College Consultant available

Are you thinking about the college admission process but don’t know where to begin?

Are you feeling overwhelmed by all of the complex (and sometimes conflicting) information on college admission?

Are you wishing your family wasn’t fighting over college application issues?

If you answered “Yes!” to any of these questions, an independent, comprehensive college consultant can help. Maruta Vitols guides families through every aspect of the college admission application process, from thinking about possible careers/majors to creating a college list to comparing award letters. She’s uniqely qualified, having experienced elite college admissions from the perspectives of faculty, staff, and student. Maruta is also a graduate of Newton South (Class of 1994), and a lifelong resident of Newton.

Check out www.apluscollegeconsult.com for more information, and contact her at mvitols@gmail.com to schedule a free consultation. 🙂 Maruta Z. Vitols, Ph.D.

Big Night Pictures, Auction Items and More

MANY THANKS again to all who attended Bigelow-on-the-Charles, who participated in the auction and to the people and businesses who donated goods, services as well as their time and talents to make our Big Night a great night. We only have  7 items available on the catalog. This is your last chance to bid before we close the auction on Wednesday, April 11, 2018!!

Specifically, thank you to:

  • Our wonderful Big Night Chair, Meredith Andrews, who worked long hours to bring a great concept to fruition.
  • The Big Night Committee members for their time and energy to make the whole night come together and the volunteers who helped make the evening flawless: Una Simmons, Joana Canedo, Kim Donlan, Niki Diller, Bid Lannery, James Bryant, Frannie Kervin, Aoife O’Dwyer, Dina Conlin, Dave and Debbie O’Rourke Amy Beckler, Barbara Campbell Charyti Reiter, Ola Agoro, Kyra Mercado, Maren Rossman, Caroline Burns, Krista Chavez, Sepi Sahami, Andrea Hemment, Jen Siegelman, Maayan Arbili, Karen Manning, Jessie Gilmartin, Jen Weber, Tracy Carroll, Dinora Justice, Sandra Kelley, Brian Goodwin
  • The wonderful Bigelow staff who donated one-of-a-kind items to the auction: Brooke Brady, Lauren Peters, Meghan Martin, Jaime Alberts, Michele Parker, Kyra Mercado, Kim LeQuire, Sheryl Rice, Jessica Hajjar, Patty Summa, Christine Langlois, Sue Levy, Mike Whitman, Mary Fitzgerald, Mr. P,  Mr. Brown and Todd Harrison.
  • The many families, businesses and organizations who donated items to our silent auction. For a complete list, click here. Please support them!
  • To anyone else who contributed to the evening who we forgot to list. Our apologies!

All your contributions helped us raise over $18,000, which will go towards curriculum-enriching programs such as the Creative Arts and Sciences, student scholarships, school grounds upkeep, classroom supplies, as well as gym and technology items not covered by the regular school budget. Take a look here at what the Bigelow PTO supports.

School Committee Update

Dear Friends,

This update is for the 03/26/2018 and 04/02/2018 Newton School Committee meetings, as well as additional information about recent program open houses:

1). At both 3/26 and 4/2 meetings, the main topic was the 2018-2019 proposed budget. The question and answer periods were relatively short as we had covered quite a bit of ground at our previous budget meetings (see previous newsletters). The meeting ended with a unanimous straw vote supporting the budget proposal.

2). At the 3/26 meeting we discussed a draft revision of the policy: Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Use for Students. The impetus for the new draft was the new requirement for SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment) screening. SBIRT is an evidence-based practice used to identify, reduce, and prevent problematic use, abuse, and dependence on alcohol and illicit drugs This is a verbal screening for students in grades 7 and 9. A number of revisions were suggested and a final draft will be proposed at an upcoming meeting.

3). School Committee Members were invited to a open houses at Central High School located at 100 Walnut Street and the Harbor Program on the campus of Newton South High School. The facilities for both programs are in renovated spaces as of September 2018. Directors and faculty of both programs discussed how the renovated spaces have made a positive impact on addressing student needs. Central High School, as described by the NPS website, is a small, highly structured, therapeutic setting with a behavior management system built into the school day. The Harbor Program, previously known as the High School Stabilization Program, is a short term program for students in crisis. This program allows students to continue their courses of study with additional clinical supports.

We hope you have found this summary useful. You can access all School Committee meeting documents via the NPS website (https://www.newton.k12.ma.us/domain/69).

Additionally, if you are interested in watching an SC meeting from home or a recorded meeting, you can obtain access via www.newtv.org.

As always, we are very happy to answer any questions or discuss any concerns you may have. Please feel free to contact us via the email address below.

Sincerely,

Newton School Committee

schoolcommittee@newton.k12.ma.us

Day of Silence – April 11

With the support of our Gay-Straight Alliance Club (GSA), Bigelow will be observing the National Day of Silence, a student-led action sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), in which thousands of students around the country will remain silent for all or part of the school day to call attention to the harassment and discrimination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, on Wednesday, April 11, 2018.

Bigelow students can show their support and participate in the Day of Silence in two ways.

1) REMAIN SILENT FOR THE DAY – Students making this choice are expected to participate non-verbally in all school-related activities, both in the classroom and the cafeteria. If required by a teacher, students will be expected to speak in class. Students can choose to wear a Day of Silence lanyard with a card that explains their silence.

2) BE AN ALLY – Allies will not remain silent themselves, but will respect the silence of others. Students can choose to wear a Day of Silence lanyard that explains why they are showing their support as an ally.

Participation is completely optional. Contact Principal Todd Harrison if you have any questions.

Bigelow Middle School is on Twitter!

Students and the whole school community can now get up-to-the-minute updates on clubs, sports, and other Bigelow events by following the school @BulldogWoofs on Twitter.  You can read the Twitterfeed on the Bigelow website, or click on the blue button to “Follow Us” on Twitter.

By following @BulldogWoofs, families can get timely notifications sent right to their cellphones, tablets and computers! This is a great way to keep informed of meetings for new clubs, changes in sports practices and contests, upcoming events, and much much more.

Save the date: Bigelow’s Civics Day

Please join us for Bigelow’s “Civics Day” on Tuesday May 22nd, 8:30 -10am. The day will begin with a parent coffee in Bigelow’s library at 8:30am, when Jean Singers, facilitator for Bigelow’s Generation Citizen project, will speak to parents about proposed changes to the Massachusetts history/social studies frameworks and also about Generation Citizen pilot program she is leading with cluster 8E. Generation Citizen is an action civics curriculum in which students identify issues in their community, research the root cause and then advocate for change. Following the parent coffee, students will be presenting the civic action and advocacy projects they have been working on this year. All parents are welcome.

NewtonServes – Bigelow Beautification – April 29th

NewtonServes is a Day of Community Service that brings together over 1,000 volunteers of all ages to complete more than 50 community projects for the benefit of numerous non-profit organizations and City of Newton departments. Volunteers work in teams on morning, afternoon or all day projects throughout the city, such as cleaning up parks, planting gardens, building and painting school bookshelves, spring cleaning at non-profit organizations and helping senior citizens. This year it will take place on Sunday, April 29th, from 9am to 4pm.

There are many volunteering opportunities all around the city, including:

Bigelow Beautification
Join us as we beautify the grounds of Bigelow Middle School. We plan to clean and mulch garden beds, prune shrubs and trees, etc. outdoors. We also may build a short wooden fence to protect planting beds from foot traffic.

NewtonServes is a project of Newton Community Pride, Mayor’s Office for Cultural Affairs and the Newton Parks and Recreation Department.

8th Grade Parents – Join the 2018-19 Newton North PTSO Board

Just as your 8th graders are moving on so are You! Newton North is looking for volunteers and Board Members for the NNHS PTSO. There is no better time to give back to the school community than the high school years. The PTSO is a backbone of our wonderful Newton North community and needs board members for next year. Board roles include officers and board roles overseeing area like fundraising, grants and projects, programs, communications, technology, and nominating. Volunteering will give you a front row seat where you can help shape the future success of one of the largest and most recognized high schools in the state. Please send an expression of interest to co-presidents@northptso.org by Friday April 13th.

NCE Spring Yoga

Our springtime yoga classes are starting up soon, and if you haven’t already signed up, we’d love to have you back! There’s still space in these classes:

To register, just click a link above! Any questions, please check our website or give NCE a call, 617-559-6999. Think SPRING!

Reminder about Small Choices – Big Impact

Join a presentation by former New England Patriot Chris Sullivan and his wife Kathi Sullivan. Listen as they share their own personal stories about addiction, mental health and making good choices. This talk is geared to parents and teens. For more information and to RSVP (requested, not required) visit www.newtonma.gov/newtonpath .

April 10th, 7:00 – 9:00pm
Newton South