The Weekly Update August 19, 2024

Dear Doherty students and families,

Welcome students and families to Doherty Middle School!

With excitement and anticipation, I am writing to you as the new Doherty Principal. My hope for the 2024-2025 school year is to focus on building community through a theme of belonging. Doherty students and staff are learners and leaders, and my hope is that all will be challenged and supported in various ways. This year Doherty is focused on student social emotional wellbeing and student academic potential.

As a faculty and staff, we will continue to implement RULER. RULER is part of our Andover Middle Schools’ Improvement Plan and will continue to be implemented as a means of student support. RULER is an acronym for the five skills of emotional intelligence:

Recognizing emotions in oneself and others
Understanding the causes and consequences of emotions
Labeling emotions with a nuanced vocabulary
Expressing emotions in accordance with cultural norms and social context
Regulating emotions with helpful strategies

Click on this link for more information on RULER.

Every student should have the opportunity to reach their academic potential. Strengthening our instructional core is a means to support and challenge our students. In addition, strengthening the instructional core deepens the sense of belonging by continually examining, adjusting, and cultivating the relationships between students, teachers, and content. Every student should get what they need. Differentiated instruction and content support for all students are ways in which student’s needs are met. Emphasis will be on the commitment to curriculum cohesion and cultivating high level instructional practices so that all students reach their potential.

This summer we have been busy preparing to welcome everyone to Doherty. One valuable practice at Doherty is the practice of student teaming. Teachers, who know students best, work together with colleagues to place students on teams so that students’ needs, including specific courses, are best met. Student schedules will be posted on ASPEN by the end of this week. In addition, the student supply list can be found on our website under INFORMATION AND RESOURCES. Back to School Guidelines can also be found on our website. I encourage you to bookmark our website, as it will be updated with information and our calendar of events.

September is a very busy month at Doherty. Please mark your calendars for Thursday, September 12 for our Back-to-School Night. This event is a great opportunity to experience your child’s schedule and meet teachers. The event starts promptly at 5:30 PM. Another important date is, September 18 we will be taking our annual school photos.

If you haven’t had the chance to sign up for the Chromebook management program you can begin the process by following this link . More information can be found on the APS1 website, APS-EdTech area https://www.aps1.net/2126/APS-EdTech.

The first day of school is Wednesday, August 28. When school opens at 8:05, grade six students will be greeted by WEB leaders and proceed to the Youth Center. Grade seven students will report to our cafeteria. Grade 8 students will gather in our media center. At these locations, students will meet their teachers and will be escorted to their homerooms for some team building activities and orientation.

Doherty has been undergoing some construction projects. The latest update is that our sprinkler system is complete, and our school’s halls and classroom look great. In addition, great progress has been made with our elevator project. Although it is not yet complete, the project is meeting milestones on the timeline. As planned, we will continue to use the Youth Center Gym for PE classes for the time being.

That's it for now. You will receive updates weekly throughout the year. At any time, if you have specific questions, please reach out to me directly or call the main office. Our office staff can put you in touch with the person or department that you need.

I am looking forward to seeing all my students soon. In the meanwhile, enjoy time together and all the fun summer offers.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Perry