Welcome to new families and welcome back to returning families to Newton South! We hope this email finds you and your loved ones doing well!

We know how challenging and complex the return-to-learn decision and process has been for everyone in our community. As we start this unprecedented school year, the PTSO will continue to work with South Administration and staff to communicate information in a timely manner, help support and engage our community for input and ideas, and to stay connected even when we are apart. Please click here to subscribe to the PTSO Newsletter.

As we all prepare to return to school this year, it’s important that we remind ourselves of the impact that COVID-19 has had on each of our own decisions on how to live day to day with the presence of COVID-19. We all need to continue to do our part in keeping our community safe and healthy whether we are in distant learning or in-person activities.

• Encourage our children to stay connected with friends and classmates, and embrace the opportunity to meet new classmates and teachers this school year, even when we are distant and apart.
• Reinforce the importance of wearing the mask and following social distance protocols with masks and staying 6 ft apart to keep everyone safe – friends, family, teachers, adults, teammates, etc.
• Remind our children to stay vigilant with hand-washing, not touching any surface than those necessary, keeping hands away from their face is essential to keeping the spread of COVID-19 so we can ready to return to in-person events and activities.

Together, we can support each other and our community during these uncertain times. The PTSO will look to host virtual events and in-person activities with social distance protocols, and fundraise so we can support programs for all departments at South as they find new ways to teach, engage and connect with our children.

As we kick off our 2020-21 school year, the PTSO is launching our School Directory Confirmation process and our annual Dues Campaign.  Look for an email next week.  Every family must confirm their information to be included in the online and printed version.   You will have an opportunity to contribute to our annual Dues Campaign when you confirm your information.  Your annual Dues donation is used 100% to support our school community and enrich the experiences of our students at South. The PTSO relies on annual donations from each Newton South family.  For this unprecedented school year, we are reducing our Dues Campaign to $44,000.  A surplus of $13,500 will be used for the remaining expenses in our 2020-21 budget of $57,500.

We also plan to start our newsletters with a tip of the week for families this year.  Please send us your favorite quote, a cartoon, – something that got you through your day. We look forward to working together and encourage you to send us your ideas for making our students’ experience at South the best it can be to newtontogether@newtonsouthPTSO.org.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@newtonsouthPTSO.org.  Stay tuned for more news as we prepare for the start of the school year on September 16, 2020.

Stay well and enjoy the rest of the summer days!

NSHS PTSO Board,
May Chiu, Helen Haley, Lisa DePalma, Jen Tomaneng and Wayne Fitzpatrick