SPS Weekly Newsletter
Stoughton Public Schools are off to a great start in the 2024-2025 school year! It is wonderful to have all of our students back in the classrooms.
As we begin the school year, we would like to remind you of the importance of good attendance for all students. Every day a student is absent is a lost opportunity for learning. Too many absences not only can affect achievement for the absent student, but also can disrupt learning for the entire class.
Research shows that students who consistently miss school are at risk of lower academic achievement, failure, and even dropping out of school altogether.
If your child is healthy, they should be in school.
Chronic Absenteeism
Most children miss a few days of school each year without long-term consequences. However, when they miss many days, the effects are almost always negative. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) classifies a student as being “chronically absent” when they miss 10 percent of school days, and it is different from truancy, which counts only unexcused absences.
In the Stoughton Public Schools, students are considered chronically absent when they miss 18 school days a year for any reason (10% of our 180 school day calendar). That works out to 2 days per month.
Over the course of a student’s high school career, missing 10 percent of school days would equate to missing about an entire semester of school.
What Can Families Do?
Attending school regularly helps children feel better about school and themselves. Start building this habit in preschool so they learn right away that going to school on time, every day is important. Good attendance will help children do well in high school, college, and in their careers.
What you can do:
Avoid scheduling vacations when school is in session. They are considered unexcused absences.
Build regular routines for bedtime and in the morning.
Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.
Talk about the importance of regular attendance and how your child feels about school.
Don’t permit missing school unless your child is truly sick. Use a thermometer to check for a fever. Remember that stomach aches and headaches may be signs of anxiety.
If your child seems anxious about going to school, talk to teachers, school counselors, or other staff you feel comfortable with for advice on how to make your child feel comfortable and excited about learning.
Avoid medical appointments when school is in session. We know this is not easy.
Keep a chart recording your child’s attendance at home. At the end of the week, talk with your child about what you see.
Develop back up plans for getting to school if something comes up. Ask a family member, neighbor, or another parent for help.
Seek support from school staff or community groups to help with transportation, health problems, or no safe path to school.
Attendance Notifications
The Stoughton Public Schools sends automated Attendance Notifications
We also realize that there are a number of excused reasons why your child may be late to school. Please send a note or call the school in advance if you know your child will be out of school ahead of time.
Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Joseph F. Baeta, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Stoughton Public Schools
Are you receiving text messages from the Stoughton Public Schools? We sent this newsletter via text and email to all SPS families and staff. If you did not receive this text and have not been receiving texts from SPS so far this school year but would like to be receiving them, you can text YES to 79041 to opt-in to text messaging.
With the school year underway, we want to make sure we have accurate and updated emergency contact information and health information for your child. Please log into your PowerSchool Parent Portal account, click on the forms link in the left navigation menu and update any information that is not accurate in the two forms:
- Current Student Health Information
- Student Information/Emergency Form
While only one emergency contact is required, we recommend including at least three contacts who would be able to pick your child up in the event you are not available.
When you have updated the information, please click on submit at the bottom of each of the forms. If your child's information is accurate, please click on submit at the bottom of each form to indicate that you have reviewed the data and it is accurate.
Thank you for taking the time to do this important task.
The O'Donnell Middle School participated in "Start With Hello Week" this past week. Start with Hello Week is part of the Sandy Hook Promise and focuses on teaching students empathy and empowering them to end social isolation by making new social connections and creating a sense of belonging.
Over the course of the week, students took part in many activities and theme days such as wearing a name tag with a fun fact about themselves; filling out a "hello-gram" to send to a classmate; filling out kindness and gratitude cards; and wearing green on Wednesday (green is the official color of Start With Hello/the Sandy Hook Promise, as well as mental health awareness). Students also started a Start With Hello mural made from their thumbprints. When the mural is complete, it will be displayed in one of the hallways at OMS.
Constitution Day was on Tuesday of this week. Held annually on September 17th, Constitution Day commemorates the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. Several classes throughout the district had special activities or lessons planned to commemorate the day.
A kindergarten student in Mrs. Faria's class at the Wilkins School is pictured here with a Constitution Day coloring page.
