Dear Newton South Families,

Hello everyone (click here for a NSHS hello!). I hope you and yours are well, and that you were able to celebrate holidays with your family.

It’s been a month.

That’s both a measure of time and an emotional statement!  It feels like a new world, or a different era altogether. I so feel for our students. They are brave and resilient, yes, and also experiencing a drastic sudden change to their world that only exists in times of crisis. Not in recent memory (and for our students, never) has our big, powerful country been brought to a standstill, where the goals of life after Newton South (college, work, etc.) have become unknowns so quickly. 

I say all of that to say this: it is vital that we take care of our (students, adults – all of us!) emotional health first, middle, and last. School has always been about community and connection, and we aim to capitalize on that more than ever in the days to come. Below you’ll see opportunities we have created for students to connect, as well as our strategy to reach out to families and students who may need additional supports. I am sure that different households experienced our transition to more structured learning opportunities differently. Our teachers continue to learn as we go, and we will be making adjustments as we come to understand what is working and what needs to change. Later this week will share a survey with students and families to hear their thoughts and suggestions for how we are proceeding.

I want to close by expressing my continued pride and appreciation for our faculty and staff. They are truly rising to the extraordinary challenge of leading distance learning, and are embracing new technologies, ideas, and strategies in efforts to connect with all of our NSHS students. I want to commend our students for doing their part: trying their best to navigate this new way of doing school.  

And, as always, thank you for your partnership.  Below are some specific updates.

Best regards,

Joel Stembridge

Principal, Newton South High School

We have organizational support available for students: We are directly contacting students who are part of our many support programs (after school program, small studies, peer tutoring, special education, etc.) to offer help. In addition, we will be hosting general Monday office hours for students who would like help – please contact your guidance counselor to sign up for these.

We also offer this guide to “HOW TO GET ORGANIZED ON MONDAYS” There is no “one-size-fits-all” organizational plan that will work for all students; herein are options for you to consider – feel free to use, modify, or not use, depending on what works.

We have opportunities for students to connect for fun: Newton South Community Gatherings – April 2020. In addition to clubs, teams, and casts who have been connecting online, we are offering community gatherings (including lunch chats, mini-classes like journaling or cooking, and dancing/singing!) for students, hosted by NSHS students and staff- see the current offerings here!  Don’t see what you are looking for? Contact Mx. Parker and make a suggestion!

End of the Year Activities: we continue to wait for guidance from the state for if/when we will return to school. We should hear in the coming week or two, as the current return date of May 4th is getting closer. We will start working next week with our senior class officers and the senior class to develop alternate plans in the event that we are not able to return to school this spring.

Dear Newton South Families,

I don’t know for sure the origin of the phrase, “May you live in interesting times”, but boy have the past few weeks been…well…interesting. As we’ve all been challenged to adjust our lives and routines, I hear people left and right using phrases like “new normal” and “unchartered territory”. I also have been hearing a lot of folks saying “we’ll get there” or “we’re not there” yet. It’s enough to make me wonder where “there” is anyway?

All of the changes to our lives are requiring us to adjust not only our routines, but also our goals and our vision. When I think about how we assess the success of distance learning, it strikes me that getting “there” is primarily about engaging students to feel ownership of and responsibility for their learning. With ownership and engagement as the goal, the content becomes a vehicle to get there, rather than the goal in and of itself.

This paradigm shift is a radical change for many of us. Regardless of whether you support this change or you are highly skeptical of deviating from traditional classroom instruction, our community is transitioning to distance learning. The more quickly students can embrace change and adopt a curious mindset, the more likely they are to develop new routines that will support success.

You may be wondering what you can do to help your child to adjust to schooling from home. Talking to your student about how they are feeling about the disruption to their school lives and this unfamiliar format is an important step. Acknowledging the range of emotions that accompany the uncertainty of the moment may help students to move from a feeling of loss to a feeling of acceptance

You will find a list of strategies in this article – That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief  that you can implement at home to support your students. If you have the time as a family – and it seems as though we all have a little extra time on our hands these days – I encourage you to take the time to watch this webinar that presents strategies to support healthy emotional regulation during stressful times. As always, please be in touch with your student’s school counselor and/or dean if you have any questions or concerns.

Dan Rubin, Department Chair Newton South Guidance

Dear Newton South Parents/Guardians,

We hope this letter find you and your loved ones healthy and well. The COVID19 situation has impacted all of our lives in ways none of us could have imagined.

As home learning phase 2 outlined in April 2 Update from Superintendent Fleishman and recent April 3 Update from Principal Stembridge, rolls out on Monday, we wanted to remind everyone that this home learning  is unprecedented and teachers are also working on the fly to work out the kinks.

First we want to thank the teachers and administrators for everything they are trying do for home learning. We know no one signed up for this and we know there are significant challenges to support our diverse learning student community at South. Many parents have learned in the recent weeks that their version of home learning is overwhelming for both student and parents.

Teachers have already been engaged with students and provided:

• Non-graded problem sets, writing options, or similar assignments;
• Reading material or items of interest related to class topics;
• Links to videos and other online material;
• and most recently, virtual meeting schedules.

If your child is not checked Schoology, they need to now. In the coming days, look for more specific assignments and instruction from teachers.  

Also, a reminder that course verification for 2020-2021 school year needs to be done by April 8.  Please review the Course Verification April 3 Mr. Hardiman. Students need to log in to Aspen.

Home learning and structure online learning will take shape in several forms. Teachers have already engaged students and setting expectations, weekly assignment due dates, virtual class schedule and office hours (like J block).

We all know how stressful and rigorous high school academics are in a normal school environment. Now forced into a home learning scenario, students and parents should not expect this change to be seamless.  In collaboration with NSHS Guidance Department, we have a few reminders and tips that we hope will help with home learning. 

Home Learning Reminders and Tips:

• Be dressed and ready for virtual meetings with teachers or online classes – still a safe zone and wear what’s comfortable
• Keep Chromebooks, calculators charged 
• Remove distractions like radio, tv, phone during structured learning time – just like school.
• Student should get their daily planner out, or make a list of tasks for the day and week. Help and guide your teen(s), as needed as they are still developing their executive function skills. 
• Create a work space – A spot at the kitchen/dining table, a corner on a couch, or a desk. Allow different spaces – whether lying on the ground or sitting at a table – whatever works best.
• Schedule breaks –  breaks are a natural part of the school day.
• Let them keep in contact with friends, virtually – Encourage teens to lean on their friends, at a social distance. Being social is still important!
• Check in but let your teen, where possible to take control of their own learning and not rely on you.

Simple structure is more valuable than you think – wake up/bedtime schedule, home learning blocks, time for family meals and interaction. Life often teaches the best lessons – COVID19 is a major hurdle. As parents/guardians, we can help our teens understand how this world pandemic has changed our lives – all lives and businesses. Remember that home learning is just one small part of their learning now.

Hang in there! WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.

May Chiu, Michele Rosenthal
co-Presidents, Newton South PTSO

Hello Families,

I hope you are all staying healthy and are able to cherish the ability to pause and spend quality time with loved ones during this difficult time. Please see the important message below that was just sent earlier this week via Schoology to all current 9th, 10th and 11th grade students:

Good Evening Newton South Students,

Please bear with me as there is a lot of important info to share!

I know that your counselors have been working hard with you to get all of your course requests for next year completed in Aspen over the past few weeks. However, for various reasons, I also know that some of you may not have been able to connect with your counselor to finalize requests. No worries!

Starting this evening, we are now moving on to the verification process. At this point, EVERY student needs to follow these 2 steps:

1. Log on to Aspen and closely verify your course requests for next year. You should see a pdf. in your documents folder called “South April 2020 Verification Form of Course Requests” that contains all of your requests.

2. IMPORTANT: Fill out this google form: https://forms.gle/2bgmnxCt4agvf6rn9

EVEN IF ALL OF YOUR COURSE REQUESTS FOR NEXT YEAR ARE ACCURATE, you need to fill out the form to acknowledge that you have seen all of your updated course requests.

Because of the uniqueness of this year with verification being remote instead of in school, we will be spreading verification over a few days, but we still need everyone to understand that these requests are considered final once verification closes (teachers may still make changes to recommendations through June). PLEASE MAKE FINAL CHANGES ON THE VERIFICATION FORM BY 6:00PM ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8TH.

Related Info:

1. Newton South High School builds the school-wide schedule based on requests made by students. Consequently, student requests impact the number of courses and sections of each course that the school is able to run. This impacts staffing decisions which are made in the spring of each school year. In order to meet the needs of students, appropriately staff the building, create optimal class sizes, and remain within budget constraints, we are firm in our position that students may not change course requests after Verification, the final part of the registration process.

2. Counselors have received a number of questions about “ level watch lists” and “review in June” etc. now that we are at home. Though I don’t yet have a definitive answer regarding processes for how this will work, I can say that our goal will be to ensure that the pandemic does not eliminate your ability to demonstrate your readiness for a higher level. However, please DO NOT use the verification google form to request a course at a level higher than the one that your teacher recommended for you but rather, begin by having discussions with your teachers over the next few weeks. Again, teachers would be the ones to make changes after the verification period, not students.

3. If you have any questions about the verification form or process or need technical help, please contact South scheduler, Ms. Cassell at cassellf@newton.k12.ma.us. and if you have specific questions about your course requests, please contact your counselor.

Thank you and wishing you good health and connection with loved ones during this unusual time!

Mr. Hardiman
NSHS Interim Vice Principal

Hello From Your School Nurse! 

I hope you and your children are all staying healthy and finding new routines that keep you busy and allow time to take care of yourself. These difficult times can bring feelings of uncertainty, fear and worry that can be expressed in many ways. Parents can help their children by staying positive and reassuring them that adults are working hard to help things get back to normal. Here are a few important public health reminders: 

Stay home as much as possible but try to get outside for walks or exercise with people from your household. Avoid play dates and group sports activities. Encourage kids to connect with their friends by phone, text, video chat, etc. Wash your hands and clean high-touch surfaces frequently. If someone becomes sick, call their healthcare provider for next steps. 

Here are a few links that may be helpful for your family: www.newtonma.gov/covid19 is updated regularly with links to the mayor’s updates, financial resource information, mental health resources, hotline numbers and much more. 

Newton Public Schools COVID-19 page  www.newton.k12.ma.us with food pickup info, learning resources, how to talk with kids about COVID-19 and much more. 

We are working remotely and am very interested in staying in touch. We are available by email or phone to help you. If you would like to talk to one of us directly on the phone, we can arrange a time by: Emailing me at kramerg@newton.k12.ma.us or kiritsyk@newton.k12.ma.us with a few times that would work for you and the phone number you want us to call. 

Please know that when we call, it will come as a blocked phone number.  Look forward to connecting with you. 

Stay well and stay in touch.
– Gail Kramer, RN & Karleen Kiritsy, RN

Juniors and seniors are welcome to contact Ms. Sabet, College & Career Counselor via email to discuss your college and post-secondary plans. Topics for seniors such as evaluating college options, financial aid, waitlists and options besides college may be discussed through Google Meet. Topics for juniors such as creating a list of colleges, post-secondary options, testing, applications, and essays may also be discussed through Google Meet.

Letter from  Superintendent David Fleishman, March 22, 2020 – Update on Leaning During School Closure.   

Hello Newton South Students/Families,

We hope this note finds you in good health as we cope with the challenges that we face with the COVID-19 crisis.  Please see the letter from Vice Principal Chris Hardiman regarding 2020-21 course registration.

“When we left school last week, we were in the midst of our course registration process at both high schools. As we get things rolling again, remotely, we are ready to return to this process with a revised timeline and some new virtual processes. This letter is to let you know that we are going to get started again with this work and that we have plenty of time to address any questions or concerns that you have related to course registration.

We are asking counselors of all students in grades 8 through 11 to review the course requests that are already in Aspen. This will allow the counselors to be ready to reach out to students next week, if necessary. Students or families can still view the course requests that have been entered so far into Aspen as follows: Login into Aspen, select the student, then select the “schedule” side-tab, then select “requests” under “schedule.”

If you have questions or concerns about your course requests, you should feel free to email or send a Schoology message to your counselor. Counselors will work with students on reviewing requests and answering questions, through Friday March 27th. On Friday March 27th we plan to open a “Virtual Verification Period.” This will be your last chance to request any final changes, such as changing electives, adding alternate classes, etc. The Virtual Verification Period will take place over a number of days and we’ll set the exact timeline as we get closer to March 27th. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Thanks so much,

Chris Hardiman
Interim Vice Principal
Newton South High School