The New School News

Last Thursday night, Ally, Hunter, Chloe, and Jayden participated in the Amphibian Migration Monitoring Event known as Big Night.

According to the Harris Center for Conservation Education, “On the first rainy, warm nights of spring, thousands of spotted salamanders, wood frogs, spring peepers, and other amphibians travel to vernal pools and other wetlands to breed. This migration is known as “Big Night” — though it rarely occurs on just one evening. Most years, “Big Night” is actually one or two Big Nights, a few Medium-Sized Nights, and a Small Night here or there, which can take place anytime from mid-March to early May.”

For more information about Maine Big Night (MBN) click here MBN is a community science project where anyone can participate in collecting important data on migrating frogs and salamanders while directly influencing their conservation outlook. The project occurs every April and has over 300 locations statewide.

Our New Schoolian herpetologists escorted 5 spring peepers, 1 wood frog, and a spotted salamander across the road; learned a lot about amphibians; and had fun, too.

The Model United Nations class will be selling woodfired pizza at the April All School Meeting to raise money for their conference fees. Attending the conference costs $210 per delegate, and delegates are expected to raise half of that money through fundraising and personal contributions.

If you missed the chance to preorder your pizza, don’t worry. The students will be making a few extras to sell, too. The pizza will be cooked in our wood-fire oven Monday evening. 14 Inch pizzas cut into 4 slices at $5 per slice and $8 for two (if ordered in advance) Single slices bought the night of will be $6, and $9 for two).

Choose from four scrumptious varieties: Cheese, Pepperoni, M.O.P (Mushroom, Onion and Pepper), and the “Mane Special” which has a garlic crust topped with Mushrooms, Caramelized Onions, Spinach, and a Fried Egg.

Support our students and get dinner next Monday before the meeting!

All School Meeting tomorrow night, Monday, April 4, at 6:00 in person at TNS. The meeting will be facilitated by Christine Knowles and Scott Hamann.

Ice Breaker: A brief community-building activity. (15)

Announcements: Open space for anyone in the community to share information with the group. (5)

Education Report: Teachers will share information about Spring Conferences. A brief overview of the Spring Calendar. Student presentations TBD. (15)

Team Reports: This section of the meeting allows our various teams and ad hoc committees to share updates and information with the community. (15)

Spring Festival: Plenty of time allotted to go over details of this event. (15)

Strategic Planning Kickoff: Scott will share out about our upcoming strategic planning retreat at the end of the month. Families and staff will be invited to participate so we can have all voices and perspectives at the table. (10)

Q&A: Time will always be allotted for the community to ask and answer questions. (5)

We will end the large group meeting with Gratitudes (5).

Following the end of the large group meeting, some staff will be available for parents and students to check in with

A few reminders: The meeting begins at 6:00. We do try to start promptly, so aim to arrive a few minutes early if you can. Meetings will follow a basic format every month, but the agenda topics will vary based on input from the school community and the needs of the school.

Anyone in the community can submit items for our agenda prior to the All School Meeting meetings. When submitting an agenda item, please include a brief description of the topic and an estimate of the amount of time you would like to devote to it. Agenda items should be submitted on Fridays before an ASM. The New School News preceding an All School Meeting will always have the agenda and a brief description of each item.

Students are strongly encouraged to participate in the meetings—this is their school, after all, and decisions made at the ASM directly impact them.

Thank you students and family members who attended and participated in the Open House on Saturday: Mane, Olie, Chloe, Ian, Will, Bear, Alex, Jacqueline, Eric, Maureen, MaryBeth, Laurie, Stu, and Mimi.

Thanks to Christine and Ally for teaching some engaging classes! Classes were fun, academically challenging, and super representative of what we do at TNS. We had packed rooms with five prospective families at the Open House!

Lunch was great! Admissions Team, you're amazing!

All of the New Schoolians present were impressively articulate ambassadors for the school. Thank you. Thank You, Thank You!

It’s hard to believe, but our third quarter is drawing to a close. That means we are almost halfway through our current semester-long classes and Progress Reports will be shared with students and families soon. Students will be asked to spend time reflecting on their progress in their current classes during the second half of this week. Students are asked to identify their strengths and challenges within each class and to set academic goals for themselves for the second half of the semester. After students complete the self-reflection portion of their progress reports, teachers will provide feedback as well. Progress reports should be received via email on or before April 18.

Advisors and teachers are available for conferences during the week of April 25. Families, if you would like to meet with one or more of your student’s teachers, please reach out to your advisor to schedule a Spring Conference.

Last week, a group of concerned students began to speak up about how their peers’ lack of engagement in class can negatively impact others. The misuse of technology during class is one of the primary things they are concerned about. The students will use their student meetings to address the issue and work towards solutions to help raise the academic bar.

Alex Morin and Bear Landenberger are learning about aquaculture and need your help. They currently have two large fish tanks up and running in the science room, but are looking for more tanks, so they can grow aquatic plants for their aquascapes. If you have a tank lying around in the basement or attic you would like to rehome, please drop it off at the school.

Thanks!

Dunk Tank and Bounce House are booked! Events Team members are reaching out to ice cream and donut businesses to invite them to participate. This is shaping up to be a wonderful event!

We would like to have students volunteer with games as well as handing out samples, and we aim to have these commitments by the end of the ASM Monday.

If you haven't already added your name to a volunteer role, please go here and pick what you'd like to help out with. Thanks!

-Events Team

Friday, April 1, was our first mask optional day at TNS. With the change from universal masking, some other aspects to our COVID-19 policy also changed. Please take time to review the updated COVID Guidelines and feel free to reach out to Christine if you have any questions.

• April 4: All School Meeting (in person) 6:00 @ TNS
• April 5: Rotary "Impact" meeting 6:00 at Duffy's
• April 7-8: Senior Retreat
• April 13: Model UN Class Visits the State House in Augusta
• April 15: Progress Reports sent home
• April 18-25: April Vacation
• April 25: Teacher Day and Spring Conferences
• April 25: Board of Trustees meeting 6pm
• April 29: Game Night
• May 2: All School Meeting
• May 11-13: Maine Model United Nations Conference
• May 21: Spring Festival

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