10/9/23 - 10/13/23 Weekly Update

Newton South Students and Families,

We have just four full weeks to go in Term 1! As a reminder, progress reports were posted to Aspen on Friday. Here is the update I sent out when they were posted and here is the attendance standard FAQ.

Since there is no school on Monday, there is also no Advisory block this week. As there will be no Advisory, please be sure to sign up for your WIN blocks at some point during this week in preparation for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Note that we will begin pushing unassigned students into WIN block for the next day on Tuesday afternoon.

Here are additional updates:

To bring Hispanic Heritage Month to a close, the Spanish Service Club has put together a day of programming for staff and students on Tuesday October 10. We will have the following events in the Lecture Hall all day on the 10th:

B2 Isabel Mitchell: Colombian Artist living in Massachusetts

• Hear about Ms. Mitchell’s artwork, her personal story, and interact with her in activities that Ms. Mitchell structures. This will be a bilingual presentation, in Spanish and translation in English.

F1 Staff & Student Panel Discussion

• Hear from NSHS students and staff about how their Latin heritage affects their lives and
• identity here at South.

G1 (continuing into Lion Block)

• South American Representation in Film
• Join us for a discussion of South American culture followed by a screening of Disney’s Encanto.

Teachers can email Cynthia Manthei to sign up their class for one of these sessions.

Since there is no school on Monday, there is also no Advisory block this week. As there will be no Advisory, please be sure to sign up for your WIN blocks at some point during this week in preparation for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Note that we will begin pushing unassigned students into WIN block for the next day on Tuesday afternoon.

We are pleased to announce that we have appointed house attendance coordinators for the 2023-2024 school year. The House Attendance Coordinator will help us monitor students’ attendance, highlight trends in attendance, communicate with guardians and student teams about absences, and meet with students to plan and create ways to improve attendance. They will also work with the house office counselors and dean to support students during times of struggle and success.

The House Attendance Coordinators will be:

• Leslie Quattrini - Cutler House
• Keven Coster - Goldrick House
• Alex Van Buren - Goodwin House
• Lexi Michaels - Wheeler House

Deans will additionally be sending out messages to their respective houses.

Enjoy the rest of your long weekend and we will see you on Tuesday!

Sincerely,

Jason Williams (he/him)

Vice Principal

Newton South High School

Monday, October 9: Indigenous Peoples' Day (No School)

Tuesday, October 10, 5pm: School Council Meeting

Monday, October 16: Safety Day in Advisory

Wednesday, October 18: Photo Retake Day

Thursday, October 19 - Saturday, October 21, 7:30pm: Frosh Play (Lab Theater)

The next School Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 10 from 5:00 - 6:00 PM. A full agenda can be found here.

If you would like to attend for public comment, please email strast@newton.k12.ma.us directly.

On Monday, October 16, students and staff will review our emergency response plan during an extended Advisory, expected to be about 50 minutes.

During this advisory, students and staff will practice several drills and a school evacuation and learn about ways we can stay safe while we are in school. We will run an adjusted schedule that can be accessed here.

While we expect the safety day block to last 50 minutes, there may be unanticipated circumstances which may lead the evacuation portion of the block to extend a few minutes into B block.

Here is the schedule for when students will be called.

The term 1 Wellness Newsletter is attached here. The goal of this periodic publication is to educate, motivate and communicate the values of living a wellness lifestyle. Our department is dedicated to helping students, faculty/staff, and community members understand the effects of daily decisions and their impact on overall health and well-being.

Governor Healy is looking for student representatives to join her Youth Advisory Council.

This council will give young people from across the Commonwealth the opportunity to advise the Healey-Driscoll Administration on innovative solutions to some of the critical issues we face today such as climate, education, mental health, gun violence, housing, and more.

In order to have this council truly embody today’s youth, they are looking for balanced representation on the Council based on age, gender, ethnicity, geography, and a variety of other factors that make up the diversity of the Commonwealth.

Applicants must be between the ages of 16-21 years old to be eligible for this council. Please find the application and additional information at www.mass.gov/youthcouncil.

Attention Seniors!!

Do you speak a language other than English? If you read and write it as well, let colleges and future employers know by earning a Seal of Biliteracy on your transcript!

The process is simple, and you can use it to demonstrate skills in any language you've learned, whether at home, in school, or elsewhere.

Click HERE for detailed information about the Seal, including how to qualify and a link to register.

The deadline for registration is Wednesday, October 18.

If you have questions, contact Ms. Murphy-Ferguson, World Language Department Chair, via e-mail, Schoology message, or live in room 6209.

Seniors: Be sure to sign up to schedule your senior portrait! Please use this website to book a time: https://seniors.legacystudios.com/newton-south-hs-ma/. More slots will open up on a monthly basis. Please check regularly for additional appointments.

Questions about senior portraits can be directed to customercare@legacystudios.com, or our yearbook advisor, Mr. Brian Baron.

As with last week, students will continue to use MyFlexLearning to sign up for WIN blocks. Please note a few things as we completed our first week of WIN:

All students are assigned to a space.

• If you do not sign up for a WIN by the day before that WIN occurs, you will be pushed to a teacher's WIN based on available space. You will be pushed to a Wednesday WIN on Tuesday afternoon, a Thursday WIN on Wednesday afternoon, etc. If you continuously do not sign up for WIN block, we will follow up with you and determine a strategy to make sure you are making the most of this important time on learning period.
• If your teacher is absent the day of your WIN, you will be unscheduled from that WIN and pushed to another space.
• You have up until an hour before a WIN block starts to reschedule; after this, your WIN assignment is locked.

The library is not freely open during WIN block. To be in the library during this block, you must be signed up with a teacher who is assigned to this space. We will ask teachers to not send you to the library, as the library will send you back to the class from which you came.

As a reminder, when picking up and dropping off your students, do not use the Breezeway lot where the buses pick up and drop off between 8:45 - 9:00am and between 3:30 - 4:00pm. Families attempting to do dropoff that intermingles with buses can cause safety issues or cause a driver to be stuck between two buses. Even if it looks like few buses are present, more may be coming. Thank you for your cooperation.

Please do not park along the fence near the athletic fields and Cutler House, or in any fire lane. These are important access points for city and emergency vehicles and a vital pickup and dropoff point for our school vans. We appreciate your cooperation as we help ensure the safety of all students.

Only seniors who have earned a spot through the parking lottery and have paid for their spot are allowed to park on campus, and are only allowed to park in their designated, numbered, yellow-lined space.

Vehicles illegally parked on campus will receive a warning ticket after their first violation. If the vehicle receives a second ticket, it is subject to being towed, at the owner's expense, if it receives another one.

Here is the parking handbook for the 2023-2024 school year.

Use this form to report an absence:

• Cutler

• Goldrick

• Wheeler

• Goodwin

Attendance Standard for the 2023-2024 School Year

Attendance Standard FAQs

District Procedures Regarding Attendance

IMPORTANT CHANGE IN ATTENDANCE STANDARD: We will excuse up to two college visits per term in term 3 and 4 for juniors, and anytime during the year for seniors.

Our academic honesty protocol can be found here. This protocol is taken directly from the district's Rights & Responsibilities Handbook.

Bus Schedules

Boston Bus Schedules

Cell phones should not be seen or heard in class, and should be in a student's pocket, backpack, or door holder in the classroom. Consequences include a verbal warning, the teacher temporarily taking the phone, etc. If you need to contact your student during school, you should go through the house office, as students will not be able to check their messages during class.

We aware aware and mindful that students may need a cell phone for vital functions such as glucose monitoring. If you have any concerns, please reach out to your house office and work with them to find a solution that works best for both parties.

Please see the following letter from the Newton South Faculty Council regarding cell phone use.

• Year at a Glance: Overview of the 2023-2024 school year
• Term 1 Calendar. This calendar has more specific dates and times. One will be released each term.
• Lunch Schedule for Semester 1. Classes are assigned lunches based on what wing of the building they are in.
• Public Calendar of Events: We keep an updated calendar of events on the school website - this is a combination of events from the NPS calendar and our individual school's calendar.

The PSAT and SAT coordinator is Namal Sadiq. She can be reached at sadiqn@newton.k12.ma.us.

The AP coordinator is Brandon Johnson. He can be reached at johnsonbra@newton.k12.ma.us.

Sign up for Newton Community Education college prep and enrichment classes this fall! From arts to academics, NCE programs empower your child to learn, grow, and connect. NCE classes can also inspire their passions and boost confidence. Preview our wide range of classes in the Teens At-a-Glance. Secure your teen's spot now at www.newtoncommunityed.org!

The most recently released district newsletter was on Wednesday, September 27. You can access it here.

List of Clubs & Activities at Newton South

Athletic Calendar