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Dear Brown MS Community,

The last week of school is such a whirlwind! I would like to thank all of the faculty and staff at Brown for their tremendous efforts to make the end of the year a truly fun experience for our students. Throughout the week there was so much going on - the amazing math race, a poetry slam, team trivia games, baby photos, declamations, field day experiences, and so much more. Each grade level went on field trips (6th grade to the Cove, 7th grade to Castle Island and 8th grade to Canobie Lake Park). The students arrived back at school with fun memories and happy smiles. After so much activity, I am certain that we will all sleep well this weekend!

This summer I will take some time away with family up in Maine to be near the ocean. Then we will embark on a college dorm room shopping blitz as my daughter gets ready for her next adventure. (She is already filling my cart on Amazon...) I am hopeful our car is big enough to hold all that she wants to take with her! I have enjoyed sharing her story with you this spring and imagine freshman year will provide me with a few more stories to share in the fall.

At our annual "wave-off" today at 11:20 (see video below), I was reminded how much of an honor it is to be the principal of such a great school community. I look forward to beginning again with many of you in September and wish those families that are moving on from middle school all the best! Enjoy the summer months with lots of fun, sun and relaxation!

Best,

Kim Lysaght, Principal

Thank you to Allison Callahan, Sangeeta Jathar, Jenny Jing and the fantastic 8th grade celebrations committee for putting on an amazing 8th grade outdoor celebration last Tuesday afternoon with food, lawn games, DJ, photo booth, and yearbooks. It was a tremendous success - The kids had a wonderful time!

To our PTO presidents: Sarah Housman, IJ Anyanwu, Denise Dandrea and our PTO treasurer, Will Adams. Your work behind the scenes all year long was of great support to our students and faculty. Our school is lucky to have such dedicated individuals willing to step up and help.

To Brown’s faculty : You embraced the move back to full in-person learning with excitement and joy. Bouncing back from the pandemic was heavy lifting and you all have worked tremendously hard to make this year engaging and fulfilling for your students. You are the heartbeat of our community.

To our custodians and office staff: You keep our school running and step up wherever there is a need, be it collecting Chromebooks, distributing covid tests, or locating missing phones, we could not have made it through this year without your amazing skills. You showed incredible flexibility for the variety of requests presented to you all year long and did it with a smile.

To the administrative team: You kept our students at the center of each decision this year - a year that presented us with many hurdles - and you are still able to smile and to make me laugh at the end of each day.

The selections for this summer's reading for middle schoolers are below. Consider reading one of these with your child. It makes for a terrific way to connect over the summer!

Incoming 6th Graders: Frazzled by Booki Vivant and another book of their choosing

Incoming 7th Graders: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead and another book of their choosing.

Incoming 8th Graders: Select 1 book from this list and another book of their choosing.

NSHS incoming 9th Graders: Read one book on this list. Students will be expected to complete an assignment based on their reading in English classes in the fall.

Click here to link to the Brown Library website for more suggestions.

This past weekend a number of our students attended in a national academic competitions in Orlando Florida. Five students in total from Brown qualified for this event.

Ava Alston International Geography Bee
Carmel Inbar National Science Bee
Julian Yang International Geography Bee
Alex Martinez International Geography Bee
Julian Muehlschlegel National Science Bee

This is an incredible accomplishment and we celebrate these students. There were 1200 kids from 47 states and several foreign countries competing in these and several other academic competition. Julian Yang made it to the semi-finals and missed the finals by 1 point! Alex Martinez made it to the quarterfinals. Julian Muehlschlegel almost made it into the quarterfinals but was eliminated shortly before then.

All of these students can be proud of their accomplishments!

Bus registration for the 2022-23 school year opened on Wednesday, June 1, 2022. Please watch your email for instructions on how to register your student(s) for the bus. NPS strongly recommends that you complete your registration prior to the end of this school year. As always, please visit the NPS Transportation website for more information.

As Newton plans to return to the National School Lunch Program for the 2022-23 school year, pricing needs to be set for lunches at the elementary and middle/high schools. The School Committee reviewed paid-meal recommendations during their 5/23 meeting. Please review that presentation on the Food Services/Updates/Meal Pricing tab on the NPS website.

Please note that families eligible for free or reduced-price lunch will still receive financial support based upon the federal guidelines. Please check eligibility on the NPS website under the Food Services/How to Pay for Meals/Financial Assistance tab

Please send questions or comments to Amy Mistrot, Director of Business Operations - mistrota@newton.k12.ma.us. All comments will be shared with the School Committee for their review prior to voting on 2022/23 prices during either their 6/6 or 6/20 meeting, agenda to be confirmed.

While all meals in the Newton Public Schools have been offered free of charge this year, NPS highly recommends that families who believe they are eligible for the federal Free and Reduced Meal Program complete the application.

If you are eligible for Free and Reduced Meals, you are also eligible for Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) food funds benefits. Food funds are provided to student’s families for COVID-related absences from school during the 2021-22 school year. However, in order to receive P-EBT food funds, you must be approved for free or reduced meals. Therefore, please complete the application.

More details can be found here: P-EBT Food Funds Program Information.

This week there were 8 individuals that reported testing positive for Covid this week! This is great news!

The data dashboard can be found here: COVID Testing Data Dashboard and on our website here: COVID Testing Webpage. For information on COVID cases and vaccination rates in the Newton Public Schools, please visit this page on the City of Newton Website: Newton HHS COVID Data.

• Thursday, Sept. 1 from 9:00-9:45AM - incoming 6th grade visiting We will welcome all incoming 6th graders into the building, to receive a map and find their homebase. (You will get an email the third week of August telling them which team and homebase they will be in.). This is an exciting and informal tradition that we are happy to bring back this September!

Additional 5th grade information:

PTO information: click here for their website

5th grade parent night: click here for the slide deck

World language selection: click here (The form also gives you an opportunity to sign your child up for our optional band, orchestra or chorus electives.)

Please note that the application for financial assistance and fee waivers is now available through the Aspen Parent Portal. Below is the process and timeline:

1. Log into the Aspen Parent Portal. If you do not remember your Aspen login, please email aspen@newton.k12.ma.us

2. Follow instructions to complete the form: Instruction to Complete Financial Assistance and Fee Waiver form.

3. Complete one form for each student.

4. You will receive a response to your application in 24-28 hours or 1-2 business days.

5. Upon approval, register for the activity or service. Select the assistance/waiver option.

6. The necessary staff will be informed of the approval to facilitate participation in the activity or service. Confidentiality will be maintained.

Once approved, your approval is good for one year. You must reapply each year. Please visit our Financial Assistance and Waiver webpage for more information.

NPS has recently updated their non-discrimination protocol and reporting process. 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 needs to be reported, you can contact the school directly or you can fill out this Online reporting form.

• What is discrimination?

  Discrimination includes, but is not limited to, excluding from participation, denying the benefits of, or otherwise discriminating against individuals on the basis of a Protected Class, or any other category protected by state or federal law.

  
  

• What is harassment?

  Harassment includes, but is not limited to, unwelcome, inappropriate, or illegal physical, verbal, written, graphic, or electronic conduct that relates to an individual’s actual or perceived Protected Class, that has the purpose or effect of creating a hostile education or work environment. Examples of harassment include, but are not limited to, conduct that denigrates, demeans, or stereotypes a person and/or group based upon disability, gender identity, national origin, ethnic background, ancestry, race, color, religion, or sexual orientation. Sexual harassment is also included in this category.

  
  

• What is retaliation?

  Retaliation includes, but is not limited to, coercion, intimidation, interference, punishment, discrimination, or harassment against any member of the school community in response to that member’s oral, written, formal or informal reporting or filing a complaint, cooperating in an investigation, aiding or encouraging another member to report or file a complaint.

  
  

The Annual Student Information Update is available on Aspen. Please update your information. Directions for families can be found here.

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 Brown Middle School 6-day rotation calendar for 2022-2023 with early release days and days of the cycle.

To report a student absence call: 617-559-6980

Brown Middle School

125 Meadowbrook Road

Newton, MA 02459

617-559-6900