January 9, 2025 
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:

I hope you are doing well and keeping warm with these recent cold temperatures and strong winds. On Monday morning, as I was doing my traffic duty post, I realized how unprepared I was for the temperature drop. For the first 10 minutes, the tips of my ears were stinging because they were so cold. And when that sensation went away, I knew it was not a good thing! My trip to the Maynard Outdoor Store that evening for a heavier coat with a hood proved successful and I've been much warmer since. On the opposite end of the spectrum and country, my thoughts are with those suffering from the fires and winds in the Los Angeles region. If you have family and friends in that area, I hope they are safe. 


Turning the page to January is always a time to think about our ongoing work, and in some cases, set new goals. One of our school goals this year is to monitor our student attendance with a careful eye. We know that strong attendance allows students to gain confidence in their skills, the content they learn, and the relationships they create with peers and adults. For some families, it might feel typical for children to miss two days of school per month, which when added up, equals 18 days, the equivalent of missing 10% of the year. 

I took a look at our attendance at the 75-day mark, which happened on December 20th. At that point, we had 76 students (9.2%) who had missed at least 7 days of school this year. I was able to see that last year at that same marker (75 days), 69 students (8.34%) had missed 7 days or more. It is very hard to draw a correlation at this point in the year about who may end up being considered "chronically absent" by year's end. We know that when combined, the flu or other virus, a bout with the common cold, a funeral, or a long weekend away may easily amount to 7 days of absences, but once past these acute issues, students may return to a more typical pattern of attendance. In your role as the parent or guardian, you will certainly know much more clearly why your child has been absent from school.


Our District practice of informing families about numbers of absences means that we reach out to families even when we know there is not a larger issue to resolve. Some families will hear from us in the form of letter, call, or email. We are sympathetic to the myriad reasons students may need to be absent from school, and we offer our support whenever we can if you need help creating a plan for more regular school attendance. Please be in touch with me, our assistant principals, or your child's counselor, if you have any questions.

Finally, we will be hosting a Food Drive for several weeks (January 21 - 31) to benefit the Acton Food Pantry. Students will bring any Food Drive items to their Advisory groups. If you plan to clean out your cupboards, or if you are doing a weekly grocery trip and wish to pick up a few things, below is the list of non-expired items that the Food Pantry would benefit from:


  • Baking needs: Flour, Sugar, Baking Mixes
  • Mac and Cheese
  • Pasta and Jarred Pasta Sauce
  • Jelly
  • Gluten-Free items: Pasta, Crackers, Baking Mixes
  • Vegetable Oil
  • Dried Fruits: Dates, Prunes, Raisins
  • Nuts: Walnuts, Almonds, Trail Mix
  • Non-Dairy Milk
  • Canned Pasta Items: Chef Boyardee, for example
  • Paper Goods: Toilet Paper, Tissues, etc.

Take care, and thank you for your ongoing support,

Jim
Posted by jmarcotte On 09 January, 2025 at 1:47 PM  

 
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