News from AMS

December 9, 2022

District Attorney's Presentation to AMS Students

Recently, a representative from District Attorney Joseph Early’s Office came to AMS to speak to our students. She covered topics such as the legal aspects bullying and harassment and social media / internet safety. Among the major takeaways for parents and other adults who work with young adolescents were:

We should talk to our kids often about the way they treat others. There may be no more important lesson we teach them than this. The DA’s office experiences many people, young and old, whose lives are a struggle due to their inability to be civil and respectful to others. Whether it is actual bullying or just somebody who develops the habit of being “mean” to others, she told our students that those types of behaviors make success nearly impossible for most people.

Monitor social media / phone use. Most of the legal issues the DA’s office sees with young teenagers are things that begin on social media. Of particular emphasis should be sending threatening and/or inappropriate messages to others.

Examples of this to discuss with your kids:

1. Pressuring others to send nude or inappropriate pictures. Some kids ask for nude pictures and tell the other person if they do not send one, they will make their life miserable in some way (start nasty rumors, etc.). I have even seen this occur in Auburn a few times. It’s incredibly important that we educate our kids about this and make them feel comfortable talking to us about it if it happens.

Important note: A kid who receives a nude picture or something similar from another kid is considered to be in possession of child pornography. The sender is considered to have disseminated child pornography. These are serious crimes. If your child receives something inappropriate - that in some cases, they didn’t even ask for – please encourage them to report it to you or another adult immediately so they will not get in trouble.

2. Sending messages that threaten to hurt someone; that challenge someone to a fight or that encourage others to hurt themselves. These are also serious crimes.

Seek advice when needed. Our students are growing up in a world where they frequently become exposed to things that are very intense and difficult for a kid to understand. As we all know, the internet is littered with disturbing material, and sometimes, on purpose or by accident, our kids stumble upon it. It is important that they have an adult in their lives who checks on what they are doing and with whom they trust sharing scary things.

You, as that adult, will not have all the answers either. Nearly every day, bad people are creating social media sites and other apps for their own profit that will draw children into doing uncharacteristically bad things. It’s hard for well-meaning grown-ups to keep up.

Please know that while we do not have all the answers either, we are here for you if you need to talk with somebody about anything. Most of us are parents, too, and we understand the struggle. But we are also trained to work with 11–14-year-old children, and we are connected to outside agencies that deal regularly with the disturbing things that our kids are subjected to in the modern world.

We can usually help, and when we can’t, we can usually find someone else who can. Please reach out whenever you need to talk something though with us. Contact information is below.

Trimester 1 Final Grades

After 3:00 p.m. today, final grades for Trimester 1 will be updated and posted to PowerSchool. This serves as your child’s Trimester 1 report card. If you are having difficulty accessing your child’s grades, please email Maura Goulet at mgoulet@auburn.k12.ma.us.

Also, if you would like to request a traditional copy of your child’s report card, please email his/her guidance counselor (contact information is attached below).

The Brilliant Insights of a Child...

Student Attendance

Obviously, it is very important that student’s attend school as often as possible. Despite our ability to access assignments and other important information from iPads and other tech devices, there is no substitute for live instruction provided by a professional teacher.

The past few years have given everyone reason to be more cautious when it comes to keeping their kids at home. Heck, we have been consistently requesting that students remain at home when they have any kind of symptoms of illness. For the most part, our AMS families have exercised excellent judgment when it comes to this.

What I want to remind everyone today is that it is critically important that you let us know when you decide to keep your son/daughter home. We need to know that he/she is safe and accounted for. Please be sure to let us know either through Zipp Slip, email to the nurse or secretaries or a phone call to the office when you are keeping your child home for the day.

Student Dismissals

Recently, we have had a number of students text their parents to come pick them up and then the parents show up in the office with no forward notice. It is incredibly important that all dismissals go through the nurse's office if health related or the office if non-health related.

If your child texts you to dismiss him, please have him go to the nurse or the office first to report the problem. An adult from the school will then get in touch with you. This is the safest way to do this as we need to know where our students are at all times.

This is habit we need our kids to develop, and we can only do that if we all work together.

Thank you.

Vision, Hearing and Postural Screening - 7th Grade Only

These screenings will begin next week through the nurse's office. You may opt your child out of these screenings by sending a request to out out to the school nurse Karin Sjogren at ksjogren@auburn.k12.ma.us.

Cheerleading

Cheerleading Tryouts will be this coming Tuesday (Dec. 13) and Thursday (Dec. 15) evenings, 6:00 – 8:00 in the AMS cafeteria. Students need to have the Family ID (formerly “Blue Card”) process completed in order to participate.

FamilyID Registration Link
Registration Directions