PRINCIPAL UPDATE
We hope you all had a wonderful vacation week, had time to relax and recharge, and are ready to get back to school!
The week before vacation, we had a wonderful week celebrating kindness at Northeast! We saw many acts of kindness take place throughout the week and were able to recognize many of them over the intercom at the conclusion of each day. We will continue to recognize students who are "caught being kind."
Thank you very much to all who were able to send in a donation of socks. We will keep you posted on where we send the donation.
Thank you to our Fifth Grade Ambassadors for planning a fun-filled week for all Northeast students and staff beginning with an All School Meeting where they introduced Kindness Week, theme days, and ending with another All School Meeting to wrap it up with a video of the many acts of kindness displayed throughout the week. A special thank you to Mrs. LaForest, Mrs. Platt and Mrs. Ferraro who worked with the fifth grade students on their planning and to Ms. Serafin for putting together a wonderful video that captured so much kindness and happiness! We would also like to thank Jillian Lynch for taking a school photo for us in the shape of a heart. It is included below.
A huge thank you to our amazing PTO for providing blue and yellow bracelets for all Northeast students with the phrase: Kindness Matters at Northeast! Students were excited to receive these bracelets on Friday following our All School Meeting!
Prior to Kindness Week, Northeast students made Valentines for local Veterans. These cards were very much appreciated by our local heroes. Please see the thank you we received:
Valentine Card Thank You Letter
#KINDNESS MATTERS ❤️
**************************************************************************************************
REMINDER: Northeast bus routes will have adjusted start times in the morning beginning MONDAY, February 27th. This adjusted start time will ensure that the school buses are not arriving at Northeast too early. Please see below for the new start times - and when you should be waiting at the bus stop with your child(ren).
Bus 316
8:15am
Bus 317
8:10am
Bus 318
8:05am
Bus 319
8:10am
Bus 320
8:05am
Bus 321
8:10am
Bus 322
8:10am
**************************************************************************************************
RED TAGS FOR STUDENTS IN GRADES K, 1 and 2:
As explained prior to vacation, another change is that all students in grades K, 1, and 2 who ride a school bus will now have a red tag on their backpacks. These tags were placed on student backpacks prior to vacation. This red tag indicates to the bus driver that this is a student in K-2 and they cannot be let off the school bus without an adult present at the stop to meet them. If there is no adult at the stop, the child will be brought back to Northeast and will need to be picked up from the school by a parent or guardian.
Another change is that all students in Grades K-2 now have red bus tags on their backpacks with their first name, bus number and K-2.
**************************************************************************************************
This is another reminder about smart phones and smart watches. These are not allowed in elementary school. If you need your child to have a phone or watch for communication purposes after school, they must leave these devices in their backpacks. They must remain in backpacks until students are off school property and off the bus. If students are seen using their phones or watches during the school day, they will be taken away and a parent will need to come to the school to pick them up.
**************************************************************************************************
WPS 4th Annual Parenting Awareness Conference
Please join us at the 4th Annual Parenting Awareness Conference on Saturday, March 4th from 830 - 1:30 at the Kennedy Middle School. Our Keynote Speaker will be Dr. Jennifer L. DelRey, Staff Psychologist, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Newton Wellesley Hospital. Workshop sessions will include "Your Child and Screen Time", a parent panel focusing on a sense of belonging and "Addressing Family Stress". Other topics will be added over the next few weeks. The day will also include breakfast, lunch, child care and Spanish, Haitian Creole, Portuguese and ASL interpretation. If you are planning to attend, please complete this form. Thank you! We hope to see you there!
Here is the link to register for this year's Conference.
*********************************************************************************************
REMINDERS ABOUT THE WEEK AHEAD:
- Monday, February 27 - I Like to Move It 3:30-4:30pm in the Gym
- Tuesday, February 28 - Math Olympiad 3:15-4:15pm
- Wednesday, March 1 - School Committee Meeting @ 7:00pm
- Saturday, March 4 - 4th Annual Parenting Awareness Conference 8:30am-1:30pm at Kennedy Middle School. Here is the link to register for this year's Conference.
Have a great week!
Mrs. Tenaglia and Ms. McAvoy
STEAM NIGHT AT NORTHEAST
Are you interested in helping at STEAM Night? Sign up here.
🍎 HEALTHY WALTHAM FOOD PANTRY
*****Starting in January, the pantry will be walk-up only at our new location at 5 Cherry Street – the parking lot at the Fitch School in Waltham, MA. Our new hours will be from 2pm-5pm. We will have a variety of food for families to choose from, as well as some new items.
Where to park: Street parking only.
Registration: Please register in person at the pantry.
Food Pantry Donations: If you would like to make food donations of any kind, please contact us via contact us form on this website. No deliveries will be accepted at our mailing address without prior contact and coordination.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Upcoming pantry dates:
Thursday, March 9
Thursday, March 23
NORTHEAST PTO
*Immediate need for PTO Treasurer*
Our Treasurer, Jean Petrino, is resigning from the PTO Board due to personal reasons effective March 1, 2023.
We thank Jean for all of her years of service on the PTO -- we are all a group of volunteer parents, and we cannot do this without our PTO Community support!
We don't expect anyone to "know what to do" -- Jean has graciously offered to help transition this new Board member into this role and be a resource of her knowledge.
If you are interested in learning more (no commitment to have a convo!) -- please reach out to us via Facebook, email (northeastptoboard@gmail.com or treasurer.nepto@gmail.com) or grab one of us at pickup. We'd love to help provide more info!
_____________________________________________________________________
Star Market reusable bag sale! -- We were selected AGAIN - yay!! For the month of February, the reusable bags "Give Back Where It Counts" benefit Northeast PTO! $1 of each $3 bag is donated to our PTO! Please share this with your family and friends as well!
____________________________________________________
Cash Raffle Calendar Fundraiser (daily drawing month of February!)
We are still accepting Cash Calendars! Please get your slips in ASAP to ensure they are in the mix for the daily drawings beginning February 1st. Each evening a winner is drawn on Facebook Live on our PTO Facebook page!
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Val Alfeo at vralfeo@gmail.com.
______________________________________________________
Restaurant Nights - Save the Dates! Fliers will come home closer to the event.
*Tuesday, March 7 - Papa Gino's
*Thursday, March 30th - Chateau Waltham
*Tuesday, April 11 - Chipotle
_________________________________________________________________
Save the Date: Trivia Night -- March 8th at Tempo!
Mark your calendars now for Wednesday, March 8th @ Tempo! More details to come, but start organizing your teams!! (This is an adult only event!)
Teams can be up to 6 people -- to register your team, go to: https://bit.ly/NETrivia38
Also, if you would like to donate a raffle item, we would love any and all things!! Word is that Pino Bros will be donating another generous gift card!! (Thank you, Karen Pino!!)
______________________________________________________________
Attention 5th Grade Parents!
Our 5th Grade Committee is collecting contact info for the 5th grade celebration at the end of the year. Please complete this form ONLY IF you didn't already send the paper form back: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfr9ro5fYVgf2xIi-5DT7hBVM19TzDnZrCaK5erWsLEhN-3fQ/viewform?fbclid=IwAR0icGEhtpFrduUSy9IwBoJ0cGaJFGIifdRtr4rQrZfPGU7I19wYa8Mm0zM
_____________________________________________________
Northeast Free Little Library is up!
Our library is running low! If you have any books you'd like to donate, you can also drop them to Daniella Ricci (Circle Drive) -- Daniella has offered to collect book donations, as well as make sure it remains stocked.
________________________________________________________
PTO Event Chairs:
If you have volunteered to lead/chair/assist with an event -- you have been contacted via email. If you did not receive one, please email northeastptoboard@gmail.com.
We do still need Chairs for a few things to ensure we are able to run all planned activities for this year -- please visit this SignUp Genius to see where you may be able to help out: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4da8a729a6fcc43-ptoevent
_____________________________________________________
PTO Meetings for 2022-23: Due to some scheduling challenges -- we have had to change the next two PTO meeting dates. Please see below for updated dates! The meetings will be offered virtually only (no in-person option). We welcome feedback for the preference of keeping it virtual, or offering in-person again.
PTO Community Meeting Dates for the year:
2023:
Superintendent, Dr. Brian Reagan will be joining us for this meeting! ***Tuesday, March 21***
*Wed, April 12
*Wed, May 24
______________________________________________________
Thank you for all of your help and support!
PTO Board Members:
Debbie Coleman, President
Karen Pino, Vice President
Daniella Ricci, Vice President
Val Alfeo, Secretary
Jean Petrino, Treasurer
Jeremy Davidson, Executive Director of NEPTO
Northeast Elementary School
Ms. Kelly McAvoy, Assistant Principal
Email: MaryEllenTenaglia@walthampublicschools.org
Website: https://www.walthampublicschools.org/o/northeast
Location: 70 Putney Lane, Waltham, MA 02452, USA
Phone: 781-314-5740
