Hi Everyone,
I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving Break. Our family had a pretty relaxing and enjoyable few days, even with the time that we spent in the Emergency Room on Saturday night. The visit to the ER was, fortunately, purely a precautionary measure for my wife who, from this day forward, will never again wear a certain pair of slippery socks while walking down our basement steps. Although our stay at the ER sadly didn’t involve any contact with Dr. Benton, Dr. Carter or anyone else from Cook County Hospital (see photo to right), we did spend a good bit of time with, no joke, Nurse Jackie. Not the one made famous by actress Edie Falco, but ours had quite a bit of character nonetheless. I admittedly didn’t make the greatest first impression with Nurse Jackie when she initially entered the room to find Melisa standing (the pain in her lower back made standing more preferable), and yours truly kind of, maybe, possibly, lying on the gurney. In my defense, Melisa didn’t want to lie or sit down, and we’d been waiting for a good bit of time when Nurse Jackie first appeared. If you found that to be a feeble excuse, Nurse Jackie agrees with you. It’s been many years since I have visited an ER, and so I found myself digesting quite a bit about the physical setting and trying to better understand what was (and wasn’t happening) based primarily on the time I spent in the 1990s watching episodes of ER on Thursday nights.
What ended up being a three hour stay with long stretches of waiting did give me an opportunity to think about our surroundings and make some connections between hospitals and public schools, which isn’t too much of a stretch given that both are at their core committed to serving and supporting all walks of life. For example, I noticed that in our room there was a blue phone that was a direct line to a service that provided language interpreters for patients and ER staff who require translation of information. While the situations we encounter at schools are typically not as urgent, our District has definitely been working on identifying more readily available translation and interpreter services for our families when it comes to meetings at school, and making sure everyone has access to the same information. I immediately felt a bit jealous and wondered if a similar service was available to schools (and if so, fearing that the price tag is prohibitive). There were also a few moments during our stay where I felt a bit more vulnerable and more at the mercy of someone else than I might usually feel. I don’t think this was because the staff was unwelcoming (they were very kind), but simply due to being unfamiliar with the norms, protocols, and rules that governs and regulate what happens, by whom, in what order, and for what reasons. Thinking about this a bit more, I started to wonder if and when there might be times that any of our families have felt similarly in relation to their experiences at RJ Grey, not because of anything we might have said or done, but because in our world there also exists -- often with good reason -- layers of rules, best practices, policies, and obligations that might guide our approach to different situations. It’s been on my mind since our visit to the ER, and was at the very least a helpful reminder that not everyone enters RJ Grey with a shared body of knowledge or understanding, and the importance of continuing to find ways to help all of our families navigate and engage with our school more comfortably and confidently. My hope is that more often than not each of you feels like you’re provided information and guidance that’s helpful and useful, and that there’s at least one person at the Junior High you can reach out to when there is a question or concern.
Here’s a few updates for everyone as we prepare for the next few weeks of school before the Winter Break.
A friendly reminder that our first round of Parent-Teacher conferences are scheduled for Thursday, December 13. Families who requested conferences have begun hearing back from Katy Frey or Anne Chandler with confirmation of their conference schedule. Those who requested a January conference time may or may not have heard yet from our Office, thanks for your patience as we first finalize conference times for December 13 and December 18. A reminder to all families that for the December 13 and December 18 conferences, all students will be dismissed early at 11:06am. The normal bus routes will run at that time and available to students. Please keep these dates in mind when considering after school plans for your student(s).
The Fall Trimester closes this Wednesday and report cards will be distributed on or around December 10. A reminder that starting last year, report cards are emailed to families as a PDF document, and any email address that is listed in a student’s Emergency Card will receive a copy of the student’s report card.
Starting this week thru December 7, RJ Grey will be collecting toys this holiday season to donate to local families. Our teachers and students have coordinated this Toy Drive as an annual holiday effort, and it’s always been a wonderful opportunity to offer some holiday cheer to children in and around our community. Toys must be new, unused (and unopened) and may be dropped off in the collection box in the main lobby. All toys will be donated to families in the Acton, Boxborough, and surrounding towns. If you have any questions, you can email Gabrielle Berberian at [email protected].
The annual RJ Grey musical is just around the corner! The students are working hard on this year’s production of Annie and we’re looking forward to another performance that showcases our students’ talents. Five performances are scheduled for Thursday, December 6 (7pm), Friday, December 7 (7pm), Saturday, December 8 (2pm and 7pm), and Sunday, December 9 (2pm). Tickets are $15 and are now available in the Junior High Main Office, and will also be sold at the door prior to each performance. ABSAF holders are entitled to two free tickets and must pick up their tickets from the Main Office prior to the performance date. This is always a great family-friendly event and we hope to see many A-B families there.
Tryouts for our Winter Sports get under way this week. Please review the Athletics Website for information and to review the tryout schedule for each program. Please remember that the process for requesting a waiver for the athletics fee should be submitted to the Athletic Director’s office. Please contact Assistant Principal David Lawrence ([email protected]) with any questions.
Before everyone went their separate ways last week, we held our traditional Thanksgiving assembly, which is always the first all-school gathering of the year. As usual, this assembly featured and was led by our students, starting with our Student Council officers (Jefferson Wu, Grace Lee, Eli Jarsky, and Anish Mudide). Along with great performances (as usual) by students in our Band, Chorus and Strings programs, our assembly also featured speeches by three students who submitted entries for this year’s speech competition. Many thanks to Sarang Bajwa, Ava Hjorth, and Meghan Lawson for their heartfelt words and reflections.
Finally, I want to re-share one final time a message about the District’s continued work around a proposal to build a new elementary school. Here’s the information about a series of community forums scheduled for later this week:
As you know, the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District (ABRSD) has been conducting a feasibility study to evaluate a potential new elementary school. The preferred option is one building that would house two elementary schools and the district preschool.
The School Building Committee is looking for input on the siting of the new schools and would like to invite members of the community to a public forum. Three potential sites have been identified:
Gates property - Douglas, Gates and PreK
Douglas property - Douglas, Gates and PreK
Conant property - Douglas, Conant and PreK
Two community forums will be held in the RJ Grey Junior High library:
Tuesday, November 27 at 7:00 pm
Thursday, November 29 at 7:00 pm
If you have questions, please email [email protected].
Have a great week, everyone. Welcome back.
Cheers,
