SPS Weekly Newsletter

This week's featured photo: The Stoughton High Unified Basketball team had its first home game of the season on Monday, taking on Canton. Unified sports give students of all abilities the chance to take part in the high school athletics experience. The team is pictured here after the game with the SHS cheerleaders, who provided great support. SHS Unified Basketball's next home game is this coming Monday, October 27 at 3:45pm against Franklin in the SHS gymnasium.

There is a Special Town Meeting starting this Monday, October 27, and two of the articles relate to the new elementary school building project, and will have a positive impact on the project if approved.

The new elementary school building will not be located on the current South School property. It will be located nearby on property located off Park St. In the original plans, this property would be accessed via a small amount of frontage on Park St. This would require building a bridge over wetlands. And, emergency access to the property would be via Haynes Rd. We would also need to build a bridge over wetlands for this access road.

The Special Town Meeting articles will allow us to acquire privately owned land that will allow for better access to the new school’s property than had originally been planned. If you are driving south on Route 27 toward Brockton, roughly by the Precision Door & Window sign is a paper street known as Fano Dr. Article #13 at the Special Town Meeting, allows the Town to acquire Fano Dr. and three adjacent lots of land, which are privately owned by DAD, LLC. Article #14 allows for the Town to dispose of a nearby lot of land to DAD, LLC. (See page 5 in this slideshow presentation for more details.)

Having access to Fano Drive has many benefits, including an improved traffic pattern for entering and exiting the school property off Park St. Emergency access would also be improved. Fano Dr. spans from Park St. to Sumner St. While it is not currently planned to have Fano Dr. connect from Park St. to Sumner St. as a public way, emergency vehicles will be able to access the property from the Sumner St. end of Fano Dr., eliminating the need to use Haynes Rd. as an emergency access point. The Fano Dr. plan also eliminates the need for bridges to access the property, reducing costs for site development. Additional benefits include reduced wetland disturbance, reduced site clearing, improved storm water design, and improved utility routing to the site.

It is important to note that there is no cost for the Town to acquire the land. Additionally, there is no change to any of the plans for the new elementary school building itself - the only thing that would change is the way to access the property.

The Select Board has already approved this proposed acquisition and disposition of land, pending Town Meeting approval. Simply put, this is a win and makes a great project for the Town even better.

Last week the project team held a brief forum (less than 30 minutes) to go over the Fano Dr. acquisition in more detail. I encourage you to watch this to learn more about this topic. A video recording of the forum is embedded below.

Have a great weekend.

Sincerely,

Joseph F. Baeta, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

Stoughton Public Schools

This past week, October 20-24, was Massachusetts STEM Week. STEM Week is an annual statewide effort to boost the interest, awareness, and ability for all learners to envision themselves in STEM education and employment opportunities. The theme for STEM Week this year is “STEM starts now” – at any age you can learn about STEM, from our youngest learners to adult learners. Throughout the week on our Facebook and Instagram accounts, we highlighted examples of the great work being done in our classrooms throughout the Stoughton Public Schools focusing on areas of science, technology, engineering, and math.

Congratulations to the members of this year's Homecoming Court at Stoughton High - Victor Thomas, Mickaelle Pierre, Julius McCann, Anaira Johnson, Max Pokraka, Casey Groppi, Andrew Causey, Jennifer Verdieu, Anthony Alessi, and Keala Harris! This group of 10 seniors from the SHS Class of 2026 were recognized for their hard work, dedication, and contribution to the greater Stoughton High School community during a halftime ceremony at the SHS football game last Friday night. Click here to see more pictures.

The Stoughton Public Schools and the Stoughton Historical Society are pleased to announce that William J. Coulter, Class of 1969, and Frederick Richard, Class of 2022, will be inducted into the Stoughton High School Hall of Fame for Extraordinary Achievement. The induction ceremony will be held on Thursday, October 30, 2025 at 9am in the Stoughton High School Auditorium. The public is welcome to attend.

The Hall of Fame is a partnership between the Stoughton Public Schools and the Stoughton Historical Society. It was established in 2004 through the efforts of Joanne McEvoy Blomstrom to honor Stoughton High School graduates who have achieved notable success, whether through an extraordinary accomplishment, a career of exceptional achievement, or a significant contribution to society, to inspire current students with the extraordinary achievements of the graduates who came before them.

The Marching Black Knights have two competitions this coming weekend:

• Saturday, October 25 - USBands competition at Dartmouth High School (SHS is scheduled to perform at 7:25pm)
  
  
• Sunday, October 26 - MICCA Finals at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Quincy (SHS is scheduled to perform at 4:15pm)
  
  

And...save the date: The USBands Massachusetts & Rhode Island State Championship is once again being held at Stoughton High School! The competition takes place Saturday, November 1. The Stoughton High Marching Black Knights, as well as 20+ marching bands from MA and RI will perform. Click here for more information.

Winter sports registration is now open for both Stoughton High School and O'Donnell Middle School teams. Click here to register and for more information.

For more updates about the Black Knights this fall season, follow the Stoughton High School Athletics Facebook page.

The O'Donnell Middle School's annual Veterans Day Assembly is one of the most anticipated events of the school year. 8th grade students interview local veterans and then honor them by presenting their service story with the 8th grade class at the assembly. This year's assembly takes place Thursday, November 6, 2025 (brunch at 8am, followed by the assembly at 9:30am). The OMS is currently looking for local veterans to participate in this tradition. If you are interested in participating, please contact Caitlin Valair, OMS Social Studies Teacher, by November 1 at c_valair@stoughtonschools.org or 781-344-7002.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Office of Public School Monitoring (PSM) will conduct an Integrated Monitoring Review of The Stoughton Public Schools during the week of November 3rd, 2025. Each school district, charter school, vocational school, and virtual school undergoes an Integrated Monitoring Review every three years.

The Stoughton Public Schools will be undergoing a Group B monitoring review that addresses special education teacher and related service personnel licensure and professional development; parent, student, and community engagement, including compliance with Child Find requirements; facilities and classroom observations; implementation and oversight of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs); time and learning; and equal access.

Edward Clarke, Director of Special Education, will host an orientation about the review process in collaboration with the Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) on Tuesday, October 28th at Stoughton High School, Room A216 at 7 pm.

Click on the button below for more information about the Integrated Monitoring Review process:

With the school year underway, we want to make sure that the info we have on file for your student is accurate. Having accurate information on file ensures you can receive district/school updates, important alerts, and other public information, and makes it easier for your school to contact you in the case of an emergency.

There are two documents that contain contact/health information that we ask for you to review. These documents can be found in the Forms section of the PowerSchool Parent Portal:

• 2025.2026 Current Student Health Information

• 2025.2026 Student Information/Emergency Form
  
  

Further instructions for accessing and filling out these forms can be found by clicking here.

If you have not already opted in to receive text messages from the District and your school, text "YES" to 79041 at any time. By doing this, you can receive important District/school updates, emergency alerts, and other public information.

The Stoughton High School Student Council is excited to announce its annual Trunk or Treat event on Tuesday October 28 from 6-8pm in the SHS parking lot! Student clubs and sports teams will be decorating trunks and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters of all ages. There will also be a delicious bake sale hosted by the Student Council. Families and students are invited to come dressed in costume and enjoy a fun, safe, and festive night of Halloween spirit with our Stoughton High community!

Did you know that Stoughton Public Schools has partnered with Care Solace to support the well-being of students, staff, and their family members? Care Solace is a complimentary and confidential care coordination service that can help you quickly find mental health, social services, or substance use treatment options matched to your needs, regardless of circumstance.

• Call: 888-515-0595 (available 24/7/365 with multilingual support)
• Visit: caresolace.com/stoughtonschools to search or click “Book Appointment”.

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