Happy Hanukkah!

I hope everyone had a restful Thanksgiving break!

I would like to thank Steel & Rye for their support over Thanksgiving. They prepared and donated Thanksgiving dinners to at least 100 families in our community.

If you are in need of assistance this holiday season (or at any time), please reach out to me or Marti O’Keefe McKenna, MPS Family Outreach Liaison, at 617-980-7343 or by email at mmckenna@miltonps.org. All calls and emails are confidential.

We are also mindful that heading into the holidays can trigger certain behaviors and emotions for some of our students and even staff. I ask that we are all mindful of our actions and treat those around us as we would want to be treated. Milton High School is a great school community and all of our students and staff have a right to feel safe and supported when they are here. We will be holding assemblies early next week to remind our students what our expectations are for student learning, athletics and all extracurricular activities.

The Annual AFL-CIO Scholarship and Labor Education Program is in its 64th year. Through the program, the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and affiliated unions are proud to award financial resources to high school students pursuing trade union programs or college/university study. The Massachusetts AFL-CIO administers half a million dollars of scholarship awards on behalf of unions and labor councils throughout the state. Individual awards range from $500 to $16,000.

In order to be eligible for a scholarship, students must be a senior in high school and take the Labor History Exam. The Massachusetts AFL-CIO publishes a Labor History Study Guide, which covers a broad range of the history of working people organizing for justice in the United States. The Labor History Exam is administered once per year, and awardees are determined by the Scholarship Committee of the MA AFL-CIO. The Scholarship Committee consists of current and retired union members.

All Massachusetts high school seniors are eligible to compete for certain awards. Additionally, students with a family or personal union affiliation are eligible for awards given by their family’s specific local union or central labor council. About 2,000 students take the exam annually to compete for a scholarship.

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IMPORTANT DATES

2022 Registration Open! Click Here to Register.

The deadline to register is December 17, 2021 by 5pm.

Once a student registers they must inform the Guidance Office

by emailing cmacdougall@miltonps.org that they intend to take the exam.

Click below to download the MA AFL-CIO Scholarship Exam study guide. The guide was last updated in 2020. Please click the link below to download a copy of the study materials. Please make sure to visit our website to use the virtual lessons, quizzes and more!

• Mass AFL-CIO Scholarship Exam Study Guide 2019-2020

Interactive exam website studying tool click here

This features supplemental materials and quizzes to test your knowledge.

Link for reference: Massachusetts AFL-CIO Scholarship

Key Dates for 2021-2022 Program

• December 17, 2021: Last day to register. All applications must be received by 5pm to be eligible to take the scholarship exam.

• January 31, 2022-February 4, 2022: Scholarship exam is administered at high schools across Massachusetts. Schools will administer the exam online within the timeframe provided. Students must check with their exam proctor for testing time and location.

If you have additional questions, contact Scholarship Coordinator Carla Connolly at cconnolly@massaflcio.org.

I would like to thank our Student Government, Ms. Beliveau, Mr. Midura and Mr. Pullia for organizing a great spirit week for our MHS community. The week ended with a Pep Rally on Brooks Field! Pictures from this week's event can be found here.

The Milton Special Education Parent Advisory Council (Milton SEPAC) shares the following information.

Participate: We installed our new board on November 16 and got right to work. We now have 14 members of our board, with many schools having at least two reps representing all the schools across the district.

Advocate: The next SEPAC board meeting will be held on Thursday, December 16, 6:30 -8:30 Zoom Link at which we will be finalizing vision and goals for 2022. Please reach out to your school reps with issues and concerns you would like to see addressed this year, and, of course, attend the meeting as well to join discussions and have your voice heard.

Educate: Check out the newly-updated Resources page on our SEPAC website. We hope it has a lot of good information, resources, and tools for parents and families. Please reach out to us at miltonsepac@gmail.com if you have any feedback.

I hope you received Superintendent Jette's email on Monday, November 22, 2021, (with a follow up on November 30) about quick check SEL screeners from Intellispark for students in K-12. You can read the full letter here and view the full Intellispark Student Voice Surveys linked here (6-12). I encourage all parents and guardians to take a look at the screeners linked above. Compiling this information is imperative to help us develop effective interventions and supports for our students. Although we expect all students to participate in the universal SEL screener as part of the SEL curriculum in the district, if any family feels their student(s) would be better served without taking part in it, please email me with your child(ren)’s name, grade, and homeroom teacher if applicable to opt out by Monday, December 6th.

The Milton High School Boosters will host shopping days at the indoor concession stand. Between November 29th and December 22nd - Mondays directly after school 2:20-3:30pm and Wednesday evenings 7-9pm. Come in to purchase MHS Wildcat swag for holiday gift giving! Online orders will also be available for pick up at those times. Check out our website for selection and pricing. Store | Milton High School Boosters (assn.la)

Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) is an annual call to action to inspire K-12 students to learn computer science, advocate for equity in computer science education, and celebrate the contributions of students, teachers, and partners to the field.

The CSEdWeek theme this year highlights the impact that computer science is making everywhere & the relationship that computer science has to different subjects, industries, career paths, & our everyday lives.

A group of MHS Students in APCSP and APCSA will be presenting to Pierce and the elementary school students next week.

#CSisEverywhere

https://www.csedweek.org/

Are you looking for community service opportunities? Throughout the year you will be able to access any community service opportunities here. There are already several opportunities available for students to volunteer. Get involved now!

Latin Club members recently visited Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts to explore the ancient exhibits. Students were able to enjoy an afternoon out together sharing their interest in the Classics and Ancient History. The club looks forward to returning to the museum in the future to see the newly renovated Roman and Greek displays.

On November 23rd, seven 9th grade students attended District Attorney Michael Morrisey’s Peer Leadership Conference at Gillette Stadium. This conference is a kick-off event for the Team Rival competition that pits Norfolk County high schools against each other as they earn points for participating in online programs that teach about distracted and drugged driving, as well as participation in the TikTok Kindness Challenge. Each high school gets 25 points for each challenge that 100 students complete. High schools that get the maximum of 100 points win $1500 for their school’s prevention programming. Last year, Milton High School tied with Weymouth High School.

The seven students who represented Milton High School were Gisele Dimanche, Zee Fitton, Matthew Chin, Mark (Wally) Collins, Victoria Rooney, Cari Gibbons and Zakai Perkins. They were accompanied by Officer Maria Poles from the MPD and Margaret Carels from The Milton Coalition. *Also members of the Milton Youth Advocates for Change (MYAC). For more information on how you can be involved in MYAC or in the Peer Leadership Conference next year, email info@milton-coalition.org.

All students enrolled in AP Classes have completed the Registration process for their AP Exams in the Spring! Now through January 14th is the time to pay for the exams.

Please use UniBank to pay for your AP exams. Exam fees remain at $40/exam ($20/exam if on Free/Reduced Lunch), and the Milton Public Schools will pay the remainder.

Navigate to www.miltonps.org, and select the "MPS Online Payment Center" link on the right side of the page. Select "AP Exam Fees" and follow the instructions to complete your payment. The payment window is open now through January 14, 2022.

Please contact Mr. Kelly (bkelly@miltonps.org) with any questions about Payment for AP Exams.

Yearbook info for the Class of 2022-

Yearbook ads are a great way to personalize your senior's yearbook. You can design them yourself, or simply upload images and text and let the yearbook advisor design it for you. You can include messages from family members and other loved ones, baby and family photos. It's a great way to show your senior how proud you are of this huge milestone! Yearbook ads have become extremely popular in the last few years, but space is limited! Ads are first come first serve so act fast!

The link to purchase the yearbook and/or a yearbook family ad space is below:

https://yearbookforever.com/schools/milton_high_school_buy_yearbook_820/fRKtYXJD38j86I00ek5xKlj0

Be on the lookout for an email from Mrs. Plunkett with information about senior quotes and senior superlatives.

Our Cheer Team traveled to Worcester State University on Saturday, Nov 20th for the State Championships and placed 5th!! Congratulations to our Cheer Team! We would also like to congratulate our Bay State Conference All-Stars from the Fall Season!

The Winter sports season has begun and we are excited for a full season! Be sure to check out our Athletics page for more information!

There are currently no capacity limits or social distancing requirements but ALL students, coaches, and spectators MUST be masked when in the school building. Spectators must follow posted site policies for Ulin Rink or opposing venues, including rinks and gymnasiums.

There will be athletic Parent/Guardian Meetings on Tuesday, December 7 in the Copeland Field House.

• 5:00pm Boys Basketball, Wrestling, Ski
• 5:30pm Boys Ice Hockey, Girls Ice Hockey, Cheer
• 6:00pm Boys Indoor Track, Girls Indoor Track, Girls Basketball

The MHS Ski Team will be hosting a Cans for Cats can and bottle drive on Saturday, December 4th from 9 am to noon at Milton High School.

Looking for a schedule?

CLICK HERE

Did you know....

• About one in four teen car crashes involves an underage drinking driver.
• Every day about 800 people are injured in a drunk-driving crash.
• Every day in America, another 29 people die as a result of drunk-driving crashes. That’s one person every 50 minutes.

Impaired driving is absolutely preventable. For tips on how to keep your young drivers, and passengers, safe, including: tips for conversations; reinforcing expectations; helping to build an exit plan, and showing them that you care, click here. https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/factsheet_ed-impaireddriving_r6f_508c.pdf For other resources, see www.milton-coalition.org

Our Milton High Library is open by 7am every morning so students can access all the amazing resources the library has to offer! Librarian J Troy is always on hand to help guide students in the right direction!

MPS School Calendar

(Revised 10/27/21- due to storm closure the last day of school is now June 22nd)

For Family Technology Support click HERE

Chromebook Troubleshooting

Is your family having internet issues or need assistance to access the internet in your home? Please go here for more information.

Having records of all vaccinated members of our community as well as understanding the number of students participating in the Optional Testing Program is essential.

In their most recent guidance, DESE announced an extension of the mask requirement through November 1, 2021 and more information about vaccination rates and mask wearing after November 1. You can read their full communication here.

If your student is fully vaccinated and you have not yet submitted proof of vaccination, we ask that you do so immediately!

• Email or fax a copy (a photo is fine) to your school nurse (MHS Nurse Andrea deManbey at ademanbey@miltonps.org or Pierce Nurse Barbara Perry at bperry@miltonps.org)
• Mail a copy to the nurses’ office.
• Drop off a copy in the main office, Monday to Friday, during regular school hours.
• If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out directly to our Director of Nursing, Kim Coughlin, at kacoughlin@miltonps.org or 617-696-4470 x5517.

Thank you for your cooperation, which will aid us in fully understanding the vaccination status of our population, especially with regard to the 80% threshold.

All MHS students and families are required to read our MHS Student and Family Handbook and required to digitally sign a verification form acknowledging reading and understanding the rules and policies for Milton High School. If you have not signed and submitted the verification form, an email was resent to you today from No-Reply@miltonps.org. Please reach out to the Main Office with any questions.