R.J. Grey Junior High School

Good afternoon,

I heard from one teacher earlier this week (Monday), who was excitedly talking about her trip to the Caribbean next week. As of Monday, she already fully packed her suitcase! If that doesn’t tell you that some of us are ready for vacation, I’m not sure what will. If you are headed away on a trip, or if you’re staying close to home, like my family, I hope you have a great week.

Tomorrow (Friday) is our annual Blue and Gold Day at RJ Grey! Many years ago, this day coincided with the last home basketball game, and the school would wear blue and gold to support the teams. Our basketball season wrapped up last week, and has done so for the entire 11 years I’ve been at RJ Grey. However, the day has remained as one of the more fun, school-spirit oriented days in our year. Each grade level will have an assembly, complete with performances from our band, orchestra, and chorus, and cheerleaders. And we’ll have a game of musical chairs, too. I’m anticipating fun assemblies tomorrow leading into a good week away! Please encourage your students to wear some blue and gold tomorrow…maybe they’ll wear their Revolution t-shirts we distributed in the fall.

Earlier this week, our assistant principal, Mr. Zhang asked if he could use one of our bulletin boards in the cafe annex area. Not having a complete picture of why, I said sure! Turns out, he wanted to find a way for our students to offer thoughts on what they view as “What’s Awesome about RJ Grey.” His Advisory group helped him assemble the board this week.  

I zeroed in on some of the answers and wanted to share a few with you here:

• The teachers at RJ Grey are really nice, helpful, and encouraging.

• I love RJ Grey because most of the time I have a lot of fun.

• I love RJ Grey because all my friends are here.

• I like RJ Grey because I get to see my friends everyday. It is a comfortable space and I feel safe in this school. Learning at RJ Grey I would say is a privilege.

• RJ Grey is amazing as there are so many kind people and they are willing to be your friend.

• I like my teachers because they ask me if I’m okay when I’m not doing well, and they help me with my work and they are very kind to me.

• I love that my teachers are great and always smiling.

• Thank you for putting up with us, even though we are hard to handle.

Hearing from our kids about some of the simple and positive things they think about RJ Grey is refreshing and serve as a reminder that RJ Grey is a great place to learn and work.

If you joined us for the first in the series of Cartwheel webinars, we are pleased to announced the second session: Positive Relationships with Screen-based Technology. Through our partnership with Cartwheel Care, the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District invites you to join us as we explore research-based strategies to support healthy media use for yourself and the young people you care for and work with. Media educator and researcher, Sarah Krongard, Ph.D. will review a framework for mindful media literacy, strategies for integrating media and technology to support prosocial development, and a Q & A session on media challenges and concerns. The webinar will take place on Wednesday, March 1 at 7 pm. Please see this flyer for info on how to register.

Finally, our Superintendent’s Office has asked us to share information about Open Door Theater’s production of The Spongebob Musical. Please see this flyer for performance dates and ticket information.

Here are some dates to be aware of:

• Monday, 2/20 - Friday, 2/24: Schools Closed for February Vacation

• Monday, 2/27: Early Release at 1 pm

• Wednesday, 3/1: Webinar: Positive Relationships with Screen-Based Technology

• Thursday, 3/2: ABRHS info session for 8th graders (during the school day)

• Monday, 3/6: Library closed after school for staff meeting

Take care and have a great week,
Jim

Good afternoon,

I hope you are doing well today. I wanted to point out that this week is National School Counseling Week! At RJ Grey, we are so grateful for the hard work that our school counselors and psychologists do on a daily basis. As we wrap up our SOS program this week, and counselors gear up for upcoming course registration season, I wanted to publicly thank them for their work. Ms. Bell, Dr. Cowen, Mr. Duclos, Ms. Eagle, Ms. O’Brien, Ms. Stoodt, and Mrs. Van Vleck all serve our students, families, and staff well with the social-emotional support they provide on a daily basis. If you have already connected with your child’s counselor this year, or if you haven’t, please reach out and thank them for their work.

Speaking of social-emotional support, several weeks ago, AB offered a webinar for families, in partnership with Cartwheel Care, called Youth Mental Health in a Digital World. I missed the chance to see it live, so if you’re like me, you might want to check out the recorded version of the 45-minute webinar. You can find the video and description by clicking here, which will bring you to our District’s Mental Health Resources page. 

Another partner we rely on regularly is the Acton Food Pantry. Several years ago, we joined forces with them to make sure that we had snacks available for kids who might need something during the day, or at home. The Acton Food Pantry has asked us to share their Amazon Wishlist with our families. If you are able and interested, you can click on the list here and select something you’d be willing to donate to the Food Pantry. Any product you purchase will be shipped directly to the Food Pantry, with our students being the ultimate recipients. We’re grateful for our ongoing connection with the Food Pantry. Thank you, in advance, for your help.

Finally, next month we’ll start to advertise for teaching positions that will be available for the 23-24 school year. That process usually yields lots of applicants for the licensed teaching positions we will have available across our schools. For today, as a more immediate need, we are searching for responsible adults who’d be interested in working in our schools (RJ Grey, specifically) as day-to-day substitutes. As a college student, I spent several winter vacations and days in May subbing in local schools near where I lived. It was a great way for me to work in schools, knowing I’d become a teacher after graduating. We had a good stretch over December and January where we had several college-aged subs working with us. With those individuals now back at school for the spring semester, we have a need for other members of our community to sign up to sub! We pay $100 per day, we provide you a schedule of classes to cover, and we offer as much support as you need. Most days, with the availability of 1:1 devices for our students, you are monitoring students as they work on an assignment left by the classroom teacher. If you have a bit of time on your hands and want to be around some great kids and awesome teachers, please consider working with us. Feel free to reach out to me directly to learn more or to fill out an application.

Here are some dates to be aware of:

• Thursday, 2/9/23: 9th grade curriculum night at ABRHS, 7 pm

• Monday, 2/13/23: Early Release, 1 pm

• Friday, 2/17/23: Blue and Gold Day

• Monday, 2/20 - Friday, 2/24: Schools Closed for February Vacation

Take care and have a great weekend,
Jim

Good afternoon,

I hope you are all doing well. Several of you stopped in the drop-off line this morning to make sure  I would be bundled up for the cold weather coming our way. I will, and thank you for your concern! I ask that you make sure your own children are prepared for the incoming cold temperatures, too. As much as we work to make sure our heating system keeps us warm and comfortable, I anticipate a few cold spots tomorrow, including in our cafeteria. The wall of windows that lets in lots of natural light becomes our enemy when the temperatures get pretty low. I hope you all stay as warm as possible through these next few days. 

This week, we started our annual SOS lessons in the 7th grade. SOS stands for Signs of Suicide. I taught the lesson to Ms. Davis’s homebase on Tuesday morning. It’s only on rare occasions nowadays that I get to teach full class periods. My class was great - they were all interested in the topic, asked great questions and had thoughtful responses. The main focus of our SOS work is to have students remember a simple acronym, ACT: Acknowledge, Care, and Tell (a trusted adult). I find that the acronym is universal to lots of situations but is highly applicable to a situation when an adolescent is concerned about a friend who might be feeling depressed, upset, or in the worst case, suicidal. We talk with students about the differences between sadness and depression, we alert them to warning signs for depression, and we ask them to think about who a trusted adult is for them. While we hope all RJ Grey students have at least one trusted adult at school (80% report they currently do), we know that almost all of them are more likely to have someone they trust in their homes. One of the vignettes presented in the SOS video is between two middle-school aged boys. And while one of the boys is resistant to talking to his own mother because she has so much going on, the friend offers up his mom as someone who could help. Please know that many of you may be a trusted adult for kids who aren’t even in your own family! Kids certainly know who they can trust, so please be open if a student needs to talk to you about something important.

Our counselors view the student responses after the lesson and have follow-up conversations with students who either asked to speak to someone, or whose answers prompt us to want to learn more. We’ve now delivered the lesson to 7 Red and 7 Green, with 7 Blue and 7 Gold next week. If you think it would be helpful to connect with someone regarding your child’s emotional needs, please be in touch with your child’s counselor. If you don’t know who that it is, please reach out to me and I’ll connect you.

In other news, I ask all families who drop off their child in the morning to recommit to our expected traffic pattern. I have heard reports of families dropping off students on the driveway in front of our gym. This results in slowing down other cars, but more dangerously, it forces students to cross over the lane of oncoming traffic. Please always drop off in the lower parking lot, or if after 7:50 am, in the front circle.

Finally, I wanted to remind our 8th grade parents and guardians about the upcoming evening presentation at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School (Thursday, February 9th from 7:00 - 8:30 pm). At this presentation, the high school administration and department leaders will share information about the curriculum and student life at ABRHS. High school students will also share their experiences in activities and athletics. At the end of the presentation, there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions. The high school will come to talk to our 8th graders in early March, so this evening is set aside for just the adults.

Here are some dates to be aware of:

• Monday, 2/6/23: School Council Meeting at 7 pm on Zoom

• Tuesday, 2/7/23: 7 Gold SOS Lesson

• Thursday, 2/9/23: 7 Blue SOS Lesson

• Thursday, 2/9/23: 9th grade curriculum night at ABRHS, 7 pm

• Monday, 2/13/23: Early Release, 1 pm

• Friday, 2/17/23: Blue and Gold Day

Take care and have a great weekend,
Jim