Life at the Locke #11 2026-2027

November 8, 2026

Dear Parents/Guardians, Staff, and Students,

I hope you are having a great weekend. Happy Veterans Day on November 11th! Thank you to all those who have served and currently serve to protect our country. We are back with 4 DAYS OF LEARNING again this week, but we still have a busy schedule ahead as usual. Let’s see what’s happening …

Warmest Regards,

Mr. Garas, Principal

""As we express our gratitude to our veterans, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Monday, 11/9 -- A Day -- Day 45, Quarter 1 ends, After School Activities, HW Club

Tuesday, 11/10 -- B DAY -- Quarter 2 starts, New Unified Arts Classes Begin

Wednesday, 11/11 -- NO SCHOOL, VETERANS DAY

Thursday, 11/5 -- C Day -- Parent Conferences, After School Activities, HW Club

Friday, 11/6 -- D Day

Future Business Majors! The lemonade was delicious! They will be back again at Thursday night parent conferences. Thanks to BMHS DECA students for helping our middle schoolers with this business project.

As part of our ongoing commitment to student and staff safety, all Billerica Public Schools staff participated in training on the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) with the I Love U Guys Foundation during our November 3 professional development day, in collaboration with our local police, fire, and EMS partners. The SRP provides a common language and consistent procedures to help our school communities respond to a variety of situations. In our advisory class on 11/18, students will be introduced to the SRP through age-appropriate instruction, using this video.

Please click HERE to review the parent guide to learn more about the protocol and the shared language we use to support a safe school environment. Thank you for your continued support.

Parent conferences for the Locke and Marshall will be held in person on Thursday, November 12th from 6:00 – 8:00 PM. We are using a computer program called PTC wizard to schedule conferences. Conferences will be 5 minutes long and each teacher will have 48 openings. There is a possibility that a teacher will be booked and you will not be able to schedule a conference with a particular teacher. If that does occur, I encourage you to utilize email, meet individually with the teacher at another time, or schedule a team meeting.

The link to schedule conferences is now open. See the link below.

https://app.ptcwizard.com/ptc1512061359

If you already have an account from last year, you can log-in. If you do not have an account, you will need to register and create an account.

• You will need to know your child’s teachers’ names in order to schedule the meetings. The site will provide a list of names for you to choose from.
• For ensembles, the teachers will split the days between the Locke and Marshall.
• Orchestra/Strings – Mr. Slaven will not be available, Ms. Harmon Locke on 11/5, Marshall 11/12
• Band -- Locke on 11/12, Marshall 11/5
• Chorus -- Locke on 11/5, Marshall 11/12
• If you have any questions or difficulty scheduling conferences, please contact me – tgaras@billericak12.com

Scientists from EMD Serono visited the 6th grade Science classes on October 29th and November 5th to do a series of experiments with the students. The program is called Bacteria Around You, which ties in with the Cells unit, which is the first unit of study that the 6th grade covers. On 10/29, after a brief introduction and discussion of bacteria, each class did a different experiment: handwashing & touch plates, filtration, germicides, and unknowns. When the scientists returned on 11/5, students observed the results of their experiments. After cleaning up, students reviewed what they knew about DNA before making mini candy DNA strands out of Twizzlers and gummy bears. The students did a great job of asking and answering questions on both days, and really enjoyed the whole experience. Mrs. Tolleson & Mrs. Santy are very thankful for EMD Serono and the volunteers who made this program possible.

The Locke Monsters Robotics team will be holding a bake sale at Parent/Teacher conferences on 11/12 to raise funds to support our team. A variety of baked goods and packaged snacks will be available for purchase, along with bottled water. We will also be selling chances to win a book of one hundred $10 MA lottery tickets. This is a continuation of the raffle ticket fundraiser from last year as we didn't sell enough tickets to pick a winner. If you bought a ticket last year, your name is still on the list.

Cash and Venmo payments will be accepted.

If you aren't able to attend conferences, but would like to purchase raffle tickets, please Venmo Mrs. Tolleson @jmtolleson1 and be sure to include your phone number to make it easier to contact the winner.

Monday, November 9th is the forty-fifth day of school and the end of the first quarter. The following courses are on a 45 day schedule this year: art, drama, health, music, industrial tech, and computer science. Students will begin their quarter 2 classes on Tuesday, November 10th. Final grades for quarter 1 classes will be posted to ASPEN by Tuesday, November 17th and will appear on the trimester 1 report card issued in December.

There will be an after school meeting for students on November 23rd and an evening meeting for parents on December 2nd at 6:00 PM. Click on the button below for more information.

HW Club continues this week. It is an excellent opportunity for students to complete their work with support from our staff. It will meet in the library every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 1:45 – 2:45. (not on early release Wednesdays) Students do not need to sign up ahead of time for HW club. Students will report to the library immediately after school and sign-in. Students can attend as many days as the parents/teachers believes are necessary. Students are expected to stay for the full hour. Parent pick-up at 2:45 is required. There is no fee for HW Club.

Last Week's Answers:

1. Why did the stuffing cross the road? -- To get to the other sides

2. Why did the turkey join the band? -- Because he had the drum sticks

This week:

1. Why did the Army veteran become a dentist?

2. What grades do you need to join the Navy?

Stanley has stacks of sticky notes in three colours: yellow, pink, and green. At the start of the week, the ratio of the number of yellow to pink to green sticky notes is 9 : 5 : 2. Each day Stanley leaves 3 yellow and 2 green sticky notes on his friend’s desk, but no pink. After several days he runs out of green sticky notes and exactly 30 pink sticky notes remain.

(a) How many sticky notes of each colour did Stanley start with?

(b) For how many days did Stanley leave sticky notes for his friend?

(c) How many yellow sticky notes remain?

Last Week's Answer: Anya reads for at least 20 minutes on Day 8

Send your answers to Mr. Garas – tgaras@billericak12.com – Show your work! We will have a drawing for a Dunkin gift card and the highly coveted math certificate!!

We need volunteers for the Ice Cream Social. Please click the button below to sign-up.

The PTO welcomes all families to the Locke. Please see the minutes from our November meeting -- attached here.

Our next meeting will be Wednesday, December 9th , 2026

PTO LINKS

* Fill out and turn in your CORI so you can volunteer for any upcoming school events.

* Update your fit by purchasing your Locke School gear

* Join the Locke Community for a UMass Lowell Women's Basketball Game on November 15th

*Join the Locke Community for a Harlem Globetrotters game on December 30th at Tsongas Center.

* Join the Locke Community for a UMass Lowell Men's basketball Game on January 2nd

* Link your Box Tops to our group - Referral code: TD580QUF

All breakfast and lunches are free to all students again this year. Breakfast will be served beginning on the first day. It will be “grab and go”. Students can grab a breakfast in the cafeteria when they come in and then report to homeroom. They can eat breakfast in homeroom. Students are not allowed to bring in breakfast/drinks from Dunkin, Starbucks, etc.

The district is looking for cafeteria workers. Please see the attached flyer for information.

Please see the attached link below to register for the Shawsheen Tech program for 7th graders.

All Dates are also on our master calendar on the Locke website

• Monday, November 9th -- Day 45 Quarter 1 Ends
• Monday, November 9th -- Locke School Site Council 5:00 PM Library
• Tuesday, November 10th -- Quarter 2 Unified Classes Start
• Wednesday, November 11th -- No School, Veterans Day
• Thursday, November 12th -- Parent Conferences -- 6:00-8:00 PM
• Thursday, November 19th -- Ice Cream Social 6:00-7:30 PM
• Wednesday, November 25th -- Half Day 10:40 AM Dismissal
• Thursday, Friday November 26th,27th -- Thanksgiving Break
• Thursday, December 3rd -- Day 60 End of Trimester 1
• Monday, December 7th - 11th -- Scholastic Book Fair
• Wednesday, December 9th -- PTO Meeting 6:00PM Library
• Wednesday, December 9th -- Orchestra Concert 7:00 PM Marshall
• Thursday, December 10th -- Locke Chorus Concert 7:00 PM Locke Auditorium
• Monday, December 14th -- Trimester 1 Report Cards Published
• Thursday, December 17th -- Winter Band Concert, BMHS 7:00 PM
• Wednesday, December 23rd -- Half Day, 10:40 Dismissal
• December 24th -- January 1st -- Holiday Break
• Monday, January 4th -- Return to School

If you have any questions, please contact me at tgaras@billericak12.com or call at 978-528-8655

Have a great week!

Please see the attached link for a poster contest from the Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth.

Please see the attached flyer for the annual Dollars for Scholars Trivia Night.

Please see the attached link for the Lions Club Peace poster contest.

Please see the attached link for an event sponsored by the Special Education Parent Advisory Council.

We are offering Chromebook Insurance again this year.

For 5th grade students with new Chromebooks -- please see the attached link for a three year plan

For 5th, 6th, and 7th grade students -- there is a one year plan option also -- see attached link

School starts promptly at 7:30. Students should be in their homeroom at 7:30. The car drop-off time for students is 7:10 -- 7:25. Students will be allowed to enter the building at 7:10. From 7:10 – 7:20, students that enter the building will be supervised in the cafeteria. Students will not be allowed in before 7:10 AM.

Student car drop-off will be in the lower lot beginning at 7:10. STUDENTS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO EXIT CARS UNTIL 7:10. Parents are to enter VIA URBAN ST (off Baldwin Road), drop students off at the sidewalk, make a U-turn, and exit via Urban Street.

Parents, please do not enter from Allen Road in the morning. The Allen road entrance is only for school buses.

Walkers and pick-ups are dismissed at 1:50 after the buses depart.

TRAFFIC PATTERN FOR DISMISSAL

Parents enter via Urban Street and line up in lower circle. After the buses leave, parents are to pull around circle in a SINGLE file line to pick up children. The pick-up zone is between the two cross walks. This is the only place we would like children picked up. We do not want children stepping in front of cars to be picked up. Please keep the line single file.

PLEASE DO NOT PICK UP STUDENTS IN THE LOWER LOT.

If your child is going to be absent or dismissed, please call 978-528-8650 to report the absence or dismissal. You can leave a voicemail at this number which goes directly to our secretary. You may also email our secretaries, Christina McLaughlin cmclaughlin@billericak12.com and Lucy O’Brien at lobrien@billericak12.com

Students who ride the bus can only ride on their assigned bus in the morning and afternoon. Students are not allowed to ride different buses to be with friends after school.

The bus routes for the year are listed at this link.

If you have any questions regarding bus assignments, please contact our assistant principal: Phillip Peters: ppeters@billericak12.com -- 978-528-8654

Electronic Devices Policy

Cellphones, smart watches or any other electronic communication devices are not permitted to be used during the school day, or on the buses. In the event that it can be demonstrated that the use of a device is a necessity during the day or on the bus the Principal/Assistant Principal may waive this policy to accommodate the needs of a particular student. All phone calls to or from students should be made through the main office, parents are requested to refrain from calling or texting their child during the school day.

Students are discouraged from bringing cellphones to school at all. Students who bring cellphones to school must keep them off and in their backpacks. Cellphones that are taken out of backpacks can be confiscated and released only to parents. The school is not responsible for the loss of electronic devices and or cellphones. Click HERE to read the full policy: JICI - Student Use of Personal Electronic Devices.

• Cell phones/ smart watches should be turned off and kept in lockers.

• If a student needs to call home, they will use the office phone. If you need to contact your child, please call the office.

• Please monitor social media accounts.

Our school nurse is Janice Roberts – jroberts@billericak12.com

· Students may drop off EpiPens, inhalers, and any over the counter medications.

· A parent or guardian must drop off any prescription medications.

· All medications need to be accompanied by a medication order from the student's physician and with either an Anaphylaxis Action Plan or Asthma Action Plan as applicable

· If families need copies of these forms they can be found on the Billerica Public Schools website: https://billericak12.com/school-nursing/

Also, as a reminder:

ALL 7th GRADE STUDENTS must submit proof of TDaP (tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis) and MCV4 (meningitis) vaccines, as well as an UPDATED physical exam, by 9/30/26

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has created an MCAS portal for families to review MCAS scores. Preliminary results for Spring 2026 are now available on the portal. Please see the attached letter for instructions on how to access the portal.