Brown MS Weekly Update

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Dear Brown MS Community,

This Monday, June 19th, the United States commemorates Juneteenth, an essential milestone in the journey towards freedom and equality for all Americans. Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day or Freedom Day, marks the day when the last remaining enslaved African Americans in the United States were finally informed of their freedom. In June of 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and delivered the news that the Civil War had ended and that all enslaved people were now free. This announcement came over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

Juneteenth serves as a reminder of the struggles endured by African Americans throughout history and highlights the resilience, strength, and perseverance of the human spirit. It is a time to reflect on our nation's complex history and to honor the contributions and achievements of African Americans in shaping the fabric of our society. There are celebrations in the Boston area to commemorate this event. Please see below for information about Newton's Juneteenth Celebration this Monday in Newton Highlands and join in the celebration!

This final full week of school was packed with projects, presentations, performances and papers. There is true excitement in the air as we quickly approach summer vacation. Our teachers (and students) should be exhausted from all the energy that goes into these last days of school. The culminating activities and creative projects at all grade levels are a time when students get to demonstrate the results of their hard work.

Our 8th graders continue to enjoy their year end events. Many adults commented on how much these students bonded at the Hudson Roller Kingdom on Thursday. Teachers talked of kids holding hands and helping each other skate around the rink, cheering each other on during the 8th grade slide show and just enjoying being together. This group of students entered Brown MS as 6th graders just as I was beginning my time as principal. Their entry into middle school was unlike any other class. The first time many of them met each other was in a zoom class, which is why it is so special to see them altogether, enjoying their last days of middle school.

We have 1.5 days left of the school year. Our 6th and 7th graders will have their field trips on Tuesday and our 8th graders will be graduating on Wednesday. Let's all pray for good weather for next week so they get the send off that they deserve!

I wish you all a good long weekend!

Kim Lysaght, Principal

June 19: No School for Juneteenth

June 20: 6th grade trip to The Cove and 7th grade trip to Castle Island

June 21: 8th grade graduation 10:15 - 11:15 - NSHS football stadium weather permitting (rain location: NSHS field house)

June 21: Last Day of School - dismissal at 11:20

We are delighted to inform you that the Newton 2023 Juneteenth Celebration will be held at the Hyde Community Center Playground, 90 Lincoln Street, Newton Highlands on Monday June 19th, from 12-4pm.

I'm Amazing students Hidaya Bukenya, Christopher Sterling, and Anna Tackie will speak and sing AND the Juneteenth organizers are generously fundraising for I'm Amazing 2024! Learn more about the event here. There will be music, Black-owned vendors, food trucks, and cupcakes made by one of our first Teen Facilitators, Janai Carrington.

Kids' activities like face-painting will be available, and we have a DJ lined up. Bring a picnic or buy food from the vendors to make this a fun family day out. The Newton Juneteenth Celebration is brought to you in partnership with FORJ Newton, Myrtle Baptist Church, the Newton Coalition of Black Residents, the Newton Indigenous Peoples Day Committee, CAN-DO, Newton Youth Success Collaborative, the Harmony Foundation, Newton Upstanders, and the Newton Human Rights Commission.

We are pleased to share that Samantha Bracy will be our next Assistant Principal for Students Services this coming school year. Samantha comes to us from Brookline Public Schools where she was Director of Special Education Pre K - 8th grade. Prior to this role she served as a Director of Special Education at a Boston Charter School and was a learning center teacher at Underwood Elementary in Newton.

In addition to her vast experience in special education, Samantha shared that she will focus on how we build supports for all students within the school for their academic and social-emotional needs. She enjoys working closely with teachers and families and looks forward to building relationships in our community. We are excited to welcome her aboard!

Finally, we thank Shari Engelbourg, Assistant Principal for Student Services, for her years of hard work in Newton Public Schools. She will be working with Samantha this summer to ensure a smooth transition. We wish Shari the best in this next phase of her journey!

Our 6th graders have been working in teams on our annual "Amazing Math Race". Modeled after the TV show The Amazing Race, students work in teams to solve mathematical problems and carry out challenging activities. They use their estimation, computation and reasoning skills to solve unique and interesting problems throughout the building. They also are developing their teamwork skills as they work together for a common goal. A big thank you to Ms. Cutler, Ms Haley and Ms. Bousquet for providing a fun and engaging way for our students to enjoy math right down to the last class of the year!

Some of our 7th grade students performed in a poetry slam this morning and others performed a poetry night at Newtonville Books earlier this week. Students have been working on their own poems for the past few weeks in 7th grade. The poems came from the heart and were well received by the audience. It takes courage to get up on infront of an audience and share your own personal work at 12 and 13 years of age. Hats off for taking the risk and sharing their creativity and thank you to Sara Azzam, Adrian Pickworth and Kate Mullen for their work to help our students become poets!

This spring our 8th graders engaged in action civics projects. One of our groups focused on the proposed plastic water bottle ban in Newton and some additional suggestions to address the issue of single use plastics. They reached out to state senators and representatives with their suggestions. Today The Charles River Regional Chamber published and article about their action civics project in their newsletter (click the link to read about it). Project based learning such as this is powerful for students as they are able to see that they can make a difference in their world, even at 13 and 14 years old! Thanks go to Mr. McGraw, Mr. Adams and Mr. Alford for their work with 8th graders this year. Well done!

On Thursday, June 15 our 8th graders went together to Hudson Roller Kingdom. There were arcade games, skating, karaoke and lazer tag along with so much pizza! Students had a terrific time. Thank you to parent Vida Kianzad and her committee for all of their help on this. Students wore their class T-shirts (Thank you to Fangxin Hong for the planning on this). The back of the T-shirt has all of their names on it (see picture above).

June 20

• Graduation rehearsal

• Fun activities with teachers

• Yearbook distribution and signing

• Cool Cow Ice Cream Truck in the afternoon

June 21

• 8th graders clapped around school during advisory

• 9:30 - 10:00 lining up by team and begin procession over to Winkler Stadium

• 10:15 graduation

• 11:20 - They are all done with middle school and are official high school students! Congratulations!!!

Graduation Details:

Graduation will take place outside at Winkler Stadium (NSHS football field and track) on June 21 at 10:15 weather permitting. Students will be seated in the bleachers (see picture below) and families are invited to bring a chair or blanket to sit on the football field to watch the ceremony. The ceremony will last about 1 hour and will include student speakers and distribution of certificates to all 8th graders.

Graduation is a special occasion and most students in the past have dressed up a bit for this day for pictures with family. We are looking forward to a great send off for our 8th graders!

Note: If the weather does not cooperate, we will send out emails and text alerts to let you know it will take place at the field house. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather!

All 8th graders turned in their Chromebooks today. If your 8th grader was absent or still has their Chromebook, they must return it to school on Tuesday. Students attending NSHS or NNHS will receive an NPS Chromebook at the beginning of 9th grade.

Our 6th and 7th graders keep their Chromebooks over the summer. Please click here for information about how to take care of your Chromebook.

Current 5th graders will receive a Chromebook from Brown MS in the fall when they arrive as 6th graders. It is required to provide a sleeve for the Chromebook to limit damage. Please see the supplies list later in this newsletter for details.

Students entering 6th, 7th and 8th grades will be expected to read a minimum of 2 books this summer. See below for each grade level.

6th grade: Frazzled: Everyday Disasters and Impending Doom by Booki Vivat + one more book (student choice)

7th grade: Linked by Gordan Korman + one more book (student choice) - THIS IS A CORRETION FROM LAST WEEK's UPDATE (apologies)

8th grade: Select one book from this list and one more book (student choice)

Suggestions for books to read:

The MS Library Team is proud to share an expansive summer reading suggestions for 2023! Visit our Summer Reading webpage, to see suggestions organized by genre. The list is a mix of middle grade and YA (marked as such) titles and we linked books to SORA (free ebook/audiobook app) whenever available.

This list has been shared with the Newton Free Library so the books will be available for borrowing. They have also shared this list with local bookstores, Newtonville Books and Hummingbird Books.

Please return all books as they are now past due. June 15/16th- bills for lost books will be sent home.

Below are items that students will need for the school year. Please know this is a general guide and more specific information will be provided by your child’s teachers when they arrive at school. If your family is experiencing any hardship in getting these supplies, please contact our main office at 617-559-6900 to ask for assistance.

On the first day of school, students will NOT need to bring all of these items with them. Instead they should come with a writing utensil, a small notebook to write things down, a folder to collect any handouts, and a water bottle.

NOTE: Assignment notebooks will be supplied by Brown MS.

Required School Supplies list:

• Earbuds or headphones with a microphone

• Chromebook case with handle or messenger bag strap (for example: case with handles, case with shoulder strap) - ESSENTIAL ITEM to avoid damaged Chromebooks

• 1 sturdy 2-inch binder and two 1-inch binders

• Dividers for 3 ring binders (10-15)

• pocket folder with fasteners for Health and Wellness classes

• 3 hole punched paper (graph and lined)

• Pencils (large box to last the year) and pens

• Pencil case for 3 ring binder

• Colored pencils or markers

• Highlighters

• Handheld pencil sharpener

• Index cards

• Ruler (metric and US)

• Sticky notes

• Scissors

• Tape and glue sticks

• Reusable water bottle

• Small hand sanitizer

• Backpack to transport items to and from school

• Scientific calculator - for 7th and 8th graders only

8th graders from Ms. Cohen's class read their memoirs this past Monday at Hummingbird Books.

Many of our 6th graders took part in the Math Olympiad this year. The Math Olympiad is a fun filled mathematics competition program in the United States and throughout the world. The objective of the program is to teach multiple strategies for out-of-the-box problems solving, develop mathematical flexibility and foster mathematical creativity and ingenuity. Our 6th grade participants (pictured below) received a highest achievement award for scoring in the top 10% of all participating teams. Well done!

As many of you know, the Newton Public Schools faced significant budget challenges this year. In order to arrive at a balanced budget, fees were raised for many services and activities. Below is a link to all of the fees that will be in place for the 2023-24 school year.

Fees for the 2023-24 School Year

Fee Waivers and FinancialAssistance

The Newton Public Schools provides financial assistance so that all students can utilize bus transportation and participate in school activities, regardless of financial need. To facilitate this financial support, families need to apply for district-wide financial assistance EACH YEAR.

The application for the 2023-2024 district-wide financial assistance waiver is now available in Aspen. We encourage you to apply now so that your waiver is in place for registrations that may take place in the summer (bus, fall athletic fees, etc.) Visit the fee waiver information and instructions webpage to apply via the Aspen portal.

A number of Brown MS students were recently in competitions. A group of students competed in the International Academic Competition in Washington, D.C. and another group competed in robotics at the Morroco Open Invitational! These students worked hard and achieved great success! Congratulations to all of them!

Bus registration will open on June 1, 2023 at 9:00 a.m.

• Students who do NOT ride the bus do NOT pay the bus fee.
• Students who do not wish to ride the bus do not need to register for the bus.

All students who wish to ride the bus MUST register for a bus pass. There are significant changes to the fee structure for purchasing a bus pass this year. Please note the following:

1. The bus fee has increased to $400 per student, with a family cap of two passes ($800.)

2. All elementary students who wish to ride the bus and reside LESS than 2 miles from their elementary school must now pay a bus fee.

3. Elementary students who wish to ride the bus and reside MORE than 2 miles from their elementary school DO NOT pay a bus fee.

As has been the case in previous years, all students in grades 7-12 who wish to ride the bus pay the bus fee.

6th grade students: All students in grade 6 who reside MORE than 2 miles from their school and wish to ride the bus do NOT pay a bus fee. 6th grade students who wish to ride the bus and reside less than two miles do pay a fee. Please visit our NPS Bus Fee webpage for details.

Please use this link to determine your distance from your school.

When bus registration opens on June 1, 2023, you will register and pay via MySchoolBucks. Installment payment plans will be available. More information on bus registration can be found on our NPS Bus Registration webpage.

Financial assistance is available for those who qualify. Please read below for details on how to apply.

NPS is committed to preventing discrimination, harassment and retaliation. 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 should be reported, you can contact the school directly or you can fill out this Online reporting form.

• What is discrimination?

• What is harassment?

• What is retaliation?

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 NPS 2023-2024 school calendar.

Click here for the 2023-2024 Brown Middle School days of the cycle full year calendar.

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