The four middle schools have established homework expectations for after April 28. They are below.

With the increase in time on learning that will accompany the shift to our full time instructional model on April 28, 2021, we continue to expect that mostly all learning and practice of skills will take place in class during the school day.  Teachers may assign work to be completed outside of the school day that is connected to independent reading, long-term projects or completion of work already assigned and started in class.  While there are no formal restrictions to assigning homework, teachers will be judicious in how it is assigned and factor in the amount of time that students will be engaged in live instruction daily, balancing the academic and social/emotional needs of their students.

We are happy to announce the return of Middle School athletics beginning with the Spring 2021 season, which will begin on April 29 and run through June 11, 2021.

Spring athletic programs will take place in 2 day per week cohorts (either Mon/Tuesday or Thursday/Friday) with no scheduled practices or games on Wednesdays.  All sports will run with modified rules that focus on player safety. Based upon the interest shown in our previous survey, we are able to offer sports in:

• Cross-Country
• Girls Lacrosse
• Ultimate Frisbee
• Sixth grade basketball
• A variety of intramural field sports.

Teams will meet after school, from 3pm to 4pm. Cross-country competitions and girls lacrosse games may run later.

All registration for all sports is done on Family ID.  Your student will be able to sign up for ONE A day activity and/or ONE DIFFERENT B day activity.  Your student WILL NOT be able to sign up for the same activity for both sessions.  Registration is open until April 30.

Participation on these teams will require an up to date physical, an ImPact concussion baseline assessment (taken from home this year), and a $90 user fee for Cross Country and Girls Lacrosse. There is a family cap of $540 for middle school sports and a super cap of $1500 which includes bus and athletic fees for both middle and high school. See Family ID for payment links.

Traditional school bus service will be available to competitions for the Cross-Country and Girls Lacrosse teams. with only slightly limited bus capacities due to transportation restrictions.  There is also late bus service to Newton at 4:10pm and to Boston at 4:15pm.   Families are invited to provide their own transportation for their students if they choose not to utilize bus transportation.

Please contact After School Coordinator, Stefanie Dalfior at DALFIORs@newton.k12.ma.us if you have any questions.

Do something good for yourself and the environment. Join Newton in celebrating #FreshAirFridays by walking, rolling, biking or taking the bus to school on Fridays this spring. Live too far to walk? Consider driving halfway and walking the rest.

Visit www.NewtonSafeRoutes.org for some tips.

Join Newton Parks and Recreation and instructors from MA Safe Routes to Schools to practice bike riding skills on Sunday April 25th.  Volunteers will help teach fun stations including knowing signs, hand signals and more.  Each child participating needs to be able to ride a bike independently.  Children must also bring their own bike, helmet, and an adult must be present for the duration of the program.

Registration for this program opens on April 15th at 6:00 pm. through this link: https://newtonma.myrec.com/info/activities/program_details.aspx?ProgramID=30165

Hello everyone,

The time is fast approaching when we will need to vote on the slate of new PTO Board members. Please see here the list of open positions.

I have found being involved in the Bigelow PTO to be so rewarding, and have enjoyed my tenure as President these past two years. The Board and I are honored to be part of such a vibrant and generous community that has consistently supported all the programs and services the PTO funds. We have a wonderful group of Chairs for various committees, who have provided great opportunities for our students, teachers and staff. I am always struck by the willingness of parents and caregivers to carve time out of their very busy schedules to volunteer for the PTO. Especially this past year with the difficulty of COVID-19.

This coming year will be quite transitional as Bigelow will have a new principal and students will be returning to the school full time. It will be more important than ever for the PTO to support our teachers and staff for the benefit of our children.

So I hope very much that you will consider taking a role in the PTO next year. There are many ways to help, based on how much time you can spare. We are happy to chat with you if you have any questions about any position. You can email us or we can set up a time to chat.

For your guidance, we will vote on the new slate of Board members in our Spring meeting (time TBD).

Thank you again for your consideration and support of the Bigelow PTO!

Karen Markson and the PTO Board

From Newton School District:

As NPS prepares for a full in-person return to school for students at all levels, we STRONGLY ENCOURAGE families to enroll their student (s) in our COVID-19 testing program. Testing is one of the best ways we have to quickly identify infection and reduce the possibility of in school transmission.

Here are 3 reasons to enroll:

• It’s easy! Complete the opt-in in Aspen. Pre-K – 8th grade students will receive their QR code from school staff.
• It’s painless! This is NOT the “touch your brain” swab! This is a sample taken from the front of your nose with a Q-tip like swab. It’s super-fast and painless.
• It makes a difference! The more students who participate, the better data we have on infection rates in our community. This means we can quickly identify infection, reduce the risk of in school transmission, limit quarantines, and keep our schools, athletics and other important activities open for the rest of the year!.

Bonus reason: This testing program is FREE to all families! We ask you to strongly consider enrolling your student today. Thanks in advance for doing your part to keep our schools safer.

More information on the Newton Public School website

From the Superintendent’s Office: 

Dear Bigelow Community,

Over the past couple of months, it has been a great pleasure to work with various stakeholders in the Bigelow community on the principal search process. The Selection Advisory Committee did a terrific job throughout the entire search and I am grateful for their commitment to ensuring that the school would find a highly capable leader. I am also thankful to the faculty, staff, parents and administrators who participated in the process and asked such thoughtful questions of our finalists.

Last week, the Bigelow community had the opportunity to meet two excellent finalists. After careful consideration and a thorough review, I am pleased to announce that Chassity Coston will be appointed to the position. Throughout the search, Chassity impressed us with her passion and knowledge of middle school education, her commitment to meeting the academic and social and emotional needs of all students, and her capacity to build a positive and trusting school culture. Chassity demonstrated that she is a highly knowledgeable instructional leader who has high standards for herself and for those with whom she works.

The school and district leaders with whom we spoke from Chapel Hill were most complimentary of Chassity’s record as a school leader. They described her as a dynamic individual who has keen instincts, a reflective nature and an incredible work ethic. There was unanimous consent that she would be a principal by now had she remained in the district.

In her various positions, Chassity has been able to gain the trust of students, faculty, and families in her positions through the strength of her ideas and principles, and the warmth of her approach. She is incredibly excited about joining the NPS community and relocating to the Boston area.

Chassity was most recently the secondary school principal at the International School of Kuwait. Previously, she was the middle school coordinator at the American School of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Earlier, she was an assistant principal in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Chassity’s teaching career was in the Durham, North Carolina Public Schools where she taught math. Chassity has her bachelor’s from North Carolina Central University and a master’s from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

I am very much looking forward to having Chassity join our leadership team. She will officially begin her position on July 1, 2021. I know that Todd will work closely with Chassity to make the transition seamless.

Sincerely,

David Fleishman
Superintendent of Schools

If you need this information translated, please copy and paste it into Google Translate. The link to Google translate is http://translate.google.com/

The PTO Spring Meeting will take place at 7:30pm on Thursday 04/15.

To join the Zoom Meeting:

We are very excited to announce that in person Bigelow drama is back!

Our spring play this year is the Doctor’s Daughters and will be rehearsed and performed entirely outside and student directed! This show will only be open to seventh and eighth grade students and will be by audition only.

We will be holding an informational meeting on Friday, April 9th at 3:30 where many more details will be shared. The meeting will be on Zoom and the link can be found on the Bigelow Drama website (bigelowdrama.weebly.com).