Welcome to our October Newsletter. We are excited to share that we have had a tremendous start to the school year. The students have settled back into a traditional school schedule, and our staff continues to work to provide highly engaging learning activities for everyone.

October presents our District with a number of social and emotional initiatives. Our counseling staff have done a tremendous job working to highlight and present a number of things that will continue to support our students as they transition back to traditional schedules, as they face various hurdles, and as they navigate decisions in an effort to give them skills, resources, and mechanisms that will allow them to be upstanders within our community. We had a Week of Respect during which our counselors sponsored different events, presented workshops to students, and celebrated our inclusive culture. In addition, we have worked to have presentations for our students. We have also held an activity fair and started to work within our clubs to provide our students with connections to their peers and in service to our district and town.

As always, we remain proud of our efforts and the ongoing partnership that we have with our learning community. We continue to do all we can in service to our students, and we look forward to a great month!

Be Well

Dr. J.

Character Strong - Kindness

During the month of September, ADS practiced acts of kindness. Principal Manco acknowledged the following students for having outstanding KINDNESS.

KINDNESS: The choice to act with words, gifts, or actions to bring appreciation, positivity, and encouragement to ourselves and others.

Pre-K: Kai Rodriguez

Kindergarten: Henry Luecht, Maya Szydlowski, Thomas Yacovelli

First Grade: Madison Gardner, Cora Jones, Shimpei Obata, Renata Sanchez Urqui,

Second Grade: Mallory Cammarota, Matthew Faber, Khloe Nieves, Sebastian Vasquez

Third Grade: Meredith Antiqua , Mia Fernandez, Logan Frasca, Kaitlyn Jiang, Natalie Merrick, Angel Silva

Fourth Grade: Sebastian Coiro, Tania Patel, Omar Ortega Pina, Juliana Scognamiglio, Madison Standish, Brianna Switaj

ADS Congratulations Mrs. Donna Rogers as Bulldog of the Month

Mrs. Rogers is a kind, dedicated member of our staff who truly cares about Aaron Decker School and the students she works with in the Preschool. Her work, along with Alyssa, has created a successful classroom environment in the Preschool. Thank you for your efforts everyday!!

Visit By The Butler Fire Department- October 14

October is Fire Prevention Month! The goal of Fire Prevention Month is to raise fire safety awareness and help ensure our safety at school and at home. The Butler Fire Department will be visiting Aaron Decker School on Thursday, October 14, 2021. Each grade level will attend an outside presentation given by the fire department.

Halloween

We will be hosting our Halloween Parade on Friday, October 29, 2021, at 9:00 am on the ADS field. More information will follow in the next week.

Follow Us on Twitter and Instagram

We are excited to announce that we have now have our own ADS Twitter account: @ADS_Bulldogs

Also, please continue to follow Ms. Placko and our District Twitter Account:

ADS School Counselor: @ADS_Counselor

Butler Public Schools: @butlerpublic

ADS Instagram : ads_bulldogs

October is a busy month at Richard Butler Middle School with the Week of Respect, Violence & Vandalism Awareness Week, and Red Ribbon Week. Ms. Tagariello has been working with counseling intern Mr. Ciz to plan activities to encourage agency and capacity in our student body, so many thanks to them! We are so proud of our students for taking the RBS 2021 Upstander Pledge promising to show respect and compassion to others, intervene when necessary, and refuse to be a bystander.

There are many opportunities for our students to get involved in the school community. For example, they’ve been enjoying participating in Student Council, Chess Club, and STEAM Club. We are excited to announce that two additional clubs are being piloted: Gaming Club and Book Club! These clubs are extremely popular, and we’re proud to offer something for everyone here at RBS. We’ve also continued on with the implementation of our Character Strong curriculum to provide for the social and emotional needs of our students. Students and staff are having fun getting to know one another and building solid relationships that we know contribute to a healthy and positive school community.

Student Advisory Councils met with Mrs. Papa during the first weeks of school. Students have volunteered to represent their classes to bring concerns forward to make their school community a great place to be. We discussed schedules, dress code, Halloween plans, and other topics. Thank you to these students for committing to amplifying the voices of their peers to positively impacting RBS!

We are planning some Halloween fun for Friday, October 29. While we encourage students to dress in costumes, we require that they be school appropriate, adhere to dress code, and do not include weapons.

Congratulations to our RBS Students of the Month who are recognized for exemplifying September’s characteristic LEADERSHIP:

Grade 5 - Anastazia Gawronski & Joshua Jorda

Grade 6 - Gideon Gonzalez & Giada Huber

Grade 7 - Sarah Bird & Francois Reyes

Grade 8 - Cassandra Mirabella & Moses Adams

We’re also recognizing RBS students with PAWs (Positive Attitude Winner), so if they’re caught doing something kind, demonstrating great character, or helping someone out, they’ll have a PAW hanging in their wing of the school!

Congratulations to Mrs. Tarr for being named the September Staff Member of the Month! We’d like to welcome Ms. Maroney to Team 6 as our new Teacher of Social Studies. Also, Custodian Appreciation Day was October 2, and we’d like to thank our amazing custodial staff for taking such good care of us. Remember to follow RBS on social media: Facebook at Richard Butler Middle School, Twitter @RBS_Bulldogs and Instagram @RBS_Bulldogs. As always, should you have any questions or concerns, please contact Mrs. Papa at mpapa@butlerboe.org.

It has been wonderful to see our students back for the first month of full-time in-person instruction. The Social Emotional benefits of students being able to interact with one another on a daily basis is on full display.

• BHS STUDENT LOUNGE

We are happy to report that our S.E.L the student lounge has been a big hit during our unit lunch and study halls. Students have been enjoying participating in our ping pong, foosball, bubble and air hockey tables on a daily basis. Whether it's the BHS School Store, hanging with friends or listening to music, the students seem to be loving the experience.

• BHS STUDENT COURTYARD

Students have been utilizing our outside courtyard during the unit lunch period. The freshly painted picnic tables and benches are a perfect setting for our kids to unwind and eat in a safe and friendly environment

• Our unified sports team took on its first opponent in soccer @ Sparta HS this week. Thanks to all who participated!

For Week of Respect we were able to share with our students an update on HIB policy and microaggressions. Our students signed the anti-bullying pledge. Mykee Fowlin came on Friday 10/8 to present to our 9th and 10 graders. His presentation on self-reflection, healing, and action was well received by our students. Our PEER Leaders also chalked our walk with positive and inspirational messages!

The Butler School District, in partnership with Mission Honor, will be honoring our Veteran's and Active Military personnel on Friday, October 22, 2021 at our first home playoff football game. We would like to invite Bulldogs who are Veterans or who are actively serving our great Nation in any branch of the military to the game during which they would be honored in a ceremony prior to the game. All military personnel will receive free entrance to the game that evening. We will have a special seating section set up for our military representatives that evening as well.

To assist us, we would like to ask those who would like to participate in the ceremony that evening to fill out this form so that we may create a short introduction for each attendee. This bio will be read during the ceremony at the game as the honored military personnel are escorted to the center of Memorial Field and recognized by those in attendance.

The Butler School District would like to thank all members of our military for their service - you are all heroes!

Collectively Stronger

Email: djohnson@butlerboe.org
Website: www.butlerboe.org
Location: 38 Bartholdi Avenue, Butler, NJ, USA
Phone: 973-492-2020
Twitter: @drjohnson45