The Mustang Minute
January 27, 2024- Issue 20
Stay Healthy!
It's been a long January with a few more days still to go! At CMS we have been hit hard this month with all of the typical winter illnesses: Flu, RSV, Covid, Pneumonia, and more. I myself was hit with the flu last week on Saturday after the 7th grade dance which is why there was no Mustang Minute. I'm feeling much better and ready for February! There are two Norwood School News segments for this newsletter - be sure to check them both out, our kids are doing amazing things!
This past Wednesday, the New CMS construction company joined our current grade 8 STEM students to look at the multiple career opportunities available in construction. They also brought along their interns from Wentworth to discuss how to prepare and plan for a job in the world of design and building. Thank you to W. T Rich for this opportunity! They will do this presentation again next semester for grade 8 semester 2 STEM students.
Grade 8 "Pal"entines Dance is this Friday from 6:00-8:00pm. Students must return the permission slip and $5 fee by Homeroom on Friday. No permission slips will be accepted at the door. Paper copies went home earlier this week and I've attached a copy to this newsletter. A separate ParentSquare message will go out to grade 8 families for volunteers and snack & water donations.
PTO Needs Your Help!
New Treasurer needed for the 2024-2025 School Year. If interested, please email coakleynorwoodPTO@gmail.com . We would have you start in May of 2024 to work with the current treasurer and transition to the new year.
Washington DC Scholarship Partners
Each week we will highlight one of our DC scholarship fund sponsers!
Thank you to Norwood Bank for your generous donation! The scholarship program is funding 14 students on the Washington DC trip. Students receive a scholarship of varying amounts and provide 10 hours of community service.
Nurses Corner
NORWOOD PUBLIC SCHOOLS
SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICES
During the week of January 29th (note the date change), the Coakley Middle School nurses and guidance counselors will be conducting SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment) screening for all 7th graders. This screening is required by Massachusetts General Law Chapter 71, Section 97.
The purpose of SBIRT screening is to offer conversation and information to help prevent students from starting to use alcohol, nicotine, tobacco, marijuana or other drugs, or to intervene early in substance use. Student screening sessions will be brief, approximately 5 minutes, and conducted confidentially and privately in a one-to-one meeting with a school nurse or guidance counselor. Students who are not using substances will have their healthy choices reinforced. The nurse or guidance counselor will provide feedback or referral for further evaluation to students who report using substances, or are at risk for future substance use. All students will be asked to complete an anonymous evaluation of the screening, and will receive some educational material and a resource list at the time of the screening.
Results of the SBIRT screening will not be included in your student’s school record. Nor will screening information be shared with any staff without student and parent written permission. As with any school screening you have the right to opt your child out of this screening. The request to opt out must be in writing. Please contact Tova Sperber, RN via e-mail tsperber@norwood.k12.ma.us if you wish to exclude your child from this screening. Additionally, screening is voluntary and students may choose not to answer any or all of the screening questions.
One way to prevent youth substance use is to talk with your child about your family’s thoughts and expectations regarding substance use. Research shows that parent influence is the #1 reason young people decide not to drink alcohol. Some resources that can help parents start these discussions can be found at:
Together, schools and parents CAN make a difference for the youth in Norwood.
Sincerely,
Jill Driscoll, MEd, BSN, RN, NCSN
Nurse Leader, Norwood Public Schools
No School and Early Release Days
February 7th: Early Release Professional Development
February 19th-23rd No School February Vacation
The PTO Needs You!
Coakley PTO
The PTO is a parent/teacher organization that helps fund a variety of activities at CMS from assemblies, to field trips, to classroom projects and more. We would love for everyone to be a part of the PTO!
New Treasurer needed for the 2024-2025 School Year. If interested, please email coakleynorwoodPTO@gmail.com . We would have you start in May of 2024 to work with the current treasurer and transition to the new year.
PTO meetings are held the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7:00pm both virtually and in person. The dates are listed below a link to the meeting online is sent out the day of the meeting.
Next Meeting: February 27th
March 26th
April 23rd
May 28th
June 18th
Please email coakleynorwoodPTO@gmail.com or mfraczek@norwood.k12.ma.us if you are interested in volunteering or being a part of the PTO!
Jan 23 Meeting Notes
Guests in attendance/contact info
Margo Fraczek, CMS Principal, mfraczek@norwood.k12.ma.us
Eileen Siegel, CMS Teacher, esiegel@norwood.k12.ma.us
Dany Abdallah, Music Committee
AGENDA
Special Guest: Dany Abdallah, Music Committee
Norwood PMA- Parent Music Association
Helps all students in Norwood in music program
If your child does music, you are automatically a member
Meetings first Tuesday of month- school rotates (may return to NHS next year to meet with teachers there)
Receive updates at meetings about marching band and other programs
Would like to spread the word- especially at middle and elementary levels
Need help getting information out to families
Need volunteers for events
Need more 7th and 8th graders for marching band
Schedule at high school can be tricky (students may choose foreign language over band so that they can attend international field trip)
Currently- 11 8th graders in marching band
Margo will send out meeting info
Norwoodpma.org (activities, minutes, etc…) and Norwoodpma Facebook page
Separate Facebook group for marching band (private due to photos)
There will be a meeting in the spring to recruit students
Upcoming events for students (see website)
Margo will find out who parent rep at Coakley is
Principal Update
7th grade dance recap: money from admission ready to be picked up
DJ did a great job (same for 8th grade- will need check for $450)
8th grade dance- February 2nd
Create sign up genius for snack donations, decorations, set up help, and clean up help (Sam will create and send to Margo for Mustang Minute/Parent Square)
Hoping for 5-7 teachers and 5-7 parents to chaperone
Teen fun nights, table for February, will need more support, sub committee?, help with activities, sign up genius, if it’s earlier- more teachers will probably volunteer, Thursday night?, not set up for whole school games at the moment
Teacher Breakfast recap- money left over that parents donated to be used at upcoming breakfast- $170ish available, will hold onto for teacher appreciation in May, will start discussing at February meeting
Thursday 1/25- 8th grade STEM students completing project with construction company for new school (2nd date for students taking STEM during 2nd half of year), hands on activity- explore different jobs, kids from technical schools to talk to students
Teacher Update (Ms. Siegel out sick)
Treasurer’s Update- Welcome Abhi! Thank you Rob!
Incoming money (fundraising)
PTO Dues - $20
Dine Out - N/A
Box Tops - $45
DC Donations - N/A
Fudge - $800
Outgoing money (budget requests/payments)
$450 check (DJ for 7th grade dance)
PTO Funds (Rob not at meeting)
Bank Balance = $
Outgoing = -$
Funds Available = $
Board Member/PTO Member Updates
Dine outs- Sam will get more info from Duck Donuts and Comella’s
Sell donuts at 5th grade open house? Thursday May 9th 6-8 pm, also choose date for families to bring flyer and school receives percent
Valentine’s Day Fundraiser - instead of doing flowers for teachers next month wait for teacher appreciation in May
Farmer Dave’s Fudge (update from Lauren)
“We sold 202 boxes of fudge at $10 each. We got $4 for every box sold. Total earned for fundraiser $808. I mailed the check today to Farmer Daves.“
No fuss unfundraiser - Sam will send to Margo to go out on January 29th
8th grade Committee
Margo will send out email next week re: first meeting
Norwood Family Resource Compilation Team (Gwendolyne, Alisha, Katie, Ms. Siegel)
Alisha will reach out to group to set up meeting/plan, another mom reached out to her to help
Per message from Superintendent- there will be new families joining Norwood, 4 at the middle school level
Eventually, would like to have all the PTOs working together
May want to reach out to Lisa Bourgeois, head of EL students for district
Dr. Margo Fraczek
Email: mfraczek@norwood.k12.ma.us
Website: https://sites.google.com/norwood.k12.ma.us/cms-principal/home
Phone: 781-762-7880
Facebook: facebook.com/CoakleyMIddleSchoolPTO
Twitter: @mfraczek