Jaguar Tracks

Dear Jaguar Families!

It was wonderful to see so many of you at our Back to School Picnic! Thank you for coming out to celebrate the start of another exciting school year. A special shout-out to our amazing PTO for organizing such a fantastic event—it wouldn’t have been the same without your hard work and dedication. It’s been great to have so many families in the building volunteering for the book fair; your support truly makes a difference! I’m also thrilled to share that the book fair was a tremendous success, helping to foster a love of reading in our students. Your involvement means the world to us, and we look forward to a great year ahead!

We wanted to inform you that our District METCO Director, Mr. Kurtis Martin, will be leaving the role and transitioning to the Boston Public Schools in their “Operations Leader” role. This role will come with a significant increase in job scope and salary. It is with deep gratitude that we thank Kurtis for his leadership service, and impact on the METCO Program. We have decided to name two of our current METCO SACs as co-interim METCO Directors for the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year: Elementary Interim Co-Director - Cindy Marte, and Secondary Interim Co-Director - Jerika Santiago. These leaders will remain in their current METCO SAC roles and receive a stipend for their additional responsibilities as co-interim METCO Directors. The co-interim director role represents the best path for investing in our own leaders and minimizing impact on our students. We will move forward with a process to hire a permanent METCO Director in the spring of 2025.

Join us for Breakfast!!

• First through Fifth Grade: If your child would like breakfast, please drop your child off at the Oak Street Door at 8:10 and they can come right in to have a light breakfast in our cafeteria before they start their day. As with lunch, allergy spaces will be designated. If students would like to play outside in the morning before 8:10, they can walk on the sidewalk around the building to the Oak Street door for breakfast.
• Kindergarten: If your child would like breakfast, it will be brought to them in their classrooms after they settle in for their day.

Follow us on Instagram at "JE_Jaguars": We have so many wonderful pictures and videos of learning in action and those small moments that make our days! This gives a nice window into the day in the life of a Jaguar!

Let's go Jaguars!

Caitlin

Portal Forms are now available to be updated and submitted. ALL parents/caregivers should submit a form for EACH child. Please note that some of the forms are only available to the PRIMARY CONTACT. Please take the time to make sure that all information is accurate so that our Student Information System is up-to-date at all times.

This year there are 3 forms:

Reading Public Schools Pupil Information Form - sent to the Primary Contact of the student to update demographic and emergency contact information, and indicate yes or no to important permissions such as using online tools and allowing photos online.

Contact Information Update Form - This is sent to ALL contacts of the student to update contact information including email, address, etc.

New this year is the 2024/2025 Parent/Guardian Technology Agreement Form also known as the PCUP. This is for parents/guardians to give permission for their students to use RPS technology and devices. This is also only being sent to the Primary Contact. Please note that your child will not be able to use any technology without this consent.

Click on FORMS from the top menu in PlusPortals (plusportals.com/readingpublicschools) and you will see the forms that need to completed. We are asking that ALL families submit these forms no later than September 13th. New families, if you have not activated your portal, you will need to do so to complete the forms.

Is your child looking for an opportunity to be a student leader? The JE Student Council is looking for fourth and fifth grade members! Student Council is an important part of our school as members help with charity drives and community service projects. We are looking for children who demonstrate strong leadership skills, keep up with their school work and consistently show PAWS behaviors! Meetings will be held once a month on a Tuesday from 7:40 AM-8:10 AM in Miss Lewis’ room. Joining Student Council is a big commitment, but it is a great experience for the kids to practice their leadership skills within the JE community. If your child is interested, please have them fill out the green form they were given earlier this week at school or print out a copy HERE and send it back in with your child by Monday September 23rd. Returning Student Council members are welcome to apply again. All applications will be reviewed and acknowledged no later than September 27th.

If you have any questions, please reach out to the Student Council advisors Miss Lewis (miriam.lewis@reading.k12.ma.us) or Mrs. Nazzaro (bethany.nazzaro@reading.k12.ma.us) !

A huge thank you to all those who volunteered and an extra thank you to Amanda Randall-Capobianco and Jessie Tran for helping during the entire picnic. We enjoyed seeing all the kids shopping with classes and families. Thank you to all families who shopped, the book fair is a fantastic fundraiser for the JE library and we have many awesome new books arriving soon.

A few families have asked how to order the new Diary of Wimpy Kid book (releases in October), you can order online by following these steps:

1. Visit the Joshua Eaton Book Fair - Fall 2024 page and scroll to Shop Now

2. Search Diary of Wimpy Kid - Hot Mess (#19) and add to cart (online sales benefit JE until 9/29)

October

14th - Columbus Day / No School

25th - Halloween Howl

What a fun-filled week we had with the Book Fair and Family Picnic!!!

📌Thank you to Picnic and Book Fair Volunteers!

• Thank you to all volunteers who set up, cleaned up, passed out slush, and assisted with the Book Fair

• A HUGE thank you to Lindsey Conti and Stephanie Pothier for running the Scholastic Book Fair!

• Thank you to all who donated books to Mission of Deeds! We filled two large boxes and had several extra bags to donate.

📌Room Parent Sign up

• Click HERE to sign up to be a Room Parent in your child’s classroom! There are still several classrooms in need of Room Parents.

📌Direct Donation Forms

• Direct Donation forms will be coming home in backpacks this week.

• The PTO’s success is made possible each year by the generous donations of time and funds from our families!

📌Interested in Coordinating an Event for 2024-25?

• We have a lot of fun JE traditions that will need Event Coordinators this year.

• If you are interested in helping, please sign up here.

📌Get the Latest Updates from the JE PTO!

• Be sure to follow Joshua Eaton PTO on Facebook for updates & announcements!

• The 2024 - 2025 PTO calendar is linked here. It will include Signup Genius links to specific volunteer opportunities that occur throughout the year. You can also find the calendar on the PTO section of the JE website.

Jessie Tran & Sarah Fuller

PTO Co-Presidents

JEPTOPresident@gmail.com

The Special Education Parent Advisory Council works for the understanding of, respect for, and support of, all children with special needs in the community (including ALL children on IEPs or 504 plans and children who may require specialized support). Watch this brief introductory video to learn more!

Visit the SEPAC WEBPAGE

Sign up for our mailing list

Follow SEPAC on Facebook or Instagram

Welcome back students, families, teachers, and staff. We hope everyone had a wonderful summer. The Reading SEPAC Board looks forward to meeting new families and to continue fostering our wonderful relationships with returning families.

Please note that Reading SEPAC IS OPEN TO ALL parents/caregivers and not only families who have a child with special needs as we offer various opportunities to connect with other families and provide learning experiences.

To learn more about Reading SEPAC, please visit our website: Reading SEPAC Website

Should you wish to receive our monthly newsletter, please send an email to SEPACReading@gmail.com

As always, we are ready to continue to advocate for students with special needs who attend our public schools in Reading and provide guidance to their parents/caregivers. Feel free to reach out anytime, we are here to help!

Tackling the Patterns of Anxiety, Depression and Avoidance:

Come join us virtually for a presentation by Lynn Lyons on Tackling the Patterns of Anxiety, Depression, and Avoidance. She will share the following. Registration is required for this event.

• Strategies for managing anxiety, moods, and social pressures, including school avoidance;

• Strategies for prevention and collaboration;

• What may make problems worse;

• What are better approaches

• Please click here to register for this virtual event with Lynn Lyons.

METCO unites suburban towns with Boston to engage in a reciprocal learning partnership in support of all students. Because of this, every child who attends school in Reading Public Schools is a METCO student and every parent or guardian who has a student in RPS is a part of the METCO community.

"Since its founding during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement, the METCO program has enrolled tens of thousands of Boston students of color in predominately white school districts, creating the opportunity for those districts to experience the advantages of learning and working in a racially and ethnically diverse setting."

Please leave your child's name, teacher, reason for absence or tardy and expected date/time of return.

jeeabsences@reading.k12.ma.us

or call our absentee phone line at

781-942-9161

Please remember to send in a doctor's note if your child was at a medical appointment

https://www.schoolnutritionandfitness.com/index.php?sid=1701802399965&page=menus