As we head into Labor Day Weekend, I want to thank our teachers, cafeteria workers, custodians, administrative staff and students for a great first two days of school! I was so happy to see our students and staff all back in the building! The energy level was great!

This week's newsletter has some reminders and updates for all of our students, staff and families, please take a few minutes to read.

School Pictures are being taken on Tuesday, September 7th during English class. If you have English C period (which does not fall on Tuesday), your picture will be taken on Wednesday morning. If you would like to order school pictures from Hayward please use this order form.

A message from Hayward Photography:

All photography will take place outdoors. In the event of inclement weather, our photographers will make every effort to photograph the students using a doorway or overhang.

All photographs will be shipped directly to each student’s address as provided on their order.

We instituted a ‘prepayment system’ in 2020 for parents to order and pay online to reduce student/staff handling of several papers and payment materials coming into school. We can still accommodate parents who prefer to pay using cash or checks. Payments can be mailed to or dropped off at our office at 26 Eliot Street, Milton, MA 02186. Online Orders are preferred and strongly recommended.

We will continue with the following procedures for Picture Day:
・Photographers will be wearing masks and practicing social distancing at their
photo station with signage which shows where students should be standing while
waiting.
・Hand Sanitizer/Disinfectant will be available at the photo station.
・Staff/Students may wear a mask coming to the photo station. This will be determined by the individual school’s procedures. They can remove their mask once the photographer is ready to photograph them.
・An electronic Announcement/Order Form will be sent to the school for email distribution by the school to the parents with a link to our website for ordering. Parents will no longer need to return the form on Picture Day.

Overall, our concern is for everyone’s health and safety as well as being the least disruptive to your student and staff schedules. We understand this year is a work in progress and stressful for parents and schools. As always, we are happy to do whatever is necessary to photograph your students safely and efficiently.

I want to acknowledge the efforts of our students and staff on keeping masks on during the school day. We hope that all of our efforts help keep all of us safe and in school! Just a reminder of other steps we are taking to support our full return to school model:

• Along with our hands free water refilling stations, water stations will be set up in the building for all students and staff to stay hydrated during the warm fall days..be sure to bring a water bottle!
• While there are no social distancing guidelines for breakfast or lunch in the cafeteria, we are going to be asking students to be mindful of where they sit during these times. All lunches will be held in the cafeteria, Wildcat Cafe and outside in the courtyard (weather permitting). While we know lunch is a short window of time each day, we will ask students to keep masks on when not eating and to be mindful of how close they are sitting to their peers.
• As stated above, for all indoor activities, including PE, Athletics, Theatre, Clubs, masks must be worn anytime in the building.
• Any student who wishes to wear a mask outdoors is welcome to do so.

As the year progresses, guidelines will be adjusted as needed.

Rosh Hashanah will begin in the evening (sunset) of Monday, September 6th and ends in the evening of Wednesday, September 8th. While these are school days in the Milton Public Schools, we have students and staff that are out during this time as they observe the holiday. Any student absent for this religious observation will be excused and those students celebrating Rosh Hashanah will be afforded extra time to make up any missing work. It is the expectation of the Milton Public Schools not to assign homework, tests, quizzes, major presentations, Google hangouts and/or hold events or athletic practice/games during the Jewish Holidays.

With our full return in person, please remember to use caution when dropping off and picking up your students.

In the morning if you are dropping off in front of the building please pull your car all the way to the front of the circle to allow more cars off the main road and more students to get into school on time. If the front of the building is too busy you can also drop off at the Field House entrance or side entrance near the baseball fields. ALL students are expected to be seated their 1st period class at 7:50AM or they will be marked tardy. Students can be dropped off starting at 7:15AM so please consider dropping your students off prior to 7:45AM. Thank you for your help and cooperation with this.

The first SEPAC Board open meeting will be Thursday, September 9, 6:30-8pm. The board will be voting on bylaws and discussing schedule and programming matters for the upcoming year. Jenny Sheehan and Jennie Mulqueen will serve as the MHS School Reps this year, as well as chairs of SEPAC. This means we will be meeting with Principal Cahill at least monthly to discuss staffing, programming, and other inclusion advocacy issues. We are currently searching for reps at Glover, Tucker, and Collicot, so please help us spread the word and engage more families in advocacy and education. Questions or concerns? Jenny Sheehan, Chair: jennycsheehan@gmail.com, Jennie Mulqueen Co-Chair, jenniemulqueen@gmail.com

On Monday, August 30th, we welcomed our incoming 9th graders, new students and students who were fully remote last year to join us at MHS to get acclimated to our school. Many thanks to our Student Leaders and Student Leader Advisors, Kate Daley, Jessica Jarboe, Maddie Murphy and Dana DePaul for providing our students a fun and informative experience. The excitement our Student Leaders had was contagious and I hope all students found this day as informative as it was meant to be!

Just a reminder that Tuesday, September 14th is our Open House. Open House will start at 6:30pm. More details to come next week.

For over 40 years, the Milton Road Race has been an incredible community event drawing runners young and, well, not so young, from near and far. It is an event fondly anticipated by hundreds of runners and their families. We are very much looking forward to hosting an in-person race this year, while being both mindful of and ready to respond to public health concerns.

As the race director for the Milton Junior Woman’s Club, I encourage you to become a part of this significant event. As our major annual fundraiser, the proceeds from this race directly assist numerous non-profit organizations and provide student scholarships within the Milton community. Needed now more than ever.

Funds from your registration will impact local non-profit charities such as Cooperative Elder Services, Inc., Friends of the Milton Public Library, Milton Community Food Pantry, Inc., Milton Council on Aging, Milton Early Childhood Alliance, SOCK, Milton Parks and Recreation Department and The Friends of the Blue Hills. In addition to these non-profits, through our scholarship program we award thousands of dollars to graduating high school seniors in the Milton community. These programs depend on us, as we depend on runners like you.

This year, the race will be held on Tuesday, September 14th at 6 p.m., starting and finishing at Cunningham Park. To register visit: www.miltonroadrace.racewire.com

Patti Dobrindt