Thanks to Bigelow PTO’s amazing volunteers, we enjoyed two awesome community events last weekend!

Ten Tables
Many fellow Bigelow parents gathered together to enjoy food & drinks at the Ten Tables progressive dinner and fundraiser on Saturday night. Huge thank you to Kathy Shields for pulling off this spectacular evening! And a big thank you to our gracious hosts:

• Katherine Liao & Eugene Rhee
• Kathy & Dave Shields
• Mandy & Michael Carozza
• Samantha Morton & Mike Champion
• Rodrigo & Fabiola Canales

Bigelow FORJ at Boston Bowl
On Sunday, many Bigelow families enjoyed an afternoon of bowling and arcade games in Boston. Special thanks to our Bigelow FOJR Team, Jeanne Choe-Arrieta, Angela Brooks, Hai Ly Burk, and Rachanee Nelson, for bringing families together for this event.

We are grateful for our Bigelow Commmunity!

Enjoy some photos from Boston Bowl:

Every first Wednesday, we’ve been encouraging students to walk, bike, carpool or take the bus to school with our Walk and Roll days. They get more exercise and it is better for the environment. In honor of Earth month in April, we are devoting a whole week to this!  Does your child have trouble getting up in the morning and need a ride to get to school on time?  Drive them partway and have them walk the rest, or drive them in the morning and ask them to walk home.  If your route is too dangerous, arrange to carpool with neighbors, friends, or family.  The fewer cars idling, the better!  We are encouraging staff to do this as well!

Save the Date for NewtonServes at Bigelow Grounds: Sunday May 4, 2025 NewtonSERVES is a city-wide day of building community through service. NewtonSERVES projects focus on cleaning and improving our parks, school grounds, open space areas, and conservation lands. Save the date, Sunday, May 4th, to build our Bigelow Community while reinvigorating the green areas around the school.

Learn more: https://www.newtonma.gov/government/parks-recreation-culture/newton-serves

Greetings Bigelow families!

My name is David Padgett, dad to Charlie (8th grader), and I’m just a few weeks away from taking on the 129th Boston Marathon! I’m running to raise money for the Newton School Foundation and I’m hoping you can help me reach my fundraising goal of $10,000!

Click here to support David and the Newton School Foundation

Thank you!

We hope you can join us this Sunday, April 6th from 3-5 pm for a family bowling event at Boston Bowl in Dorchester. Please click here to RSVP by Saturday at 12pm.

Please Save the Date, Friday, April 11th, for Bigelow’s “Tropical Twist” Spring Dance + Social. This fun event will include games, pizza, and dancing!

Parents & Caregivers: We need volunteers to make this event a success! Please sign up to volunteer using this link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UD0s2JhMjcyxhtQBluoMlV4SSo2de3wYIkrsOmucsEg/edit?usp=sharing

Newton Public Schools (NPS) is facing significant financial challenges for the 2025-26 school year. This slide deck provides an overview of the current situation.

TONIGHT Thursday, April 3rd, at 6:30pm NPS Superintendent Anna Nolin and School Committee Chair Chris Brezski are holding another community meeting to discuss the Superintendent’s proposed “Level Services Plus” budget and the implications of the “Cuts” budget (which meets the Mayor’s allocation for NPS). Chair Brezski will also share analysis of potential funding availability. There will be time for Q&A as well.

Community NPS Budget Meeting and Q&A (in person only)
Thursday, April 3rd at 6:30pm
Brown Middle School Auditorium
125 Meadowbrook Rd, Newton, MA 02459

Please join us via zoom on Tuesday, April 8th at 7 pm for our next PTO general meeting: https://mit.zoom.us/j/92126353407?pwd=5sNHKfjfi5wQAgbScPXTOV4VYLVAGO.1

We have two important topics on our agenda:

1. planning for next year
2. next year’s NPS budget

For next year’s PTO planning, we want to get your input on events and volunteer opportunities while sharing a snapshot of our current budget. We’ll keep this short – brainstorming rather than detailed planning – and are happy to answer questions about opportunities with the PTO. This is a great chance to learn more if you’re thinking about volunteering. We work together behind the scenes to give our students and teachers memorable and fun experiences every school year.

Regarding next year’s NPS budget – everyone received an announcement via email or ParentSquare on March 17 about the gap between what NPS needs and what the Mayor is currently offering. We’ll use the meeting to talk about this situation, how parents/families can learn more, and about how everyone can share their opinions with the city’s elected officials.

Thank you so much to all the families who baked and/or sent in a dessert for the “Treat Yo Self” treat bar on Friday! The teachers and staff loved all of the goodies and certainly felt your appreciation!

Many thanks to Laura Goldworm for leading the Teacher & Staff Appreciation Committee and planning this event.

MA Safe Routes to School Family Transportation Survey

How do NPS students arrive and depart school? To improve safety for all, we would like to better understand our student transportation choices. Please complete this two-minute MA Safe Routes to School Family Travel Survey. The survey is available in 9 languages and paper copies in 9 languages can be downloaded and printed from the SRTS website here.

Once on the website, Families should choose Newton as the district and then choose their school from the drop-down menu.