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Dear Kennedy families,

Fall is upon us and the weather is changing. Please remind students to dress warm in the morning. We had a lot of excitement this week. All of our athletic teams began with huge success. Thank you to all the players in the soccer and field hockey programs. In addition, we had a great number of students audition for the fall play. Finally, today our student council had the honor of visiting the Wall That Heals, the movable Vietnam Memorial wall in Bedford. It was also nice for our PTO to meet in person last night for the first time this year. Our next meeting will be November 10th at 7:00 in the media center. Enjoy the long weekend and holiday.

Be Kind!

Mr. Gildea

Links to Fall Sports Schedules (pdfs attached)

https://tinyurl.com/KE-Girls-Soccer

https://tinyurl.com/Ke-Girls-Field-Hockey

https://tinyurl.com/KE-Boys-Soccer

The Kennedy Middle Schoolis hosting a Parent/Caregiver Informational Meeting:

Thursday, September 29th at 7:00pm in the Kennedy Auditorium

The Kennedy Instructional Leadership Team members will provide information about the Kennedy Middle School plan to pilot shifts in grading practices. For the school year 22-23, all Kennedy teachers will pilot three equitable grading practices: Recording F grades no lower than 50%, allowing students multiple opportunities for retakes, and not grading homework. Information will be provided to explain these three practices followed by a panel to take questions and facilitate a discussion. This panel will include district and building administrators, instructional coaches, classroom teachers, a parent and a student. Information and data on our pilot process will be collected throughout the school year and shared with the community. In addition, we will provide multiple opportunities for our families to share their experiences with these three grading practices at home.

Agenda

7:00- Welcome (Mr. Gildea)

7:10- Background on our work and connections with equitable grading practices (Mr. Gildea)

7:20- Presentation on Equitable Grading Practices (Ms. Norris)

7:35- The Three Shifts in Grading (Ms. Sullivan)

7:40-8:00 Panel discussion followed by Q and A

Panel Members include:

• Sarah Kent - Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction

• Val Alfeo - Director of Mathematics

• Daphne Fay- Director of English Language Arts 6-12

• Deena DePamphilis - Director of Science

• Racheal Turkington - Math Coach for Middle School

• Val Leka - Classroom Teacher

• Parent

• Student

Charlas Virtuales is for members of the Waltham Public Schools, the community and Latinx parents/guardians with children in the Waltham Public Schools to come together in conversations centered on student academic success and safety.

This year we are focusing our work on four themes:

• Health and wellness
• Attendance
• Navigating our Schools
• Unity in the Community

The Student Handbook will anchor many of the conversations and we hope you can compliment the discussions as well throughout the school year.

Our invited guests to open the virtual chats this month are:

• Saturday, September 24
• Dr. Reagan, Superintendent of WPS, and Sarah Kent, Assistant Superintendent of WPS.

The link to the Google Meet is: http://meet.google.com/rgx-mgoe-hfs

Student Handbooks were attached as pdfs in the 9.16.22 newsletter and can be accessed on our website.

Is your student going to be absent or tardy?

Please call 781-314-5670 before 7:30 AM. After 7:30 AM, please call the main office line at 781-314-5560.

Website: https://www.walthampublicschools.org/o/jfk
Location: 655 Lexington Street, Waltham, MA, USA
Phone: 781-314-5560