Can you believe that we have started second semester? Students started their Term 3 schedules on Monday while teachers closed our Term 2 grades. All report cards have been posted to PlusPortals. You can access them by logging in to your PlusPortal account, selecting "E-Locker" and then choosing "E-Portfolio". Click on the download icon to see the Term 2 Report Card.

As we start second semester, I want to remind all families that ALL students must be in their first period class by 7:50AM or they are marked TARDY. We will be mailing out letters on Monday to all students who have had 8 or more tardies during Term 2.

For any family that has concerns about their student's attendance please don't hesitate to contact me, Brian Mackinaw or Ben Kelly.

Milton High School will not automatically send your first semester (mid-year) grades to colleges. IF any of your colleges are asking you to send them, you must request these from your Guidance Counselor. Send your counselor an email, asking them to send your first semester transcript, and tell them which college requires it.

Thank you!

The Milton High Guidance Counselors

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 in 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.

Superintendent Jette also shared the following reminders that MUST be universally adhered to ensure student and staff safety.

• If a school bus or a school pupil transport vehicle (van) has its red lights flashing and a stop sign extended, you must come to a complete stop as this is warning to motorists that buses are picking up and dropping off children. It does not matter which side the bus/van is on, motorists should come to a complete stop.
• Please reduce your speed to a minimum once on or near the school campuses and follow all traffic signs.
• Please stop at all crosswalks on school grounds and within the community to allow for students/pedestrians to cross safely. Please do not stop/park on the crosswalk when waiting to pick up your student.

Thank you for your renewed attention to traffic safety.

Our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) will be taking over the Girls Basketball Game on Friday night. The Girls take on Brookline and the student-run committee will have raffles, prizes, half-time contests and more. Be sure to come support the Wildcats on the 28th! 6:30pm tip.

Boosters Membership Reminder: Join the Boosters at this link today! All details on the Boosters can be found on their website linked here.

Save your cans! The MHS Girls Soccer Team will be hosting a Cans for Cats fundraiser on Saturday, February 5th from 9 am to noon at Milton High School.

• PARTICIPATE The “New Insights on Tourette Syndrome” workshop has received an overwhelmingly positive response in interest - over one hundred folks registered. Thank you to Susan Maselli for her collaboration with SEPAC to bring this important informational workshop to our district.

• ADVOCATE : A special thank you to Karen Cahill for holding a meeting space on Thursday, January 20 to discuss staff transitions and concerns. We appreciate how much time and care has gone into assuring that everyone understands the changes that have occurred and how each student’s needs are being met. Please let your school reps know if there are any additional concerns: Jennie Mulqueen and Jenny Sheehan,

• 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.

Covid Testing Program: Information about the new COVID-19 testing program for all participating staff and students was sent out earlier this week and can be read at this link.

This is an opt-in program that provides a free, weekly at home antigen test kit that will be sent home with your student. Students who opt-in will receive a box with 2 test kits every other week in school and are asked to test once a week and report positive results only to their school nurse.

Over 1/3 of MPS staff have enrolled and they received their first box of test kits yesterday. Student tests will be distributed next week and upon distribution, contact tracing at school will end per the program guidelines. Staff and students may opt-in or out at any time. Currently, we have 25% of MPS students who have opted into this program.

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.

MPS School Calendar

(Revised to reflect the January 7th Snow Day)

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.

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.

The district has posted the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources and Curriculum position and all details on the search timeline can be found here. The Search Committee is being assembled and will consist of MPS staff including Principals, Administrators, and Teachers as well as representatives put forward from school and community organizations.

Substitute Teaching: Several members of our community have reached out about being a substitute teacher during this school year. On call daily substitute teachers are needed for all levels and the rate is $90 per day. We welcome all qualified applicants and encourage you to apply at the Apply for a Job at MPS link found on the front of the MPS website. Substitute teachers must have experience and enjoy working with children, the minimum requirement is a Bachelors degree for substitute teachers and an Associates degree for a substitute paraprofessional. Citizenship, residency or work VISA in United States is required. If you have any questions about the requirements, and how they pertain to you, please email MPS Human Resources Specialist Laurie Dunn at ldunn@miltonps.org.

Food Service Substitutes: Help us feed our future! MPS is looking for food service substitutes to join our wonderful team at the Milton School Food Service Program. Substitutes are needed in various shifts to work around your schedule with wages beginning at $17.28 per hour. Contact Food Service Director, Jackie Morgan, at jmorgan@miltonps.org for more information

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.

The Milton Community Food Pantry wants families to know that in addition to the regular monthly free vouchers for milk and eggs from the Milton Food Mart, and bags of groceries, they have also recently approved the distribution of $25 grocery gift cards each month to help families to buy additional fresh fruits and vegetables. Please help spread the word to any individual or family that needs assistance stretching their budget. The Milton Community Food Pantry located in the Parkway Methodist Church, 158 Blue Hills Parkway is open every other Saturday from 9:15 – 11:15am. Please visit their website for all details.

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.

Summer 2022 will be our 3rd SMASH Northeastern Academy - held in partnership between the national non-profit SMASH and Northeastern University. We are helping to spread the word about the transformative, free program to first-generation, low-income, 9th graders.

The program prepares students for college and careers in STEM by:

• Hosting students to live and study on Northeastern University's campus for 3 summers at no cost to students.

• Exposing students to the many careers in STEM and computer science that they can pursue and ways they can use STEM and technology to advance their communities.

• Expanding students’ peer and adult networks by immersing them in weekly networking nights, speaker series, field trips and a tight-knit community of peers.

• Supporting students through high school, college applications, college and career preparation .

Their mission is to diversify the field of STEM so they focus on students who are underrepresented in the field. They are looking for 9th graders who meet the following criteria:

• High-achieving (minimum 3.0 GPA, with an interest in math and science)

• Low-income (e.g. eligible for Free/Reduced Lunch)

• Underrepresented student of color in STEM

The application is now open at www.smash.org/apply. The deadline to apply will be March 1st, 2022.

Here is some essential information:

• Pay starts at $20-$21/hour and is based on a full-time schedule
• They offer FREE lifeguard certification classes across the Boston area (students can become certified and/or re-trained on us and do not need to pay towards anything)
• They have 10 pools and 3 waterfront facilities in the Boston area that candidates may choose to work at

For more information please go here.