Children, Teens, and Technology

Rules of Engagment: Are There Any?

Wednesday, May 8, 7-8:15 p.m.

Newton North High School auditorium

Light refreshments

Co-sponsored by the PTOs from Bigelow, Cabot, Day, Peirce, Newton North, and by The Newton Partnership

Volunteers needed for Bigelow’s Election Day bake sale on Tuesday, April 30!

When: Tuesday, April 30, from 6:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (or as long as the baked goods last!)

Where: hallway outside Bigelow Gym

Here are three ways you can support this important fundraiser for the Bigelow PTO.

1. Bake and package delicious home-baked items to sell

2. Staff the bake sale (2-hour shifts are preferred but anything you can do is helpful)

3. Bring in bottled water, cans of seltzer, bananas, or apples

To bake and/or volunteer, email Julie Bourgoin at jbourgoin@comcat.net. She will send you instructions.

To buy, come by anytime. Students may purchase baked goods BEFORE and AFTER school.

Can’t bake? Cash donations are welcome!

Please note thsat the PTO meeting scheduled for this Friday morning has been canceled.

Are you interesting in becoming more involved in the Bigelow PTO? There are many positions available for the 2013-2014 School Year.

Please click below for more details.

Get involved 2013-2014

If you are interested, please email us at bigelowbulldog@gmail.com. We will be voting in new officers at our May meeting.

Do you find yourself using only your smartphone for pictures or videos? If you have a working handheld video camera that you never use anymore, please consider donating it to the Bigelow411 program.  The students will be extremely grateful!!

Not sure what the 411 is …. 

The Bigelow 411 is the Student Morning newscast program.  In the past, the PTO has provided 3 iMac computers loaded with iMovie software. Each team can produce their episodes separately, which helps the group’s organization and productivity enormously.

The students who produce the 411 newscasts use three Flipcam-style Kodak cameras to produce their news episodes. That’s one camera for each team of 8-10 students, which often leaves a lot of students without much to do. And it takes longer to film each clip — usually between 6 and 9 clips per episode. (Each team produces an episode for one day of the Bigelow cycle, so on Day 3 they produce the episodes for the next Day 4, 5, and 6.) If just one camera is broken or low on battery power, then the entire system grinds to a halt.

First a big thank you to all the students and parents who sent in their orders for cookie dough. We sold over $5,000 worth of Cookie Dough raising just over $2,000 for the Cyndi Daily-Smith and Howard B. Smith Scholarship Fund!

All orders for the frozen cookie dough must be picked up in the school cafeteria this Wednesday, March 27, 2013, between 2:45 and 4:30 pm. Small orders can be taken home by the students, larger ones need to be picked up by an adult. Please make arrangements accordingly!

Any orders which do not get picked up will remain at the school until the next day. After that, they will be donated (the school will be closed on Friday). Please make sure that your orders get picked up on Wednesday. Thank you!

And thank you for participating in this fundraiser!

Any questions: Berit Ramseier at 617-795-0866 / bramseier@gmail.com, or Marian McDonagh at (617) 332-5504 / mcdonaghfive@verizon.net.

The following letter was originally sent on March 13th directly from Dr. Fleishman.  If you did not receive it then, please check your Parent Connect to ensure your correct email is registered.  

Dear Newton Community:

As many of you already know, all three override questions were approved by Newton voters yesterday.  I know I speak for our entire system when I say we are grateful to the Newton residents for their support of the Newton Public Schools.  

I am truly excited for the opportunities that the override will provide to our students and staff.  It will allow us to immediately add educators at all levels to serve our growing population and begin to address both our facilities and space needs.  Below are some examples of what the benefits will be to our students:

• Additional teachers and staff at the elementary, middle and high school levels will be added to serve our growing population and to reduce some existing large classes at several schools.  
• Three brand new or fully renovated elementary schools (Angier, Cabot and Zervas) will provide not only top-notch facilities but badly needed classroom space.  In the fall of 2014, Angier students will move to a newly renovated Carr School, where they will spend two years before returning to a brand new Angier School.  We will have more details on both Cabot and Zervas in the near future.  
• Brand new modular classrooms will be added this fall at several elementary schools, including Bowen, Mason-Rice, Horace Mann and Burr.  These classrooms will ensure that there will be reasonable class sizes at the elementary level.

It was a great pleasure answering many questions from parents and community members during the numerous town and school meetings that we held over the past several months.  Newton is a city full of highly engaged citizens and I appreciate the value that is placed on public education.  I also want to extend a special thanks to the Mayor and School Committee for their tireless efforts during the override process.

Next Monday night, March 18, 2013, I will be presenting the specifics of the proposed FY14 budget to the School Committee which will include more details of how we intend to use the override funding.  We will be certain to provide more information on the budget in the coming days and welcome your input during the process.

Sincerely,

David Fleishman
Superintendent of Schools
Newton Public Schools 100 Walnut Street Newton, MA 02460 

Many thanks to all of you who provided baked goods and/or volunteered for the Bigelow Election Day bake sale. The sale raised $730 that will go to the Cyndi Dailey Smith Scholarship Fund. Thank you to Joanne Gatnick, Lori Seuch, Laura DeDominicis, Sally Brickell, Mindy Peckler, Becky Manley, Carena Cremin, Marian McDonagh, Vicki Ritterband, Liz Hoffman, Leah Arteaga, Beth Porter, Leslie Williams, Chris Kjellson, Andrea Newman, Liz Haas, Barbara Joseph, Rachel Boloyan, Donna Manley, Angela Pitter-Wright, Wendy Kritzer and others who provided items. Your time and efforts are much appreciated and helped make this fundraiser a success. Thank you.
Julie Bourgoin
PTO vice president

The two weeks are almost up. If you haven’t done so, please have your student turn in the cookie dough order forms with payment to their homeroom teacher on Monday, March 11, 2013. Last day for orders to be accepted is Tuesday, March 12, 2013.

We were able to get the delivery of the frozen cookie dough a day earlier as originally planned, i.e. Wednesday, March 27, 2013, since there won’t be any school that Friday, March 29. Orders will have to be picked up at the school on Wednesday, March 27, 2013!

Check out the brochure your student brought home – it’s a tempting selection of Tasty Batters Gourmet Cookie Dough, with Paula Deen’s Newest Creations!

The 40 % profit of every tub sold will benefit the Cyndi Daily-Smith and Howard B. Smith Scholarship Fund.

Thanks for supporting our school and our students!

If you have any questions regarding this fundraiser, please contact either Marian McDonagh at (617) 332-5504 / mcdonaghfive@verizon.net or Berit Ramseier at 617-795-0866 / bramseier@gmail.com.

Don’t Forget to Vote Yes Yes Yes in March 12 Special Election

On March 12, Newton voters will weigh in on an override proposal that is critical to the future of Newton and particularly to Newton’s schools.  The 3-question override package includes $4.5 million dollars to address dramatic student enrollment growth, plus funding to renovate or rebuild and expand Newton’s oldest and severely crowded schools.

In the past decade, Newton’s student population has increased by about 1,000 students and 850+ more are projected over the next five years.  Schools are bursting at the seams.  Question 1 on the March 12 ballot will provide funding to renovate/rebuild and expand the Zervas School, provide modulars for Bowen, Burr, Horace Mann and Mason Rice, and hire additional teachers for the growing student population at all grade levels throughout the district. 

Questions 2 and 3 on the ballot will provide funding to enable the rebuilding/renovation and expansion of the antiquated and overcrowded Angier and Cabot—Newton’s oldest school buildings—which the Massachusetts School Building Authority has named among the 30 worst in the state for building condition. Money currently lost on high energy costs and major repairs from these schools can be diverted to other schools.  In addition, the expansion of the centrally located Angier, Cabot and Zervas schools will ease the population pressure on surrounding schools throughout Newton. If the overrides pass, Newton stands to receive about $27 million in state reimbursement for the projects.

If you plan to be out of town on the March 12, you can vote before Election Day at the Newton Election Commission, 1^st floor of City Hall.  Mark your calendars and don’t forget to vote YES YES YES on March 12.