At our all school assembly on Thursday, we recognized members of the HM staff and families who have served in the US Military. Thanks to all who sent something in for us to share. If you would like to see the HM Veterans, or if you would like to add to our wall, click the photo below.

Also at assembly on Thursday, we talked about taking time over the next week to try to be helpful and kind.

• Take a look grid of activities that your child can do at home or at school. You child also will receive a hard copy to take home.
• Please take a few moments to talk about the choices and to remind students to take part. Feel free to come up with your own ideas!
• Maybe this will even encourage kind and helpful acts beyond this week!

Dear Parents and Caregivers:

We thank you and your family for being our partners as we work together to educate the children in our district. Newton Public Schools values input from our community – and we need to hear from your child or children! Student voice is important as we work to improve outcomes for everyone.

In order to learn more about student experiences at school and as a way of measuring students’ feelings of connectedness to school, their core social and emotional learning (SEL) skills, as well as mindsets, we will be asking for your child’s feedback via an online survey they will complete at school. We are partnering with a third-party vendor, Panorama Education, to support us in administering these surveys.

The survey will ask students to reflect on their responses to challenging feelings, emotional regulation, growth mindset, positive feelings, supportive relationships, learning strategies, and engagement (connectedness). The survey should take 15-20 minutes to complete and students can skip any questions that they are not comfortable answering.

We are asking all students in grades 3-5 to participate in the survey, once in December and again in May, as their feedback will provide invaluable insights into their experiences and how we can improve and adapt our district to their needs.

The individual responses to these surveys will be completely confidential. Individual student data is maintained in secure files and databases accessible only to teachers, administrators, staff, and school officials who serve these students. In partnership with families, staff review this data alongside other information to plan interventions for students with identified needs. Survey data will also be used to plan programming for the district, schools, grade levels, classrooms, and individual students.

District and school level results, which do not include individual student information, may be used by staff to improve SEL and mental health practices. District and school level results may also be shared with the community to describe the needs of our student body and opportunities for partnership.The SEL survey makes sure that student voices are heard.

This letter serves as parental notification under the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment. This federal law requires the Newton Public Schools to notify you and provide a mechanism for you to opt your child out of participating (or, in the alternative, obtain consent) in certain school activities including surveys that address potentially sensitive topics.

If you decide you do not want your child to participate in the survey, please return the opt out form (attached below) to your child’s school office by December 1, 2023. If you have not returned this form by December 1, 2023, survey administrators will assume that you have consented to have your child participate. This is an active opt-out process. However, even if you do not return this form, your child may voluntarily decide not to participate in the survey.

If you wish to review the survey, you may do so here. Specific questions about the survey should be directed to Jesse Krotick M.Ed, MSW, LICSW Coordinator of Elementary Support Stabilization and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support at 617-559-6167 or krotickj@newton.k12.ma.us.

Sincerely,

Jesse Krotick M.Ed, MSW, LICSW

The Design Review Committee meeting went quite smooth last night. We were joined by members of the Horace Mann School Building Committee and the community. Raymond Design Associates, RDA, gave the attached presentation. They were joined by Traverse Landscape Architects and our owner's project manager, NV5.

NV5 got the presentation started with a brief overview of the project milestone schedule, and then they turned it over to RDA.

Minor design refinements were discussed both in the site plan and the interior building plans. In general, there were no major changes to the design, but clearly more detail has been introduced. The most exciting part of the evening was the presentation of updated renderings from various locations around the building. These really helped everyone visualize the finished product, and it stimulated some great design comments and suggestions. We discussed subjects such as fencing, pedestrian flow, accessibility, building access control, planning for solar pv, and the new secondary entrance off of Nevada Street.

The above rendering shows the new 2-story addition, plaza, and playground.

The above image shows the view from the rear parking lot looking over the playground towards the new building addition. The playground equipment is not shown here, but it will be a new universally accessible playground.

The above image is what you'll see with your back to the baseball diamond, looking towards the new building addition.

The new entrance off of Nevada Street was an area that we felt could be improved. The intent is not the make the new entrance overpower the original main entrance of the historical building, so the design team will be working to simplify and soften the design in this area.

If you missed the meeting last night you can watch the recording by clicking here.

The next meeting of the Design Review Committee will be on Wednesday, December 13th at 6:00pm and you can join the meeting once it starts using this link: https://newtonma-gov.zoom.us/j/89900097531

Regards,

​

Josh Morse

Public Buildings Commissioner

Public Buildings Department

City of Newton