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 [email protected]
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 [email protected] (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 [email protected]
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 [email protected].
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 [email protected]. 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.
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:
Click to view details of NSHS Black Culture Day 2021.
Also visit the PTSO website for resources on anti-racism.
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.
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
Spring sports registration on FamilyID will open on April 5th. All students participating are required to have a current physical on file. Please notice that the state requires in-person physicals for sports activities. Telehealth appointments are not acceptable. The Covid coach for the Spring season is Mr. Patrick Jordan Quern. Please see the preliminary protocol that our coaches will follow for Spring 2021:
Pre-Practice;
-NSHS coaches will ask each player to fill out the COVID symptom form by 1 PM.
-Any student answering yes to any question will be kept out of practice. The coach will contact Covid coach immediately and text AD.
-COVID coach talks to the student, contacts their family and sends the student home. He will also contact the AD and school nurse with the findings.
-Sharing food or drink is not allowed at this time (no cakes, cupcakes, pizza, fruits, seeds, etc)
Post Practice
-Equipment that is shared by the team has to be cleaned (use spray bottles and paper towels set for that purpose) before it is put away. That includes cones and extra balls. To be done by the coach that uses it.
-Students have to take their equipment home and clean it before their next practice.
-Please refer to general MIAA guidelines for best practices.
Away Games
Pre-game:
-Each team head coach is responsible for COVID-19 screening of all their team members before 1 PM.
-If students answer yes to any screening question, the student can not travel to the visiting school.
-Covid coach is contacted, the family is contacted, the head coach is contacted.
Newton South HOME games protocol – Spring 2021.
Home Games; Fitted masks required for all participants. NO GAITERS ALLOWED.
Pre-game:
-NSHS staff member or coach greets visiting team – directs them to the appropriate field as needed
-Visiting team head coach is responsible for COVID-19 screening all of their team members and other coaches who will be in attendance.
-NSHS staff member greets refs; asks COVID-19 screening questions by NSHS COVID coach or another staff member.
Due to the nature of the current situation, all protocols and schedules are subject to change.
We look forward to a fun and safe Spring season!
Students interested in participating in Baseball during the Spring season should attend the informational meeting on Thursday, April 1st at 5:30 PM.
Coach Aiena will conduct a meeting via zoom. He will review the program, coaching staff, and expectations for the season, as well as answer any questions that attendees may have.
If you can not attend the meeting please contact coach Aiena via email at [email protected]
Here are the credentials for the online meeting
Theme: Boys Baseball
Join Zoom Meeting
https://newton-k12-ma-us.zoom.us/j/89920060503
Meeting ID: 899 2006 0503
Passcode: 926530
We will be having our first meeting on Zoom on Monday, March 29 at 4:30 pm. Please email me at [email protected] if you cannot attend. Make sure your physical is updated and ready to go before April 26 which is our first day of practice. Looking forward to seeing everyone and getting things started for our season.
Sincerely,
-Mr. Timmins
Topic: Boys Tennis Pre Season
Time: Mar 29, 2021 04:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://newton-k12-ma-us.zoom.us/j/86310850945
Meeting ID: 863 1085 0945
Passcode: tennis
The Unified Basketball team will travel to Waltham on Tuesday, March 30 for the first game of the season. The game is scheduled to start at 5:00 PM PM. It is Waltham Senior Day. A link to watch the game will be released on Monday and posted on the athletic page on our website.
