Dear SPS Families, Students, and Staff:

Welcome back! The start to the 2024–2025 school year has been wonderful. On my visits to school sites I have had the opportunity to reconnect with familiar faces, and to meet families and students new to SPS. I also want to extend another heartfelt welcome to the more than 80 new educators in our district. It's so great to have you all as part of our team.

As usual, there is no shortage of updates to share here in Somerville! This fall will be chock full of great events in our schools and community. We will be communicating with you about important updates to our core curriculum and what's happening in our classrooms, and we are launching new ways in which we can directly interact with the SPS community. Last month, I kicked off a Facebook Live series. Each month I plan to host a Facebook Live along with other staff or partners, and we will share updates on different topics and answer some of your questions. I hope you will join me for my next Facebook Live on October 8th at 4 p.m.

Of course, all of this work is being done through the lens of our Strategic Plan, which we hope to release to the community this month. Stay tuned, and please enjoy this month's robust updates.

Sincerely,

Rubén

Congratulations Class of 2024 graduate Ronald Ellies! Ronald won a four-year, full-tuition scholarship to attend the world-famous Berklee School of Music in Boston. He plans to study music production and performance. Read more in The Somerville Times article.

Congratulations to Somerville High School student artists Samaira Bedi and Ambika Bhardwaj! They both have artwork on permanent display at the Middlesex County Superior Court. Their artwork was chosen for exemplifying themes of justice, equity, and diversity. Read more in The Somerville Times article.

Last month, the Boston Globe celebrated the Highlanders football team's growth, citing a "wild, double-OT win" over Malden. Read the full article here. (The article may be behind a paywall.)

Read about the Highlander athletics program in the Somerville Times! Don't forget to check out opportunities to participate in athletics for high school and middle grades. Registration for winter sports teams is open until December 9.

The Somerville High School cheerleading squad amazed staff and educators at the annual convocation ceremony in September. Their performance showed athleticism, skill, and daring. Learn about the squad and other SHS teams on the Athletics Department teams page. Go #SHSHighlanders!

We have a number of incredible staff who have been educating and caring for our students at Somerville Public Schools for over 30 years! Thank you!! Many of them are pictured below, from left to right: Shelley Jareo, Linda Walsh, Mark Kirwin, Julie Jones, Marie Morin, Maureen Corso, Julie Sahlas, Jane Gardner, Roxanne Scrima, Jackie Lawrence, Wilhelm Jacques, Julie Jasper, Wanda McLaren, Sally Brith, Kris Savage, Maureen Robichaux, Sharon Levesque.

Our award-winning Food and Nutrition Services Department staff are looking sharp in their new uniforms. Staff bring their own cultural influences and personalities into many of our recipes, serving meals from chicken tikka masala to bean and cheese papusas. Visit the FNSD online menu to see the daily options for breakfast and lunch. You can also filter to find vegetarian and vegan options for each meal. Cafeterias in our district serve free breakfast and lunch every school day.

SHS History teacher Adda Santos and local celebrity Phil Reavis will join Somerville Museum staff on a trip to Alabama next week to accept the 2024 Excellence in History Award for Massachusetts from the American Association of State and Local History. The award celebrates the Somerville Museum exhibit Above and Beyond: The Remarkable Life of Somerville Olympian Phil Reavis. Museum staff worked with students in the Somerville High School Local History Club, led by teacher Adda Santos, in order to bring this exhibit to life. Phil Reavis is a Somerville native, Olympic athlete, and longtime educator. He is pictured in the museum flier.

Kennedy School 5th and 6th graders got to speak to Dana Alison Levy, author of Not Another Banned Book last week. Students came prepared with questions, a welcome banner, and a lot of enthusiasm. Porter Square Books store donated a book (signed by Ms. Levy) for every student!

It's Principal Appreciation Month and we are grateful for the hard work and dedication of our SPS principals. From left to right: Steve Marshall (Kennedy), Félix Caraballo (Capuano), Christopher Ames (Brown), Margaret Green (NWFC), André Pelletier (WSNS), Alicia Kersten (SHS), Glenda Soto (Argenziano), Courtney Gosselin (WHCIS), Sarah Wahl (Healey), Berenice Mace-Diaz (East).

We welcomed over 80 new educators to our SPS team this August. Every year, our human resources team puts together a wonderful event to welcome our new educators to the district. At the event, new educators met district leadership, learned about our comprehensive professional development catalog, and were introduced to the resources available to support educators.

We'd like to give a huge shoutout to our hardworking school custodial staff for keeping our schools safe, healthy, and clean for our students. Happy School Custodian Appreciation Day from the Somerville Public Schools community!

All events below are free, unless otherwise indicated.

Sign up now. Be sure the check out the fall line-up of playgroups and parent support groups hosted by the Somerville Family Learning Collaborative (SFLC), our family engagement department. Groups are free, open to Somerville residents, and offered in several languages. There are still spots available in several groups. The fall session runs through December 13, 2024. Please visit the website for a complete list of groups and for the registration link.

Sign up now. Somerville Public Schools parents and guardians looking to improve their English-as-a-second (or third) language skills, can sign up for the new SPS Parent English classes at the East Somerville Community School. There are classes for beginners or intermediate level students, beginning on October 7. Spaces are limited. Register here.

Register by October 6 at 12:00 p.m. The Somerville Mathematics Fund invites high school students to compete in the annual ScrapHeap Showdown. Teams of three will use their creativity to solve engineering and math challenges at Breed Memorial Hall in Tufts University. Watch last year's event. Register for this year's event.

Available now. Have questions about your student's school, like who to contact if your child is home sick or what time does free breakfast start? The SFLC put together a series of fliers with important information for families at each school, and in several languages. Find your school and language choice in this drive folder.

All year. Every student in grades 7–12 received a free Metropolitan Boston Transit Authority (MBTA) pass from Somerville Public Schools to use during the 2024–2025 school year. (Students ages 11 and younger ride for free on MBTA buses and trains.) Learn more about the pass program and its features.

Fill out the form now. DentaCare provides SPS students in grades prekindergarten to eight with free dental screenings. Screenings are conducted at different times of the academic year and during the school day at all PK–8 schools. However, all students must have a signed consent form in order to receive services. Please fill out the form at your convenience. If you have any questions, please email info@dentacarema.com.

October 5. Local children's performance group Cozy Arts invites families with children ages 3 years old and up to a movement-based singalong followed by art making with Mrs. Flutterby and friends. The program addresses social emotional growth, community-building, and is sensory friendly. 149 Broadway, Somerville MA 02145, from 10:30–11:30 a.m. (doors open at 10:15 a.m.) Funded by the Somerville Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

This year we are very excited to roll out a new English Language Arts curriculum in grades 6, 7, and 8. Our new curriculum, Fishtank ELA, was selected by a committee of educators from across the district last spring. The guiding principles for Fishtank ELA are:

• Building knowledge to nurture critical thinking.
• Centering diverse, relevant, and rigorous texts.
• Prioritizing student voices and ideas to build agency.
• Learning to write, writing to learn.

Students in 6, 7, and 8th grade will receive their own copy of the book being read for each unit and should expect nightly reading assignments.

This year, more* classrooms are adopting the Second Step (Social Emotional Curriculum) programs for early learning through Grade 8 students. This research-based program is designed to promote school success, school connectedness, and a safe, respectful school climate, while also addressing problem behaviors by teaching self-regulation and social-emotional skills and by addressing bullying and unsafe behaviors. Second Step programs are developmental and sequential, building on skills and gradually becoming more complex as students get older. The programs provide clear, school-wide norms for prosocial behavior (behavior intended to help others). For more information Social Emotional Learning in SPS, visit the Student Services webpage.

*this information was edited on October 2. 19 classrooms adopted Second Step in SY23-24. More classrooms are rolling out Second Step for SY24-25.

Mathematics Department Head Trish Murphy-Sheehy presented at a National Council Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM) conference. In speaking about Somerville High School, Ms. Murphy-Sheehy discussed strategies that bolster mathematics learning and reduce obstacles for all SPS students. You can see the slides and handout for this event. Ms. Murphy-Sheehy is pictured third from the right. Photo credit: Concentric Math

Following the release of statewide MCAS scores this week, SPS has seen relatively stable MCAS scores compared to the previous school year. Overall, the district saw improvements in 5th grade and 8th grade science compared to last year, a particular highlight for SPS given recent investments in science and computer science curriculum and enrichment. We also saw an increase in the percentage of 8th grade students meeting or exceeding expectations in ELA and Math compared to last year. In both Math and ELA, percentages were similar to 2023, and combined ELA scores for grades 3–8 are on par with the state average. You can read the full press release here.

Somerville Public Schools will receive a second year of funding to create and expand digital literacy and computer science learning for middle grades, with a pilot program rollout at the Healey School this year for grades 6–8. Read the Somerville Times article and the Governor's press release for more details. Thank you to SHS robotics teacher Laura Peters, Innovation Specialist Jason Behrens, and Library and Media Services Supervisor Tania Connor for pursuing this funding and implementing this programming for our students.

The SHS Career and Technical Education (CTE) program won a $204,897 grant as part of the Healey-Driscoll administration's Skills Capital Grants. The money will help increase training opportunities and job preparedness in health careers for CTE students at SHS and for adult students through SCALE. CTE plans to build a state-of-the-art simulation lab and purchase new equipment for the SHS Health Careers program. These efforts will expand Internship and affiliation partnerships with surrounding hospitals, and allow students to earn industry-recognized credentials.

SPS strives to create positive learning communities in each of our schools. We promote every student's social and emotional development by teaching practices called SEL (Social Emotional Learning). Visit the new SEL page to learn about initiatives that support productive and empathetic conflict resolution and prevention. As part of Bullying Prevention Month, we also recommend families and students take a look at the resource material on our Bullying Prevention page. Any student or community member who witnesses or experiences bullying is urged to report it to a trusted administrator or educator, or to report it anonymously through the SPS website: https://somerville.k12.ma.us/ReportBullying. Pictured is a Career and Technical Education student showing off one of two posters commissioned by the Student Services Department that were designed and printed by SHS students.

Our three to five year SPS Strategic Plan is nearing completion, and we hope to share it with the community as soon as next month. This process has been a truly collaborative effort across all SPS stakeholders to develop a clear vision for our district. Together we have created a new mission and a new vision for SPS, with specific goals to continue the great progress we have made as a school community, and to continue to make investments for our students. After 42 focus group discussions, numerous root cause analysis and strategy sessions, and with more than 2,600 survey responses in six languages, this is a plan that was developed by all of us. We are incredibly proud of this process and are confident it will lay a solid foundation for the next three to five years. You can view a recent presentation to the School Committee, here.

With just one step left in the first phase of the MSBA process, we are moving closer to a new PK-8 school in the district. Phase 1—the Eligibility Phase—ends in late November, 2024. To date, we have completed all milestones required by the MSBA, including: an Initial Compliance Certificate, forming a School Building Committee, and submitting an Educational Profile Questionnaire, online enrollment projection, and maintenance and capital planning information. The final step in Phase 1 is for the City Council to approve funding for a Feasibility Study. For ongoing updates, documents, and additional information, visit www.somervillema.gov/msba.

Construction Advisory Group Meeting: October 8th.

The first meeting of the City's School Construction Advisory Group (CAG) will be on Tuesday, October 8th, from 6-8:30 p.m. at Somerville High School (Room 205). Meetings are open to the public. The CAG will develop a recommendation to the Mayor on the location and scope of a renovated or new school to meet the needs of the Winter Hill and potentially the Brown School. The CAG process will also include a broader public process to gather input from the community. For more information, visit somervillema.gov/cag.

Last month, Dr. Carmona launched a new Facebook Live series for the SPS community. In his first session, Dr. Carmona was joined by SFLC Director Ruth Santos to discuss community engagement and recap our first Get Ready for School Fair. Tune in next Tuesday, October 8th, at 4 p.m. for our next session! Check out the district's Facebook page to view last month's Facebook Live video.