As the year begins to wind down, many of you are looking for a way to honor and thank the exceptional teachers and staff who have motivated, educated and inspired your students to grow and achieve all year.

As a way to show your appreciation to them, consider participating in Newton Schools Foundations’ Honor Thy Teacher campaign. This special program enables you to honor teachers by giving a gift to the Foundation in the name of the teacher. You may also choose to honor a special education aide, a fine arts or music teacher, or a coach or counselor who has made a difference in your child’s life. A suggested donation is $25 per teacher/staff member.

When you make your donation and identify the teacher(s) or staff you wish to honor, NSF will then:

· Notify the honored teachers and staff of your gift;
· Share the honoree names with the Superintendent and Principals; and
· List each of those honored in the Newton TAB.

You can make your donation on-line at www.newtonschoolsfoundation.org. You can also mail it to Newton Schools Foundation, P.O. Box 590020, Newton Centre, MA 02459.

Please be sure to include the names of the teachers and/or staff that you are honoring. A flyer that includes a donation form was sent to the homes of elementary school students in their backpacks last month, and will be sent again before the end of the year. A flyer will also be mailed to the homes of middle school and high school students (letters to senior student households have already been mailed).

Newton Schools Foundation is a non-profit organization that raises funds to enhance the quality of education in Newton’s public schools. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

On Monday, May 23rd at 6:00 pm at the Ed. Center, the district’s High School Start Time Working Group will hold a general information session to update the community on the status of its work. The presentation will include a brief review of relevant sleep science data, data from the surveys and case studies completed this year, and the opportunity for members of the community to ask questions, raise concerns and provide feedback directly to district leaders engaged in this discussion.

We look forward to your attendance and ask you to encourage others to attend as well. For additional information, please visit the high school start time section of the NPS website at: http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/laterstarttime The working group will also be making its year end report to the school committee at the June 20th School Committee meeting at 6:00 pm.