Come celebrate. Come connect. Come feel the JOY—this is more than an event, it’s a celebration of resilience, unity, and community pride.

Start your day with an exciting kickoff at Newton North High School hosted by Newton Community Education, and then join us at the Hyde Community Center from 3PM for an unforgettable celebration of culture, heritage and tradition. 

Starting at 3 PM you can look forward to:

• A party atmosphere  hosted by DJ Firestarta
• Shopping unique finds from local artisans & craft vendors
• Live performances that move your spirit (African dancing by Afro Diamond, Newton reggae artist DJ Everla$t)
• Meet the New England Patriots cheerleaders
• Two food trucks serving up delicious Caribbean flavors: Reggae Foods and Gourmet Kreyol
•  A Summer Concert Series event featuring hip-hop cover band sensation The GRV from 6–8 PM
• An 8PM screening of Black Panther, the critically acclaimed box office delight that defines Black Excellence.

This year we reject division and instead embrace ‘JOYFUL RESISTANCE!‘ Together, let’s uplift the value and richness of African-American culture and Black Excellence. All residents and visitors are invited to help celebrate 161 years since the emancipation of enslaved African-Americans.

Speaking of excellence, we honor the service of featured guest, Dr. Henry Turner, Newton North High School Principal of 10 years who departs to assume his new role as Superintendent of Reading Public Schools.

We are proud to partner with the Hyde Community Center to seamlessly incorporate Juneteenth into their Friday Summer Concert Series.

Follow the evolving details of the event on Eventbrite or Facebook, and please help us to spread the word far and wide!

Want to get involved?

• Are you a Black-owned business or a community partner? Sign up for a booth here or email questions to juneteenth@forj.org.
• Want to help with preparations beforehand and/or join our fun crew on the day of the event? Volunteer here.
• Help fund the festivities! Please click here to donate. Donate a minimum of $10 and get a free stylish Juneteenth waterbottle while supplies last!

Thank you to our partners and sponsors!

Our partners include our fiscal sponsor, Families Organizing for Justice (FORJ), the Newton Coalition of Black Residents (NCBR) and FORJ@Newton North High School (FORJ NNHS). We are grateful for generous support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Harmony Foundation and Village Bank. This Linda Plaut Festival of the Arts program is supported by Spark Newton in collaboration with The City of Newton.

This week, our Bigelow PTO Board hosted the final PTO Meeting of the year. With a few 6th and 7th grade parents in the library and a last-minute online link addition, the gathered group passed next year’s proposed PTO Board leadership and the planned 2026-2027 PTO Budget, which aligns very closely with this year’s budget. 

The group recapped the events of the year and talked about some opportunities for an incoming 6^th grade or 7^th grade parent/guardian to join the Board as Co-President for the year and learn the ropes from our continuing PTO Board President Margaret Battat.

Big thanks to Jillian Feinberg for her excellent service to compose and distribute the weekly PTO Newsletter and for whipping the website into shape. Jillian will continue next year as the PTO Secretary. Thanks, Lanni Isenberg, for being this year’s PTO Board secretary and for leading the Bigelow Global Diversity Night the last few years! We wish you luck with your kids at Newton North next year!

Thank you to Rachanee Nelson for serving as Treasurer for 2 1/2 years and all-the-time recruiter for school events and activities. Thank you to Amy Davis for stepping into the Treasurer role this spring and continuing next year! 

More thanks go to the many great Bigelow families for supporting the dances, Warrior Arena skate night fundraisers, Teacher Appreciation events, CAS (Creative Arts & Science) experiences and thanks to our teacher partners!

We’d also like to thank Principal Green and main office super-star Kersten Raso for their partnership and for rooting for us all year! Check out all our PTO Board and Volunteer Opportunities for the 2026-2027 school year and join us!

The Black Heritage Trail Tour is coming up this Saturday! RSVP to Hai at ms_haily@yahoo.com by this FRIDAY at 5pm. We look forward to seeing you there.

Calling all parents for the Class of 2030! 

At Newton North, each class has 3-6 Class Liaisons who serve as parent representatives for the grade.

Class Liaisons communicate with parents/guardians, class advisors, the class dean and class officers about class-specific events and they manage the Facebook page and Instagram for the parents and guardians of the class. Class liaisons work with PTSO Co-President, Class Advisors and the Class Dean to support class-specific events and assist in finding volunteers for class-specific events.

The Class Liaisons‘ first duty is to help plan the 9th Grade Class Welcome event that happens in September. This is generally a 4 year commitment, from September to June, one hour every two weeks.

Please email co-presidents@northptso.org if you are interested or have any questions.

Thank you, Bigelow Parent Alexander Lee and Green Team Leaders Crista Cavicchio (special education teacher) and Chris LeGare (art teacher) for keeping food waste to a minimum at Bigelow and in Newton!

Every week this academic year, the teachers coordinated the collection of whole fruits not consumed during lunchtime, and Alexander picked up the bounty to drop off to a Newton North High School student, Cindy Q., and her family to redistribute to Newton families in need. An Underwood Elementary School representative dropped off additional fruit items by Wednesday morning for Alexander to carry along as well! The last pick-up was this week. 

And, reliable sources say that the collection will continue next school year, too!

The School Committee’s next public meeting is June 15th, @7pm.

Click here for a full calendar of School Committee events.

“The School Committee in each city and town and each regional school district shall have the power to select and to terminate the Superintendent; shall review and approve budgets for public education in the district, and shall establish educational goals and policies for the schools in the district, consistent with the requirements of law and state-wide goals and standards established by the Board of Education.”

Please join us, Tuesday, June 2nd at 7 pm in the *Bigelow Library for our final PTO meeting of the 2025-26 school year. We will review the PTO budget, elect officers, and start planning for the 2026-27 school year.

This is a great opportunity to get involved, stay connected with our Bigelow community, get to know teachers, staff and families from other schools. Parents and guardians from all grades may join! We especially welcome incoming 6th grades to participate and actively learn more about middle school.

Please RSVP by Thursday, May 28th so we can plan for refreshments.

We have several PTO Board roles open for next year and we would love to have representation from all our feeder schools.

Check out ALL the positions HERE to sign up or find out more about something new!

*This meeting will be held in person in the Bigelow library and via Zoom; a link will be shared before the meeting with those who RSVP.

Click here to get involved

Bigelow’s Creative Arts & Sciences (CAS) committee brings several programs to the school each year.  Many of them are teacher favorites that are requested every year, others are new and different. 

CAS programs, funded solely by the PTO, are made possible through PTO fundraising. To learn more about the CAS program, visit the NPS website.

This is a great opportunity to get involved, stay connected with our Bigelow community, get to know teachers, staff and families from other schools. Parents and guardians from all grades may join! We especially welcome incoming 6th grades to participate and actively learn more about middle school.

Please throw your hat in the ring by Friday, May 22nd so we can prepare for our end-of-year PTO meeting (June 2nd).

We have several PTO Board roles open for next year and we would love to have representation from all our feeder schools. Click here for more open roles.

Check out ALL the positions HERE to sign up or find out more about something new!

Yes, I want to get involved

Please click here for the flyer of 8th grade end-of-year activities, Permission Forms, Payment Link and Dietary Restriction Form.

Our 8th graders continue to participate in transition activities that prepare them for Newton North High School.

Please see this message for a comprehensive list of transition events and feel free to reach out to 8th grade counselor, Molly Morrow, with any questions you might have.

All orders must be placed by Friday, May 22, 2026.  

Please support our 2025-26 Yearbook: To order your copy of our yearbook, CLICK HERE or go to https://ybpay.lifetouch.com, and enter our yearbook ID code, which is 1945926. Enter the student’s name and grade. Click next and follow the online prompts to complete your order. Enter your payment directly on the website with a credit card.  

Yearbooks will cost $32 each. After this date, our final yearbook order has been placed and the number of available copies left online will be limited to a first-come first serve basis.