Hi Everyone,
Summer is around the corner and it’s nearly impossible to escape conversations about the summer, whether here at school, at home, or simply in the news. I’m also excited for the summer and the chance to decompress and take advantage of a summer work schedule that is a bit less frenetic and offers the chance to prepare for the next school year. Part of those preparations for next year will be heavily focused on our plans to introduce a 1:1 Chromebook classroom environment, something I introduced in Grey Matters in February. For those of you with students who will be with us next year as returning 8th graders, or new 7th graders, rest assured that you’ll be receiving plenty of information later this Summer and at the start of the year that provides an overview of our plans and protocols with those devices. As we begin to think about our work with Chromebooks, we know that how we ask students to organize their learning materials will evolve over time. Our teachers will begin to look at different ways of distributing work, collecting work, and students will begin to learn more strategies for organizing information digitally. Our prediction is that over the next few years, our approach to school supplies will change as we shift the approach that students take to staying organized, and accessing materials and work. In previous years, we have traditionally had a uniform school supply list for the whole school that was organized by grade and by subject. As we begin our transition to a 1:1 Chromebook environment, we will be asking individual teams to try out different approaches to how they have their students travel through the school in terms of materials (binders, notebooks, folders, etc.). To account for this transition, and allow for some variation by team, we are taking a different approach to school supply lists for next year. Instead of a uniform supply list for the school, each team will be providing its students with a team-specific list. Please know that while next year the team-specific lists may have some distinct differences between and amongst them, none of the lists will include more than what has recently been expected in our previous supply lists for families. Over time, it will be our goal to return to a more uniform list for the school that will be informed by our different approaches over the next two years, and eventually include a reduction in what we ask families to purchase.
As for how families will receive information about their child’s team-specific supply list, here’s a brief preview of our plans. In our annual summer mailing to families in early August, we will provide an overview and explanation about school supplies similar to what I shared above. Then, team placements are released via the Parent Portal on Thursday, August 15 (and all of the hoopla and frenzied texting and calling takes place). Within a few days of the team release, we will then email families a Welcome Letter from their child’s team teachers. This letter will provide a brief welcome from the team that includes goals and other useful information for the school year, as well as the team’s requested supply list. With the first day of school for 7th grade students scheduled for Thursday, August 28th, this timeline should provide families ample time to address school supply needs before everyone returns. We continue to be sensitive about moments when we need to ask families to spend money on school-related activities and needs, and we appreciate that school supplies are one area where costs can add up - especially for families with multiple students! We will also continue to provide messaging and reminders to families about our commitment to assisting any of our students and families with school-related requests and costs that may prove difficult to address.
The 8th Grade End-of-Year Celebration is this Friday at 7pm! Please also note the event ends promptly at 9pm. You’re by-that-time-overtired-Principal thanks you in advance for coming on time to get your kids. Another thank you to the parents and guardians who have already volunteered and signed up for one or more of the roles that are listed on the Sign Up form for this event. We could still use a few more volunteers to make sure that everything runs smoothly, especially the crew for helping with take down and clean up after the event. If you’re able to participate please sign up by following this link to a Sign Up Genius: 8th Grade Celebration Help. For those of you bringing kids to the school that evening, this event is held in our (transformed) cafeteria and students enter through the side door (you’ll see it); so parents who are dropping kids off can pull right up to the front of the school. When picking kids up after the event, we would suggest parking in the lower parking lot and either waiting in the car, or coming up to the entrance to meet your kids. Your options probably depend on the degree to which your child allows you to be seen in public with them. I know for some of you it may be tempting to sneak into the dance to catch a peak of your child at this event - I’d actually encourage you to resist that temptation and let your child enjoy the full evening on their own.
Here’s some reminders for this last full week of school:
Our yearbooks have arrived! The company that publishes them included an extra 30 with the order for us to have available to those who did not order one. They will be sold on a first come, first served basis. If you would like one, please send in a check for $37 made payable to RJ Grey JHS. Make sure to include with it the name of your child and their team. Checks can be left in our main office or delivered to Mr. Lewis in Room 313.
If your child is not planning to attend RJ Grey or the High School next year, please be sure to let us know. We have to officially confirm your family’s plans to withdraw your child from the school system, and can also assist you in transferring records and other information to your child’s next school. Please email our registrar Lena Jarostchuk ([email protected]) with that information.
Does your child have an RJ Grey Library book or old textbook buried under some laundry? Teachers will begin the process of collecting textbooks and other learning materials, so anything you can do to help unearth these items would be greatly appreciated (and save you some money). Also, for families who might have a negative balance in their child’s lunch account, please be sure to reconcile that matter as well. If you have questions about your lunch account, feel free to email Kirsten Nelson at [email protected]
The end-of-year field trips are on June 18th - a week from Tuesday. Both 7th grade and 8th grade students will be back from their respective trips in time to be dismissed at the regular 2:06pm time and can take the bus home. If your child is not planning on attending either trip (or simply won’t be at school by that point), please be sure to email Katy Frey ([email protected]).
The last day of school is Wednesday, June 19th and it is a half-day. Our closing activity is an all-school assembly (students and staff only) that will take place in the High School auditorium. Students will be dismissed at the end of the event, and can get on buses right outside the high school (at 11:06). Parents planning to pick their children up can still park in the Junior High parking lot.
At the end of every school year, we send off our 8th grade students and wish them well as most of them make their way down the street to the high school, while others join private schools, enroll in a vocational program, or are moving out of Acton or Boxborough. This year, we are also preparing to bid farewell to two retiring members of the RJ Grey staff, as they begin new chapters of their lives as well. Joyce Kelly (35 years, Math teacher) and Bernice Higdon (20 years, Special Education assistant) are completing distinguished careers as educators. Celebrating the retirements of our colleagues is always bittersweet; we are happy they’re in a position to pursue other interests, and we’ll also miss them deeply. If you and/or your children have some fond memories of working with any of these teachers and staff members, I would encourage you to drop them a quick note and join us in thanking them for their years of service to RJ Grey and all of its students.
Have a great week, everyone. We’re almost there!
Cheers,
