All blocks will meet, but will be shorter to accommodate a special 50-minute advisory. During this advisory, students and staff will work through our different emergency procedures, culminating with an evacuation towards the end of the block. While we hope to never need to use these procedures, it is vital that we are prepared to respond to keep our students, staff, and community safe. If students have any concerns after these drills are concluded, we welcome them to reach out to their dean, counselor, or another trusted adult.

 

Last, but certainly not least, the district released a newsletter on Wednesday, September 28 that can be accessed here.

 

Here’s to another great week at South! Please let us know if you have any questions.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jason Williams (he/him/his)

Vice Principal

Newton South High School

As you know, Newton South briefly lost phone and Internet service towards the end of the school day on Wednesday, September 28. Thanks to the work of our IT team, we were able to resolve this issue later in the afternoon after dismissal. While we hope to not have an issue like this occur again, we would like to use this experience as an opportunity to discuss what would happen in the event we temporarily lost phone service in the future.

 

First, if there ever is a phone outage and you are unable to contact the school, we will send you a message through School Messenger asking for families to call the Superintendent’s Office if they need to reach Newton South. In case of an emergency, we would still be able to call 911 as we have special infrastructure in place separate from what went offline on Wednesday. We may additionally cancel activities that take place after school if we need to maintain the safety of our students and phone issues were to continue past the end of the school day.

 

We would also like to acknowledge that some families have raised concerns about the limited cell phone coverage in the Newton South area. We and the City of Newton are aware of these issues and share your concerns about the effect of the limited coverage and its implications for communication, especially in moments like Wednesday afternoon. We will continue to partner with the city to look for solutions to this issue that might allow two-way communication to continue to flow between our school and the greater community.

 

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we worked to resolve this unexpected issue on Wednesday afternoon.

Attached is a list of colleges visiting Newton South for the week of 9/26 – 9/30. If you have any questions, please reach out to Kathy Sabet, our College and Career Counselor.

 

The College and Career Center webpage is here.

On Monday, October 3, students and staff will review our emergency response plan during an extended Advisory, expected to be about 50 minutes.

 

During this advisory, students and staff will practice several drills and a school evacuation and learn about ways we can stay safe while we are in school. We will run an adjusted schedule that can be accessed here.

 

While we expect the safety day block to last 50 minutes, there may be unanticipated circumstances which may lead the evacuation portion of the block to extend a few minutes into B block.

As mentioned in the opening letter, we will have no school on Wednesday, October 5 due to Yom Kippur.

New this year!

 

“CELEBRATE SOUTH” WEEKwill take place Saturday, October 15 – Saturday, October 22! The PTSO, Boosters, and South Class Office have a week’s worth of SPIRIT planned! There will be music, athletics, art, giveaways, and fun events! Be on the lookout for the calendar of events and get ready to join with your South community to CELEBRATE NSHS!

One of our student newspapers, Denebola, is fundraising! Here is a link to their Customink page.

Wednesday, October 12: Midterm Comments Due

Saturday, October 15 – 22: Celebrate South Week

Wednesday, October 19: Passin’ Time during WIN 1 (10:45 – 11:10)

Thursday, October 20 – Saturday, October 22, 7:30 PM: Writers…Blocked: The Frosh Play

Saturday, October 22, 7-10 PM: Homecoming Dance

It’s never too late to get involved at Newton South! Want to catch a game? View the athletic calendars here: Newton South Athletics Calendar

 

Want to join a club but don’t know where to start? Here are a list of clubs at Newton South!

Please be sure to clean up after yourselves when you are done eating. We have sometimes seen trash left at tables and other parts of the building which has created extra, unnecessary work for our custodial staff. Remember our school values – Choose Kindness, Listen First, Show Respect, and Take Responsibility.

 

Students are permitted to eat in the following locations:

• The Student Center
• Outside, when the weather permits (picnic tables are outside Wheeler House and in the Student Center Courtyard)
• The Wheeler, Goldrick or Goodwin Commons
• The Field House Lobby
• Any supervised area where staff give expressed permission
• Auditorium Lobby Tables

 

 

Students are NOT permitted to eat in the Library, Auditorium, Lecture Hall, or in hallways.

Students are also not permitted to eat on the floor.

 

We appreciate your cooperation as we work together to maintain a safe, healthy environment for all.

We encourage you to sign up for our Optional Chromebook Repair Fund. For $25 per year, all accidental damage to the device, including screen cracks, liquid spills, damages from dropping, etc. will be covered. Sign-up and payment for the Chromebook Repair Fund is done through the MySchoolBucks Portal.