JFK PTO Update –
January 12, 2019
Important Dates:
January 21 - MLK Day - No School
January 25 - Teacher Work Day - No School - Teacher
Appreciation Luncheon
February 8 - Stand Up JFK
February 5 - JFK PTO Meeting
February 18-22 - No School - Winter Recess
March - 6th & 7th Grade Dances (dates to
be announced soon)
After School Program Sign-Ups Due
The After School Program sign up packet and
registration forms were due today, Friday, January 11. Click on the link below for more
info:
Calling All Cooks!
JFK Staff Appreciation Luncheon is
Friday, January 25
This is a great chance for us to let our
talented teachers and staff know how much we appreciate them. Please consider
signing up to cook something, pick up something quick at the store, or help out
on the day of the luncheon. Click on the link below and see
all the details of how, where, and when you can help. It helps us to plan how
much food we’ll need.
Our teachers really look forward to this event
and we need your help to make it happen! If you have any questions, please
contact Cyndi Stein and the JFK PTO at jfkmspto@gmail.com.
Seeking Parent Volunteers, with a love
of the 80’s, to assist with
6th & 7th Grade Dances!
This year the 6th & 7th grade dances will
be held in March and the theme is the 80’s! Dates will be confirmed and
announced soon. We will need parent/guardian volunteers as chaperones, to
donate snacks and to help decorate and break down after the dances. We’ll need
your help to make this happen. Stayed tuned for our sign up sheet. If you wish
to help in advance with 80’s dance designs and logistics please contact the PTO
at jfkmspto@gmail.com.
HEALTH OFFICE NEWS: Eighth Grade Health
Screenings
Eighth grade Health Screenings will take place
this year beginning on January 17. A letter was mailed home last week. We will
be doing postural, hearing, and vision screenings as well as SBIRT screening.
SBIRT is a screening tool used to assess alcohol and marijuana use. Its goal is
to provide some education to students in efforts to prevent substance use or
intervene early on. The sessions are conducted privately and confidentially and
last approximately 5 minutes. Please refer to your mailing for further details.
If students have had a physical within the
last 6 months, please send in PCP paperwork and we won't screen your student
for scoliosis, hearing, and vision if your provider has documented those
findings. Parents can opt out of any or all screenings by putting the request
in writing or by contacting the nurse at 587-1488 or kschiaffo@northampton-k12.us
FY20 School Budget Survey Posted
As the Northampton School District enters into
budget season, we ask that you take a moment to fill out THIS
SURVEY to share your thoughts on what priorities the
Administrative Leadership Team should focus on for the upcoming academic year.
You can find the survey by clicking the link above or CLICKING
HERE.
Stand Up JFK
In the coming weeks, students will begin to
discuss issues around diversity, race, and justice in an effort to raise
awareness and build community during their Forum time. These lessons will
culminate with our Stand Up JFK: Diversity Day on February 8. We wish to thank
the members of the JFK School Council for their hard work around this essential
topic.
Our next PTO Meeting is Tuesday,
February 5 (6-7:30pm)
The JFK PTO meets the first Tuesday of the
month from 6-7:30pm in the JFK Library. Join us to help plan for fun and
fundraising, including upcoming 6th and 7th grade school dances in March and
teacher grant requests. All are welcome!
Thanks to you our teacher grant program
is supporting new initiatives!
Thanks to your generous donations to the JFK
PTO, at our January meeting we were able to approve teacher grant requests for
these new initiatives: headphones with microphones to support speech-to-text
project-based learning and student access to resource videos in the library;
support for the sixth grade Sun Devils Hero’s Journey community event; support
for a Folger Tech FT 3D Printer Kit to support 3D printing in the STEM program
at JFK. If you would like to learn more about teacher projects and how to support
them, please join us at our next meeting and help us review requests.
JFK Yearbook Orders
The 2019 JFK
Yearbook is available to order now for $27. Order online at www.coffeepond.com or send in cash
or check payable to JFK in an envelope with
your student’s name and homeroom number. Price increases to $29 on April 1.
Time to Gather Your Boxtops
Be sure to share your Boxtops for
Education with JFK by having your student drop them off in the JFK
office. Our next Boxtops deadline is March 1. You can also support JFK at Stop
and Shop by using the link here. Big Y Express
can be found at this link: https://www.bigy.com/rs/educationexpress. And you can
link to JFK MS PTO through Amazon Smile and donate to Parent-Teacher
Organization of John F Kennedy Middle School Inc.
COMMUNITY EVENTS
Northampton Area Pediatrics Parenting
Workshops
The next NAP workshop is this Sunday, January
13 from 4-5:30pm on “Autism Spectrum Disorders from Toddlers and Teens.” All
parenting workshops are free and open to the public. Find a complete list of
monthly workshops here: http://www.northamptonschools.org/project/health/
Support Groups for Parents and
Caregivers of Children with Challenges
Please see the attached link to find support
groups in our area (with thanks to the Northampton Prevention Coalition for
sharing).
Sunday, January 27 from 3-5pm in the JFK
Community Room. Food and childcare provided! Snow date is February 10. Come
together and build community through sharing something about your experience of
race and racism in the Northampton Public School Community. Trained
facilitators will create the space for everyone who wants to share.
Everybody is welcome – students (6th grade and up), staff, teachers,
caregivers and all identities. Participants are invited to stay after the event
to formally record and submit a story to the REAL collection. REAL (Racial
Equity And Learning) Northampton is funded by the Northampton Education
Foundation and is comprised of teachers, staff, students, and family members
across the district. The overall mission of REAL is to support and strengthen
our school community by developing an intentionally anti-racist culture.
Northampton Parks & Recreation
Girls Lacrosse Collaboration
The Northampton Parks and Recreation
Department is excited to announce we have teamed up with Northampton Girls
Youth Lacrosse (NGYL) League to offer teams from 3rd to 8th grade. Before
Registration opens, we must have coaches! PLEASE consider coaching and passing
the word along to other families that might be interested in signing up as a
coach and/or having their daughter play. You do not need to know lacrosse to
coach. However, you need to be able to coach and work well with kids, and have
a desire to learn the game. Coaches are given on-line training before the
season and there are plenty of other resources NGYL can direct parents to for
learning more about girls youth lacrosse. We anticipate Spring Registration
opening the first week in February. The Parks and Rec website will be where you
get all your NGYL information. http://www.northamptonma.gov/1958/Northampton-Girls-Youth-Lacrosse-NGYL
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