The Curtis Connection

In today's Connection:

• Mr. Mela's Message
• Mark Your Calendar
• ECMS MCAS Schedule
• MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey
• Girls & Boys Soccer Teams vs. ECMS Staff
• Curtis School Council
• Winter Sports at ECMS
• 2023-2024 After School Activity Packet
• Curtis 2023-2024 MATHCOUNTS Competition
• Recess Equipment
• Reminders from the Office
• A Message from the ECMS Health Office
• A Message from the Curtis Counselors
• Curtis Is Going to Washington in 200 Days!
• Curtis Schedule
• Lunch Menu for the Week of 10/30
• CPO News
• Curtis Core Values
• Contact Us
• Community Notices

Dear Families,

We are excited to report that work on the Curtis Outdoor Space has started! The site prep began last weekend and this week some crushed stone was delivered. After the site is fully prepped, the next step will be installation of the equipment. You can see in the picture below that the color selection is green with a beige path for the poured in place.

During the project we will be using cones and tape to section off areas that cannot be used by students. We will use all precautions to ensure student safety during the project and we ask that families be careful when they are visiting the school.

We are excited to be at this point of this project, which be a wonderful addition to the Curtis community.

Enjoy the beautiful weekend.

Jeff Mela

Wednesday, November 1 - 12:45 Early Release: Parent/Teacher Conferences

Wednesday, November 8 - 12:45 Early Release: Parent/Teacher Conferences

Friday, November 10 - No School: Veterans Day

Wednesday, November 15 - 12:45 Early Release: Parent/Teacher Conferences; Frozen Fundraiser items to be picked up from Curtis Cafeteria

Dear Parents and Guardians,

To make sure we give the best possible education and services to children in Sudbury, we want to learn about their attitudes and behaviors with regard to a variety of health issues. In order to accomplish this, students attending Curtis Middle School are being asked to participate in a survey called the MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey. Students at Curtis have been participating in this survey since 2010. The questions on the survey cover many topics including alcohol, tobacco and other drug use; violence and safety; nutrition and physical activity; online behaviors; and mental health. This project will help our district develop and enhance its health education and prevention programs. We will be giving this online survey to students in grades six through eight on November 9, 2023, beginning at 8:40 a.m.

The survey is anonymous, meaning your child will not be asked to provide their name, and no one will know how they respond. There will be no identifying information collected on the survey, and there will be no way to link your child’s responses to their identity.

Completing this survey is voluntary. Your child’s grades in school will not be affected by whether or not they participate. Your child can also decide not to take the survey or skip any question they don’t wish to answer.

The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment is a Federal Law that requires us to notify you ahead of time about the survey, and give you the chance to look at it, so you can let us know if you don’t want your child to take part. If you want to see the survey before deciding, a copy will be available at the front office at Curtis from the hours of 8:30 to 3:30 p.m. between the dates of October 30th to November 8th.

If you DO NOT want your child to take part in the survey, please email Angela Menke, Assistant Principal, at angela_menke@sudbury.k12.ma.us by November 8th to inform us of your intention to opt your child out.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Betsy Grams, Wellness Coordinator.

Curtis 2023 MWAHS Parent Letter Portuguese

Curtis 2023 MWAHS Parent Letter Simple Chinese

Curtis 2023 MWAHS Parent Letter Spanish

On Tuesday, the Girls and Boys Soccer teams wrapped up their seasons with a game against some of the Curtis staff. It was a fun and competitive game that ended in a 1-1 tie. Thanks to all the staff members who came out to play and thanks to everyone who supported the Girls and Boys teams this year.

We are looking for School Council representatives for the Curtis School Council this year.

What is School Council?

A school council is a representative advisory group that collaborates in planning for and implementing school improvement. It is a form of site-based management that places the school at the center of planning, goal setting, and budgeting for improvement.

Who serves on a School Council?

It is composed of representatives of the school and community. Members of the council include:

~principal

~teachers

~parents of students attending the school

~community representatives

If you are interested in serving on the school council, please submit a brief statement about why you wish to serve on the Curtis School Council. Please send this information to Jeff Mela.

Online sign-up for winter sports 2023-24 is now available! Tryouts will start after Thanksgiving break. If your child is interested in playing a winter sport, please sign up early. Tryout schedules will be posted by Nov.16, 2023 on the ECMS Athletics website

We are offering: 7/8th grade girls basketball and 7/8th grade boys basketball. These are travel teams. Registration is currently open and will close on November 19th. Please click here to access the online registration. All registrations need to be approved by our Health Office before a student can participate in a sport. Please make sure that your child has a current physical. This is mandated by the state and current physicals are valid for 13 months. There are no exceptions to this rule.

The ECMS Athletics website provides details on all of the sports that we offer, schedules, as well as tryout dates and practice times. Please check the athletic website to make sure your child can make the commitment to our sports schedule. If you have questions regarding the winter sports that are offered, please contact Athletic Director David Jurewicz.

We are fortunate to offer a diverse list of clubs and activities this year to meet the interests of our students:

• Cauldron
• Strategic Games
• Computer Club
• Diversity Club
• ECMS Theatre Troupe
• Model UN
  
• Science Olympiad
• Speech & Debate Team
• (Unfortunately the Art Club has reached maximum capacity.)

Click here to go to the Activities & Clubs webpage, where you will find a description of each of the course offerings, along with applicable forms to print out, complete, and return to school. Please be sure to make all checks payable to Town of Sudbury. If you have any questions, please email the advisor of the activity.

Attention all math lovers! The MATHCOUNTS Competition is coming back to Curtis again this year! This competition series will be in person. All students in school at Curtis are eligible to participate in a school level MATHCOUNTS practice competition. Following that, a group of up to twelve selected students will be representing Curtis Middle School at the Chapter Competition.

What is MATHCOUNTS?

The MATHCOUNTS Competition Series is a nationwide middle school mathematics competition that provides students the opportunity to compete in-person against and alongside their peers.

The competition is held annually at the school, chapter, state and national levels. This will be the sixth year that Curtis Middle School will participate in the competition. Our goal is to have fun, build confidence, and improve our critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Registration and Cost

School Practice Competition

Date: TBD before end of December 2023 (after school time or weekend)

Cost: free

How/when to register: Complete the registration form here by Nov 30th

Chapter competition will be held in February 2023.

Registration fee for Chapter Competition: $30 / student

A group of up to 12 students per school will attend the Chapter Competition.

Who leads the Chapter team?

Either the school math teachers or the parents can coach the school MATHCOUNTS team. Again, this year, the Curtis team will be led by volunteer Curtis parents. There are no weekly meets. There will be online or in-person practice sessions before the chapter competition for the school group. This year’s coaches will be Mr. Yi Hou and Sophia Hou.

Please contact Yi Hou with any questions.

Our students would love to have more recess equipment! Please consider donating a used or new ball or jump rope to help our kids enjoy their recess time. Supplies needed:

• Rubber balls for 4 Square
• Basketballs
• Footballs
• Soccer balls
• Tennis balls
• Any other balls that are not hard
• Jump ropes

- If your child will be absent or tardy from school, please call 978-443-1071, press 1, and leave a message on the absence line or email ecms_office@sudbury.k12.ma.us. Please state your child’s name, the date(s) of their absence/ tardiness and the reason. If there is a planned absence, you are welcome to call ahead of time -- you do not need to wait until that day.

- If you will be taking your child out of school for an appointment or picking them up early, please write a note and have your child drop it off in the front office. You must come into the office to sign out your child; if they return to school that day, they may come back on their own and stop by the office.

- We do not need to know about a change in dismissal plans at 3:10 dismissal time (or 12:45 on an Early Release day).

- Students may only ride the bus to which they are assigned.

- We will interrupt class to have students pick up eyeglasses or Chromebooks dropped off in the office. All other items will be placed on the table outside the office. If your child calls and asks you to bring something to school, please tell them they must come to the office to retrieve.

- Students' cellphones are expected to be turned off during the school day, so they will not see a text you send them.

Please continue to remain vigilant for symptoms of COVID-19. Currently, cold viruses and COVID have similar symptoms and COVID cannot be ruled out without testing. As always, even if your student is negative for COVID, they should still stay home and rest if they are not well. If your student tests positive, please notify the health office.

Four free Covid tests can be obtained from: https://special.usps.com/testkits

Many students are coming to the health office seeking cough drops and allergy medication. As a reminder, we cannot provide these without a doctor’s order and a supply kept in the health office, as they are medication. If you would like for your student to have a supply in the health office, please contact the nurses to arrange for permission. For students coming to us for sore throats and coughs, we are only able to offer salt water gargles and a cold drink of water.

Thank you,

Anne-Marie Hultin, RN & Kiersten Varner, RN

ECMS Health Office Nurses

If your child is applying to private school, please contact your child’s grade-level school counselor so that we can help facilitate the process. To ensure this process is efficient and expedient, please follow these guidelines:

• Prior to submitting any forms (electronically or on paper), please ensure that your child contacts their teachers and the counselor to ask for their recommendation.

• Most schools are using on-line platforms for applications and recommendations. Please notify the grade-level counselor which schools your child is applying to and the platforms these schools use.

• If the applications require paper forms, they should be dropped off at the ECMS main office to the attention of the grade-level counselor. Please do not send any paper recommendation forms directly to teachers; the grade level counselor will distribute these to teachers.

• In order to send records and recommendations to the private school, we must have a signed release from a parent or guardian. This is usually provided with the private school application form or may be part of the on-line platform.

• We request that you submit all forms as early as possible to allow teachers and counselors ample time to complete recommendations. Please be aware of the following timeline for submitting forms to the grade level counselor:

By December 1, 2023 for a January 1, 2024 deadline
By December 15, 2023 for a January 15, 2024 deadline
By January 3, 2024 for a February 1, 2024 deadline

• In early spring after you have heard from the school’s admissions department, please contact the grade-level counselor to inform us of the application outcome and private school decisions for your child.

Procedure for applications requiring direct mail:

• Include a large (10 x 13) stamped standard mailing envelope for each school with the forms, so that we are able to mail them out quickly when the applications are complete.

• On each mailing envelope, include a postage amount of $4.23.

• Print the specific name and address to whom we are directing the application.

• Leave the return address blank as we will fill this in indicating that the materials came from Curtis.

Please direct any questions about the status of recommendations to the following counselors:

Ivar Henningson - 6th grade counselor

Terry Miller -7th Grade Counselor

Jennifer Hymes - 8th Grade Counselor

Thank you very much for your assistance and cooperation with this private school application process.

ECMS Counseling Department

Frozen Fundraiser: Items must be picked up in the Curtis Cafeteria on Nov. 15th at 4-6pm.

Read the latest D.C. Digest for reminders, deadlines, links, and more.

Please click here to view the SPS 2023-2024 School Calendar.

Please click here to see the complete Curtis schedule for this school year.

Curtis Annual Fund

Thank you to families who have already contributed to our 2023-24 CPO Annual Fund! Your donations help to support a variety of programs and initiatives, including cultural enrichment, Curtis Messenger, student scholarships, student social events, technology, end-of-year activities, classroom curriculum aids for teachers, UA supplies, recess equipment, teacher appreciation events, library furniture, the student counseling department, the tile project in the school hallways, outdoor beautification projects, and much more. These are all important additions to the Curtis community and they truly improve the students’ experience at Curtis Middle School.

Our goal is to get 100% participation this year! If you have not yet donated, please consider a tax-deductible donation to the CPO to help support Curtis’ cultural, creative, and educational programming. Also, don't forget to check if your company offers a match to your donation.

Thanks in advance for your contribution!

Please note that donation acknowledgment letters will be provided by request only. If you require a letter for tax purposes, please email a request to cpotreasurer@gmail.com.

Curtis Online Directory

You can still purchase online access to the Curtis Directory and make a donation to the Annual Fund in one easy step. Online access is only $12 and is available as soon as you place your order. Click here to get Directory access today!

Questions? Email curtiscpodirectory@gmail.com

CPO Volunteers Needed

The CPO still has a few open volunteer committee positions. Limited, flexible hours involved for all positions:

Business Sponsor Liaison (1 person needed): Reach out to Curtis-family and local businesses to sponsor school initiatives.

Fundraising (1-2 people needed): Partner with local restaurants and boutiques for restaurant nights and shopping days. Promote in Messenger, Connections and CPO Facebook page.

If interested in any of the above positions, or if you'd like more information, please email cochairs@curtiscpo.org. To learn more about the CPO, visit curtiscpo.org. Thanks for your interest!

Business Sponsorship Opportunities

Are you a Curtis Family who owns a business or do you work at/know a business that would be interested in exposure to over 800 local families? Becoming a business sponsor of Curtis provides great marketing opportunities for businesses while supporting our school at the same time! We have very affordable sponsor opportunities available for 2023-2024. Please reach out to the CPO at board@curtiscpo.org.

Curtis Gear

The Curtis online store is now open with lots of Curtis spirit wear and gear, including clothing, hats, bags, and more!

Learning ~ Respect ~ Responsibliity

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Spanish

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Portuguese

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Russian

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