JFK PTO Update – May
24, 2019
Important Dates:
May 27 - Memorial Day - No School
TUESDAY May 28 - JFK PTO Meeting (Last one of the year!)
June 4 - JFK Chorus Concert
June 5 - JFK Band Concert
June 14 - Last Day of School - Half Day
Thank a Teacher!
THE
2019 JFK PTO TEACHER APPRECIATION CAMPAIGN
Your year-end donation
will help address the needs of JFK teachers by adding to the JFK PTO teacher
grant fund. JFK PTO teacher grants fund staff requests for equipment, school
supplies, field trips, and more. Did you know that we had more requests for
funding this year than we could afford to fund? Express your appreciation of a
teacher’s commitment to your student(s) and help us ensure future funding for
more teacher grants.
HOW TO DONATE:
- Send in a check made out to JFK PTO with your student or by mail.
- Donate online through Mighty Cause: https://tinyurl.com/y529vnzp
- The teacher(s) you choose to honor will receive a special note of thanks from the JFK PTO acknowledging their important contribution to the school. You can enclose a special message with your donation form if you wish.
- JFK PTO is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and your donation is tax-deductible. Gifts of any amount are deeply appreciated.
Remember Valley Gives?
Valley Gives was a day of giving
to support nonprofits in the Pioneer Valley, but it ended in 2018. Each year
there are fewer and fewer easy ways for nonprofits like the JFK PTO to raise
funds. Want to collect old sneakers for recycling? Or, just make it easy (and
non-smelly), and give to the PTO online or by check. Teachers count on JFK PTO grants to fund special programs at our school.
2018-19 SEPAC Staff Appreciation Awards (Nominations due May 25)
Each year we ask
students and their parents to share with us their stories of people who have
made their school experiences meaningful and joyous this year. Your nomination
letter will be read out loud at the ceremony. We welcome 1 nomination from each
student or their family. The nomination may be made by a student, parent, or
guardian. To select a staff member for an award complete the information below.
Each person selected will receive an invitation to the awards night
celebration, a certificate, and a letter of appreciation. Submission deadline
is May 25. Awards Night will be Thursday, June 13 at 6:30pm in the Library at
Northampton High School.
- The digital form is available at: https://forms.gle/zaXjhihVekFaa54k7
- A printable one can be downloaded at: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1m6wO1yQ_DBRL5OXUKyxnwX1gSW6eiAzH
If you have difficulty filling this form out online, please print
it and submit it by mail to: PAC-C/O Student Services, 240 Main Street 2nd
floor, Northampton MA 01060.
Final JFK PTO Meeting of the School Year (Tuesday, May 28 at 6pm)
Our next PTO meeting will take place Tuesday, May 28 at 6pm in the
JFK Library. This is our last meeting year! Help us plan our eighth grade
picnic and to transition to a new PTO. Bring questions and ideas! All are
welcome.
JFK Silverware Drive (May 13-May 24)
By switching from plasticware to silverware, JFK Middle School can
contribute to making the Earth a better place for generations to come. Drop off
your clean silverware to JFK. Questions? Call JFK Middle School at
413-587-1489.
JFK Dinner Theater Performance of Haphazardly Ever After (May
30)
Despite the chilly weather, it is indeed spring, which means it's
time for the Theatre Workshop's play! This year's comedy is titled
"Haphazardly Ever After", about a king and queen who try a myriad of
ways to finally shoo their flock of rambunctious "children" out of
the palace nest, including a DIY fairy tale kit from The Enchanted Depot. Join
us for our Dinner Theatre performance on Thursday, May 30 in the JFK Cafetorium
for a fun family night out! Dinner begins at 5:30pm; play begins at
6:30pm--come to both or just the play! (Proceeds from the dinner benefit the
JFK Theatre Workshop.) For details, see the invitation here.
The Eighth Grade Picnic in the Look Park Pines Theater will be
held on Monday, June 3 (with a June 4 rain date). A big shout out to Cooper’s Corner, Florence Pizza and Hillside Pizza for donating to our
picnic! All your picnic details can be found at this link or look for the
letter that went home with your 8th grader last week.
Pitch in to help make this event happen. We need families to
donate money and/or volunteer a little time to help with planning the event,
set up, clean up, work at food table/water station or chaperoning. Volunteers
can sign up via our Sign Up Genius at:
8th Grade Parents – The NHS PTO invites you to join for the
2019-2020 school year!
Why get involved?
We
focus on building community and supporting teachers.
You’ll get to know
teachers, administrators, and what’s going on at NHS.
You’ll meet other
parents and guardians.
You’ll spend more time giving away money than raising
it. We run a few annual successful fundraisers: Honor Thy Teacher, the Annual
Appeal, Giving Tuesday, and Eat for Education and we don’t ask parents and
students to sell things. You are welcome to attend our last meeting of the year
on Tuesday, June 11 at 7pm in the NHS library. Email nohopto@gmail.com with any questions.
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 keep events happening. Please send us an email
and let us know you can help: jfkmspto@gmail.com
2019-2020 District Calendar
Did you see the news?
Friday, June 14 is the last day of school (half day). Wednesday, August 28 is
the first day of school for the new year. And that’s when we’ll need lots of
new PTO volunteers! Email us to get involved.
JFK Yearbook Orders
The JFK Yearbook is
available for year-end purchase for $29 through June 1. Send in cash or check
payable to JFK in an envelope with your student’s name and homeroom
number.
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
Vaping and the Effect of Marijuana on Teenage Brain Development
(May 28)
Little Theater,
Northampton High School, May 28 6:30-8:30pm. With Melinda Calianos, Director,
Hampshire Franklin Tobacco-Free Community Partnership and Estevan Garcia MD,
Chief Medical Officer, Cooley Dickinson Health Care. Please join the NHS PTO,
Northampton Prevention Coalition, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, and the Council of
Governments in welcoming Melinda Calianos, Director of the Hampshire Franklin
Tobacco-Free Community Partnership and Dr. Estevan Garcia, Chief Medical
Officer, Cooley Dickinson Health Care, as they present on vaping and marijuana
through the lens of youth use and the impact it has on the developing brain.
Melinda will go over vape devices, how they are marketed, and the particular
risks associated not only with the chemicals in e-juices, but the nicotine salt
found in Juuls and its highly addictive nature. Dr. Garcia will speak on
marijuana and the impact use has on how the young brain develops. Celeste
Malvezzi will also be in attendance to address questions on how vaping and
marijuana use is impacting students at NHS.
Northampton Public
Schools’ K-8 Art Show (through May 31)
The art teachers from
the elementary schools and the middle school cordially invite students and
their families to JFK Middle School for an exhibition hosting a sampling of
original artwork by local students through May 31.
Farm to School
Programming with Grow Food Northampton (June 4)
To keep the momentum
going and continue the conversation in an informal way, Grow Food Northampton
is offering interested community members an opportunity to gather in early
June. We will have an informal follow-up to the April Summit on Tuesday, June 4
from 5:30-6:30pm in the Grow Food Northampton offices, 221 Pine St., Suite 349
in Florence.
This will be an
opportunity to keep the momentum going and learn more about the upcoming MA
Farm to School Institute. A team from Northampton applied and was accepted!
They will represent the District at the Institute and plan concrete action
steps to improve Farm to School programming for each school. Come on June 4 to
meet some of the team members and help generate ideas for them to carry
forward.
- Asking students! The highest priority of the day was engaging with students through advisory committees, clubs, class projects, etc.
- Relationships: building relationships with schools, universities, and local organizations
- Composting and Food Waste reduction
Northampton Education
Foundation Spring Showcase (June 14)
Join the Northampton Education Foundation (NEF) on Arts Night Out
Northampton at the Center for the Arts Building on Hawley Street for an amazing
showcase of some of the incredible projects funded through our Endowment Fund
and Small Grants! Join us for some light snacks and meet people making a
difference in our local Northampton Public Schools! 5:30-7:30pm.
Transperformance 29: Lookstock (August 20)
If you have yet to
hear the big news, this year’s Transperformance theme will be Lookstock,
celebrating the 50th anniversary of the legendary music festival. Transperformance
29: Lookstock will celebrate peace, love and music while raising funds for
arts enrichment programs in the Northampton Public Schools. Your favorite local
acts will take the Pines Theater stage to perform 10 minutes of material from
performers who graced the Woodstock stage 50 years ago. Groups can
“transperform” anyone from Creedence Clearwater Revival to Ravi Shankar to
Jefferson Airplane to the Who. Save the date for Transperformance 29:
Lookstock on Tuesday, August 20 from 4-9:30pm. Join us to celebrate 29
years of bringing our community members together to support music and the arts.
Help spread the word using this link.
Follow us on our JFK PTO Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/jfkmspto/
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