As we head into the last few weeks of school for our seniors, we want to be sure our students and families have all of the details they need leading up to graduation. Please take a few minutes to read this letter that was sent to all seniors and their families which contains details for graduation on Sunday, June 5th @ 2:00PM and all events leading up to it.

Superintendent Jette shared this week that two important MPS leadership positions have been officially filled. Please join us in welcoming Clair Galloway-Jones as the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Dr. Garth McKinney as the Asst. Superintendent for Curriculum and Human Resources. Please read more about Ms. Galloway Jones and Dr. McKinney here.

We look forward to introducing Ms. Galloway-Jones and Dr. McKinney to the community at an upcoming School Committee meeting and officially welcoming them to the Milton Public Schools on July 1, 2022.

We have seen our COVID positive numbers climb in recent weeks and a concern we are hearing from parents/ guardians is that it is hard to distinguish symptoms of COVID from other illnesses and it’s difficult to know when to test. Is it COVID, allergies, a cold or the flu? is a great article published in March 2022 from the Mayo Clinic that addresses the differences between COVID 19, the common cold, allergies and the flu in an easy to read chart form. When your student presents with symptoms, please test to help keep our MPS community safe! You can still opt-in to the state’s at home test kit distribution by filling out this consent form and having your student bring it to the school nurse Student Opt-In Form. While previous guidance provided a differentiated symptoms list for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, the new symptoms list (updated March 2022) below applies to all individuals, regardless of vaccination status. Parents/guardians should continue to screen students daily prior to school and keep students with these symptoms home, testing prior to returning to school.

COVID-19 symptom list:

• Fever (100.0° Fahrenheit or higher), chills, or shaking chills
• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• New loss of taste or smell
• Muscle aches or body aches
• Cough (not due to other known cause, such as chronic cough)
• Sore throat, when in combination with other symptoms
• Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea when in combination with other symptoms.
• Headache when in combination with other symptoms
• Fatigue, when in combination with other symptoms
• Nasal congestion or runny nose (not due to other known causes, such as allergies) when in combination with other symptoms

For those looking for COVID Testing and Vaccines, we have found the Randolph, MA site linked here to be a reliable provider.

The mission of Milton High School is to cultivate a supportive environment that graduates students who are equipped to reach their potential and contribute to the global community by engaging them in a rigorous, enriching educational program that emphasizes respect, achievement, and citizenship. Vision Awards are a formal recognition of students and staff who were nominated by the Milton High community for their outstanding contributions to Milton High School. These individuals exemplify aspects of Milton High School's Vision of Graduate and each share unique gifts that make our school an equitable community of diverse learners who are valued and affirmed.

Please join me in congratulating the following MHS students and staff: Reilly Bergin, Amira Wallace, Donovan Murray, Lucy Hollingsworth-Hays, Cora Redmond, Molly Lovett, Moses Mann, J Troy, Sean LoPresti, Jessica Norton.

Grade 10 Math MCAS take place Tuesday, May 17th, and Wednesday, May 18th. Please see the Grade 10 MCAS Information Letter that was distributed prior to the ELA MCAS Sessions in March for some reminders about MCAS testing.

We had the pleasure of recognizing the amazing work of students in grades 9-12 as we recognized our newest members in National Honor Society and Century Club and our Junior Book Award Recipients. Scholastic Honors Night is an evening to recognize and honor students for their high academic achievement, excellent leadership skills, and civic responsibilities. The students who are honored this evening exemplify and embody all that we hope for in every Milton High School student. They are intelligent, hard-working, goal-oriented, and self-motivated; they exude a commitment to academic excellence that should serve as a blueprint for others to follow. I invite you to read the entire program here with Century Club and Boys and Girls State winners, our Junior Book Award winners here and our National Honor Society inductees here (and the full list of 2021 NHS is here). Congratulations to all who were recognized at this special event.

Thank you to our students for sharing some great pictures from prom! A fun night had by all!

Mark your calendars as Tuesday, June 14 will be our final SEPAC meeting and we will be meeting live with refreshments and a guest speaker, while we connect before the summer and plan for the 2022-23 school year. Location TBD.

SEPAC board members welcome new school committee members Celina Miranda and Anna Varghese and look forward to working with them as the budget is passed and plans are made for next year. Further, look for a survey soon to assess needs and goals for next year. Our next ZOOM board meeting is on May 24 6:30pm

Check out a new resource for parents with neurodiverse kids: ImpactParents

Please log onto Naviance and complete the Senior Survey class of 2022. It appears under the "About me" tab under "Surveys from your school." Every senior MUST complete this survey in order to be cleared by their School Counselor for graduation.

Thank you!

From your School Counselors

Parents/Guardians please check your student's report card, in Plus Portals under "my locker." School Counselors add Community Service updates on senior report cards every term. If your senior has not completed their community service requirement, they may be in jeopardy of not graduating. Seniors must turn in evidence of 140 community service hours before May 27th.

Please see below from MPS Athletic Director Ryan Madden. It’s been another great week for Milton High School Athletics!

The Varsity Athletic Outdoor Celebration will take place tomorrow at 10am at Brooks Field! All student-athletes receiving a Varsity Letter are invited and families should have received an email invitation.

Boys Lacrosse won back-to-back games, each both by a 1-goal margin. They beat former Herget Division Rival Dedham 9-8 and then followed that up with an 11-10 win over new Herget Division Rival, Braintree. Those two wins move them to 5-7 and puts them in a good position to make the Tournament for the second straight season!

Our Girls Tennis Team responded to three straight losses with three straight wins! They beat Fontbonne, Braintree and Weymouth. With 5 wins on the season, they have already eclipsed their win total from last year! Boys Tennis is 6-5 on the season, with wins over Weymouth and Braintree. They host Oliver Ames on Friday.

Softball and Girls Lacrosse have also won back-to-back games. Alona Lynch is playing at an MVP level for the Softball Team. Girls Lax Captains, Hadley Blasdale and Grace DeBenedictis have played at an elite level with Blasdale scoring 5 goals in the past 2 games.

Rugby beat Hanover 41-26 in a game that was not nearly as close as the score indicated, less than a week after losing to Weymouth. That brings them back to 2-2 and a big finish to the end of the season should put them in a good position heading into the Tournament.

Baseball is now 12-2, earning their sixth straight win over Braintree in the past three seasons. They” travel to St Mary’s in Lynn on Friday before getting back to league play next week against Needham and Walpole.

We have our Susi Athletes of the Month for April! Junior Katie O’Toole and Senior Alona Lynch are very worthy recipients for their achievements in April!

• Katie O’Toole: Despite the cold weather Katie O’Toole has been on fire during the month of April. Katie placed second in the 800m at Wellesley racing against the reigning 1000m state champion from this past indoor season. Katie followed up that strong performance with a first place finish against Braintree in the mile. The next week Katie won the mile at home against Walpole. Katie is currently ranked number nine in the state in the 800m and is top 25 in the mile. Katie has continued her strong running into the month of May with more great racing. As anchor leg she led the team to a victory in the 4×800 meter relay at the Division III State Relay event at Olive Ames. Katie also anchored the 4 x mile team to a strong second place finish.

• Alona Lynch: MHS softball is currently 4-2. Alona Lynch has helped the team get to this point by being a leader on and off the field. She made 3 diving stops for outs against Natick while pitching, where she also hit 3-4 with a grand slam in the same game. She then followed up with another win in extra innings against Braintree on Monday, with 7 strikeouts on the mound and a 2-run double in the 10th to give Milton the lead! She has pitched 4 games so far this season; with 30k and only 6BB on the season and she has a .600 batting average. Her attitude and energy are constantly bringing up the team, always keeping them focused and united.
• 
  

For those wondering about Fall Sports, see below for information.

• Football tryouts start Friday, August 19th.
• All other Sports tryouts start Monday, August 22nd.
• All students must have a valid physical on file in order to try out. Physicals are valid for 13 months.
• Registration will open in June, with payment due before tryouts start in August.
• Tryout dates and times will be posted on August 1st.
• An email with more information about coaching staff will be sent to families soon.

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!

The 2022-23 One Page School Year Calendar (Draft) linked here has been approved by the School Committee. Please note that this calendar is intended as a guide ONLY. It may be necessary to change this schedule to better serve instructional purposes.

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!

Throughout the school year, members of our MPS community celebrate and observe various religious holidays. We adjust homework expectations as needed as you can see in the document linked here. If there is a religious holiday that we have missed, please email Superintendent James Jette.

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.

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 that was sent to you by No-Reply@miltonps.org, please do so as soon as possible. Feel free to reach out to the Main Office with any questions.

As discussed at a recent School Committee meeting, the Milton Public Schools has updated our school incident reporting forms so people can specify incidents on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion and more. The Milton High School incident form can be found here and each school has a form linked on the front of their school’s website and they are also linked on the front of the MPS website, the MPS Education Equity page and MPS Anti-Bullying page.

Please visit our Family Resource Newsletter to find valuable family support resources including Therapy Matcher, Compass Helpline, Quincy Family Resource Center (including Milton), Aspire Health Alliance and New Directions Counseling Center.

In addition to the Family Resource Newsletter please visit Milton Public School Resource Guide. If you need additional assistance please don’t hesitate to reach out to 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.

This Resource Guide contains contact information to link families and youth to mental health, substance use and trauma hotlines as well as to emergency and outpatient therapy, family and group support programs, substance use disorder treatment, culturally competent care, and social services.

MPS knows that families may sometimes need resources for their children and family beyond the classroom. In addition to the Family Resource Newsletter please visit Milton Public School Resource Guide. If you need additional assistance please don’t hesitate to reach out to 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.

If you have trouble securing an appointment for a physical this summer, MinuteClinic will be offering a $25 off discount for Sports Physicals between June 17 and September 14 this year. Patients can go online here to make an appointment or just scan the QR code below. Find a local clinic at this link.