R.J. Grey Junior High School

Good evening,

I rarely watch professional basketball or college basketball. But when it comes to March Madness, I'm all in with checking my bracket regularly. While my predicted winner is already out of contention, I’m currently in the lead! I’ve screenshotted my “1st place” a few times for posterity, as I know one of my in-laws will pass by me soon. At RJ Grey, we are celebrating the almost end of March Madness with College Jersey day tomorrow. If your child has a favorite college to support, send them in with their gear. My Stonehill College sweatshirt is in the wash as I write this.

During morning announcements this week, I was happy to learn that our school raised over $1400 for the Sunflower of Peace organization, with the goal of helping the people of Ukraine. I’m always proud of our community and our students - but I certainly want to thank our families for the funds that I’m sure many of you gave for this effort. With an intentional focus on community this year at RJ Grey, this is an example of how our little community has the potential to impact communities in other parts of the world. We hope our small token of funding makes a difference for Ukraine.

Each year, RJ Grey is asked to nominate two students to represent our two towns as Ambassadors for Project 351: a non-profit organization dedicated to youth service and leadership. The 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts all have an 8th grade representative and together, the students work on service projects in their own towns. Our reps, Lilah Nakimuli and Julia Zhou are behind an upcoming RJ Grey Clothing Drive. If you have gently used or new clothing, sized Infant to Youth Large, please consider donating. We’ll have donation bins in the main lobby of RJ Grey all next week. Feel free to come by during the week, or send in a bag with your child. We’ll happily accept your donations for this good cause.

We are wrapping up our ELA MCAS tomorrow with the final day for most 7th graders. If your child missed one or more days of  MCAS this week, we’ll be in touch with them next week to do make-ups. By all accounts, the testing has gone smoothly! Thanks for reminding your kids to charge their Chromebooks - we had very few tech issues this week, which just makes the whole process more relaxed for everyone involved.

Finally, we are excited to bring back the Junior High Musical! Like most things, it’s been a few years since we’ve put on a musical. This year, our Stage Works crew is presenting Guys and Dolls, Jr! I encourage you to buy tickets to come see our students sing and dance! Our students and staff have been working hard on this performance. Performances are on April 7th-9th at 7pm and April 10th at 2pm at the Dragonfly Theater (the RJG Auditorium). Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and are on sale now at the Main Office, or at the door. ABSAF pass holders are entitled to two free tickets for the JH musical and are encouraged to pick them up, in advance, from the Main Office between 8:30am and 3:00pm. I’m very excited to be in the audience and I hope to see many of you there!

Here are some upcoming dates to be aware of:

-Friday, April 1: 7th grade ELA MCAS

-Monday, April 4: Early Release (1 pm)

-Thursday, April 7 - Sunday April 10: Guys and Dolls, Jr Musical at RJ Grey

-Monday, April 11 - School Council Meeting, 7 pm on Zoon

-Friday, April 15 - No School for Good Friday

-Monday, April 18 - Friday, April 22 - Vacation Week

Take care,

Jim Marcotte

Good afternoon,

I hope you are all doing well. Today was a fun day at RJ Grey - we hope most days feel somewhat fun! Today was our second Team Community Building Day for three of the four 8th grade teams. 8 Red chose to postpone until next week based on some outdoor activities they had planned. Our teachers planned fun and different activities that allowed students to work together in groups, laugh, engage, and enjoy some community and joy - both of which are central to our work this year. I saw many fun activities: build the tallest structure possible with 30 toothpicks and small marshmallows; play a full-class trivia game with wagers for particular categories; get pairs of marbles from one end of a room to another by transporting them only through PVC pipes! We also had lower key activities that included coloring, board games, and creating paper sunflowers. I have huge appreciation for our teachers who planned these activities with the goal of some community building and some joy. The 7th graders have their Team Community Building Days tomorrow. I’m equally excited to check out what’s on tap for them.

We are deep into planning for next year, both here and at the high school. Seventh grade families heard from me by email today regarding course registration for next year. Our deadline for completion is Friday, April 1. The 8th grade families heard from me earlier this week, and your deadline for course registration is this coming Monday, March 28. Our counseling staff is a great resource for any questions related to course registration. Please feel free to reach out.

And finally, we begin our MCAS testing next week. The full schedule for ELA testing is listed below. While we hope it’s always the case, a good night’s sleep before MCAS, along with breakfast at home (or in our cafe) are a good way to start the day. While we are not a school that overuses the results of our MCAS assessments, we recognize that the test is supposed to test the standards and skills we are teaching, and we’d like to see our students perform well on it. We always find ways to learn something about our instruction and where we can improve based on the assessments. And my biggest request - please make sure your child charges their Chromebook the night before each test. You’ll help save us all a bit of panic!

Here are some upcoming dates to be aware of:

-Friday, March 25: 7th grade team community building day

-Monday, March 28: 8th grade ELA MCAS

-Tuesday, March 29: 8th grade ELA MCAS

-Thursday, March 31: 7th grade ELA MCAS

-Thursday, March 31: Student trivia event after school

-Friday, April 1: 7th grade ELA MCAS

Take care,

Jim Marcotte

Good afternoon,

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to anyone who wants to be Irish today! With a French-Canadian last name, my family's understanding was always that we were a good 25% French-Canadian.  A few years ago, my wife got me one of those at-home DNA test kits. Surprisingly, my results came back as 95% Irish and 5% Scottish. This led to a bit of intrigue as we couldn’t figure out where “Marcotte” entered the family tree! One would assume it might have been a mistake on my lab results, but we also found out my uncle had a similar revelation - no French Canadian at all! Long story short…whether you are actually Irish, or still wonder about your status (like me), Happy St. Patrick’s Day to us all!

We had a great event for students last Friday afternoon. It was our first in-person Student Council event since January 2020. Our March Madness tournament was a great time and everyone who attended had lots of fun - players and spectators alike. Not only was it a 5-on-5 tournament with games 5 minutes long, the ball we used was smaller than normal and pumped FULL of air. So even our strongest players had a hard time getting into a shooting and scoring rhythm. The highest point total I was able to see before stepping out of the gym was six! It was great to see lots of students come together to do something fun. There was cheering, laughing, and of course, disappointment for the teams as they got knocked out of the competition. As we work on building a joyful, inclusive community, this is a good example of an activity for kids that I hope they will remember fondly.

We couldn’t pull off events like this without adult support. Our student council advisor is Ms. Ahl and she worked closely with her student council members to organize and advertise. We benefited greatly from a group of parents who volunteered to work in the snack area: Shweta Arora, Megan Connor, Hajeera Janibasha, Durga Nirgudkar, Lisa Palaia, and Kelly Sturniolo. We are also super grateful to the families who donated food and drink for the event. We really appreciate your support!

Our Student Council has also been busy setting up a fundraiser for the Sunflower of Peace organization. We are collecting money to donate to this charity which provides medical and humanitarian aid that will be used by the paramedics and doctors in the areas that are affected by the violence in Ukraine. Thank you for your support of this student-led effort.

Finally, for today, a request! We provide each of our students with a school-owned Chromebook for use in and out of school. We have arrived at the point of the year when some students come to school with their Chromebooks not fully charged. We have to turn away students who ask for a loaner for the day due to not having battery power. We have a limited supply of loaners and we give those to students whose devices are broken or malfunctioning. Going forward, if it’s not already a well-established routine for your child, could you please help them make sure their device gets charged every night? Before we enter MCAS next week, I’ll send a more specific email about this to all of our families. We appreciate your help with this request.

Here are some upcoming dates to be aware of:

-Monday, March 21: Parent Portal opens for current 8th grade families re: ABRHS courses

-Monday, March 21: Early Release, 1 pm

-Thursday, March 24: 8th grade team community building day

-Thursday, March 24: Parent Portal opens for current 7th grade families re: RJG courses

-Thursday, March 24: Trimester 2 Report Cards emailed

-Friday, March 25: 7th grade team community building day

-Monday, March 28: 8th grade ELA MCAS

-Tuesday, March 29: 8th grade ELA MCAS

-Thursday, March 31: 7th grade ELA MCAS

-Thursday, March 31: Student trivia event after school

-Friday, April 1: 7th grade ELA MCAS

Take care,

Jim Marcotte

Good afternoon,

This morning at traffic duty, I was paying particular attention to the cars who were arriving without any snow on them! I was a bit jealous that you must not have a garage packed full of trash barrels, Barbie Jeeps, and 17 bicycles, Big Wheels, and fake lawn mowers! That quick-hitter of snow caught me by surprise this morning. But now my office window is open and it feels like March, again, for which I am grateful.

Tomorrow marks the end of Trimester 2 at RJ Grey. Report cards will be emailed after we process all of our grades and comments, likely delivered around March 24th. Entering the final trimester always means that the end of year is in sight. It also means that we have a lot happening throughout the spring and is a good check for us: are we ready? We will be!

I want to highlight that we have spring athletics starting up soon (baseball, softball, spring track, and volleyball). Here is a doc with information about upcoming tryouts and practices. We’ll likely update this doc over the next few days to account for the Town of Acton Election on Tuesday, 3/29. That will limit our ability to have indoor tryouts on Monday and Tuesday of that week. If you have specific questions about any of our spring sports, the doc linked above has contact info for our coaches and athletic director. This doc also reminds everyone about the requirement for current physical exams, and the Family ID sign-ups.

As we enter the spring, we also focus a lot of our time on planning for MCAS testing at the Junior High. In the seventh grade, students are tested in ELA and Math. In the eighth grade, students are tested in ELA, Math, and Science. We start our ELA testing on March 28. Here are our planned MCAS dates this spring, for your convenience.

Tomorrow is Sports Jersey Day at RJ Grey. I have never been one to own a Brady or Gronk jersey - I probably could find a few Red Sox t-shirts in my drawers if I look hard enough. So if your child wants to wear sports-related garb tomorrow, please encourage it. Earlier this year, a pair of teachers approached me in the lobby one morning with a gift bag. We moved into my office where I unveiled the gift. They had bought me a Richmond AFC jersey with my name on the back. I’ve never played soccer in my life; I watch my daughters try to play soccer by chasing the ball around the field. But if you’re a reader of this weekly message, you know that I appreciate all things Ted Lasso. I thanked these teachers for this really thoughtful gift…completely loving the sentiment and thoughtfulness, while knowing that soccer jerseys haven’t fit my aesthetic in the past! But, I’m bringing it home tonight and if it fits comfortably in the morning, I’ll wear it to support my club!

Here are some upcoming dates to be aware of:

-Friday, March 11: End of Trimester 2

-Friday, March 11: Sports Jersey Day

-Friday, March 11: Student Council Basketball Tournament after school

-Monday, March 14: RJ Grey School Council, 7 pm on Zoom

-Monday, March 21: Portal opens for ninth grade course registration
-Monday, March 21: Early Release, 1 pm

-Thursday, March 24: 8th grade team community building day

-Friday, March 25: 7th grade team community building day

Take care,

Jim Marcotte

Good afternoon,

It has been a good week of reconnecting and settling in at RJ Grey after last week’s vacation. I know you’re all aware that we’ve adjusted our Covid practices and we are now a mask-optional school district. As always, our students have come through and do exactly what we have asked. On Monday when we returned, I noticed about 80% of our students wearing masks (my estimate, only!). Over the last four days, that number has shifted a bit and there are now fewer students wearing masks throughout the day, but we’re still hovering around the 50-60% mark. We made clear that we would respect all student and staff decisions to wear masks or not. We haven’t had any issues with students questioning each other’s mask-wearing. We have great kids who are really respectful of this process. Thanks for letting us work with your children!

We returned on Monday with several important world events to unpack. Our social studies classes were front and center with helping students grapple with the situation in Ukraine. I visited all eight social studies rooms on Monday to see how teachers were helping the students process what they might have watched on the news over the prior week, and in many cases they connected the current events with topics they’ve already studied this year. These same teachers also got the chance to talk about the nomination of a supreme court justice, topped off by a State of the Union address. It’s been quite a week! I am always so appreciative when this particular department comes together to help our students unpack important events that happen in our world.

If you’re the parent of an 8th grader, you may start to hear your child talk about courses for next year at ABRHS. This week, our 8th grade counselors began talking to some students about the process for next year’s course registration; other teams will hear this talk next week. The counselors answer general questions about the high school, including course loads, and logistics (how long is lunch!). Our counselors leave specific conversations about content-area courses and recommendations to our team teachers. Those conversations will be coming up in the next few weeks, where a teacher will make a recommendation for your child’s continued study in that discipline. Starting on March 21, you’ll go into the Parent Portal to see the recommended courses. There will be instructions shared prior to then, but I include it as context for what your kids might be starting to excitedly talk about. The high school has developed a specific site where you can gather information about this upcoming transition.

My final point today is to talk about social media. Every year, we try to help students navigate the complications of living in a world with social media. I am continually thankful that there was no such thing during my own middle school years! The computer we had at home was in the living room and the only reason you’d use it was to maybe use the word processing features. And when I was home and didn’t want to talk to any of my classmates, I had the luxury to choose to just be, without the constant feeling of keeping up with what’s happening online. Our kids don’t have that luxury now.

I encourage you to have a conversation with your children this week to ask about their social media habits. We’ve seen accounts this year that pop up with the goal of embarrassing or exposing pictures or facts about peers. When we find out about these, we try to help locate the responsible party and have the account taken down. Just this week, I talked to several students who I could see were following and liking posts on certain accounts that were posting concerning images. In each case, students didn’t know who had created the account, nor did they know who was adding content. Yet, they continued to like the posts, and in some cases, comment. I think our kids face a dilemma with social media: view it, like it, comment on it, or be left out of the loop. I understand the conundrum. In my conversations this week, I tried to have students understand that if none of them liked inappropriate posts, and if no one commented, the account would likely become obsolete and unimportant. I’d encourage you to ask your kids about how they approach this. If they have any insights into how we can all do better, please feel free to share those thoughts with me!

Here are some upcoming dates to be aware of:

-Monday, March 7: Early Release at 1 pm

-Monday, March 7: Youth Risk Behavior Survey for 8th graders

-Friday, March 11: End of Trimester 2

-Friday, March 11: Sports Jersey Day

-Friday, March 11: Student Council Basketball Tournament after school

-Monday, March 14: RJ Grey School Council, 7 pm on Zoom

Take care,

Jim Marcotte