JFK PTO Update – March 15, 2019
Important
Dates:
TODAY! March
15 - Half Day / Early Dismissal
March 19 - JFK
PTO Meeting (6-7pm)
April 9 - Save
the Date: Special JFK PTO Meeting
April 15-19 -
No School - Spring Recess
READY, SET,
GLOW! And Volunteer for the 7th Grade Dance!
The 7th grade dance will take place next Friday, March 22. We still need ticket sellers next week during 7th grade lunch and dance volunteers to chaperone, decorate, and help clean up. Don’t have a 7th grader? Don’t sweat it! As a JFK parent/guardian or teacher you can still volunteer to make this event a success. Sign up using the totally radical link below. We need all your help to make this dance an awesome experience for our students.
An
important note: If you plan to donate snacks for the 7th grade dance, NO NUTS,
PLEASE. This includes peanut butter crackers, granola bars with nuts or any
other nut-based product. Things like single serving chips, popcorns, pretzels,
etc. would be great. Northampton Health Department requires us to only serve
individually pre-packaged store bought items. Thanks so much for your support!
Our next
PTO Meeting is Tuesday, March 19 (NEW DATE!)
With so many
activities at the start of March, we have decided to move our monthly meeting
to Tuesday, March 19 from 6-7:30pm in the JFK Library. We usually meet the
first Tuesday of the month, but in April we will meet on Tuesday, April 9. Join
us to help plan for upcoming 7th grade dance, teacher grant requests, and
special spring events. All are welcome. To review our
March meeting agenda, click here.
Clothing
Drive at JFK (March 25-29)
Help the JFK
community and donate to a clothing drive led by 8th grader Dahlia Breslow.
Dahlia Breslow is this year's Project 351 Ambassador from Northampton. Each year towns across Massachusetts
nominate one eighth grade student for Project 351. Project 351 helps
Ambassadors foster leadership skills while promoting community engagement and
service. The clothing drive is to benefit the non-profit, Cradles to Crayons,
whose goal is to provide the necessary tools and a sense of pride and dignity
to children. The drive is between March 25-30 at JFK, and is focused on
collecting new, like new, or gently used everyday clothing and shoes.
Students can drop donations off in the main foyer beginning Monday, March 25.
Announcing
the 2019 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards National
Medalists!
A note of
thanks from our teachers: After an incredible turnout of writers this year
(we had just about 40 every week), which then allowed us to submit 40
submissions (which is the maximum), we had 17 winners, including 4 gold
medalists. Our gold medalists then get entered into a national competition,
where we learned today 2 of them won national silver medals. This is an
incredible win for both students as they are entered into a blind judging
contest and their work gets assessed against 7-12th grade students nationwide.
The judges know nothing about them, so to win as a middle school student is
extremely difficult, to say the least! We know we could not have done this this
year without the support of the PTO teacher grants and parent contributions, so
just thank you again and again for considering our project and funding it.
Teacher
Appreciation Week Lunch Organizers Needed
Teacher
Appreciation Week begins May 5. We are seeking one or two volunteers to help
coordinate a lunch and will be seeking more parent volunteers to cook, donate
or serve. Please let us know by contacting us at jfkmspto@gmail.com if you can help!
Eighth
Grade Picnic Volunteers Needed
The Eighth
Grade Picnic in Look Park will be held in June. We are seeking one or two
volunteers to help coordinate the picnic. Send us an email if you can help! jfkmspto@gmail.com
Step up to
Volunteer with the JFK PTO in 2020
This year is
the last year for our amazing PTO President. The PTO needs volunteers to carry
on the great work we do. With the limited resources of public school budgets, a
PTO can make a significant impact in funding gaps to enrich our students’
middle school educational experience. The JFK PTO is highly organized and ready
to go; we just need parents willing to set aside an hour a month to keep events
happening and approve teacher grant requests. Please send us an email and let
us know if you can help next year. jfkmspto@gmail.com
JFK
Yearbook Orders
You only have
25 days to order your 2019 JFK Yearbook online. Now to March 31, the JFK
Yearbook is available for $27. Send in cash or check payable to JFK in
an envelope with your student’s name and homeroom number or order at www.coffeepond.com. Spring forward! Price increases to
$29 on April 1.
Water
Reports Analysis
Interested in
the results of the water testing done at JFK? Click this link here. Reports were released for all schools
in January.
Shop and
Raise Funds for JFK
We collect Boxtops for
Education all
year long; your student can drop them off in the JFK office. Support JFK at
Stop and Shop by using the link here. Big Y Express: https://www.bigy.com/rs/educationexpress. Or link to JFK MS PTO through Amazon Smile and donate to Parent-Teacher Organization
of John F Kennedy Middle School Inc.
COMMUNITY
EVENTS
The NHS
musical is back this year and celebrating the 40th anniversary of Grease! March
14-16 at 7pm. Matinee Saturday, March 16 at 2pm. More info here: https://hamphigh-nhspto.org/ TICKETS At the door: students and
staff: $5, general admission:$15, senior citizens: $10. OR find online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3608578
TOMORROW:
NEF Presents Local Authors
Saturday,
March 16, 1-2pm in the Forbes Library Community Room. Featuring children’s
authors Anna Alter, Molly Burnham and Lisa Papademetriou in a fun hour for all
ages, including the authors in a drawing game and opportunities for kids to try
drawing. Refreshments will be served. This event is sponsored by the
Northampton Education Foundation, which provides grants to Northampton schools
and celebrates our amazing local authors and our exceptional public schools. www.northamptoneducation.org
Please Join
Us For a Drop-In Letter Writing Campaign to Support Our Schools! Monday, March
18, 7-9pm at Jackson Street School Library.
Please bring a
computer or smartphone if you have one (otherwise, paper and pens will be
available). Addresses, budget information, and prompts will be provided. Drop
by for as few as 15 minutes to write a letter! The House and Senate leadership have agreed that
deliberation on education funding should be a priority this legislative
session. As a result, the Joint Committee on Education will hold its first
hearing on Governor Baker's Chapter 70 Update bill, Senator Chang Diaz's
PROMISE bill, and Representative Paul Tucker's Chapter 70 Update bill on March
22, beginning at 10am, in the State House in Gardner Auditorium.
Senator Jo
Comerford has indicated that it's going to take significant community pressure
to see the changes we need in the school funding formula as well as in the
bottom line dollar amount allocated. It is important for the Joint Committee on
Education to hear the specific ways that insufficient state funding affects our
schools. For these reasons, a letter writing campaign is being organized to
demonstrate the ways in which our PTOs, the Northampton Education Foundation,
and our booster organizations have had to raise money to make up for the budget
shortfalls experienced due to inadequate funding of our public schools and
demand that legislation be passed that funds our schools more appropriately.
You could also share any personal stories that you have of how inadequate
school funding has affected your family or what you’d like to see offered in
our district if only there were more money in the budget.
Unable to
attend next Monday? Here are some other ways Senator Comerford’s office has
suggested you can be involved:
-If you would like to testify in person on March 22, please
contact jo.comerford@masenate.gov.
-The MTA has created a toolkit with draft resolutions, letters,
and fact sheets. These materials can be found here: https://massteacher.org/current-initiatives/fund-our-future/resolutions
-Senator Comerford can bring your written testimony to the
hearing and make sure that committee members receive your remarks. Feel free to
email them directly to jo.comerford@masenate.gov.
-If you’re on Twitter, please tag @Jo_Comerford so Jo can
re-tweet and offer targeted amplification. Similarly, Jo is happy to re-post
articles, pictures, videos, and local calls-to-action via Facebook. You can
email links to jo.comerford@masenate.gov.
The 19th
Annual Northampton Adult Spelling Bee, March 27 at JFK
Doors Open:
5PM. Spelling Bee: 6PM. The Spelling Bee is one of the ways NEF raises money to support Small Grants
for Teachers and raises awareness of their mission. Last year, 21 grants across
school and grade levels totaled almost $50,000. It is also good fun, a great
way to dress up, and participate in our community. Prizes are awarded for
spelling, costume, and humor. Teams are 3 people, usually in costume, with a catchy
🐝 related name. We encourage you to invite your friends and family to come and
cheer for your team! Great dinner options are available at “Le Beestro” (by
Cooper’s Corners). Dinner begins at 5pm (bring cash!). There will also be baked
goods for sale, and Herrell’s ice cream! Team Registration is now open! Click Here!
Healthy
Foods! Northampton Farm to School Summit (April 6)
The first
annual Northampton Farm to School Summit on Saturday, April 6 from 9am to 1pm
will bring together stakeholders and enthusiasts interested in connecting kids
to healthy food and local farms in the school environment. At this gathering we
will come together to learn about current successes and challenges, gather
input, and create a unified vision for how to take this work forward. Childcare
and lunch will be provided, and teachers will receive a stipend for attending.
Registration is free. Please see this Eventbrite link to sign up and attend: https://northamptonfarmtoschoolsummit.eventbrite.com
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our JFK PTO Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/jfkmspto/
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