SPOTLIGHT

April 2023, Volume 13, Issue 9

I was fortunate to be asked to write a guest column for New Milford Living Magazine, and here it is for our school community to read.

Since beginning Kindergarten in 1975, I have missed only one school year for the birth of my older daughter. Going to school as a student, a teacher, a principal, an assistant superintendent, and now as a superintendent is what I know best. The potential for learning and growth that exists in each school day motivates and inspires me to give my most sincere and diligent efforts on behalf of our students, faculty, staff, and entire community. I appreciate the warm and friendly welcome that I have received from so many people since starting in the New Milford Public Schools on February 21.

My grandparents arrived from Italy and Ireland in the early 1900s with a few dollars, one suitcase each, and hearts filled with hope for a better life. They found factory work in Waterbury, where their earnings, however meager they might have been, truly built a foundation for what I have been able to accomplish through my own education and career. I do believe that the central mission

of public education is to create the conditions for the success of current and future generations. Our work in schools, our highest calling, must develop caring, competent, and contributing community members and citizens, As Mark Twain wrote, “Out of public schools grows the greatness of a nation.”

I think a lot about how schools changed after March 2020, when education as we knew it transformed literally overnight. The path forward these days includes: continuing to re-engage learners in the daily tasks of school; developing relevant activities that demonstrate to students the numerous possibilities in their futures; providing students with many ways to show what they have learned; creating a safe, welcoming, and inclusive school environment for all; and caring for the needs of the entire school community. I look forward to serving the town by leading the school district with honesty, consistency, and integrity, as we grow and learn together.

I believe that striving for excellence is a choice that we make each day, and one of the aspects that drew me to New Milford is the community’s commitment to quality education and programming for its children. I can’t wait to meet as many residents as possible in the upcoming months and to hear a great variety of ideas and perspectives about the work of our schools. It is through this ongoing dialogue and our continued partnerships as a community that make our schools soar. Thank you for your support of the school district, its students, and its work so far.

Dr. Parlato was born and raised in Waterbury and now lives in Cheshire with her husband, who is a middle school teacher, her two high school-aged daughters, and their dog, Moose. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Education and a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Connecticut and earned her doctorate in Educational and Organizational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Parlato worked in the Berlin Public Schools for 20 years and the Watertown Public Schools for 10 years before coming to New Milford.

• May 18th - Early Dismissal | Staff PD
• May 29th - NO SCHOOL | Memorial Day
• June 14th - Adult Education Graduation
• June 15th - 5th Grade Send Off
• June 20th - SMS Promotion Ceremonies
• June 21st - LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!
• June 24th - HS Graduation

The mission of the New Milford Public Schools, a collaborative partnership of students, educators, family and community, is to prepare each and every student to compete and excel in an ever-changing world, embrace challenges with vigor, respect and appreciate the worth of every human being, and contribute to society by providing effective instruction and dynamic curriculum, offering a wide range of valuable experiences, and inspiring students to pursue their dreams and aspirations.

Email: suptoffice@newmilfordps.org

Website: https://www.newmilfordps.org/

25 Sunny Valley Road, Suite A

New Milford, CT 06776

Phone: 860-355-8406

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860-350-6647

Mr. Raymond Manka, Principal

Mr. Kevin Best, Assistant Principal

Mrs. Liz Curtis, Assistant Principal

Dr. Megan Dwyer, Assistant Principal

860-354-2204
Ms. Linda Scoralick, Principal
Mr. Michael Boucher, Asst. Principal
Mr. Frank Jawidzik, Asst. Principal
Ms. Shannon Surreira, Asst. Principal

860-210-4020
Mrs. Anne Bilko, Principal
Mrs. Jennifer Chmielewski, Asst. Principal
Mrs. Jennifer Meyers, Asst. Principal

860-354-5430
Mr. Eric Williams, Principal
Mrs. Kerri Adakonis, Asst. Principal

860-355-3713

Mrs. Gwen Gallagher, Principal

Mrs. Pat Colello, Interim Asst. Principal

Mindfulness gives you time. Time gives you choices. Choices, skillfully made, lead to freedom."

~ Henepola Gunaratana

French students went on a 10 day trip to France. This trip of a lifetime allowed students to learn about French culture by visiting Versailles and Paris and being housed with French families.

GAPP students participated in the exchange program to Germany in April for 18 days. The first half of the trip, they stayed in Östringen with a host family who will be coming to our school in May. The second half, they visited important cultural monuments such as Loreley, Loreley

Bob, Marksburg, Schokoladenmuseuem. In Cologne, they took a boat trip, walking tour and visited Phantasialand, an amusement park. From Cologne, they continued on to explore Berlin via train where they did a cycling tour, visited Kulturbrauerei museum, Neue Palais, and a visit to Hohenschönhausen Memorial (Gedenkstätte), topped off with some shopping. It was an unforgettable experience for all 21 students.

Congratulations to all of the athletes honored at the Winter Sports Awards on April 26th. The Girls Basketball Team and Boys Wrestling Team received their SWC banners. Gymnast, Regan Williams received All-American. Go Green Wave!

Congratulations to the students pictured below on April Signing Day who will be playing college sports.

Congratulations to the students pictured below honored at Unified Sports Awards Night.

"You do not find a Happy Life. You create one!"

On April 6, 2023, SMS held a health fair for all students in grades 7 and 8, thanks to the efforts of Mr. Hoffman, Health Teacher at SMS. While at the Health Fair students had the opportunity to visit with representatives from a variety of local organizations on topics relating to physical and mental health, opportunities for youth in the community, fire safety, art, and healthy eating. In total, there were 14 local organizations at the Health Fair this year: New Milford Youth Agency, New Milford Substance Abuse Prevention Council, Pratt Center, NMCAN, NM Fire Marshall, Regional YMCA, Village Center for the Arts, Reis Learning Center, Housatonic Valley Health District, New Milford Library, Nuvance Health, New Milford Fitness & Aquatics, SMS School Based Health Center, and Club 24. Many thanks to the representatives from these organizations for partnering with us! Students had a wonderful time and reported that the experience was valuable!

Instrumental musicians at SMS have been hard at work! Over the past month we have had several concerts. The 6th grade band held a combined concert with SNIS on March 29th. Members of the Jazz Club also performed that day. The 7th and 8th grade bands held performances on April 5th. All of the concerts were absolutely wonderful. It is clear that students and staff have been working very hard to hone their skills. A big shout out to Mr. Polhemus and Mr. Gregory for their work with our talented musicians. We look forward to additional performances from the Jazz Band, Orchestra, our Voices Vocal Ensemble, and Chorus classes in the month of May!

Kindness Laser Show

With the support of the PTO, students were able to attend a Kindness Laser Show. This laser show emphasized treating others well, self-confidence, and demonstrating empathy in all we do. Students had a wonderful time.

One Book/ One School

The whole school read "Maybe" by Koby Yamada. Students completed activities to support the idea that everyone in the world is important. Students reflected on how important they are and how much potential they have!

""The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you."

B.B. King

The past month has been a busy one at Hill and Plain School. We were fortunate to have an assembly with a local author who visited the school. Melissa Shapiro, the author of Piglet Comes Home and Piglet: The Unexpected Story of a Deaf, Blind Pink Puppy and His Family met with all grade levels and shared her message of having a positive attitude, inclusivity, empathy and more.

Our PTO sponsored a few fun events over the last month. The annual Read-a-Thon was a success and Hill and Plain students logged over 144,000 minutes read during the event! Thank you to those families that participated and helped students fill out the reading logs. The PTO also sponsored a spirit day with the theme being “decades”. Students were invited to dress up in clothing from any decade. Students had a blast with the theme and it was fun to see all the different outfits.

First Grade students were treated to a fun visit from the Critter Caravan. Students had the opportunity to touch and even hold a rabbit, chinchilla, hedgehog and more! Students loved learning more about the animals and being able to interact with them.

Mrs. Sheeran ran a “March Madness” style competition to see who Hill and Plain’s favorite book character was. Students had a lot of fun voting each day and at the end of voting, Pigeon, the famous character from the Mo Willems series of books came out on top as Hill and Plain’s favorite book character.

We held our in person registration days for our incoming kindergarten students. Parents were able to come in and meet with our registration secretary and school nurse to help complete the registration process. For those families who still need to register a kindergarten student for next school year, please call the main office to schedule a time to come in and complete the registration process.

On May 1st, I was surprised by an outpouring of love from the students and staff at Northville!

My day started with beautiful posters by the classes. And then to my surprise I walked into the gym to a sea of color ... each class dressed up in different color. The students then jumped up and danced to a song in my honor. I could not have asked for a better day! All day long the kids wished me a Happy Principal's Day ... and I told them I could not ask for a better place to be then here at Northville! Plus, they all kept it a secret from me :)

Thank you for all you do as parents to support your child. I appreciate the work we do together!

Winter went out with a BANG and has made way for a very busy spring at NES. We are loving the warmer temperatures. Students and staff enjoyed the APEX Fun Run, a PTO-sponsored fundraising event. Students ran laps and collected donations. It was an overwhelming success and made for an exciting week! Children received t-shirts and prizes for this fitness focused and very positive experience.

Pictured below is “Tommy Karate” of APEX, motivating a group of students before their laps.

Spring is finally here and we are in the home stretch! We hope that our students, staff, and caregivers enjoyed their well-deserved Spring Recess from school.

Here at Northville we are continuing the practice of our CARES expectations at home and at school.

The character trait for May is Courage! The students and staff have been encouraged to “practice courage” in social, educational, and personal situations. Practicing courage means we are brave despite feelings of worry or unease.

Mrs. Tufts class enjoys learning about the CARES expectations.Northville School welcomes back Mrs. Pat Colello, our new interim Assistant Principal, a role she filled last spring. Mrs. Colello comes to New Milford with much experience in Administration. She is a retired elementary school principal from Trumbull, CT. Team Tufts learned about Earth Day during the whole month of April. Students then created the Team Tufts Recycled Zoo! Each student made an animal out of recycled materials. They described what they used to make their animals and why it is a recyclable material.

On May 1st, we celebrated Mrs. Gallagher on Principal’s Day! Mrs. Valzania and Mrs. Christos taught the whole school community and student body a choreographed dance, and we surprised Mrs. Gallagher in the gym with special thoughts from students and a flash mob dance party. It was super fun!

Our future Kindergartners will enjoy their Mini-K Experience in May! The event is being held on four consecutive Wednesdays. Care-givers and parents are participating in an informative session in the cafeteria, led by Principal Gwen Gallagher while the children do fun assessment activities with Mrs. Colello and lots of staff volunteers in the gym. After a school bus ride, each family will leave with a goodie bag (and good spirits about the coming school year).

Students enjoyed watching ducklings hatch in their classrooms, and releasing butterflies as they learned about life cycles.

New Milford Adult Education’s partnership with Northstar Digital Literacy to provide computer skills training, assessments and certificates in a variety of computer applications had begun paying dividends.

This semester students have earned 100 certificates to date in the following areas:

• Essential Computer Skills - Basic Computer Skills, Internet Basics, Using Email, Windows OS, Mac OS

• Essential Software Skills – Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Google Docs

• Using Technology in Daily Life - Social Media, Information Literacy, Career Search Skills, Accessing Telehealth Appointments, Your Digital Footprint.

Certificates provide an important credential for employment, as even entry-level jobs increasingly require basic computer skills. Certificates also certify end user ability to complete computer skills needed in higher education and demonstrate their ability to use social media and online information thoughtfully.

Our student-led community service project for April was making birthday boxes to donate to social services. Students packed cake pans with cake mix, a can of soda, frosting, a birthday tablecloth, candles and directions. We learned you can make a cake with cake mix and soda- no need for oil or eggs. We even sampled a few flavors!

New Milford PTO is teaming up with the Yankees!!

• Sunday, May 28th at 1:35 p.m.
• Tickets are $100 each

Click the button below for more information and to purchase Yankee tickets.

The Youth Agency hosted a free screening of the documentary movie "LIKE". It dealt with the effects of social media on both youth and families. Around 30 people attended. The Youth Agency would like to thank Bank Street Theater for their kind collaboration. We look forward to hosting future movies about youth topics!

Pride Prom was a huge success! We had over 75 high school students attend! A huge thank you to Janette Ireland and Denise Howard for DJ'ing, Italia Mia for catering, New Milford Public Library for their kind donation, Emily Mygatt Lee of Roxbury Photography for the amazing pictures and Sarah Goncalves for the beautiful and delicious cupcakes. We look forward to doing it again next year!