R.J. Grey Junior High School

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

Good afternoon,

As I write this, we have just about made it through our first set of teacher conferences. I am breathing a small sigh of relief that the functionality of the whole process worked relatively well! We had a few glitches with Zoom permissions to start the day, so you have our apologies if that is the case and you couldn’t get into a meeting. Please reach out directly to that teacher if that was the case and they’ll find a way to connect with you. Connecting with families is important to us and if you didn’t have a chance to sign up for a conference, or if you want to share a bit more info than the 5 minutes allowed, please be in touch directly with your child’s teachers. We have additional conferences next Tuesday (12/21) and in the evening on January 6.

Last week, in this update, I shared with you a few statistics from our recent student survey. I shared that most students identified that they had an adult here at school, an adult at home, or a friend to whom they could go if they needed something. I’ll share again that I was pleased with the responses to this question, and I hope they only go up!

This week, our team took some time to process what we know about the recent school shooting in Michigan. We talked about many of the elements available to us through news reports. What sticks out to me through the reporting is that some students didn’t go to school on that particular day because they suspected something was going to happen. And yet, as far as we know, those concerns weren’t shared with the school. My potentially-too-optimistic take is that our students would tell someone they trust about this. And that adult would then take it seriously enough to call us. I’ve seen students and families report serious concerns to us, allowing us to respond to potentially dangerous situations. Just two weeks ago, a parent called our office to report an Instagram account that was designed to record our students doing inappropriate things. The subtitle on the account was “Don’t snitch.” We were able to put a stop to that behavior in the same afternoon because a parent among you called and let us know. I so appreciate that person’s attention to their child’s online activities and decision to report something that seemed wrong. 

Shortly, you’ll be receiving an email from Peter Light about a national TikTok trend. While I didn’t write the message above to directly coincide with the release of this statement, it’s another example of how students and you, our families, can communicate with us when you know something unsafe has the potential to take place. As a community, we all share that responsibility and I hope you see how important that is to us at RJ Grey.

On a much lighter note, we are headed into a vacation week! While I could certainly spend a day or two of the vacation getting some work done, I’m choosing to take the whole vacation off and hope to unplug from school. As a reminder, we do not give homework to our students over vacation weeks as we hope they benefit from the same opportunity to unplug. I wish you and your family a very restful and enjoyable holiday season. I’ll write again in the New Year! 

In the meantime, here are some upcoming dates that we should all be aware of:

-Friday, December 17: Formal Dress Day!

-Tuesday, December 21: early release at 11:10 am for parent conferences

-Thursday, December 23: early release at 11:10 am for the beginning of winter break (district-wide)

-Friday, December 24 - Sunday, January 2: School closed for vacation

-Monday, January 3: early release at 1 pm for professional learning

-Friday, January 7: early release at 11:10 am for time given back to staff for evening conferences the night before

Take care,
Jim Marcotte

Good afternoon,

I hope you are all doing well. I want to start by putting in another plug for our annual Coat Drive and our Toys for Tots drive. Both are currently accepting donations through next Thursday (12/16). If you have a used, warm coat that you’re looking to get rid of, we’ll take it! And the same applies for unused, unwrapped toys. Feel free to drop off any items, or send them with your children over the next week. We have drop-off locations in the main lobby.

Just before Thanksgiving, we gave our students a survey to create a baseline measurement of a few of the items on our School Improvement Plan. And while the survey revealed some areas where we have some work to do (and that we had anticipated), I was pleased with some of the results.

When asked, “If I have a problem or concern, I have a teacher or other adult whom I feel comfortable going to for help.” 85% of students agreed with this statement - which, in the first trimester I view as very strong. We hope this number will increase in the 2nd and 3rd trimester versions of this survey. When asked, “If I have a problem or concern, I have a family member or other adult outside of school whom I feel comfortable going to for help.” Huge shout out to our families, because 93% of our students answered Yes to this question. We also focused a few questions on students and their peer relationships. We asked, “Have you made new friendships at school this year?” 96% of our students answered yes! I think this is really great news and highlights the importance of us being back in school everyday! Finally, in this category of question, 95% of our students said they have “at least one friend from school whom I can ask for help/support.” 

I highlight these few questions to point out that at RJ Grey, we really rely on relationships. Students need strong relationships with their teachers in order to learn. And we also view relationships with adults outside of school, and with peers, as extremely important to the overall wellbeing and development of our 12, 13, and 14 year olds. I hope to share more data throughout the year as we unpack it and figure out what it means. 

In the meantime, here are some upcoming dates that we should all be aware of:

-Monday, December 13: early release at 1 pm for professional learning

-Tuesday, December 14: Trimester 1 Report Cards emailed home

-Thursday, December 16: early release at 11:10 am for parent conferences

-Friday, December 17: Formal Dress Day!

-Tuesday, December 21: early release at 11:10 am for parent conferences

-Thursday, December 23: early release at 11:10 am for the beginning of winter break (district-wide)

-Friday, December 24 - Sunday, January 2: School closed for vacation

-Monday, January 3: early release at 1 pm for professional learning

-Friday, January 7: early release at 11:10 am for time given back to staff for evening conferences the night before

Take care,

Jim Marcotte

Good afternoon,

I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing Thanksgiving! My family and I had a great Thanksgiving. My three daughters participated in a few performances of The Nutcracker with their local dance studio over the long weekend. It was fun watching them participate in something new for the first time. I admittedly googled the premise of The Nutcracker during intermission of the first show since I had never seen it before. The wikipedia description and my viewing of the second show really firmed up my understanding of the ballet. I’ll be much more prepared for next year.

I have several items to share with you, so I’ll cover each briefly.

We are headed into a bit of choppiness with our school schedule. There is a bit of a perfect storm happening in December and early January, leading to several early releases for our kids.

-Monday, December 13: early release at 1 pm for professional learning
-Thursday, December 16: early release at 11:10 am for parent conferences

-Tuesday, December 21: early release at 11:10 am for parent conferences

-Thursday, December 23: early release at 11:10 am for the beginning of winter break (district-wide)

-Monday, January 3: early release at 1 pm for professional learning

-Friday, January 7: early release at 11:10 am for time given back to staff for evening conferences the night before

I do feel bad listing all of these days out for you, especially those who juggle work schedules and childcare needs. The 1 pm early releases are new to us this year and weren’t really considered when we laid out our traditional December conference times. And the December 23 dismissal came as a recent change from the central office. I will work to make a plan for next year so that December doesn’t feel as disruptive. Thank you for your patience with us on this.

We host an annual Coat Drive at RJ Grey, organized through our Student Council; this year’s drive starts on Monday, December 6th and runs through Thursday, December 16th. We collect warm coats from you - any size - and we donate them to Anton’s Cleaners, who cleans them and distributes them to local organizations. We’ll have a drop-off location in our lobby - please send your students in with some coats, or if you’re driving in the area, you can ring our doorbell and we’ll have you leave the coats, too. We also host an annual Toys for Tots drive. You are welcome to bring us any new, unwrapped toy that we’ll donate to the local Toys for Tots. The timeline is the same: December 6 - 16 and the drop-off process is the same, too. I thank you in advance for your generosity with both used coats and new toys!

I’ve written a few times this year about transitions in our main offices. Today, I’m letting you know that we’ll have a transition on Monday in our Counseling Office. Mrs. Christina Pharo will assume the role of Counseling Assistant and Registrar. Christina has worked at RJ Grey for several years as a special education assistant and has also worked in our elementary programs, too. She’s a parent in our community and has a really good handle on how our system works. Among her responsibilities, she’ll welcome new families and register them for the Junior High, she’ll help families navigate the private school or technical school application process, and she’ll support students as they utilize our counseling center. We were looking for a kind, friendly person to assume this role...and we found her! Be in touch with Christina if you need anything related to the counseling office. 

And while we happily welcome Christina, we sadly say goodbye to Lena Jarostchuk. Lena is in her 8th year in the counseling office. Luckily, she is only moving across the street to the Central Office. Lena has welcomed new families over the past 8 years, always with patience, a smile, and an understanding of how it must feel to be new. Coming to RJ Grey for the first time from another district, another state, or another country must be a trying time for our families. I was always very confident that Lena took on that responsibility of welcoming our newest families as a serious task. We’ll miss Lena’s humor, her attention to detail, and her really good chocolate chip cookies that are filled with Nutella, topped with sea salt. Personally, I’m losing another colleague and friend who I have always been able to count on. I continue to tell myself, “I’m not the reason they’re leaving!” Lena’s position in HR is a significant change for her and I only wish her the best!

Finally, I wanted to mention that we’ve become aware of several Covid cases at RJ Grey - 4 this week, alone. We’ve alerted the families of any students who are close contacts. My greater message is this: please help us by being vigilant this week (and next) with monitoring your students for symptoms (see our checklist here). We are very fortunate that 88% of our students are vaccinated. I know this is why we’ve had a good run this fall with only a handful of cases. I’m imagining the return from the Thanksgiving holiday could be a reason for this week’s uptick. So for that reason, I’m asking you all to pay attention to the symptoms listed above. If you have any questions, please be in touch with Mrs. Doherty, our school nurse ([email protected]). We really appreciate your support with this.

Here are some important dates for the coming weeks:

-Monday, December 13: early release at 1 pm for professional learning
-Tuesday, December 14: Trimester 1 Report Cards emailed home

-Thursday, December 16: early release at 11:10 am for parent conferences

-Friday, December 17: Formal Dress Day!

-Tuesday, December 21: early release at 11:10 am for parent conferences

-Thursday, December 23: early release at 11:10 am for the beginning of winter break (district-wide)

-Friday, December 24 - Sunday, January 2: School closed for vacation=

-Monday, January 3: early release at 1 pm for professional learning

-Friday, January 7: early release at 11:10 am for time given back to staff for evening conferences the night before

Take care,

Jim Marcotte

Good afternoon,

It’s about 70 degrees outside my office window at the moment, reminding me that not that long ago we were enjoying warm weather and the relaxed pace of summer. We’re quite far removed from that pace here at RJ Grey, but things continue to go well. 

If you didn’t see my email yesterday about Parent/Teacher conferences, please check your inbox for an email from me some time around 7 am yesterday (11/17/21). If you need some additional information, or need me to resend an email, I’m happy to do so - please just email me.

As my messages come out on Thursdays, I’m going to take next week off from sending a message due to it being Thanksgiving. I’m hopeful that this Thanksgiving feels more typical for us all, compared to last year when we were in a surge of Covid cases. My wife, who is an educator, and I were being super cautious about Covid last year. It felt too risky for us to be out and about, with three small children and our work in schools. Instead of being tempted by both of our large extended families to join for Thanksgiving dinner or dessert somewhere, we escaped! We rented an AirB&B on the Cape and had a few great days by ourselves with our kids. We walked on the beach, I picked up a fully prepped Thanksgiving meal from Roche Bros in Mashpee, we rode our bikes, and we had a great time just being away. This year we’ll return to visiting both sets of our family at scaled down versions of a traditional Thanksgiving.

Since the beginning of the month, my family has had a plastic table cloth-style tree hanging in our kitchen. Each night, or as regularly as we think of it, our kids fill out a leaf with something they’re grateful for. We’ve had their dance teacher a few times, their school teachers, some of their aunts and uncles, grandparents, and good friends from school. We had a favorite TV show appear once. It’s a nice thing to stop on occasion and practice gratitude with them. 

As I continue into my fifth month in this Interim Principal role, there are a huge amount of things for which I’m grateful, so here are just a few:

I’m grateful for your children! They make our days full of life, excitement, and joy. They’re kind, helpful, and generally happy. I recognize that life in a middle school can be chaotic at times, but our kids make this a pretty great place to be most days.

I’m grateful for our staff - teachers, assistants, counselors, custodians, cafeteria workers, and others. I haven’t yet come upon a group of people who just go with the flow as much as these people. Everyone just seems to get that, at times, the ground beneath us doesn’t feel quite solid, but they keep moving forward with patience, flexibility and a positive attitude. I will be forever grateful to our staff for how they put our students first and keep doing the hard work in a year that has many challenges.

I’m grateful for you - our parent and guardian community. You are so supportive of us. I’ve gotten several nice emails over the year about our school; you wave at me in the morning at drop-off; you send your kids to school ready and eager to learn; you contribute to our PTSO and other organizations; and you speak up on behalf of your kids and others when you see something that could be better.

Lots of people I know work in schools - my wife, my sister, several cousins, family friends, and former colleagues who now work elsewhere. I continue to be grateful for the supportive and affirming environment that we’re able to create and maintain at RJ Grey - I know it doesn’t exist everywhere. So while I might be most grateful for some good turkey and stuffing next Thursday, the things above are pretty important and meaningful, too.

Here are some upcoming events at RJ Grey:

-Wednesday, November 24: Early Release for Thanksgiving (11:10 am)

-Thursday, November 25 and Friday, November 26: No School for Thanksgiving

-Monday, November 29: Early Release for Professional Learning (1 pm)

-Monday, December 6: RJ Grey Coat Drive Begins

-Monday, December 13: Early Release for Professional Learning (1 pm)

-Thursday, December 16: Early Release #1 (11:10) for Parent/Teacher Conferences

-Tuesday, December 21: Early Release #2 (11:10) for Parent/Teacher Conferences

-Thursday, December 23: Schools close for vacation (reopen January 3, 2022)

I wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Take care,

Jim

Good afternoon,

Happy Veterans Day to you all, especially to those who have served our country. I thank you for your service. You are receiving this on Thursday, but I wrote it on Wednesday afternoon. I am hopeful that my day home is filled with a little bit of downtime with my family. My 7 year old and 5 year old daughters are each having a friend over in the morning. Their three year old sister will undoubtedly tag along. I hope your day has been productive!

I’ve gotten a few emails about two items, so I’ll address them both here. Yes, we will be having parent conferences this year, and yes, we do plan to have Ski Club again this year. You’ll be hearing from me about both of those topics in the next week or so. In my nine years at RJ Grey, I tended to be the “details guy.” So it pains me greatly that we’ve not yet sent out some of our annual items like parent conferences. With our recent turnover in our main office, and me being brand new in this role, I’m giving myself some grace to be okay with this. I thank you for your patience, too.

Our dates for parent-teacher conferences will be December 16, December 21, and January 6th. We affectionately call these conferences “speed dating.” Parents or guardians who wish to connect with a teacher can choose a 5-minute slot of time to do so. While this doesn’t seem like a lot, in most cases, the time is well spent where you can hear from a single teacher, you can ask questions, and get a sense of what your child is like in a particular class. You do not have to request a parent conference, though! If you’ve had a recent connection with teachers through a team meeting, email, or other avenue, you might not feel the need to sign up for a conference. We are continuing what began last year - our parent conferences will be on Zoom. We found that it is actually easier to schedule on our end. And we heard feedback that many parents preferred to be able to zoom for a few minutes, rather than taking an afternoon out of work to come to school. We don’t yet have a plan for next year, when hopefully we are able to fully invite visitors back into our schools more regularly. Look for additional information from me, sent to all RJ Grey families, early next week about conference sign-ups.

We have finished up our fall sports season. Our soccer teams, field hockey teams, and cross country teams had really strong seasons. It was great to know that we were able to bring back one element that was completely absent last year from RJ Grey. We are now gearing up for our winter season. We have boys and girls basketball teams, as well as a Cheer team. These teams all require tryouts as we don’t have an unlimited capacity for players. See the tryout schedule here. Please pay special attention to the requirement of the physical and the Family ID sign-up. Having these things in place well ahead of time will help your child have a successful tryout without the stress of not having all the paperwork ready!

We are at the beginning stages of working to identify a new mascot for the Acton-Boxborough schools. I was part of a meeting last week, along with five students from RJ Grey, joined by high school students and staff members from both schools. At our first meeting, we were briefed on the process outlined by the superintendent to identify a new mascot. We took time to read the Mission, Vision, Values and Beliefs of the District. We each had a chance to share why we were interested in being part of this committee. There were several common themes that came up about why we were interested in being part of the committee: to include lots of voices, build community, have a positive impact on the schools and towns, have all views represented, leave a legacy, build school pride, be a safe place, and be unifying. I am confident that this student-led group will do good work to identify a mascot and make a recommendation to the subcommittee of the School Committee later this year. I will continue to use these Eye on the Junior High messages to share our progress as we move forward this year.

Finally, I want to introduce you to a new and important person in our Main Office. Mrs. Eileen Matarese has taken over as the Main Office Support at RJ Grey. Eileen worked with us as a teaching assistant in 2019-2020, spent last year in the RLP, but otherwise, has worked at Douglas for a lot of years as a classroom assistant. She’s a parent in our community, has worked with the PTSO and supports Acton and Boxborough in all sorts of ways. We are very excited to welcome her. Her first 3 days have been great and she keeps telling me that she didn’t realize how busy it would be! I did tell her...honestly, I did!

Eileen has been introduced to kids leaving early, coming late, and working with families to troubleshoot some issues. I wanted to remind all families about our process for dismissing students from school. If you follow these procedures, you’ll have a more efficient experience picking up your child: 

-Absences or Late Arrivals: If your child will be absent from or late to school, please call the absence line at (978) 264-4700 ex: 3333 before 8:00AM and state your child’s: name, team and the reason for the absence or tardy arrival.

-Dismissals: Students who will be dismissed during the school day need a note from home signed by a parent or guardian stating the time of dismissal and whether or not the student will return that day. You may write a note or print a dismissal form. Students should bring the note or completed form to the office first thing in the morning. They will be given a pass to leave class at the appropriate time. They should check in at the office as they are leaving and again when they return.

There will be emergencies and you will sometimes need to come pick up your child without having sent a note. That’s not a problem! Just give us a call and we’ll track down your student and have them ready for you when you arrive.

If you need to email the main office, we’ve created a new email address where you can reach us: [email protected]. You are welcome to use this email which will reach several of us. As we recently experienced changes in our staffing, we thought this might be a useful tool to know that your message is getting to multiple people.

Here are a few upcoming dates:

-Monday, November 15: Early Release at 1pm

-Monday, November 15: School Council Meeting #2 (Zoom link)

-Wednesday, November 24: Early Release for Thanksgiving (11:10 am)

That’s it for this week - I hope you are all doing well.

Take care,

Jim

Good afternoon,

This is a short version of Eye on the Junior High since you just received a longer email from me about student behavior assemblies this week.

Happy Diwali to all families who celebrate! I slipped up this week when I didn’t remind teachers early enough about this celebration and what it means for our students’ homework and assessments. Only today did I remind teachers to not give homework tonight or tests tomorrow. I apologize and I promise to do better next time. If your child feels pressured to get work done tonight and your family is celebrating in some way, Mr. Marcotte has given them permission to not do their homework tonight.

We continue to live through an irregular pattern of days off. This past Tuesday was a very productive professional day for our RJ Grey staff. We hope it was a good day for our students at home. Next Thursday, we are closed for Veterans Day. Huge shout out to any Veterans who are part of our RJ Grey community - we thank you for your service.

Here are some upcoming dates at RJ Grey:

-Thursday, November 11: No School - Veterans’ Day

-Monday, November 15: Early Release at 1pm

-Monday, November 15: School Council Meeting #2 (Zoom link)

-Wednesday, November 24: Early Release for Thanksgiving (11:10 am)

Good afternoon,

I hope your homes have survived the recent stormy weather with little damage. I have seen quite a few tweets from districts near the south shore that have cancelled school today for the second day in a row. I am grateful that our little area west of Boston went pretty unscathed through the recent storms.

Today’s update includes several messages from people and groups outside of RJ Grey that I promised I would share in my weekly newsletter.

The first message is to highlight the request that came to you yesterday, from our Superintendent. If you didn’t see this message yet, please check your email from yesterday afternoon for a message from AB. The quick version of the request is that we anticipate needing to reduce the number of buses in our fleet by up to 7 buses in the next few weeks. In order to do this in an organized manner, we need to determine the exact number of riders we anticipate. Below is a portion of the letter from Mr. Light:

“We would like your help on a temporary basis while we work to hire additional staff and return to our normal routes.  If you are willing to opt out of bus transportation and drive your child to school, please complete the Bus Opt Out Form.  This will allow us to minimize our bus ride times as much as possible.  

• Log in to your PowerSchool Parent Portal account here (or via our website under Families>Parent Portal). 

• Follow the instructions here on how to complete the consent form for each one of your students.  If you need help completing the form, please reach out to your child’s teacher at the elementary or counselor at the junior high or high school.

We ask that you do this as soon as possible and no later than this Sunday, October 31.” 

Last week, I had the chance to meet with the two membership chairs of the Acton-Boxborough PTSO. The Parent-Teacher-Student Organization in grades 7 - 12 operates as a single organization, different from the elementary, where each school has its own PTSO. The PTSO has been generous to RJ Grey over the years: they help pay for our student planbooks every year, support our after school activities and dances, and have helped us financially with capital improvements including furniture in our cafeteria annex. I let Maria and Karen know that I would pass on information about their monthly meeting, as well as the request for donations. The PTSO asks for a $50 donation for the year. This avoids us asking anyone to sell wrapping paper, cookie dough or other fundraisers. My own daughters’ school PTO asked them to sell wrapping paper. The short story is that my wife and I will have wrapping paper for the next 5 years as a result. Please check out the PTSO site and support them financially, if you can, or attend a meeting if you’d like.

Finally, parents from our Project Graduation Committee reached out and hoped that I could share some information about how to become involved in this annual event. There is a blurb below about the event, but I wanted to share that as a former ABRHS teacher and assistant principal, I see the real value in this event and I hope you might consider giving some time to learn more and become involved. The high school is beautifully transformed into a fun, inclusive event space for students to be with each other safely on the night of their graduation. It takes an army of volunteers to pull this off - and it is quite magical when it happens! The event happens as a result of a ton of volunteers, generally the families of underclassmen (non-Seniors). Please read on and be in touch with the coordinators if you can play a role. Some kind, energetic souls will organize it when your students are graduating - if you’re able, they would appreciate your help now.

“RJ Grey Parents: we need you to JOIN PROJECT GRADUATION!

Project Graduation is an all-night, substance-free party for AB seniors on commencement night. As you may know, Project Graduation began in Maine over 30 years ago after one especially tragic commencement season in which 18 teenagers died in alcohol and drug-related incidents. It is a long-standing tradition in our school district, and since Acton-Boxborough’s first Project Graduation in 1989, well over 10,000 AB graduates have participated in the event and stayed safe on graduation night! 

After leading the charge for years, many of our current team will be graduating along with their children. We need new parent volunteers to keep this amazing, decades-long tradition going! Looking ahead, we are seeking new co-chairs as well as decoration and entertainment team leaders. Now is the time to join us and shadow current chairs. You'll have fun, and together we will continue to keep kids safe. Grab a friend or make a new one with Project Graduation. Please send us an email to learn more. We'll announce our kick-off meeting in November, and then have monthly meetings starting in January. We can't wait to welcome you to ABRHS and Project Graduation!”

Jennifer Mabardy & Jennifer Philion

AB Project Graduation 2022 Co-Chairs

[email protected]

https://www.abprojectgrad.org

Here are some upcoming dates at RJ Grey:

-Friday, October 29: Halloween Dress-up Day;

-Monday, November 1: School Picture Retake Day;

-Monday, November 1: Early Release at 1 pm;

-Tuesday, November 2: No School - Professional Learning Day

-Thursday, November 11: No School - Veterans’ Day

-Monday, November 15: Early Release at 1pm

That’s it for this week - I hope you have a safe and happy Halloween!

Take care,

Jim

Good afternoon,

Today was our first Team Community Building Day at RJ Grey. Today was designed for the 8th graders; the 7th graders are tomorrow. This summer, when the admin team was crafting plans for the year, we put a few dates on the calendar that would focus on joy and community for our students. Each team (8 Blue, 8 Green, etc.) had classes up through lunch and then transitioned into a Zoom assembly followed by activities planned by their teachers. One team made 25 scarecrows, one team created sidewalk chalk designs that matched certain themes. Members of another team learned to play rugby! The beautiful weather helped support the outdoor activities. My overall thinking as I walked through many of the activities was, “I hope this is what they remember.” Kids were connecting with each other, with their teachers, and doing something different!  The seventh grade activities are set for tomorrow and I hope for the same joy and community feeling. We’ll repeat these days in January and March.

We are entering the season when 8th grade families may start to think about plans for next year. Most of our students will go to Acton-Boxborough Regional High School for the ninth grade. We’ll work to connect with families this spring for course selection and other items. There is no need to rush the transition to 9th grade! However, if your child might be interested in attending a technical high school, or a private school, we need to start connecting and sharing some resources.

Technical high schools: The Town of Acton belongs to the Minuteman Regional School District. Our 8th graders who live in Acton who wish to attend a technical school apply to Minuteman High School. Minuteman has a process for reviewing applications and will offer admission to students from member towns based on set criteria. In November, we’ll have a chance to take a bus of interested 8th graders (from both towns) to Minuteman for a tour. You’ll learn more about that in the next few weeks. 

The Town of Boxborough does not belong to the Minuteman Regional School District. Boxborough students who wish to apply to Minuteman apply as non-resident members. Students from Boxborough also have the choice to apply to Assabet Valley Technical High School (Marlborough) or Nashoba Technical High School (Westford). In all three cases, the students apply as residents of non-member towns. Our counselors are helpful in talking through options with you or your child. If your child lives in Boxborough and wants to learn more about technical school options, please click here to indicate that - a counselor will then be in touch with your child. 

Private Schools: Students in either grade may be considering attending a private school for next year. This is also a step that starts in the fall, so if you’ve considered applying to a private school, please click here to access our Electronic Form for Private School Application. 

Your child will often need recommendations from a counselor and several teachers. Below is a paragraph I’ve stolen from my predecessor, Mr. Shen, about seeking these recommendations: 

Our teachers and counselors are happy to support students in their applications, and take seriously the crafting of a recommendation.  With that in mind, we ask that families honor the request that teachers be approached about letters of recommendation at least 4 weeks in advance of when those letters are due.  In many situations, parents initially reach out to teachers on behalf of their child, which is perfectly fine.  It’s also important for the student to connect with their teachers first about their interest in private schools.  This is valuable for a few reasons.  First, hearing a bit more about the student’s interest in the schools to which they are applying gives the teacher a better sense of what might be useful to include in the letter.  Secondly, having a teacher find recommendation forms on her desk, or sent via email, without any prior explanation from a student or parent is never the ideal way to start the conversation about a recommendation. By no means are teachers and counselors expecting students to feel indebted to them for writing a letter, and forever genuflect whenever they enter the room. However, speaking directly to the teacher is, I think, central to showing an appropriate level of appreciation for this additional task the students are asking their teacher to complete on their behalf.  If you think your child may be a bit nervous with this task, you might encourage them to speak with the counselor, who can offer some tips and even help them practice.  Your child’s counselor is also, in general, a great resource for various aspects of the application process.

Finally, as we approach the end of October, I highlight that RJ Grey has traditionally hosted Halloween Dress Up Day (Friday, October 29th). This, too, fits with our work on community and joy this year. We usually have about half of our students dress up, and likely half of our staff, too. There is no requirement to dress up, but we support anyone who would like to! Costumes must be appropriate for school and may not include weapons or other dangerous items. Each team will put forward a best costume for the entire staff to then vote on. The costume winner will win a prize for their homeroom.

Here are some upcoming dates at RJ Grey:

-Monday, October 25: Last day of PE/Health Rotation #1;

-Friday, October 29: Halloween Dress-up Day;

-Monday, November 1: School Picture Retake Day;

-Monday, November 1: Early Release at 1 pm;

-Tuesday, November 2: No School - Professional Learning Day

-Thursday, November 11: No School - Veterans’ Day

Take care,

Jim Marcotte

Good afternoon,

Tomorrow is Pajama Day at RJ Grey, so if your child leaves the house in their PJs, it is in fact okay! In the nine years I’ve been here, I’ve never dressed for Pajama Day. But I do think a long-sleeved t-shirt and sweatpants might feel good tomorrow...in the name of school spirit! 

Tomorrow is also a pivotal day for our main office staff. I had previously mentioned that Mrs. Frey is vacating our main office support position to move across the street for a new position. Tomorrow will be her last official day with us - though we’ll rely on her to train our new hire whenever that person comes on board. In the meantime, we are getting by with the help of a lot of important people - Anne Chandler, Lena Jarostchuk, Debbie Brookes, and Sandy Carter - all women who work very hard behind the scenes to keep us moving forward. I’m incredibly grateful for their commitment to us and making it seem like we’re operating at 100%! We’re in the process of reviewing applications and doing interviews for this position. When we have a resolution, we’ll share that info with our families.

We’re also losing another member of our team tomorrow. Mr. Anthony Zeese has been at RJ Grey for four years. Since mid-August, he has been acting as an Interim Assistant Principal for our 8th graders. When we hired Mr. Zeese for this short-term position, we knew we were getting a hardworking, intelligent, competent person who likes kids. It turns out that we hit the jackpot when we brought Anthony onto our admin team for these 8 weeks. He has a future in school leadership whenever he wants to take the plunge. Starting Monday, he’ll be back in his position as the 7 Red Social Studies teacher. I think he’s ready to rejoin the somewhat more predictable routine of being a teacher. Huge thanks to Anthony for being an excellent school leader this fall. We are very fortunate to welcome back Cathy Boege to the 8th grade AP position starting on Monday. Cathy has been away on maternity leave since June. She joined us on Tuesday to get caught up on our ongoing work - she’s excited to be joining us again and we’re happy to have her back with us!

Our district continues to look for applicants for positions in many areas, but specifically, Transportation and Food Services. The district has increased salaries and has offered retention bonuses, too for these departments. Please see the flyers linked above for details - also reach out to me if you’d like more information. If you are interested, or if you know someone who is, please share these resources with them. We’re eager to increase our staffing in these two specific departments in the near future!

Our photo packages from our school picture days have arrived. If your family ordered prints, your student will be bringing home any purchased photo packages this week. Our photo retake day is scheduled for the morning of November 1. Throughout the morning, we’ll call down students to have their pics re-taken, or taken for the first time if they didn’t have a picture taken in September. Contact info and ordering info can be found on this flyer from Lifetouch.

Here are some upcoming dates at RJ Grey:

-Friday, October 15: Pajama Day;

-Monday, October 18: Early Release at 1 pm;

-Monday, October 25: Last day of PE/Health Rotation #1;

-Friday, October 29: Halloween Dress-up Day;

-Monday, November 1: School Picture Retake Day;

-Monday, November 1: Early Release at 1 pm;

-Tuesday, November 2: No School - Professional Learning Day

-Thursday, November 11: No School - Veterans’ Day

Have a great night,

Jim Marcotte