SPOTLIGHT
on New Milford Schools
August/September 2023, Volume 14, Issue 1
Message from Our Superintendent Dr. Janet Parlato
Welcome Back!
Back to School!
☀️ I hope your summer was perfect
🧘🏻 I hope you caught up on rest
📖 Read a great book
🍿 Saw a fun movie
🎢 Rode a crazy roller coaster
🚌 And didn't think about school (well, maybe a little!)
🙉 And now it's time for... the greatest year ever!
LET'S GO!!
Important Dates
- October 6th - Townwide PTO Spirit Day
- October 9th - School Closed - Columbus Day
- October 13th - NES PTO Monster Bash 5:30-7:30pm
- October 19th - Early Dismissal (Staff Professional Development Day)
- October 31st - Book Character Parades (NES/HPS) 9:30am
- November 2nd - Parent Conferences (snow date 11/9)
- November 7th - Parent Conferences (snow date 11/14)
- November 10th - Schools Closed - Veterans Day
"Sometimes the greatest Professional Development is the teacher down the hall."
,
New Milford Public Schools
Mission Statement
Email: suptoffice@newmilfordps.org
Website: https://www.newmilfordps.org/
25 Sunny Valley Road, Suite A
New Milford, CT 06776
Phone: 860-355-8406
Follow our socials! Links can be found at the end of the newsletter ⬇️
New Milford High School
Mr. Raymond Manka, Principal
Mr. Kevin Best, Assistant Principal
Dr. Megan Dwyer, Assistant Principal
Mr. Anthony Blake, Assistant Principal
Schaghticoke Middle School
860-354-2204
Ms. Linda Scoralick, Principal
Mr. Michael Boucher, Assistant Principal
Ms. Shannon Surreira, Assistant Principal SMS/NES
Mr. Nicholas Manciero, Interim Assistant Principal
Sarah Noble Intermediate School
860-210-4020
Mrs. Anne Bilko, Principal
Mrs. Jennifer Chmielewski, Assistant Principal
Mrs. Jennifer Meyers, Assistant Principal
Hill & Plain Elementary School
860-354-5430
Mrs. Catherine Calabrese, Principal (effective October 23rd)
Mrs. Kerri Adakonis, Assistant Principal
Northville Elementary School
860-355-3713
Mrs. Gwen Gallagher, Principal
Ms. Shannon Surreira, Assistant Principal SMS/NES
"The fact that you worry about being a good teacher
means that you already are one."
NMHS News
US News & World Report high school rankings were released at the beginning of the month. NMHS ranked 40th out of all 206 CT high schools and ranked 1912 out of 25,000+ schools across the Nation. NMHS staff and students are proud of their work over the past few years and looking forward to continued growth and progress.
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/connecticut/rankings
NMHS is proud of our marching band and color guard as they presented Haunted to a well attended home show on September 16th.
Our theater department is excited to announce that our fall play will be a Midsummer's Night Dream and the spring musical will be Disney's Little Mermaid - our school community is excited to see these two presentations.
September brought a new program to NMHS called Peer to Peer. This new program partners upperclassmen with first year students to assist with anything from getting to know the building layout, understanding your scheduling and planning courses. NMHS believes in building a rich and strong school community and knows this will aid in that work.
NMHS celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 through October 15th with morning announcements, celebrations of humanity and contributions to society. Our celebration this year is brought to NMHS by our new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Club. If you're interested, please contact Assistant Principal Mr. Blake through email.
"Students don't care what you know until they know that you care"
John C. Maxwell
SMS News
The school year is off to a great start at Schaghticoke! We have been focused on community and relationship building at the start of the school year. To start the year, staff at SMS participated in some team building activities during our professional development time. As we welcomed students back to school, classes spent the first two days of school participating in ice breakers and other get to know you games. Ms. Cafarelli has a space theme in her classroom this year. During our beginning of year activities, students spent time decorating personal stars to hang on the bulletin board. Students in Mr. Savo’s Social Studies classes created and presented digital museums about themselves!
We’ve also been hard at work laying the foundation for a successful school year by focusing on our school wide expectations related to kindness, responsibility, and safety. As one of our FLEX activities this year, groups of students and staff worked on digital images that represented these character traits. Below is an image from Mr. Tessier’s 8th grade FLEX group.
The beginning of the year has also been about laying the foundation for school spirit at SMS! We are once again hosting the SMS Spirit Challenge this year. Each week students and staff compete by team through participation in our weekly spirit day. Spirit Days so far have been green and white day, team color day, and wacky hair day. Pictured below are Ms. Moriarty’s homeroom on the day they hosted morning announcements, as well as Mr. Nash and Ms. Cafarelli on Wacky Hair Day. It’s great to see so many members of our school community participating in our weekly spirit days!
SNIS News
Off To A Great Start!
We are off to a great start at SNIS! Starting with a terrific open house that saw many happy families meeting their teachers and taking advantage of the PTO photo spot!
We had a terrific first day of classes. Since that first day, classes are in full swing and children are enjoying meeting new friends, learning new schedules, and new classroom routines.
HPS News
The start of the school year has been a busy time. Students and families had the opportunity to visit their new classrooms and meet their teachers during our Open House before the start of school. Now students are working hard to learn classroom routines and make new friends. On September 1st, many of our HPS students participated in Crazy Hair Day, our first PTO sponsored spirit day. It was fun to see all the creative and fun hairstyles.
Thank you to our PTO for providing HPS staff with a wonderful welcome back breakfast. Your generosity is always greatly appreciated.
NES News
We are so happy to begin another great year at Northville Elementary School! Fun and excitement filled the air as children stepped off school buses and into their classrooms. {large pic below}
As always, Mrs. Gallagher and Mrs. Surriera were on hand to meet and greet the students in the morning. The first few weeks of school have been jam packed with new friends, new routines, and lots of smiles. {pics 6 & 7}
Our Food & Nutrition staff serve up healthy meals each and every day. To access school menus and other facts about the nutrition program, including breakfast in New Milford Schools, please visit the district page: newmilfordps.org. {pics 2, 3, and 8}
We had our first fire drill on September 6, 2023. We are so proud of our students for practicing our C.(Cooperate) A.(Act responsibly) R.(Respect) E. (Encourage) S. (Safety) expectations during the fire drill!
The children enjoyed their first C.A.R.E.S assembly {see pic on the right } and the Townwide “crazy hair day” on Friday, September 1st. {see pic below}
Please be advised that our doors open at 8:30 this year. Parent drop off at the Hug & Go area begins at 8:30 and ends promptly at 8:45. Our Security Officer, teachers and staff are on hand to walk your child into the building at parent drop-off and from the buses. School instruction begins at 8:50. After the doors close at the Hug & Go, you will need to park and walk your child through the front of the building to sign in. Your child will be marked tardy after 8:50.
Please consider joining our AWESOME PTO! Contact the PTO for the next meeting time (Northville.PTO@gmail.com) and look for PTO events and communications via your child’s daily take home folder.
Follow us on Twitter! @NES_CT.
Access the Northville specific calendar at nes.newmilfordps.org, and the district calendar can be found at Newmilfordps.org.
If you are having difficulties with accessing the parent portal or other technology questions, please submit a “tech ticket” on the district website, and someone from the technology department will assist as soon as possible.
Please be in touch with the main office and the teacher to provide us with your child’s day to day dismissal routine. This includes daycare and who has permission to pick your child up from school. All children will ride their assigned bus home unless we are otherwise notified. If the dismissal routine is the same each day, only ONE note will suffice. A note to the teacher is the preferred method of communication for any change in dismissal plans at any time. Please be sure to put the teachers’ name and your child’s FULL name on the note. Please print clearly.
We are so excited to keep the school year rolling, and we will welcome some cooler air soon as fall begins!
NMPS in the News
We were fortunate to be featured in a story on NBC New York on September 8th about our school-based health centers!
Get in the Game
SMS Girls Cross Country
Schaghticoke girls’ Cross Country crushed it at Whisconier Middle School in Brookfield last week!
NMHS Soccer
Catch the Green Wave on Oct. 5th against Joel Barlow! JV @ 4pm, Varsity @ 6pm at your Joe Wiser Stadium, NMHS.
NMHS Football
Green Wave gets the win on Sept. 22nd! 33-14
NMHS Volleyball
Catch them battle Brookfield on Oct. 6th!
Collaborate!
Food and Nutrition News
IMPORTANT NEWS About School Breakfast and School Lunch
Breakfast will be offered for Free to all New Milford students K – 12 during the 23-24 school
year through funding from the State of Connecticut. Lunch will be offered to students for a cost, $2.35 for grades K-5 and $2.60/$3.10 for grades 6-12. There is no charge for students who qualify for free meals and students who are eligible for reduced priced meals will receive lunch at no cost through the State funding.
Information on how to apply for Free and Reduced Lunch: Applications for free and reduced-
price school meals with detailed instructions are available online at:
https://www2.myschoolapps.com/
Paper applications are also available at each school. If you have questions regarding the breakfast or lunch program, please call 860-354-3712. Our school meal program is made for students and their parents. Not only are our school meals delicious and nutritious, they’re also convenient and affordable for you. Cereal, muffins, yogurt, juice, fruit and milk are just some of the selections at breakfast. There is a wide variety of lunch choices daily from a hot meal, cold meal, salads and
sandwiches. With each meal students are offered a selection of low fat and fat free milk,
colorful portions of fresh fruits and vegetables and a variety of whole grains and lean proteins.
Our full menus can be viewed at https://newmilford.schoolinsites.com/menus
A la carte snacks are also available for purchase in grades. All snacks meet strict nutrition
guidelines. Choices can include muffins, fruit, yogurt, baked chips, popcorn, frozen desserts or a
whole grain cookie. If you have concerns about your child’s purchases, please call the cafeteria
to discuss how limits may be placed on their account.
Concerned about allergies?? Labels of all the food we serve are readily available for viewing.
For your convenience an easy online payment system is offered to fund and view your student’s
meal account at www.MySchoolBucks.com Payments can also be made with cash or a check in
the cafeteria. Additional information can be found on the district website under the Food and
Nutrition Services tab. You can follow Food Services on Twitter too @NMPSFoodService.
Our friendly food service staff is here to serve your children the nutrition they need to succeed
in school. We are happy to see your children back in our cafeterias!
2023-2024 Calendar
What do you think? Are we done with all the 🌧️ ?
Community Corner
"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself."
Pie Season! 🍮
50 Easy Desserts You'll *Definitely* Want to Try This Fall
Move aside, pumpkin pie! The fall dessert recipes on this list will have you thinking outside the box with candy, cakes, and more.
https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/g36829839/fall-desserts-recipes/