The latest announcements from the Principal, PTSO, and NPS...

Message & Survey from the Grading Group Grades 6 – 12

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Aparna Singamsetty in From the PTSO

Good Evening,

The owner of the grading survey form has fixed the link to the survey so you should be able to access it now. The original email is below….

Thanks

Dear Families and Caregivers,

This school year, in response to the pandemic and in an effort to be more equitable, we adapted our grading system to its current form.  In response to lessons learned from this year’s grading system, the likely continuing effects of the pandemic, and our collective ongoing learning about equitable grading practices, a working group of educators in grades 6-12 has been formed with the ultimate goal of making a recommendation for a grading system for the 21-22 school year.

Feedback from families is an important part of our process and will help inform next steps as we consider potential improvements to the grading system used in our middle and high schools. We are providing this video for additional information: https://youtu.be/k7MsjlscHOg.

Please complete this short survey (https://forms.gle/iJPq8Z4ANmpac9qy7) to help us capture your experience with the current grading system. Thank you in advance for your time.

Translations:

Simplified Chinese: ????

https://forms.gle/DFEr2dN5xdkbRhFfA

Japanese: ???

https://forms.gle/89W7yJfaEkz7Gy6A6

Korean: ???

https://forms.gle/DSgBQ62rhaLp3iK97

Portuguese: Português

https://forms.gle/g9LJmyBjvT5nM2hZ9

Russian: ???????

https://forms.gle/NYkry8cfzAB3Ngj38

Spanish: Español

https://forms.gle/fHeaUKeFDX6VAJJe6

Newton South Asian Awareness Day on March 31

Posted on March 28, 2021 by PTSO CoPresident in From the PTSO

Dear Parents/Guardians,

The Newton South Asian Student Organization and the AAPI Staff Affinity Group are hosting Asian American Awareness Day, a series of webinars for students and faculty that advocates for and celebrates the diverse Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. The program will feature AAPI guest speakers who will share their personal and professional experiences as well as discuss important issues of our community.  This webinar was made possible through donations from our Newton South Community from the PTSO Grants program.  

Please click to view the full-day agenda for NSHS Mar 31 Asian American Awareness Day on Wednesday, March 31, 2021 – B, Flex, D, E, F, G Blocks.

Also visit the PTSO website for resources and view the Guide for Parents on how to discuss the topic of racism with your children.

Course registration information for the Class of 2023

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Aparna Singamsetty in For Sophomores

Dear South Students and Families –

In the coming days students will access their course recommendations for the 2021-2022 school year. Students will also be asked to select their elective course choices. Course registration is an exciting time, allowing students to explore new disciplines and delve more deeply into previously identified interests.

Between March 25th and April 14th counselors will hold brief one-on-one meetings with all students to complete their selections in Aspen. For the class of 2023, we are prioritizing these meetings between Wednesday 3/31 and Wednesday 4/7. Students should schedule a meeting with their counselor during an unassigned period or flex block whenever possible. Students should also plan on scheduling their meeting on a day that they are learning remotely, when possible, to allow them to speak more freely than if they are in an assigned study with other students.

Counselors will work with students to consider balance (with regard to levels as well as overall course load), to make sure students are electing a full complement of courses including alternate choices, and how next year’s choices fit within a broader four year plan. In this most unusual year, we ask for your partnership with the following steps to make sure that students make good, thoughtful course selections.

  1. We encourage you to take time to review available course offerings in the NSHS Program of Studies. Rising 11th graders are reminded that US History and Biology are required courses for graduation, in addition to English being required for all four years.

  2. Please complete a draft course request form prior to meeting with your school counselor to complete/review your course choices in Aspen. Make sure you meet minimum credit count and that you select alternates.

  3. Remember that Newton South recommends that students take no more than three courses at the AP/honors level.

  4. Please review course request change guidelines

Please contact your counselor should you have any questions.

Best,

Dan Rubin

Director of Guidance

Aspen Course Registration Update

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Aparna Singamsetty in From the PTSO

Hello Families,

Students should be able to go into Aspen following the attached instructions, entering courses anytime between now and the deadline of April 5th (also found here: https://www.newton.k12.ma.us/Page/2665)

The window for parents to go into Aspen and view their student’s courses will not open until 5:00pm on Monday, March 29th, to coincide with when Newton North is opening their system for parents (the Aspen setups for permissions for the parent portal for both schools need to be aligned). However, if you do want to see courses that teachers are recommending before Monday, you can ask your student to view their Aspen page where the recommendations are listed there.

Thanks,

Chris Hardiman
NSHS Interim Vice Principal

April 1 Deadline for 2021 NSHS Yearbook and Graduation Congratulation

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Aparna Singamsetty in From the PTSO

Reminder that on April 1:

— The price for the NSHS yearbook will go up from $85 to $100. (Not sure if you’ve ordered one yet? Check out the list of orders HERE).

— The sale of congratulatory advertisements for this year’s book will end.

Go to www.yearbookforever.com to order both your book and your congratulatory advertisement today.

Questions, please contact Mr. Baron at baronb@newton.k12.ma.us

April 3 Deadline Class of 2021 Senior Baby Photos

Posted on March 28, 2021 by PTSO CoPresident in For Seniors

Hello Class of 2021 Parents!

We have reserved some space in this year’s yearbook for the traditional display of baby pictures of this year’s graduates, and we want to invite you to submit a photo of your graduate by this time next week.

The instructions: 

— Upload a picture of your graduate in their younger and more innocent years to THIS FOLDER. (I’ll leave you to decide what constitutes a baby picture. In the past, we’ve had newborns up to pre-teens.)

— Please only upload ONE photo. We have a lot of details to take care of to get this year’s book done (close to) on time, so don’t have time to choose among photos.

— Once the photo is uploaded, change the name of the photo to the name of your graduate (so we don’t have 200 photos labeled image1114.jpeg and no way to ID them in the book).

— If absolutely you can’t make Google work, you can just email the photo to baronb@newton.k12.ma.us (I’m trying to keep a flood of these photos out of my inbox, though, so would really prefer it if you could use the Google folder directly.)

The deadline: End of the day, Saturday, April 3 (it’s a hard deadline, unfortunately. We need to get the book to the publisher as close to on time as we can.)

Let me know if you have any questions.

Mr. Baron baronb@newton.k12.ma.us

 

 

Tues, March 30 @8PM -NSHS HOSA Hosting Talk on Sports Medicine

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Aparna Singamsetty in Athletics

NSHS HOSA Hosting Talk on Sports Medicine, Tue, Mar 30 at 8PM
NSHS Chapter of National Health Professional (HOSA) will be sponsoring an informational session on sports conditioning to be held on Tuesday, March 30 at 8 pm with New England Revolution’s starting midfielder, Scott Caldwell – he will be live to talk about his daily routine, staying strong and fit at the highest level and his path to professional soccer. He will also be available to answer your questions. This promises to be an exciting session for all athletes and anyone interested in sports medicine.

If you have an interest, please email Hunter Tsao at newtonsouthhosa@gmail.com.

Thank You to Our Volunteers Booking Vaccine Appointments!

Posted on March 28, 2021 by PTSO CoPresident in From the PTSO

Thank you to our parent volunteers who helped 48 teachers to book their COVID-19 Vaccines this month!

As of March 22, 2021 the PTSO was advised by Administration that all teachers who wanted support have been helped.  The request form is now closed and will direct any teacher that is interested in getting support to contact our PTSO Coordinator, Melissa Monokroussos directly at melissab104@gmail.com.  If we get a significant increase in requests, we will re-open the form.

A big thank you to all our parent volunteers: Melissa Monokroussos, Theresa Fitzpatrick, Sherie Heywood, Alo Mukerji, Liz Hiser, Constantinos Zacharakis, Julia Hamilton, Danielle Lieber, Ellen Gibson-Kennedy, Erica Hong, Reza Khorshidi, Cindy Lam-Yee, Meryl Miller, Svetlana Moldavskiy, Rachel McLeod, Kim Smith, Suruchi Kaul, Pamela Frorer, Sally DiLoreto and Joanne Levy.

Newton South Black Culture Day

Posted on March 28, 2021 by PTSO CoPresident in From the PTSO

The Black Student Union organized a series of webinars on March 10, 2021.

Newton South students and faculty had the opportunity to sign up for a series of webinars to learn more about the experiences and triumphs of Black Americans and the Black experience during three important and unique webinars.

Topics included:

  • BLACK WOMEN IN POLITICS;
  • MEDICAL DISPARITIES – BLACK WOMEN & CHILDBIRTH; and
  • BLACK CULTURE-APPROPRIATION VS. APPRECIATION

Click to view details of  NSHS Black Culture Day 2021.

Also visit the PTSO website for resources on anti-racism.

Good News! Opt-in to Asymptomatic COVID-19 Testing at Newton South

Posted on March 26, 2021 by PTSO CoPresident in From the PTSO

Some Good News!
Newton Public School’s partnership with JCM to provide Asymptomatic COVID-19 Testing at South started on March 8th.  In the first two weeks of Newton’s new FREE asymptomatic COVID-19 testing program, Newton high school students took 1,519 tests and there were ZERO positive cases among students!   Thank you to all who participated in this program!

But 30% participation from NSHS families is low compared to some neighboring district seeing 75% participation.

Now for Great News!
You can still sign up your child in a few easy steps.   Pool testing is available to any in-person student and distance learning student who come to school for regular events (e.g sports, theatre, preschool, etc).

5 Easy Steps to Stop the Spread of COVID-19 and Get Started:

Step 1: Sign the consent form here to give your consent once.  The consent form can be found in the Aspen Student/Family Portal.

Step 2: Create an account at JCM Analytics (testing vendor) website at https://workflow.jcmworks.com/  PLEASE NOTE: once you sign the consent form, there is a brief lag time before your consent is uploaded to JCM.  You will NOT be able to create an account until your information is uploaded. Data will be uploaded on Monday and Thursday mornings by 8:30 a.m. You can access JCM after this time to create an account.

Step 3: Get the QR Code from JCM – you get code once, save it on your phone or print it out.

Step 4: Pick up Nasal Swab Kit at School

Step 5: Bring the Swab Kit with QR back on his/her designated cohort day. Get a new kit for the following week. No news is good news!

Highlights & Benefits to Asymptomatic Testing. While testing is optional, it is strongly encouraged.  The higher the participation rate, the better in identifying asymptomatic cases sooner and stopping the spread of COVID-19. Surveillance testing is considered a key pillar for detecting cases early and preventing silent spread and as we anticipate full-in person learning on April 26, it is more important than ever to participate in this FREE program.

  • The testing program is able to immediately test and identify the positive sample in a pool (reflex testing), so there will be no need to quarantine entire pools.
  • The nasal swab is completed done at home on the morning of testing.
  • Submitting the test kit takes less than 5 minutes.
  • Surveillance testing for COVID-19 is a critical measure as we combat the spread of this virus in our community.
  • Surveillance testing also works best with a high rate of participation.

If your child(ren) forget to conduct the test at home or just forgot, just go to the South main office and pick up a kit, go into a bathroom to conduct a test, and then bring it by the faculty dining room during B (lunch) block on Monday or Thursday (or 3:45 to 4:30 on Thursday if you are an eligible distance student). Students will then pick up a new test each week when he/she leave the testing center.

If your child forgets their QR code, we will have copies of their code too in the faculty dining room.

Please Sign up today and help us stop the spread of COVID-19. Wishing you and your family good health and stay safe!

For more information, please visit: NPS COVID-19 Dashboard, Testing Program FAQ, and NSHS COVID-19 Testing FAQ