthly breaks can offer some relief.

Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth (MPY) is continuing to sponsor a free Parenting Solutions Library. MPY is offering this valuable resource in partnership with Peace At Home Parenting Solutions, a non-profit organization located in Mansfield, Connecticut. Through this partnership, MPY is providing proven resources to help students’ families thrive.

Peace At Home Parenting Solutions specializes in empowering parents with evidence-based strategies to foster nurturing connections that safeguard their children's mental well-being. The Parenting Solutions Library is easily accessed using the link on MPY’s home page. No log in or passcode is needed.

Some Workshop Offered:

*Protect Your Child's Mental Health

*School Success

*Teen's-How to Support, Inspire, and Connect

Dear Douglas Families,

We have partnered with Care Solace to better connect students, staff and their families to mental health and substance use treatment options in our community. As our mental health partner, you are essential to this effort.

Care Solace provides a personalized pathway to community-based services regardless of need or insurance coverage. Our school community can contact their multilingual Care Companion™ team at any time 24/7/365 to quickly find options in the community matched to their needs.

As Care Solace helps connect students, staff, and their families to care, you may receive calls from them. In order to ensure your information is as up-to-date as possible with practice information and communication preferences, become a Care Solace Verified Provider. This way, you can maintain your profile information and update it as needed. Care Solace will never charge you for your provider profile or any referrals. Their goal is to positively impact more lives by helping individuals connect with providers like you.

Please visit caresolace.org/provider-faq or reach out to Care Solace at providers@caresolace.org with any questions about their services and how they work with local providers. We encourage you to share this information with other mental health and substance use treatment providers to expand support options available to our community.

LAST CALL!

The Douglas Middle School would like to inform families of an important update regarding student Chromebooks.

Thank you for your continued support as we work to improve and modernize our student technology programs.

Last Friday evening, the Douglas High School Drama Club delivered a phenomenal performance of Twelfth Night! Congratulations to Jacob and the entire cast and crew for an outstanding production filled with talent, dedication, and hard work.

A special congratulations and thank you to Angela Woodford for her guidance and leadership in helping these incredible students bring the show to life. The entire Drama Club should be very proud of all they accomplished — bravo on a wonderful performance!

Students in Grades 9, 10, and 11 will be taking their school-issued Chromebooks and chargers home for the summer. The high school will NOT be collecting devices at the end of the school year this year.

• Take home both their Chromebook and charger
• Keep the device in a safe place over the summer
• Bring the Chromebook and charger back on the first day of school fully charged and ready to go

Please check out Tigers Path, a guide for middle school students and their families to explore the many opportunities at Douglas High School.

Inside, you’ll find information about academic courses, sports teams, and extracurricular activities that help students learn, grow, and discover their passions.

This guide is designed to support your transition to high school and to help you plan a path that fits your interests, goals, and talents.

It can be a major decision whether your student is deciding to attend a vocational school or traditional high school after Middle School. For students trying to decide between these two educational paths, the choice often comes down to your skills, interests, and what you want to do after graduating. Please take a look at what the Douglas High School has to offer.

High schools play a crucial role in shaping the academic and personal development of students. They provide a broad academic foundation, a college preparatory focus, and a range of extracurricular activities to enhance students’ overall growth.

Douglas High School offers advanced placement (AP) courses and college-level classes, allowing motivated students to earn college credits while still in high school. Additionally, Douglas High School provides guidance and support in the college application process, helping students navigate through the complexities of college admissions.

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The Douglas SEPAC strives to promote communication and programs within the community to encourage greater understanding, acceptance, and inclusion of children with disabilities and to encourage an atmosphere of mutual respect among all students, families, school staff, and the community at large.

What is a SEPAC?

A SEPAC is a Special Education Advisory Council. Every public school district in Massachusetts is required to establish a SEPAC. Massachusetts state law assigns both an advisory and a participatory function to SEPACs and membership is offered to all parents/guardians of children with disabilities and other interested parties. The foundational role of a SEPAC is to work in partnership with the school on matters of special education.

What Do We Do?

• Collaborate with administrators and the school committee on special education programming and policies within the Douglas Public Schools district.
• Provide resources, workshops, and information on events related to special education and other relevant topics.
• Promote a network for parents of children with disabilities and provide a forum to share information and discuss matters of relative interest and concern regarding our children.
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Follow Us

Interested in learning more about the Douglas SEPAC? Visit us on Facebook to view upcoming events and meetings and to find out what's happening.

Contact Us

Contact the Douglas SEPAC by sending an email message to douglassepac@gmail.com

Douglas Public Schools has Custodial and Cafeteria Worker job opportunities available (Regular positions and Substitute positions). Please apply on SchoolSpring.com.

If you are interested in applying as a substitute cafeteria worker please email the Food Service Director- Alison O'Rourke, aorourke@douglasps.net for more information!

We are currently recruiting for open positions and would love to hear from you. Apply online at: SchoolSpring.com. Your application will require a CORI check, which can be done through DPS in our Central Office and a SAFIS fingerprint background check, which will need to be completed at one of many local Indentogo facilities.

The Douglas Public Schools welcomes your interest as a substitute teacher and/or paraprofessional. Our substitute teachers and paraprofessionals play an important role in the day-to-day operation of our school system we look forward to having you become an important part of our students’ learning experience.

We need Substitute School Nurses! Join the DPS Health and Human Services Team as a Substitute School Nurse to support the health and well-being of the Douglas Public School students. Substitute School Nurses work as needed, with a minimum commitment.

Apply to be a School Nurse

Mental health and substance use crisis services in Massachusetts are now covered for everyone, with or without insurance!

If you're in crisis and want immediate support, call or visit a Community Behavioral Health Center and get the care you need — no insurance required.

Visit mass.gov/CBHCs to learn more.

You know mental health matters. But you may not know where to go for help. Now, you have options:

- Call or text 833-773-2445 and work with a trained clinician or peer coach to get connected directly to the right services for you.

- Walk into a Community Behavioral Health Center (CBHC) and access immediate mental health crisis support, no insurance needed.

Learn more at mass.gov/BHroadmap.

To view the document and updates from the Douglas School Committee visit: https://www.douglasps.net/page/school-committee

Hello Families and Caregivers,

Attached are some free resources for families and caregivers as you partner with us during your student's educational journey through the Douglas Public Schools. We hope you find these resources helpful and useful.

Sesame Workshop

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street, provides families with trusted, research-based resources to help support children’s learning and well-being at home. Their videos, games, and activities are designed to help parents and caregivers build early reading and math skills, encourage kindness and emotional growth, and support healthy routines. Sesame Workshop also offers guidance on talking with children about big feelings and real-life challenges, helping families feel confident supporting their children’s development every day.

https://sesameworkshop.org/

National Center for Families Learning (NCFL)

The National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting families as their child’s first and most important teachers. NCFL provides programs and resources that help parents and caregivers support learning at home, build children’s reading and math skills, and strengthen family engagement in education. Their work focuses on helping families learn together, creating positive learning routines, and supporting children’s success both in school and in everyday life.

https://familieslearning.org/webinars/

Learning opportunities for family support professionals

The Massachusetts Home Visiting Initiative has collected this selection of virtual courses, trainings and webinar series for family support professionals, providing opportunities to refresh their skills and broaden their knowledge.

Learning opportunities

• Children's Safety Network: Webinar archives. You may view either the PowerPoint presentations as PDFs or you may watch the full recording by clicking "audio presentation."

• Children’s Trust: Online Resources For Family Support Professionals

• ECLKC: Head Start Heals Campaign focuses on healing and addresses topics such as resilience, recovery, how to incorporate mental health consultation effectively, how to address challenging behaviors, and ways to have difficult conversations with families.

• HRSA: The MCH Navigator is a centralized portal for pursuing continuous learning in maternal and child health (MCH) and is designed to help emerging and established MCH professionals and students map professional growth pathways.

• NAEYC: Virtual Institute, Beginning June 1. Free. Six weeks of newly recorded presentations to support your professional development. The Virtual Institute is open to anyone who is interested in some of the latest research and best practices in early childhood education.

• National Child Traumatic Stress Network: Strengthening family resilience and coping with traumatic stress webinars: Family Resilience, Family Resilience and Traumatic Stress: A Guide for Mental Health Providers, Child Trauma, Race, and Urban Identity, Complex Trauma: In Urban African American Children, Youth, and Families, Building Resiliency: Supporting Youth Affected by Trauma and Community Violence

• New England Public Health Training Center, a wide range of training programs and services that strengthen the public health workforce. New Offerings: Systems Thinking, Story Telling for Public Health, and Holding Effective Meetings.

• SAMHSA: Center of Excellence for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, podcasts and webinars

• Start Early, trainings designed specifically with the needs of home visitors and supervisors in mind. Developed by home visitors for home visitors. Applicable across all national models.

• The Institute for Family Support Professionals: Rapid Response Virtual Home Visiting, multiple recorded webinars, including: Home Visiting Models and COVID 19 Response, Virtual Visit Readiness, Engaging Families in Virtual Visits: A Protective Factors' Approach, Screening in Virtual Visits, Using ASQ-3 in a Virtual Environment

• U of CA, Berkley: The Science of Happiness. The first MOOC to teach positive psychology. Learn science-based principles and practices for a happy, meaningful life.

Youth Outreach Program

The mission of the Youth Outreach Program is to encourage children from all socio-economic backgrounds to play together, develop friendships and to develop a sense of fair play, team spirit, and cooperation in a safe and supervised environment. The vision of the Youth Outreach Program is to provide these fundamental opportunities to disadvantaged youth in the Blackstone Valley and Southern Worcester County, ultimately strengthening communities, one individual and one family at a time, by focusing on the five core values that are education, personal well-being, meaningful relationships, creativity, and recreation.

https://www.whitincommunitycenter.com/our-community/youth-outreach/

Southern Worcester County Family Guide Community Resources for Parents, Caregivers, and Families

Southern Worcester County Family Guide

Keep Connected

Keep Connected focuses on strengthening families through stronger relationships. These free downloads for families are designed to encourage conversation and time together so that families can more intentional in their relationships as kids grow up.

https://keepconnected.searchinstitute.org/free-downloads/

The Incredible Years

The Incredible Years offers a variety of evidence-based early intervention programs for parents, teachers, early childhood educators, counselors, and other professionals who work with children ages 0-12. Backed by over 40 years of research and facilitated by experienced group leaders in schools and mental health centers worldwide, our curriculum provides professionals and families with the skills they need to promote social-emotional learning (SEL), academic skills, and positive behavioral outcomes of children across various cultures and socioeconomic groups.

https://www.incredibleyears.com/

Big Future

Free college search and planning tool from the College Board. Helps families explore colleges, understand admissions, estimate costs, and compare schools.

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/

College Admissions for Parents

Free checklists, planning templates, interview prep, extracurricular trackers, and more tools for organizing the college search and application process.

https://www.collegeadmissionsforparents.com/

Early College Planning Night. March 25 at the high school.

AI for Beginners – HP LIFE

A free online course that covers core AI concepts and how AI is changing work and daily life. This is geared toward complete beginners

https://www.life-global.org/course/391-ai-for-beginners?utm_source

AI Literacy for Parents (Dedicated Resource)

A site focused on helping parents understand how AI impacts learning, development, risks, and ethical considerations when kids use these tools

https://ailiteracyforparents.com/?utm_source

The Blue Print for Student Success is our version of a Strategic Plan. This is a living and breathing document that guides our decision making and is our plan to move the district forward and ensure that our students succeed at a high level. Click here to view the 25-26 Blue Print.

Website: www.douglasps.net

Address: 21 Davis St. Douglas, MA 01516

Phone Number: 508.476.7901