R.J. Grey Junior High School

Good afternoon,

I hope you’re doing well. As we enter a weekend with a snowstorm looming in front of us, I hope you have a plan for snow removal, which frankly, should involve your 7th or 8th grader! Growing up, my sisters and I, along with my dad, were responsible for shoveling a pretty long driveway. Though it was always the heaviest part of the driveway, I always took on clearing the area in front of the mailbox. Being precise and digging out a clean edge along the street always made me pretty proud and confident that the mailman would have easy access. I did become a letter carrier one summer during college, so maybe it was a bit of foreshadowing into that role. No one on our street had a snowblower back then and getting a plow was considered unnecessary. Physical labor was the name of the game in Lowell in the 80s and 90s! So as I start up my expensive snowblower on Saturday, I’ll think of my childhood days of shoveling… as I clear the snow completely by myself!

We have several community-type updates to share today, so please read along:

Mascot Re-Naming Survey Reminder

We are sending this reminder to the community about the current opportunity to submit a suggestion for a new mascot for our district.  Thank you to the many individuals who have already offered one or more suggestions.  Below is the original invitation sent to the community earlier in January.  Please note that the deadline for suggestions is February 4, 2022. All entries should be submitted through the online survey - here is the address:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ABMascot

Vaccine Booster Opportunity at AB

At this time, we are planning one booster clinic at R.J. Grey Junior High School on Saturday, February 12th from 9:00-3:00 for 12-18 year olds.  The Acton Health Department has ordered 300 initial vaccine doses, and sign up is first-come, first served. If there is an overwhelming response from our families, we may be able to add additional slots. Please check your email for additional information from last week, and the link to sign up!

Knowing we have limited vaccine availability, we encourage you to visit the MassVax site at https://vaxfinder.mass.gov/, where you can filter vaccines by the Pfizer booster and find available appointments.

ABSAF Recruitment

The purpose of ABSAF (Acton-Boxborough Student Activity Fund)  is to raise money each year through ABSAF pass sales, donations, and fundraising events, which will, in turn, be gifted to the Jr. High and High School to subsidize student activities like music, drama, athletics, and other club activities. ABSAF is currently recruiting interested 8th graders to be part of this group. This message and more information will be sent to 8th grade students soon, but I thought it would be valuable to share with our parent community. ABSAF has always been generous to us and any support you give to this organization benefits all of us.

Here are some upcoming dates to be aware of:

-Friday, Jan 28: Hawaiian Shirt Day

-Monday, Jan 31: SOS Lesson for 7 Green

-Wednesday, Feb 2: SOS Lesson for 7 Blue

-Monday, Feb 7: RJG School Council, 7pm

-Thursday, Feb 10: NAEP assessment for selected 8th graders

Take care, and lift with your knees, not your back as you shovel this weekend!

Jim Marcotte

Good afternoon,

I hope you are all doing well. Where this past Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, my Instagram and Twitter were flooded with important and relevant quotes from Dr. King. One quote that stuck out to me was, “The time is always right to do what is right.” This quote will likely fill the bulletin board in our main lobby when I have a few minutes to break out my artsy side soon. I really like that quote and I think it fits with the work we’re doing at RJ Grey. As many times as possible, we work with your kids to make good decisions: we advise them, we coach them, we model for them. And sometimes they make a mistake, and then our focus switches to trying to help them understand the impact and effect of their actions. And while we don’t necessarily use Dr. King’s words above, we should. As we build a joyful, inclusive community of engaged learners, we’ll have some hiccups and we’ll all make some mistakes, but the overall sentiment is that as a community, doing the right thing is the right thing. Thank you for your support as we deliver messages along these lines to our students.

You likely received an email late last week that directed you to a survey about choosing a new mascot for Acton-Boxborough. I’ve mentioned in this column before that five RJ Grey students are part of the student group whose task is to select the next mascot of AB. The student group has put together a survey, asking for ideas for a new mascot. I would encourage you to share any awesome ideas you have, and please share the survey with anyone interested in AB. The survey will close on February 4. I hope some of our creative community members take a few minutes to share their thoughts with our student committee. Please feel free to share this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ABMascot

Today is day 86 of our school year, meaning we’re just about at the halfway point. I’ve always found the second half of the year to go even faster than the first, so buckle up! Teachers will be submitting Trimester 2 Interim Reports early next week, to be emailed mid-week to families. Interim reports are designed to alert families to situations where something could be better. Low assessment grades, lack of homework completion, or classroom behavior all might be reasons for a teacher to issue an interim. Trimester 2 won’t end until March 11, so there is a good amount of time to make adjustments. If, after receiving an Interim Report where questions remain, please reach out directly to your child’s teachers and if necessary, help to make a plan with your child for the next steps for improvement. We’re happy to help with that if you need it, so please let us know.

Here are some upcoming dates to be aware of:

-Monday, Jan 24: Early Release (1pm) for Professional Learning

-Monday, Jan 24: Signs of Suicide Lesson (SOS) for 7 Gold

-Wednesday, Jan 26: SOS Lesson for 7 Red

-Friday, Jan 28: Hawaiian Shirt Day

-Monday, Jan 31: SOS Lesson for 7 Green

-Wednesday, Feb 2: SOS Lesson for 7 Blue

-Monday, Feb 7: RJG School Council, 7pm

-Wednesday, Feb 9: ABRHS Curriculum Night for 8th grade families, 7pm on Zoom

-Thursday, Feb 10: NAEP assessment for selected 8th graders

Take care,
Jim

Good afternoon,

I don’t know that I wished anyone a Happy New Year in last week’s message. If you watch Curb Your Enthusiasm, you might recognize the interaction where Larry David declares that you cannot wish anyone a Happy New Year after January 7th. While I’m breaking his rule in this message, I think it’s worth acknowledging that we’re in a New Year!

And while I can never hold fast to a resolution, I do always start the year with some energy and renewed focus on something. While it should be riding my exercise bike in the cold basement, or spending less time scrolling on my phone, neither of those have come to fruition yet. This week, I have found myself with a fresh energy around the prospects of our continued work this year at RJ Grey.

I spent just a bit of time at a few basketball games this week. And I see the musical tryouts taking shape in the auditorium. And it’s just a little lighter outside right now than it was last week! As administrators, we are starting to plan on how to roll out things like parent night for 6th grade families, and even getting deeper into our plans for having an Advisory program at RJ Grey next year. While my wife and I were just this morning bemoaning the boringness of mid-January (“what do you want for dinner tonight? I don’t know, what do you want?”), there is excitement for the prospect of how this year will continue to unravel, making way for the planning for a new year! 

For parents of 8th graders, you saw an email from me today about an upcoming Info Session (January 19th at 7 pm) with the high school about a change in the science curriculum. Please see the email I sent today for the Zoom link. Also be aware that the high school will be holding a Curriculum Night on Wednesday, February 9th. We’ll share more info as we get closer, as well as the Zoom link. Here at RJ Grey, we’re gearing up for our annual SOS (Signs of Suicide) lessons in the 7th grade. See my email from this week for more info on that. So while your students are plodding their way through this year, completing their iReady assessments and other tasks, know that we continue to be excited to plan out the rest of this year and beyond. 

In closing, Happy New Year! If you’ve found a way to keep your exercise bike a regular part of your life, I welcome some inspiration! And I’ll likely finish this message and text my wife, “What do you want me to pick up for take-out on the way home?” 

Here are some upcoming dates to be aware of:

-Monday, Jan 17: No School for Martin Luther King Day

-Wednesday, Jan 19: ABRHS Info Session on Science Curriculum (for 8th grade families and students)

-Monday, Jan 24: Early Release (1pm) for Professional Learning

-Friday, Jan 28: Hawaiian Shirt Day

-Monday, Feb 7: RJG School Council, 7pm

-Wednesday, Feb 9: ABRHS Curriculum Night, 7pm

-Thursday, Feb 10: NAEP assessment for selected 8th graders

Take care,
Jim Marcotte

Good evening, everyone:

I hope you all had a nice holiday season and a chance to visit friends and family over the break. My family and I had a good week together. We saw some immediate family over Christmas and otherwise stuck close to home. We played several games of Hedbanz and Rack-O, watched Home Alone about 12 times, and collectively took about 10 Covid tests. We have thus far survived without anyone in my home getting Covid this winter. I know that’s not the same for all of you. I hope that for whoever has it, their symptoms are easy and lead to a quick recovery.

I know that many of you have experienced the virus recently because we regularly get updates from you - thank you for being so direct and quick with sharing with us when someone has symptoms or has a positive test. That’s very important to us all. You have likely gotten an email from me this week saying that your child has been in a class with a positive case. This is a shift in our practices. Our former way of contact tracing was to narrow in on seating charts and inform only those contacts who were in the immediate area of a positive case. That was not sustainable for our staff, and as a district, we’ve shifted a bit. It’s remarkable that one student can come into “contact” with up to 100 other students over a day or two just by nature of being in the same class at some point during the day. So please know that we’re committed to finding the right balance with keeping you informed, without overdoing it. Aside from notifying the families of all students in specific classes, we are paying special attention to the close contacts within 0 - 3 feet who are currently unvaccinated. We approach those students differently and more immediately and we’re in contact with those families.

When we started the week on Monday, I reminded the students about our strategies for combating Covid, including wearing masks, avoiding crowds, and making smart decisions. They’ve been great this week - so thanks for supporting us in that effort. As we all continue to work through this, I continue to be thankful for our students who are respectful, caring, and helpful. 

And while our students are awesome - our staff might edge them out a bit in being even better. We all met on Zoom on Monday morning and I reviewed some changes in our practices. They all responded gratefully for our efforts to keep our students and ourselves safe. And while this is only the first week back, and we should be refreshed, we’re exhausted! Back in the fall, I took the opportunity during one of these messages to ask you to reach out and thank a teacher. This week is another good opportunity to do so. If you haven’t thanked one of our teachers recently, sending them a quick email would be most welcome.

And finally, the biggest champions of the year are our school nurses. Mrs. Doherty, Ms. Nimz, and Ms. Chadwick each spend time in our Health Office during the week. Without them and their careful attention to detail, and their caring demeanors, we’d be in a different place right now. They continue to help us navigate the world of Covid while dealing with other ailments and concerns. They are a really great team and help make the our work at RJ Grey this year safe and sustainable.

Here are some upcoming dates to be aware of:

-Monday, Jan 17: No School for Martin Luther King Day

-Monday, Jan 24: Early Release (1pm) for Professional Learning

-Friday, Jan 28: Hawaiian Shirt Day

Take care,
Jim Marcotte