November Newsletter

Dear Newton North Community,

I wish you a restful, peaceful, and joyful Thanksgiving. Go Tigers!

NNHS Student-Faculty-Administration (SFA)

This year, the SFA is working on reaching out to the community. Here is some information that they wanted to share with the school:

WHO: Students, Faculty, and the Administration

WHAT: The Student Faculty Administration is a group of students/faculty that make policies and recommendations for Newton North High School. Students are elected annually by their class, and the co-chairs of the SFA are elected at the first meeting. The SFA also has a secretary, who campaigns and is elected during student elections in the spring.

WHERE: International Café, right next to the cafeteria

WHEN: Wednesday mornings, 7:00am

WHY: To make changes that will benefit NNHS! Results of the SFA's policies include the opening of Main Street and No Homework Weekends.

Please take a look at https://nnhsfa.weebly.com

Fall Varsity Awards Night
On November 19th we held our annual fall varsity awards night. Students on cheer, cross country, dance, field hockey, football, golf, soccer, swimming, volleyball and unified basketball team were recognized by their coaches, administrators and their peers for a successful season. Among the group was the state champion girls volleyball team who successfully defeated Barnstable earning the team back-to-back state titles!

Coaches Keith Whalen and Selena Giroux hand out varsity letters to the Unified Basketball Team.

Clubs
Newton North has myriad opportunities for students to pursue their interests through clubs. A new club this year, the cryptography club is building an escape the room type activity that will start up after Thanksgiving. For $5 students can try to "break out" with proceeds being donated to charity.
Students who are interested in learning more should see Sam Shoutis.

Peer Mentors have been working at "Newton North Ambassadors" this year and have taken turns meeting new students in the main office on their first day of school. These students walk new students to all their classes on the first day and often will accompany the student to lunch as well. Peer Mentors continue to work on ways in which they can increase their responsibilities to help foster greater community building and comfort for new students.


Students in the "One Night Out" club volunteer their time one Saturday night per month to provide child care and entertainment for children with and without disabilities at the Boston Ability Center in Natick, while their parents have an opportunity to go out for a night together without kids.

Business teacher Rob Kane oversees a number clubs in at Newton North that focus on students in business. The Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) is working in conjunction with The Village Bank on a holiday gift drive. Boxes will be set-up outside Adams and Riley House and inside room 319 to collect gifts from 11/26-12/7. New unwrapped gifts and gift cards for children ages newborn to ten will be collected. The group is planning their annual Entrepreneurship Day on Friday, November 30 in the auditorium. Teachers will be able to sign up to have their classes attend.

The GALS club looks at current events and issues related to social justice on a weekly basis. One of their topics of discussion as it related to current events is how to have empathy for people we disagree with without compromising our political or moral beliefs.


Lisa Goldthwaite advises Tiger Friends a club for students with special needs and peer supports to engage in social activities together like watching movies, doing arts & crafts and supporting athletic teams.

The GSA worked with Civic Engagement and Service office to hold a conversation and educate students on Question 3. Both before and after the November 6th election the group debriefed the topic and the decision.

Sarah Bilodeau has helped students start the fencing club. The focus of the club has been on learning basic footwork and building spirit and getting to know one another through games. The group hopes to begin fundraising so they purchase practice gear in the new year.

Spirit Week

Thanksgiving Fundraiser

At the Thanksgiving football game this Thursday 11/22 at Newton North, the dance team is organizing a toiletry drive for the Newton Food Pantry. If you plan to attend the game please consider making a contribution of unopened shampoo and conditioner, sanitary products, toothpaste and toothbrushes, body lotion, and any other personal care products such as deodorant, shaving cream, razors, etc. Please no travel size or oversized items. There will be boxes to put the items in at the game. 

Life at North

Hanging out with back-to-back Division 1 Volleyball State Champions on their way to the Champions Breakfast.

Dover Legacy Scholars meet with poet

Showing off our facial hair for Mustache November "Movember" to raise money for Men's Physical and Mental Health Issues.   You can contribute to the NNHS "Movember" fundraiser at https://us.movember.com/team/2305396

Dr. Pablo Suarez is a Humanitarian worker, Associate Director, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center. He visited Ms. Schultze's Spanish 4 honors and Spanish AP class in connection to their  INVISIBLE HEROES series as they read  Don Quixote.

Women in STEM Conference at North

Principal's Newsletter-October 2018

It's been a great start to the school year, and it was great to meet and reconnect with so many families at Back-to-School Night. The blog format for my newsletter will allow us to upload photos more easily and update you more regularly.

Other ways to stay connected with North on social media:

Twitter
@nnhsprincipal--Overall school handle
@turnerhj--Principal Turner's professional handle
@nnhstigers--NNHS athletics handle
@tigersloft115--Tiger's Loft handle
@newton_ps--Newton Public Schools handle
@newtonnorthtv--Newton North TV handle
@thenewtonite--Newtonite handle
@NewtonNHSCandCC--NNHS College and Career Center
#nnhstigers

Facebook
@TigersLoft115
@NNHSTigers
@thenewtonite

YouTube
Newton North TV https://www.youtube.com/user/NewtonNorthTV

High School Schedule Survey

For the past year, a committee of Newton North and South (South and North) faculty members, as well as leaders from the Newton Public Schools, has been meeting to redesign our school’s class schedule. This work is a part of NPS’ effort to shift to later high school start times, which based on research, would provide students with the opportunity for sleep at more developmentally appropriate times. Based on extensive feedback from faculty, students, and families during the 2016-17 school year, the district determined that updating our high school class schedules would facilitate the shift in start times while minimizing the impact on student, family, and community life.



During the 2017-18 school year, a joint working group from both high schools began the process of reviewing the current high school class schedules and gathering input from students. The current class schedules at NNHS and NSHS were designed more than 20 years ago. Since that time, many new models for scheduling have emerged that reflect the needs of today’s students and support best practice in teaching and learning. Key elements of those new models include: more embedded time for social and emotional learning as well as academic support, fewer transitions, more flexible times, and more student choice.

We spent time visiting peer districts and comparing their schedules to ours. Interestingly, we found that our current schedules are on the low end of our peer districts for creating flexible times for academic interventions, student choice periods, and social and emotional learning. When reviewing possible new schedules, we also saw the potential to consider increasing our longer instruction blocks during the week to allow for more in-depth learning and student-centered, interactive teaching. Rather than emphasizing total time on learning, optimal schedules focus on meaningful chunks of time in the right frequency to support student learning and engagement.


Now, we would like to hear from you about how the current class schedule works for you and your student. What do you like? What could be improved? We encourage you to provide your thoughts and opinions via this survey. Our next step is to take your feedback, as well as that of our students, and consider it together with the work done by our high school administrators, faculty, and staff. You will hear from us within the next few months as we prepare and share with you a proposed new schedule.

We are committed to developing schedules that maintain the academic excellence and breadth at both high schools while acknowledging the social and emotional needs of our students, as well as staff. Thank you in advance for sharing your thoughts and opinions.

PLEASE COMPLETE SURVEY HERE

Main St

This month we placed cafe-style tables and chairs outside the main entrance. This furniture is a part of our work from last year of opening up Main Street as a hangout space for juniors and seniors who have open campus privileges. In the spring, the hangout space will be open to students and in addition to the chairs and tables outside of the main entrance and the cafeteria, benches are being built by our carpentry students which will be placed along the wall by the International Cafe. 

Planning for this furniture began last fall when faculty and students worked together to plan an opening of Main Street. Since the opening of this building, Main Street was designed to be the center for our community--our “Town Square”. Students and faculty to raise money for fundraisers, sell tickets for events and sometimes perform concerts. The project to open Main Street as a hangout space emerged because of increased crowding pressure in the Library and requests from students for an additional hangout space beyond the cafeteria.

All of this work is part of helping students further develop their social and civic skills such as

 take responsibility for their own actions and contribute positively to the school and larger community. This work is similar to the conversations that we had last fall with students and faculty to re-shape the culture of the Library as a positive learning space for students. Below are the norms for Main Street: 

• Be mindful of volume 
• Respect: nearby classrooms, offices and studying students 
• Remember: with freedom comes responsibility 
• Clean up after yourself 
• If one of your friends behaves inappropriately, respectfully address them 
• Respect people's personal space and physical boundaries 

E-Cigs/"vapes"/"juuls"

The continued use of students using e-cigarettes/"vapes"/"juuls" continues to be a problem for some Newton North students. Scientists are still learning how e-cigarettes affect health. However, there is already enough evidence to justify efforts to prevent e-cigarette use by young people, including recent studies that suggest e-cigarettes are the  latest “gateway” to harder drug use.


Electronic cigarettes are devices that utilize stored electricity to heat a liquid into vapors, which are then inhaled by the user. The liquid can be anything from a flavored water-type mixture to liquid nicotine to THC, the principal active element of marijuana.  These devices are relatively easy to conceal and very easy to disguise. Furthermore, these companies market to teenagers.

The article below can provide more information about the dangers of e-cigarettes. Please have a conversation with your student regarding the dangers of e-cigarettes and that students will be suspended if they are found in possession of any of these devices.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/e-cigs-pack-harmful-punch/

Center for Civic Engagement and Service and Athletics 

Team Up to Give Back

In partnership with the NNHS Center for Civic Engagement and Service and NNHS Athletics, Newton athletic teams will participate in some act of service.  On Tuesday, September 4th Newton city officials presented several options to team captains including registering people to vote, raising money and goods for Newton Food Pantry and registering citizen's cellphones for the Newton emergency response system.  Teams will choose one of these options or find another cause.   

Welcome Newton Jingshan Students

Newton has the nation's oldest China-US High School exchange program.   In September we welcomed our exchange students from Beijing Jingshan School.  They will be with us through December.  This winter there will be more information about applying for traveling to China during the 19-20 school year.  Please find more information about our Jingshan exchange and other travel opportunities.  https://www.newton.k12.ma.us/Page/2029

Ongoings at North

BBQ at Ms. Leong's House for Dover Legacy Scholars and Mentors

Excellent attendance at Friday Night Lights

Annual Retreat to Thompson Island for Leadership for a Diverse Society

Upcoming Calendar Events

Tuesday, 10/9, FORJ (Families Organizing for Racial Justice), 7pm

Saturday, 10/13, PSAT

Tuesday, 10/16 Safety Day at NNHS

Saturday, 10/20, Pre-ACT @ 7:50 am

Saturday, 10/20, PTSO Northside Dining

Thursday, 10/25, PTSO Principal Coffee @ 7:30 am

Thursday, 11/1, Flu clinic and early release day

For all our calendar events please see the NNHS School Calendar