Grey Matters, September 3, 2019; Volume 8, Number 2 

Hi Everyone, 


I hope all of you had a pleasant four-day Labor Day weekend that perhaps offered some echoes of the Summer that just ended.  For me, a brief return to the slower and lazier days in July involved a few things, including some binge-watching of the show The Walking Dead (photo to the right).  In recent years I had stopped watching television except for sporting events and news reports, and so I decided to pick a show this summer to watch and accepted the recommendation of a friend that The Walking Dead, with its nine completed seasons and cult following, would give me plenty of good television to watch over the summer.  While the storyline of this zombie apocalypse series did not disappoint, I would not recommend watching six or seven episodes in a single day.  Doing that a few times over the summer made for some slightly problematic dreams, and achieving healthy and restful sleep a lot harder.  For those of you who are followers of the show, I am now nearing the end of season six, and I don’t have a very good feeling about what’s in store for my favorite characters.  Despite being a bit more tethered to my television this summer, I also made sure to keep reading, and came across several articles and stories that address topics that have been covered in Grey Matters, and wrestled with questions that we’ve often explored together regarding parenting, schools, and living with teenagers.  Some of the articles that I read piqued my interest primarily because of my work at RJ Grey, and other articles spoke both to my work at RJ Grey and to my current status as the parent of three kids between the ages of 11 and 14.  Specifically, I was hoping one of those articles might offer me an effective response, or at least a witty retort, to the child in our home who has recently taken to arguing that my parenting efforts violate a number of his constitutional rights as an American citizen (mostly around freedom of speech).  While a few of the articles listed below include nuggets that offered me some indirect guidance on that specific issue, the rest of the articles that I am including revisit subjects that I think we’ll continue to think about and discuss together over the course of the year.  

As we begin this school year,
I am including a link to an article in the Washington Post from a few years ago that offers suggestions for how parents and guardians can stay connected and engaged with their teenage sons.  This has been a favorite of mine as it offered me practical suggestions that I’ve found to be effective, including and especially the use of car rides for conversations.  Additionally, here’s a more recent article, also from the Washington Post entitled, “How to talk to your middle-schooler (so they might actually listen to you)

Observations and questions around exposure and use of social media by adolescents, 
and possible concerns around its connection to mental health continues to be a messy and evolving subject.  Here’s a recent article from NPR entitled, The Scientific Debate over Teens, Screens, and Mental Health, along with a related 2017 piece from Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Usable Knowledge site on social media and teen anxiety.  

Finally, over the past two years there has been significant attention to the dangerous rise in the use of e- cigarettes and vaping (also known as “Juuling”) by teenagers.  Many health agencies and school districts, including Acton-Boxborough, have offered workshops and presentations to expand and deepen the knowledge base of parents and guardians about the dangers associated with vaping.  For those of you who may still be a bit new to this topic, I’d encourage you to learn more about this subject. You can start with this
article in the New York Times, and this article in the Washington Post.  Over the next few months, I’ll also re-send other resources and materials that we’ve provided to families that might help you with conversations that you should consider having with your children on this topic.  


RJ Grey’s Back to School Night will be on Thursday, September 26th, starting at 7:00pm.  For those of you with children who participate in the Band, String Ensemble or Chorus programs, there is an optional meeting at 6:35pm where you can learn more about those programs. Parents should head straight for their child’s homeroom. Schedules for that evening will be coming home before that evening. I am going to travel with all of you to your kids’ classes throughout the evening and hopefully we’ll have a few moments here and there to connect.  


On that evening, we also ask parents to vote for two 7th grade parent/guardian representatives who will serve on this year's School Council. The role of the School Council is to review and discuss various aspects of the school's activities and goals, and offer advice and guidance about different topics that may emerge during the year. The Council will meet seven times this year, on Monday evenings at 6:30pm (the first will be October 7). We are looking for 7th grade parents who are interested in serving on the Council.  If you have any interest, please submit a short (4-6 sentences max) paragraph about yourself by noon on Monday, September 23rd for the ballot. Write-ups can be sent to me at [email protected].


Here’s a few other scheduling reminders and notes you might want to keep in mind for the next few weeks: 


Our annual school picture day is Friday, Sept. 27. When we get closer to that date we will be distributing picture order forms to all students. Regardless of whether families order photos, each child will have his/her photo taken so we can include them in the yearbook. If you would like to order photos but the costs associated with the options would present a financial hardship, I would encourage you to contact David Lawrence at [email protected]. Each year, we have worked with our vendor to find ways for any family who wants a set of photos to receive one.


A friendly reminder that this year our school musical will be James and the Giant Peach and audition workshops will be taking place this week.  Audition workshops will be held on Sept. 11 and 12 and attendance at both workshops is mandatory.  The auditions themselves are scheduled for Sept. 17 and Sept. 19, and attendance is expected for both days as well. Visit our Theatre Arts page for additional details and information.  


In a few weeks, most of our after school clubs and activities will have their first meetings with interested students.  The updated list of clubs and activities is not quite ready to share - my hope is to post it on our website by the end of the week.  In the meantime, the listing of activities from last year that is still posted on the website offers a sense of what activities are typically offered.  Ping Pong will likely not be available this year, but a few new clubs will be introduced soon!  This year we will again be offering Fit Club and we do require students to sign up ahead of time (there’s no cost, just need a headcount). To sign up or if you have questions about Fit Club, you can email Katy Frey at [email protected].  


Our Fall interscholastic sports programs start this week in terms of tryouts for Girls and Boys’ Soccer, and Field Hockey.  Our Cross Country team is a no-cut program, and has an informational meeting on September 11.  For all information on our Athletics programs, visit this page.  Please remember that all students who plan to participate in tryouts must have completed the “Family ID” registration process.  This process is taking the place of the paper “Green Forms” that were required in prior years. Details and instructions are posted on our Athletics website.


Acton-Boxborough will continue to provide a Late Bus option for students at the Junior High and High School.  Here is a link to the memo that provides details about this service (including a link to the list of planned stops), which will begin starting this Tuesday, September 3.  The Late Bus will pick up students at the Junior High at 4:45pm.  


Finally, I hope most of you have had an opportunity to visit our school website - rjgrey.abschools.org.  We make every effort to keep the site current, and you can access a number of important school documents and connect to individual teacher websites. Every team also maintains a shared online homework calendar that can also be accessed through our school website (7th grade teams here, 8th grade teams here).  In addition, we have a lively active and useful social media presence on both Twitter and Instagram - please consider signing up for one or both!  It may also be something that your students may want to consider following as well.  These accounts will repeat some information that will always be included in our Daily Announcements, and also gives us a platform to share some fun photos and notes about activities taking place within the school.  


Have a great week, everyone. 


Cheers, 

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Posted by ashen On 08 September, 2019 at 2:37 PM  

 
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