Good afternoon, RJ Grey Families:
This is the first Eye on the Junior High message of the 26-27 school year. This message will arrive mostly on Thursdays and will contain some items that I think are important for our RJ Grey families to know. I recommend checking out this message each week - not only because I spend some time writing it - but because it contains useful pieces of info. If you ever miss a week, I also post these messages to the RJ Grey website. This week's message is a bit on the longer side since the start of the year includes a lot of information! Thanks for taking a few minutes to read this week's message.
To begin, I hope your children are reporting that they're adjusting well to their new school year. We were happy to welcome back our 8th graders who we got to know last year. And we're equally enthusiastic to get to know our newly arrived 7th graders. Most of our 790 students went to school in Acton-Boxborough last year, but we are fortunate to welcome 27 students who attended school in different towns, states, and even countries last year! I hope your child has started to mention some new names when talking about their first days at school. Meeting new classmates is an important part of adjusting to RJ Grey!
Grade Level Assemblies and Safety Procedures
Since Monday, we've held four grade-level assemblies (two for each grade). The first round of assemblies served as an introduction to the year, followed by some review and explanation of common routines and expectations for behavior. If you are interested in viewing our slides, you can see the 7th grade slides here and the 8th grade slides here. The next round of assemblies reviewed all of our safety practices at RJ Grey, including how to respond to a fire drill and the importance of walking in the hallways, as examples. I also talked to students about our ALICE protocol, which is how we prepare for incidents that could involve a school intruder. Next week (Sept 9), we'll complete our first ALICE drill at RJ Grey. We will tell students ahead of time that we'll be conducting a drill, and we'll make sure they know it is only a drill! I'll let you know when the drill is complete.
Restrictions on Technology, Food, and Drink
Consistent with our past practice, we continue to have students place cell phones in their lockers, turned off during the day. This year, we added smartwatches to that same category and practice. We find that students with cell phones, smartwatches, and other devices are affected by the distraction that comes along with these pieces of technology. Thank you for helping your child to remember to leave their phone and watch in their locker. Additionally, we've added a restriction about bringing outside beverages to school in the morning. Pink drinks, cappuccinos, iced coffees, and all kinds of other Dunkin' or Starbucks-purchased drinks don't belong in our classrooms. We find that they create a distraction and a sticky mess when spilled. Students are welcome to bring these items to school, knowing they must be consumed in the cafeteria before heading to homeroom at 7:55. We maintain the same restriction about food and drink from the cafeteria at the end of lunch - all food and drink need to be finished before leaving the cafeteria.
Parent Square - Daily Announcements Sign-Ups
480 of you have signed up to receive our Daily Announcements email. If you haven't already done so, I always recommend that at least one parent/guardian per family sign up to receive our Daily Announcements email. Please click this link to join our group.
SBIRT - 7th grade families only
In March of 2016, the state legislature enacted H4056, commonly called the “STEP Act.” This legislation is in direct response to the opioid crisis and is an effort to provide tighter controls on addictive drugs and additional education about substance abuse. As part of the educational component, this legislation requires all public school districts to utilize a screening tool approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), and to conduct the screening annually for all students in two different grade levels. At Acton-Boxborough, students in 7th and 9th grade participate in the screening.
Our 7th grade Health program currently includes a brief unit that introduces topics related to substance use and abuse, and discusses issues related to the use and consumption of nicotine, alcohol, and marijuana. Our plan is to include the screening tool during the final lesson of the unit and involve our counselors and nurses in the delivery of the lesson and completion of the screening tool. Students will be asked to complete a written version of the screening tool, which includes a series of questions about exposure to and use of specific substances. For your review, I am including a copy of the screening questions with this letter. The screening form will be reviewed by the counselor and nurse, and students may be invited for a follow-up conversation if they indicate an interest in meeting or if their responses meet a set of criteria that the District has established. Please know that parents/guardians of any student who participates in a follow-up meeting for any reason will be contacted by the nurse or counselor. As for when this might take place for your child, students are scheduled to be enrolled in Health class (as part of the Physical Education program) at different points in the year. Some are currently in Health; others may not attend until later in the Spring.
Families have the right to opt their child out of participating in the screening portion of the SBIRT lesson. If you wish to opt your child out of the screening portion, please email Assistant Principal Elizabeth Broadwater (ebroadwater@abschools.org) and submit that request. Regardless of when your child is scheduled for Health class, opt-out requests need to be submitted by September 25, 2026.
Joy and Gratitude
While the first few weeks of school are the busiest for us, we also find them to be some of the most joyful weeks of the year! Seeing our hallways, classrooms, and lunchroom filled with students again after a quiet summer is a great thing! If you know a teacher (or are married to one, like me), you know how hard they work to be ready for the start of the year. Throughout the second half of August, our school was a buzz with teachers who came in to prepare their rooms, work with colleagues on curriculum, or get a jump start on making copies. The work of educators is ongoing and doesn't ever really stop, though it simmers down a bit over the summer. I wish to publicly thank our educators for all the work they did in the past month to be ready for a successful start this week! Their work leading up to day one has paid off, as we've had a smooth start to our school year.
I hope you enjoy your 4-day weekend; we'll see your children again on Tuesday!
Take care,
Jim
Friday, September 4: No School - Labor Day Weekend
Monday, September 7: No School - Labor Day
Tuesday, September 8: 8th grade Grey Block classes begin
Wednesday, September 9: ALICE drill at RJ Grey
Wednesday, September 9: 7th grade Grey Block classes begin
Thursday, September 10: iReady Reading Assessment for all students
Monday, September 14: Early Release at 1 pm
Wednesday, September 16: iReady Math Assessment for all students
Monday, September 21: No School - Yom Kippur
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