May 29, 2025 
Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:

I hope you enjoyed your long Memorial Day weekend. My family was lucky enough to receive a free swing set about 8 years ago. I think we were the third family to take advantage of this particular timber-frame piece of backyard fun! This swing set provided my kids, nieces and nephews, and neighbors tons of fun over the years. As all good things come to an end, I disassembled the swing set last weekend. It had grown more shaky over the years, the wood got soft in some places, and I knew the end was in sight when the bolt holding a swing let go when one of my daughters was swinging. The real trick is now trying to grow grass in some of the areas that were worn away by swinging feet over the years. I hope you did something as productive, or at least enjoyable, over the long weekend!

At the start of May, we asked students to complete a brief survey to check in on the work we had done throughout the year. Several questions are repeats from prior surveys, and their use allows us to examine progress in some areas. Below are a few of the highlights that I am happy to share:

  • 89.5% of students say they have a trusted adult at school;
  • 76.1 % of students say a Team Teacher is a trusted adult for them;
  • 59.5% of students say that their Advisor is one of their trusted adults;
  • 96.3% of students say that they have a trusted adult outside of school;
  • 98.1% of students say they have made a new friendship this year.
We asked several questions specifically about Advisory. We're completing year 3 of our Advisory program, and while it mostly goes well, we wanted to check in with students to see if we continue to meet our originally stated goals. 
  • One goal of Advisory is for students to make connections with an RJ Grey adult. 70.9% of students say that they have made connections with one or more adults through Advisory;
  • Another goal is for students to make connections with other RJ Grey students: 83.9% say yes;
  • A third goal of Advisory is to have fun. 77.5% of students say that Advisory has provided them with the chance to have some fun this year.
Finally, as we prepare our calendar for next year, we wondered if our pattern of two Advisory sessions per week still met our needs. 50% of students said two times per week was "just right," and 29.4% of students said they would prefer to meet more than two times per week. This data is helpful as we continue to look at our programming and make plans for next year to best support our students. 

As has been the case over the last many years, we tend to learn about and sometimes become involved in social media issues that affect our students. As we enter the summer months, I want to share a resource that we learned about recently. The Acton Police Department's Facebook page has advertised an upcoming webinar on June 4 from 6:30 - 8:00 pm. The webinar, Keeping Kids Safe and Secure Online: A Project Safe Childhood Presentation for Parents, is co-sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security and the US Attorney's Office. If you are interested in learning more, you can click on the link above to register.

We look forward to hosting many of our 8th graders tomorrow night for their Celebration! I appreciate you making sure your child has a plan for where they are going, and with whom, when the event ends at 9 pm.

I hope you have a great weekend! 

Jim
Posted by jmarcotte On 12 June, 2025 at 8:28 AM  

 
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