Kennedy Cougars

Our first three weeks of school has been great, despite all the wet weather. Students have settled in to their classwork, clubs are vibrant and full of laughing, chatting students playing video games, chatting about service projects they want to partake in, building in the robotics club, learning about the theater program and the shows coming up, playing instruments or singing, and trying out for fall sports! It has been fun to see how connected our students already feel to our school community. When sense of belonging is strong, students thrive academically and socially. We are thrilled to see it and excited to foster it!

Kennedy Newsletter updates and where to find helpful information on our website:

Our biweekly Kennedy Newsletter will be sent out every other week this year in the district Engage communication every other week. Did you know, however, that our newsletter is accessible on our website in the NEWS section under the CURRENT tab? You might want to bookmark this page for further school notifications. Another helpful website page is the CLUBS AND SPORTS tab. On this page you will find everything extra-curricular going on at Kennedy. DAILY ANNOUNCEMENTS are also available on our website under the NEWS tab and are read each morning. You can click on this if you want to hear all that is shared at our building each morning.

Laps at Lunch information:

Laps at Lunch is trying something new this year. In the past we’ve asked for a weekly time slot commitment. This year we’ve set up time slots on a Sign-Up genius to get us through November. We’ll create additional sign-ups for Dec – Feb and March – June. Please sign up for the same weekly time slot if that works for you, or for individual times slots if that’s better. The link is below:

Please sign up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080448ABAD2EAAFF2-kennedy

Picture retake day:

Picture day was a huge success! If you still would like to order pictures, it's not too late. Check out the information posted on our website for details on how to order HERE. If your child missed picture day, don't worry. Kennedy picture retake day has been scheduled for Thursday, November 2nd.

Kennedy Middle School Student Handbook:

Here is a link to our newly updated Kennedy Student Handbook. Please take some time to review this handbook with your students. It is chock full of helpful information about our school policies and procedures for students and caregivers.

New from Spark Kindness: (see graphic below)

EVENT LISTING:

How to Prevent and Respond to Cyberbullying

October 3, 2023 at 7pm (via Zoom)

For parents, caregivers, educators, and community members

Expert Dr. Sameer Hinduja shares how parents/caregivers can address the ways youth are using and misusing their phones and other technology with a focus on tools to address cyberbullying, sexting, and unsafe social media practices. ASL, Portuguese, and Spanish language interpretation will be provided at this event. Learn more about this FREE program and register at www.SPARKKindness.org/programs

Kennedy Open Houses:

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at our Kennedy Open Houses coming up. Here is the information:

• Thursday, September 28: Grade 5 & 6 Open House (6:00 - 8:00pm)
• Thursday, October 5: Grade 7 & 8 Open House (6:00 - 8:00pm)

Each night will start in the auditorium with a few words from the administration (6:00-6:30pm), followed by teacher presentations (6:30 - 8:00). We hope you can make it!

Warm regards,

Jodie Cohen, Principal

"I make so many beginnings there will never be an end."

~Louisa May Alcott

Twitter - @KennedyMSNatick

Instagram - @KennedyMSNatick

website - kennedy.natickps.org

September is always a very busy and exciting month for educators and families! I hope that your students' transition back into school has been smooth and successful. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you and to some of our new administrative staff in the Special Education Department.

I am Jennifer Braman-Parikh, the Special Education Coordinator; Julie Barth, is our Evaluation Team Leader/Educational Assessment Specialist; Mark D’Angelo, is our Evaluation Team Leader working with 8th graders at both Kennedy and Wilson as well as 9th graders.

• This is my 19th year in special education, I started out in a private, residential setting. I began my public school career in Newton at Newton South High School, where I spent time working as a learning center teacher and ended my career there as a lead teacher in a program. I left Newton to try out a new role, Evaluation Team Facilitator at Brookline High School, where I spent 3 years before coming to Natick in 2016 as the 8th-9th Evaluation Team Leader. When the Student Services Department restructured in 2019 I applied and became the Special Education Coordinator at Kennedy. I live in Natick and I love it here! I have a husband, Jiggy, and two beautiful girls, Meera, 7 years old, who attends Memorial Elementary School, and Erica 28 years old, who now lives close by.

• Julie is so excited to be joining the KMS faculty in the role of Evaluation Team Leader/Special Education Test Administrator. She is coming to Natick from the Public Schools of Brookline where she was an Educational Team Facilitator. Prior to that, she held positions in the Peabody Public Schools and Melrose Public Schools as a school psychologist and out-of-district coordinator. She lives in Natick with her husband Jake, and they have two young adult children Samantha and Garrett. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, yard-saling and thrifting, and going on bike rides.

• Mark is beginning his 12th year in the Natick Public Schools and has over 18 years of experience in special education. Mark has assumed the roles of paraprofessional, case manager, small-group instruction teacher, and evaluator during his time in education. Helping young people learn, grow and develop their gifts to their fullest potential is both a great joy and an important responsibility. It requires the collective efforts of each student’s village and collaboration to best support and prepare each student.

Welcome back to a new school year!

Best Regards,

Jennifer Braman-Parikh

Special Education Coordinator

1 - Kennedy Athletics Update

Fall athletics at Kennedy is about to start. If you have a student interested in sports, the following will be offered this Fall:

• Cross Country
• Field Hockey
• Girls Volleyball

Registration is open on FamilyID.com. Go to the Kennedy Athletics Website for more details.

Practices/Tryouts start Tuesday September 12th. You must be fully registered in order to participate. If you have any questions please email Mr. Lyth at dlyth@natickps.org

2 - Reminder: Kennedy Late Buses start Tuesday, September 12th

Late buses at KENNEDY will start running onTuesday, September 13th which means that our after school clubs will be starting on that day, as well. Here is a link to the clubs and activities page on our website. This page will be updated shortly with our 2023-24 school year offerings. Clubs are a perfect way for our students to find connection and belonging to our school. We encourage everyone to get involved in some sort of after school activity at Kennedy. Check out the list and get involved!!!

3 - UPCOMING SCHOOL EVENTS for your calendar

• Wednesday, September 20: Early Release, Dismissal at 11:30 am
• Monday, September 25: No School - Yom Kippur Holiday
• Thursday, September 28: Grade 5 & 6 Open House (6:00 - 8:00pm)
• Thursday, October 5: Grade 7 & 8 Open House (6:00 - 8:00pm)

Natick Public Schools is excited to announce our partnership with Paper for on-demand tutoring for NHS students. Paper is a secure, online tutoring service that provides students with unlimited, 24/7 academic support. Whether they’re stuck on homework, studying for a test, or need someone to read and make suggestions to their essays, there will always be experts available online to assist students in over 200 subjects and more than 4 languages.

Paper tutors have been specially trained to conduct expert, academic support in a secure, chat-based platform. With a commitment to helping students learn, they’ll never give students answers, but rather interact with them in an encouraging tone to lead them forward.

This is a free service that we’re providing, so students are encouraged to use it as much as they need, whenever they need. Our teachers also have accounts and will be able to review all student activity to see what they’re working on and provide more targeted instruction as needed.

If you’d like to learn more about Paper you can sign up for a Paper hosted Parent Info Session, available in both English and Spanish.

To see Paper and the help it offers firsthand, we encourage you to login with your students. To get started, simply visit PAPER’s student login page, type your school’s name, and log in via Google using your school credentials

We’re thrilled to offer our students the unlimited, 24/7 support that Paper provides and we can’t wait to see what we’re able to accomplish together.

Our Kennedy Middle School PTO works hard behind the scenes to support our school in a variety of ways. Check out their website for more information.

Natick Public Schools does not discriminate in employment nor its educational programs, services, and activities based on race, creed, color, age, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions, physical and intellectual differences, immigration status, homeless status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Please be aware all electronic communication to and from Natick Public Schools is public record and subject to public disclosure per Massachusetts General Law Chapter 66, Section 10.

• Title I: Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990Title II
• Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990Title VI
• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964Title IX
• Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
• MGL, Ch.76, Section 5: Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 76, Section 5