SPS Weekly Newsletter

We are excited to share the latest edition of the SPS Weekly Newsletter with our families, students, staff, and community members! A new edition will be sent each week when school is in session, sharing updates, previewing upcoming events, and showcasing the amazing work being done in our schools. This week we feature Dr. Baeta's weekly message, the FY26 budget, the elementary modular classroom plan, Superintendent succession planning, Read Across America Week, and more!

This week's header photo features members of the Stoughton High track team with students in Ms. Nardelli's second grade class at the Wilkins School. As a way to celebrate Read Across America Week, each second grader was paired up with a high school student for book buddies, where they read their favorite books with them and answered questions about the story. After they read with their buddy, they started to work on a collaborative poster to celebrate having a love for reading! More photos from Read Across America Week are further down in this newsletter.

This coming Wednesday, March 12, the Stoughton Public Schools budget will be up for discussion at the Finance Committee meeting. Our budget can be found on the district website (available by clicking on the button below):

In addition to reviewing the cover letter on pages 2-3 of the budget book which explains some of the challenges we face this budget cycle and our priorities as a district, I also encourage you to read the letter I sent to you earlier this week, which further explains some aspects of the proposed budget.

As mentioned in the letter, we will be holding office hours to discuss our proposed FY26 budget. Families, staff, Town Meeting representatives, Finance Committee members, and community members are invited to take part.

In addition to it being budget season as we get ready for the annual Town Meeting in the spring, we are also approaching the stretch run in the lead-up to the vote to fund the new elementary school project on April 8. On Wednesday, I sent families and staff a video that provides more details about the plan for modular classrooms for at least three of our elementary schools if the vote for the new building project is not successful. I encourage you to watch it (video embedded below) if you have not already done so:

At the School Committee meeting this coming Tuesday, March 11, there will be a presentation about the education plan for the new elementary school. We’ll have more on this topic in the next newsletter.

Have a great weekend.

Sincerely,

Joseph F. Baeta, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

Stoughton Public Schools

We are pleased to announce that the School Committee unanimously voted to appoint Juliette Miller the next Superintendent of Schools at its meeting Tuesday night. This appointment is effective July 1, 2026, after current Superintendent of Schools Dr. Joseph Baeta retires on June 30, 2026.

Ms. Miller has been the Principal at Stoughton High since 2012 and has previous experience as a math teacher and math department head at Stoughton High and assistant principal in two other school districts. She is a 1994 graduate of Stoughton High School.

Pending successful contract negotiations, Ms. Miller will serve as Superintendent Elect next school year while continuing to carry out her duties as SHS Principal.

The South School celebrated Read Across America with its annual "Leaders are Readers" event. More than 40 community leaders representing the Stoughton Public Schools, Town of Stoughton, and the community at large visited classrooms K-5 throughout the day on Tuesday.

In celebration of Read Across America, guest readers visited preschool classrooms at the Jones Early Childhood Center throughout the week.

To celebrate Read Across America, members of the Wilkins School Student Council visited classrooms to read to the younger students.

Congratulations to the Stoughton High Theatre Program for advancing to the semi-final round of the Massachusetts Educational Theatre Guild's High School Drama Festival! Stoughton High served as one of the host sites for the preliminary round of the festival, with a total of eight schools, including SHS, performing in the SHS Auditorium last Saturday. Stoughton High's production of Anon(ymous) was one of the plays selected to move on to the next round!

"We had an amazing day with the seven other excellent schools who came to share their performances. As per usual, our Stoughton students were kind, welcoming, and excellent ambassadors for our town. Every single director shared how wonderfully our students hosted [last Saturday]," SHS Theatre Director Kevin Hallock said.

In addition to moving on to the semi-finals, the Stoughton High Theatre Program was also recognized for several individual performances:

• Cameron Harris - Excellence in Acting for his role as Anon
• Luis Daveiga - Excellence in Acting for his role as Pascal
• Julius McCann - Excellence in Acting for his role as Mr. Mackus
• Deborah Lima - Excellence in Assistant Directing
• Nyle Drewes Miner - Excellence in Lighting
• Cameron Schumacher - Excellence in Technical Direction
• Maxine Oggiano & Sivani Buddah - David Dooley Award

Bravo!

Stoughton High is scheduled to compete in the semi-final round on Saturday, March 15 at Brockton High School.

Attention families looking to register for next school year:

The pre-registration portal for preschool, kindergarten, and grades 1-12 for the 2025-2026 school year is open. More information and the link to the pre-registration forms can be found by clicking here.

Please keep in mind:

• Preschool students must be 3 or 4 years of age by August 31, 2025 and be toilet trained. Pre-registration does not guarantee a spot in the preschool program as there are limited spots available.
  
  
• For kindergarten, children must be 5 years old by August 31, 2025. Any student currently attending the Jones Early Childhood Center for preschool that will be entering kindergarten in the fall must still register for kindergarten.
  
  
• Students only need to register for grades 1-12 if they do not currently attend the Stoughton Public Schools.

Stoughton High will be celebrating the accomplishments from the winter season at the SHS Winter Sports Awards Night on Monday, March 10, 2025.

Registration is also open for the upcoming spring sports season for both Stoughton High and the O'Donnell Middle School. See the graphics below for more details. Click here to register.

Save the date for the annual Evening of Jazz on Wednesday, March 19 at 5:30pm at Stoughton High. The event will feature performances by the SHS jazz bands, Oliver Ames jazz band, and O'Donnell Middle School jazz band. Special guest Bijon Watson, a Grammy Award-winning trumpet player, will also perform with SHS students!

Tickets are $12 in advance and $14 at the door and can be purchased by clicking here.

Save the date! Later this month, the O'Donnell Middle School Drama Club presents Alice in Wonderland Jr. at the Stoughton High Auditorium! Performances take place:

• Thursday, March 20 at 7pm

• Friday, March 21 at 7pm

• Saturday, March 22 at 2pm

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors.

Looking forward to another great production from the OMS!

The Jones ECC PTO has rescheduled its meeting with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Baeta and TJ Recupero from the Elementary School Building Committee to Monday, March 24 at 6pm at the Jones Early Childhood Center(137 Walnut St.). This is a great opportunity to find out more about the new elementary school project and redistricting. Families from all schools are welcome!

Attention Parents/Guardians/Community Members: Recruiting any professionals in the trades, healthcare, STEM, business, information technology, law/government, transportation, and marketing (not limited to these) industries willing to discuss their careers and answer questions for the event above please contact SHS College and Career Counselor, Ashley Guba: a_guba@stoughtonschools.org.

The Stoughton School Committee will be meeting on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 7pm in the conference room at the SPS District Office, 31 Pierce St. An agenda for the meeting can be found here.

International Social Emotional Learning Day is coming up on March 10th. It is a way to celebrate how SEL is “Uplifting Hearts, Connecting Minds.” Studies show SEL reduces stress and promotes self-regulation, self-awareness, social awareness, decision-making, and relationship building. Here are some specific examples of how SEL can positively impacts students:

• Higher levels of empathy
• Increased social confidence
• Better attitude about school
• More responsible decisions
• Better recognition of emotions

When your student is able to recognize difficult emotions and would like help finding a mental health care provider for them, use Care Solace, a complimentary and confidential care coordination service provided by Stoughton Public Schools:

• Call 888-515-0595. Multilingual support is available 24/7/365.
• Visit caresolace.com/stoughtonschools and either search on your own OR click “Book Appointment” for assistance by video chat, email, or phone.

Our goal is for our students to feel uplifted hearts and connected minds!

For updates throughout the week, be sure to follow Stoughton Public Schools on social media: