SPS Weekly Newsletter

This week's header photo features Dr. Baeta with Mrs. Cardoso's third grade class at the South School. Dr. Baeta, along with several other school and town officials and community members, took part in the South School's Leaders are Readers event on Friday.

I'd like to let our community know about the Stoughton Public Schools “Seal of Biliteracy” program. DESE has adopted regulations that describe the criteria that school districts must use to award the State Seal of Biliteracy on the diplomas and transcripts of graduating seniors. While the program is targeted toward juniors and seniors in high school, we want to let all families know about this opportunity. An important goal of the Stoughton Public Schools World Language and English Language Education Departments is to promote proficiency in two or more languages. The purpose of the seal includes:

• Recognizing the value of language diversity

• Providing employers with a method of identifying people with language and biliteracy skills

• Providing universities with a method to recognize and give credit to applicants for the attainment of high level skills in languages

• Preparing students with skills that will benefit them in the labor market and the global society

• Strengthening intergroup communication and honoring the multiple cultures and languages in a community

How does a student earn the Seal of Biliteracy upon graduation? If your child is a native speaker or heritage speaker of a language other than English and has attained a high level of literacy in this native or heritage language, then they can apply to take a language proficiency test. If your child is a native English speaker, then they can earn the seal by starting a second language as early as 7th grade. On April 2 and 3 this year, Stoughton Public Schools will offer our World Language Learners and English Language Learners the opportunity to take the AVANT Stamp language exam. Since we need to order test tickets, students would need to complete an application stating their desire for this assessment. The application will be sent out to current seniors and juniors in early March. This exam would in no way affect your child’s grade. The exams are scored externally by certified raters and are reported separately for each of the four domains of language (listening, reading, speaking, and writing) to your child and your child’s teacher.

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Susanne Dunn at s_dunn@stoughtonschools.org or Dr. Amy Quealy at a_quealy@stoughtonschools.org. We are very excited about this initiative and the many benefits it will provide and the doors it will open for our students.

Joseph F. Baeta, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

Stoughton Public Schools

The Stoughton High students from the Class of 2023 who earned the Seal of Biliteracy last year are pictured above.

Dr. Baeta will be providing a virtual office hour for SPS families on Wednesday, March 6 from noon-1pm. Use this link to join: bit.ly/DrBOfficeHours. Additional virtual office hour dates and times will be shared with families in our "SPS Week Ahead" email on Monday.

Thank you to State Senator Walter Timilty for supporting the Stoughton Public Schools by attending the South Shore Superintendents Roundtable/MASS (Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents) Legislative Breakfast at South Shore Country Club in Hingham on Friday morning. Dr. Baeta is pictured here with Senator Timilty.

There will be a community forum to learn more about the new elementary school building project on Monday, March 4 at 7pm at the Great Hall at Stoughton Town Hall (third floor, 10 Pearl St.). The schematic design as well as the project's cost and tax impact will be discussed.

If you are unable to attend in person, there will also be a virtual viewing option. Click here to register for the virtual option.

In the meantime, to learn more about this project, you can visit the project's website by clicking here.

The photo above is a rendering of what the front entrance of the new elementary school building would look like at night.

The O’Donnell Middle School’s Project 351 ambassador and nominees were honored at Tuesday night’s School Committee meeting.

Each year 8th grade students are nominated for consideration to be the OMS ambassador for Project 351. Project 351 is a statewide youth-led service program that convenes a new class of 8th grade ambassadors, representing the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, who “embrace the responsibility to lead with a determination to make a difference.”

Tana Bernard was chosen as the O'Donnell Middle School's Project 351 Ambassador for this school year! The other nominees from OMS were Brennan Cox, Valentina de Carvalho, Eden Gonsalves, Jackson Gosule, and Victor Pereira.

Tana addressed the School Committee and shared her experiences representing Stoughton and participating in Project 351's "launch day" in Boston over MLK weekend. Tana and the other OMS Project 351 nominees also received certificates from School Committee Chair Katherine Weiss and OMS Principal Katrina Crowley.

The students are pictured above with members of the School Committee, Dr. Baeta, and Mrs. Crowley. Click here for more photos.

Congratulations to the winners of the Stoughton Talent Showcase! The POPS Stoughton Talent Showcase was held at the start of February vacation at the SHS auditorium. It was an entertaining night showing off the amazing talents of our own Stoughton Public Schools students with more than 20 acts split between three divisions - elementary school, middle school, and high school (all of the contestants are pictured above). The judges did not have an easy task deciding on the winners! The winners are listed/pictured below:

Elementary Division

• 1st place - Gianna Graffeo (Wilkins/dancing)
• 2nd place - Anna Pritchard (Wilkins/dancing)
• 3rd place - Alaila Singleton (Hansen/dancing)

Middle School Division

• 1st place - Savannah Isabelle (OMS/dancing)
• 2nd place - Mary Kelly (OMS/singing)
• 3rd place - Raquelle Kramer & Nika Musatov (OMS/dancing)

High School Division

• 1st place - Max Arroyo (SHS/dancing)
• 2nd place - Kayden Stiles (SHS/singing)
• 3rd place - Azalea Torres (SHS/singing)

Students enjoyed taking part in our February Vacation Humanities Camp at the Gibbons School, held Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of the vacation week. This camp provided students with an exciting opportunity to participate in a reading/ELA/social studies project based learning program that enhanced their educational experience. Take a look at the photos below for some examples of what students worked on...

Speaking of the February vacation week camp, did you know registration is open for our April Vacation STEM Camp? This camp is for Stoughton Public Schools students in grades 2-5 and will take place at the O'Donnell Middle School on April 16, 17, and 18 during the vacation week. Click here for more information and to register.

Gymnast Fred Richard, Stoughton High Class of 2022, was on Good Morning America on ABC on Tuesday! Fred, who will be competing in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, won a bronze medal in the men's all-around event at the World Gymnastics Championships back in October and also helped the US men’s gymnastics team win a bronze medal in the team competition. GMA Anchor Robin Roberts interviewed Fred, discussing his preparations for the Olympics, his career in gymnastics, and inspiring more Black youth to go into gymnastics. Fred even performed a trick at the end of the segment! Check it out here:

Join the Stoughton High College & Career Center for a Post-Secondary Planning Knight at SHS on Wednesday, March 6 from 6-8pm. College admissions counselors and financial aid advisors will be in attendance and there will be several different info sessions of interest. All SHS students in grades 9-12 and their families are encouraged to attend. Click here for more information and a detailed list of the info sessions offered.

Stoughton High students will have the opportunity to attend a municipal career fair at SHS on Thursday, March 7 at noon (following the early release). This will be a great opportunity for students to learn more about career opportunities in town government and how they can be involved in town government. See the flyer above for more information.

POPS (Parents of Performing Students) is holding a Duck Drop fundraiser on May 11 to benefit the POPS Scholarship Fund. When the ducks are dropped, the closest duck to the target wins and the person who purchased that duck will win $1,000! As a St. Patrick's Day special, when you buy three ducks, you get one free (through March 17)! More info on the flyer:

Another friendly reminder that with the school year underway, we want to make sure we have accurate and updated emergency contact information and health information for your child. Please log into your PowerSchool Parent Portal account, click on the forms link in the left navigation menu and update any information that is not accurate in the two forms - Current Student Information/Emergency Form and Current Student Health Information. When you have updated the information, please click on submit at the bottom of each of the forms. If your child's information is accurate, please click on submit at the bottom of each form to indicate that you have reviewed the data and it is accurate.

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