SPS Weekly Newsletter

This week I want to take the time to thank the entire School Department TEAM for my first six months as Superintendent of Stoughton Public Schools. I will continue to learn and adjust areas that require our collective attention and support. One of the areas we must collectively target is chronic absenteeism.

According to the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), before the pandemic, 13 percent of students were chronically absent (missed 10% or more of the school year). In 2022, 22 percent of students, or almost 1 in 4 statewide, were chronically absent. Ten percent of the school year is 18 days or more. This can lead to missed opportunities, increased anxiety, interrupted social and emotional development, lower school performance, and in general more unstructured time.

We also understand that in many cases families are trying to do the right thing, even when it is difficult. Please utilize our professionals at our schools by calling in absences, providing medical documentation, and consider reaching out for support and help.

Stoughton was NOT exempt from this data. The impact on student chronic absenteeism also had a direct negative impact on state assessment results in ELA and mathematics. Overall, our NON-High School chronic absenteeism rate was 17.5% of students in Grades 3-8, including the low of 8.8% at the Gibbons School. For High School students, the rate for students tested (Grade 10) was 21.4%.

If you need assistance please contact my office at 781-344-4000 or email my Executive Assistant, Ms. Kathy Lanzarotto, at k_lanzarotto@stoughtonschools.org. This is such an important topic that my office is taking this on. Our TEAM wants to work with families in addressing this issue.

Joseph F. Baeta, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

Stoughton Public Schools

Helping students do their best in school requires a team effort. Parents/Guardians, students, and schools all play important roles in this process. To help all of us learn how to make your child's schooling experience as positive and beneficial as possible, please give us your honest, thoughtful responses to the questions in this survey. The survey is anonymous and is available in multiple languages. It is meant for all parents/guardians of SPS students, grades PK-12. Click on one of the links below to take the survey:

• ENGLISH

• PORTUGUESE

• RUSSIAN

• HAITIAN CREOLE

• SPANISH

• VIETNAMESE

• CHINESE

• ARABIC

Here are all of the fall 2023 Hockomock League all stars and honorable mentions from Stoughton High. Congratulations to these student-athletes for being honored as one of the top players in their respective sports in the entire league!

Click on the button below to like/follow the Stoughton High School Athletics Facebook page for updates during the winter sports season.

Congratulations to the talented 8th & 9th grade musicians and choir members listed below for being accepted into the 2024 Southeastern Junior District Festival! They will get to perform with other top students from around southeastern Massachusetts!

And, congratulations to the talented SHS choir members listed below for being accepted into the 2024 Southeastern Senior District Festival! They will get to perform with other top students from around southeastern Massachusetts!

The Stoughton High Class of 2024 held its "Oscar Knight" last Friday evening. Students dressed in formalwear, walked a red carpet and were interviewed, and senior class yearbook superlatives were announced Academy Awards style!

Stoughton High staff wore Florida Gators gear on Wednesday, December 13 in memory of their colleague and friend, Alan Bontya. Mr. Bontya was an assistant principal at SHS from 2014 until he passed away following a courageous battle with cancer in August of 2022. Originally from Gainesville, Florida, Mr. Bontya was a huge fan of the Florida Gators so staff donned the colors of his favorite team (other than the Black Knights) on his birthday and also raised funds to make a donation to the Dana Farber in his memory. His wife Jackie Bontya is a health/PE teacher at SHS and we are keeping her, their two children, and the Bontya family in our thoughts.

As a new feature, we are going to start highlighting the recipients of the district's Bom Trabalho Award. Bom Trabalho is Portuguese for good job and the award is given to SPS educators who are nominated by their colleagues for going above and beyond on behalf of our MLL students (multilingual learners), Dr. Amy Quealy, the SPS ELE (English Language Education) Director, explains.

Jen (Sobol) Makaroff, 4th grade teacher at the Gibbons Elementary School, is the most recent recipient of the Bom Trabalho Award!

"After welcoming students that speak Spanish as their first language into her classroom, Ms. Makaroff dedicated herself to becoming fluent in this language," Gibbons Principal David Guglia said. "We are proud of all the work our fantastic teachers at the Gibbons School do to meet the needs of our students on a daily basis!"

Ms. Makaroff is pictured here (second from the left) with Mr. Guglia, Dr. Quealy, and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Joseph Baeta.

Bom trabalho (buen trabajo) and congratulations!

Dawe School staff, pictured here, wore their favorite holiday sweaters on Friday, the day of the 4th & 5th grade winter concert.

Winter concerts are underway! Students in our bands and choirs have been hard at work this school year preparing for these concerts.

The elementary concert schedule is below. Families are invited to attend these concerts. They take place at the elementary school. The Wilkins and Dawe 4th and 5th graders did a great job performing this week. We are looking forward to the concerts at the Gibbons, South, and Hansen next week!

The Stoughton High Winter Concert takes place on Friday, December 15 at 7pm in the SHS Auditorium. This concert is one you won't want to miss as it includes both band and choral performances.

The first act features the Concert Chorus, Symphonic Choir, Jazz Voices, and Stoughcatos. The O'Donnell Middle School Honors Chorus will be joining the Stoughcatos for a rendition of "White Winter Hymnal" and the Combined SHS Choirs and OMS 8th Grade Chorus will be joining together for a rendition of "Let the River Run"!

After an intermission (where concessions will be available), the second act will feature the Concert Band, Symphonic Band, and Tuesday Jazz Band. We are also looking forward to the Combined Bands' annual performance of "Sleigh Ride"!

OMS winter concerts will take place in January. See the schedule below. All SHS and OMS concerts take place at the SHS Auditorium and are free of charge. Families, friends, students, and community members are welcome!

Just a reminder that next Friday, December 22, 2023 is an early release day for the Stoughton Public Schools.

School hours for early release days:

• SHS & OMS - 7:35am - 11:32am
• Elementary Schools - 8:30am - 12:20pm
• Preschool - 8:30am - 11:00am (No afternoon preschool session)

Lunch will still be served.

Save the date! Registration for the Stoughton Public Schools February Vacation Humanities Camp opens January 2, 2024! This vacation camp is a free program offered to SPS students currently in grades 2-5. The camp will be held at the Gibbons Elementary School, 235 Morton St., from 8:30am-12:30pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of the February vacation week (February 20-22).

This is an exciting opportunity for students to participate in a reading/ELA/social studies project based learning program that will enhance their educational experience.

For more information and for the link to register (starting January 2), click here.

Save the date! Dr. Baeta will be providing a virtual office hour for SPS families (all grades, preschool through grade 12):

• Thursday, December 21, 2023 from 9:30-10:30am

Use this link to join.

Are you or someone you know looking for part-time work? Our school bus transportation provider, First Student, is hiring school bus drivers for Stoughton. For more information and to apply, click here.

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: