Brown MS Weekly Update

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Dear Brown MS Community,

A big goal for this year is to rebuild community! Our PTO is working hard to do this with parents (Click here for information about the parent socials.), we are planning monthly social gatherings with the faculty, and we are working on building community with the students at school. This coming week we will celebrate spirit week. Teachers and students are encouraged to dress according to different themes each day of the week. A group of students helped to organize the themes, and we hope that teachers and students will take part in the community building. Please DO NOT feel the need to go out and purchase special clothing for this - it is just to have some fun together.

Spirit Week Themes

Monday - Favorite Sports Team Day - Wear a shirt for your favorite sports team! Don't have one? Wear some Brown MS swag to show support for our own teams right here at Brown!

Tuesday - Adam Sandler Day (I needed this one explained to me...) - Wear flannel pants and a baggy shirt. Similar to pajama day.

Wednesday - Unity Day - WEAR ORANGE in support of anti-bullying month to show your support for inclusivity and community at Brown.

Thursday - Wear tye-dyes or bell bottoms or anything that says "peace love and harmony"!

Friday - Twin/Matching Day - find a friend or many friends and dress the same as each other!

Things have been quiet this week at the "Lysaght empty nest". Thank goodness for text messaging because I get to hear from my kids. I am pretty sure if we only had the phone to rely on, I would never hear from my son. In this week's texting conversation, my son shared that he has an interview. Here is the "textversation":

First, I was impressed because he was actually thinking ahead enough to know he needs to get his shirt ironed. Then, I was shaking my head, because, of course, he has never in his life learned how to properly iron a shirt. Now I know what we can do over Thanksgiving weekend when he comes home!

The signs of fall are all around us - cooler temperatures, changing leaves and apple picking! I do love the fall in New England and hope that you have all had a chance to enjoy your favorite version of it.

Kim Lysaght, Principal

Brown Working Theatre is thrilled to announce that this year’s musical will be Honk!

There will be an informational meeting on Wednesday, October 19th at 7:45 am in the auditorium for all students who are interested in being involved in the production in any way: acting, singing, dancing, stage crew, lights and sound, set painting, publicity, etc.!

Auditions for students interested in performing on stage will take place after school on November 1st, 3rd, and 4th and applications for “behind the scenes” roles will be available (due date TBA) for students interested in working on other aspects of the show.

More information to come soon! Please feel free to be in touch with Mrs. Cutler (cutlere@newton.k12.ma.us) with any questions.

About the show:

Honk! is an award-winning musical adaptation of one of the world’s most enduring and beloved fairy tales: the story of The Ugly Duckling. Ugly is a little different from all the other ducklings on the pond, rejected by everyone except for his loving mother, Ida. When the nefarious Cat lures Ugly away from the pond, he finds himself on an unexpected adventure, meeting a series of colorful animal characters (from a flock of dubiously military geese to a wise and hilarious bullfrog) who help him understand that being different might not be so bad after all. We love this witty and heartwarming celebration of family, individuality, and transformation, and we know you will, too!

Our 8th grade advisories have begun to display their posters that they worked on this past month to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. Below are a few examples of the Hispanic leaders they learned about. These are displayed in the hallways on the way to the cafeteria for everyone to see.

October is national anti-bullying month and Oct. 19 is Unity Day. A day to show unity for acceptance, inclusion and kindness because no one should ever be made to feel badly or experience bullying. To show our unity, we ask everyone to wear orange on Oct. 19.

Why the color orange? Unity Day is celebrated in October, and orange is a color commonly identified with the month and the autumn season. It is also a color that is associated with safety and visibility. It is a color described as warm and inviting, and its vibrancy makes an impactful statement.

For more information and resources about anti-bullying, click this link to PACER.org.

NPS has recently updated their non-discrimination protocol and reporting process. Here is a link to a document that gives an overview of the process and how to report incidents. If you experience an incident that you feel needs to be reported, you can contact the school directly or you can fill out this Online reporting form.

• What is discrimination?

  Discrimination includes, but is not limited to, excluding from participation, denying the benefits of, or otherwise discriminating against individuals on the basis of a Protected Class, or any other category protected by state or federal law.

  
  

• What is harassment?

  Harassment includes, but is not limited to, unwelcome, inappropriate, or illegal physical, verbal, written, graphic, or electronic conduct that relates to an individual’s actual or perceived Protected Class, that has the purpose or effect of creating a hostile education or work environment. Examples of harassment include, but are not limited to, conduct that denigrates, demeans, or stereotypes a person and/or group based upon disability, gender identity, national origin, ethnic background, ancestry, race, color, religion, or sexual orientation. Sexual harassment is also included in this category.

  
  

• What is retaliation?

  Retaliation includes, but is not limited to, coercion, intimidation, interference, punishment, discrimination, or harassment against any member of the school community in response to that member’s oral, written, formal or informal reporting or filing a complaint, cooperating in an investigation, aiding or encouraging another member to report or file a complaint.

Please join us this week for our first meeting next Tuesday, Oct 18 at 7:30 pm. RSVP here to get the zoom info.

Getting involved in after school activities is a great way for your child to make connections with other students and become involved in the Brown MS community. There are late buses (4:15PM) available for any children that have a bus pass.

• Click here to view the schedule of after school activities.

Athletics

• Here is the link to the Game Schedule/Calendar

Please click this link for translated versions of this ELPAC announcement.

The week of October 17-21 is Digital Citizenship Week sponsored by Common Sense Media. We encourage you to find time to engage your students in conversations about Digital Citizenship. Additionally, we have an opportunity for parents to learn more about how to be responsible with their first phone. (See below)

At this link, find Digital Citizenship Week Activities broken up by Elementary, Middle and High levels. Thank you for your partnership in working with students to maintain good digital citizenship.

The joint PTOs from all four middle schools are sponsoring a talk by Catherine Pearlman, author of First Phone. Click here for more information about this book that is written for tweens and teens about how to be safe and appropriate with their first phones.

This talk will be on zoom the evening of October 26 at 7:00PM. It will be a helpful presentation on how to support teens and tweens as they begin to navigate the ins and outs of having a smart phone.

Here is the link to the webinar for all attendees: https://newton-k12-ma-us.zoom.us/j/81588919557

Catherine Pearlman is the author of First Phone which is a book written for kids to keep them safe and teach them what is acceptable and what is not.

If you are planning on doing some shopping on Amazon, consider using amazon smile to support Brown's PTO. Just designate Charles E. Brown Middle School PTO as your charitable recipient. The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of your purchase price for eligible purchases towards our PTO. Click the picture below for a direct link to the site.

For more information about how this works, click this link to the PTO website.

There are still a number of openings for parents to take on a role (big or small) with the PTO. Please consider helping out this year. Getting involved is a way to get to know other parents in the community. Please click on the link below for more information about how to get involved.

Brown PTO Committees - Click Here to Learn More

Questions? Please contact Denise Dandrea at brownpto@brownpto.org

If you have not already done so, please be sure to update your student information on Aspen. It is important that we have correct contact information for school to home communication. Click here for Student Information Update instructions.

School Hours:

8:20AM - 2:50PM - Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri.

8:20 AM - 2:05PM - Wed.

Click here for the NPS 2022-2023 school calendar.

Click here for the Brown Middle School 6-day rotation calendar for 2022-2023 with early release days and days of the cycle.

To report a student absence call: 617-559-6980

Brown Middle School

125 Meadowbrook Road

Newton, MA 02459

Absences: 617-559-6980

Main office: 617-559-6900