September 13th, 2019

Good Afternoon Parents and Guardians:

Newton KNight Out
Please join us at Bad Daddy's Burger Bar in Southglenn from 4-8 pm on Tuesday, Sept 17th for our first Newton Community KNight of the year!  Mention Newton and a portion of your dine in or take out order will help support our pledge drive.  Stop by the PTO table and register to win a $50 Regal gift card.  We will only be having 2 Community KNights this fall, so come on out and support Newton on the 17th! Please see the attached flyer.

AHS Shadow Days
Here is the link to the upcoming shadow day opportunities at Littleton High School. If you have additional questions please contact LHS.

Have a great weekend.
James O’Tremba
Principal, Newton Middle School

September 6th, 2019

Good Afternoon Parents and Guardians:

CMAS Scores
CMAS test scores were distributed to all students who took the assessment last spring and attended Newton. Please look for these results this evening. If you have any questions regarding  the scores please contact Brian Wyckhuyse here at Newton.

AHS Shadow Dates
Arapahoe High School Shadow dates are coming up soon. All details are on the AHS Website, registration opens on Monday, September 9th. More information can be found here.

PBIS Needs Your Help
Our PBIS and No Place for Hate Committee’s again need assistance from our parents in the form of volunteers for our Code Shack. If you can assist please click here to volunteer.

Come and run The Stride
Welcome back to school Newton Knights!  Please come out and support our school and Littleton Public Schools Foundation at the Stride on Sunday, October 27!  The Stride (10K, 5K and Kids Fun Run) is a community fundraising event bringing together students, parents, teachers, staff and neighborhoods to focus on health, wellness, community and school spirit.  The more people that register for the race on behalf of Newton, the more chance our school has of winning a $1,000 prize!  Registration is easy and takes less than 5 minutes - just go to runthestride.com (https://littletonpublicschools.net/lpsf/stride/).  Register by 9/20 and receive a $5 discount!
Also please come out and support the following LPS Foundation fundraising nights (see attached flyers).  Last year the LPS Foundation invested nearly $335,000 in our schools!

• Theater Night with the LPS Foundation - Private Showing of Cabaret at Town Hall Arts Center on Wednesday, September 25 (adult-only event)
• LPS Night at Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, November 9 or Monday, January 20

Newton Accountability Committee
We will resume our Newton Accountability Committee in September. If you are interested in budget, staffing, the new building and the design process, inside information of what is going on here at Newton and in the district then this is the committee for you. All parents are welcome. We meet at 4:00 pm in the Newton Library on the following dates:

• September 19th
• October 24th
• November 14th
• January 16th
• February 26th

If you are interested in serving on the committee please let me know. I usually send out the meeting agenda a couple of days ahead of the meeting date.

PTO Annual Fund Drive:
The Newton Knight PTO conducts ONE primary fundraiser each year for the purpose of supporting and enriching educational opportunities, technology, and programming. Without this additional funding, these initiatives would not be possible. Our goal this year is 100% participation. A per student donation of $125 is recommended, but EVERY GIFT COUNTS. The funds, of which 100% directly benefit our teachers and students, will support:

• Enrichment of the classroom experience, with the purchase of supplies and technology to increase academic goals
• Strategic Teacher Grants that expand on the curriculum and special projects
• “Reading Counts,” the fall dance and teacher appreciation.

Please donate now through Oct. 31 to the 2019-2020 NMS PTO Annual Fund Drive.

Have a great weekend.
James O’Tremba
Principal, Newton Middle School

August 30th, 2019

Good Afternoon Parents and Guardians:

Newton Accountability Committee
We will resume our Newton Accountability Committee in September. If you are interested in budget, staffing, the new building and the design process, inside information of what is going on here at Newton and in the district then this is the committee for you. All parents are welcome. We meet at 4:00 pm in the Newton Library on the following dates:

• September 19th
• October 24th
• November 14th
• January 16th
• February 26th

If you are interested in serving on the committee please let me know. I usually send out the meeting agenda a couple of days ahead of the meeting date.  We are also in need of someone to serve as our Accountability President. If you are interested please contact me.

LPS District Accountability Committee
In addition to our meetings the district also has an accountability committee and we are in need of someone to serve as a Newton Representative to the district committee. This would entail attending the district meetings and then reporting back to our building committee the highlights of the agenda from those district meetings. The district meetings are from 7:00 to 9:00 pm and the meeting is held at the ESC in the boardroom on the following dates:

• September 18th
• October 16th
• November 20th
• January 15th
• February 19th
• March 18th
• April 15th

Please contact me if you are interested in serving in this capacity.

NEW OPEN ENROLLMENT PROCEDURES:
The school district has implemented a new open enrollment process for both in and out of district applicants. Please access this link to learn more. 

PTO Annual Fund Drive:
The Newton Knight PTO conducts ONE primary fundraiser each year for the purpose of supporting and enriching educational opportunities, technology, and programming. Without this additional funding, these initiative would not be possible. Our goal this year is 100% participation. A per student donation of $125 is recommended, but EVERY GIFT COUNTS. The funds, of which 100% directly benefit our teachers and students, will support:

• Enrichment of the classroom experience, with the purchase of supplies and technology to increase academic goals
• Strategic Teacher Grants that expand on the curriculum and special projects
• “Reading Counts,” the fall dance and teacher appreciation.

Please donate now through Oct. 31 to the 2019-2020 NMS PTO Annual Fund Drive.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend.
James O’Tremba
Principal, Newton Middle School

August 23rd, 2019

Good Afternoon Parents and Guardians:

Attention Parents of Gifted and Talented students:
Newton Middle School is in need of a parent representative for GTAC (Gifted and Talented Advisory Council). GTAC meets once per month to discuss and provide input on the direction of our G/T program. Dates and times for meetings are as follows:

• September 9, 7-9 PM in the boardroom at ESC
• November 11, 7-9 PM in the boardroom at ESC
• January 13, 7-9 PM in the boardroom at ESC
• February 10, 7-9 PM in the boardroom at ESC
• March 9, 7-9 PM in the boardroom at ESC
• April 13, 7-9 PM in the boardroom at ESC

Please email Kevin Wood kwood@lps.k12.co.us if you have any questions and/or would be willing to dedicate this time to our GT program.

2019-2020 PTO Meetings
Meetings take place monthly at the school, beginning at 9:30am and concluding no later than 11:00am. Please make plans to join us on the following days. Check in at the office and you’ll be directed to the meeting room.

• Thursday, September 19, 2019
• Friday, October 25, 2019
• Thursday, November 21, 2019
• Thursday, December 19, 2019
• Friday, February 21, 2020
• Thursday, March 19, 2020
• Friday, April 17, 2020

All parents are welcome to attend our meetings.

Parent Night - Social Media
Please see the attached flyer from our SRO Deputy Dahlberg regarding a parent night on September 4th at Arapahoe High School. Our school resources will be presenting to parents regarding social media.

We had a great first week of school and a wonderful back to school night last night. Thanks to all of our parents for visiting.

James O'Tremba

August 16th, 2019

Good Afternoon Parents and Guardians:

We had a great first day of school. It is exciting to begin the new year. Sixth graders are doing well and all ready adjusting to their new surroundings. I will send weekly newsletters on Friday afternoons giving you updates and important events for the future.

Athletics are a great way for students to connect with Newton, and because of on-going track construction at the other middle schools, our 7th and 8th grade track and volleyball seasons were switched.  Which means for this year, 8th grade girls volleyball will start next week on Wednesday and 7th grade girls volleyball will start shortly afterward.  If your student is interested in playing volleyball, encourage them to listen for announcements this upcoming week about when practices begin, and listen in the spring to be on the lookout for track information.

Have a great weekend and a great school year.

James O’Tremba Principal, Newton Middle School

May 17, 2019

Good Evening Parents and Guardians:

As we approach the last week of school please access our school website or link provided here for the end of the year schedule. Please remember that eighth graders will have their continuation on Thursday morning at 9:00 am in the gym. Eighth graders will need to arrive by 8:30 am to line up for the ceremony. We will conduct eighth grade continuation rehearsal on Wednesday morning. Dress code parameters and continuation parking instructions can be found here.

When eighth graders wrap up their continuation ceremony they are free to go home for the summer. Eighth graders are not required to attend school on the 25th of May. This day is an early release day and we will have a school barbeque and carnival for our sixth and seventh graders. The early release time on the 25th will be 1:00 pm. Normal bus routes will be available.

The end of the year schedule also includes all information for sixth and seventh grade activities and recognition and awards ceremonies that will also be held on Thursday. If you have any questions please call our main office at 303-347-7900.

Our website also includes information for fall registrations for all incoming sixth graders, seventh and eighth graders. Please complete this information by the end of May.

Have a great weekend and last week of school.

James O'Tremba
Principal, Newton Middle School

May 10th, 2019

Good Afternoon Parents and Guardians:
Happy Mother’s Day to all of our Newton Mom’s. I hope your day is very special. We appreciate all that you do!

Please see the message below from Ms. Rahne regarding Teacher Appreciation:
Are you wishing you knew how to say thank you to your child's teachers?  Well how about a free ticket on Frontier Airlines.  Click on this  link and nominate Newton Middle School- let's see if we can win tickets for all the teachers at the school!  It takes less than one minute but has to be done by tonight!  Thanks for your time and consideration!

Last Week of School
Please find our last week of school schedule here. All events are on the schedule including our recognition and awards day for 6th, 7th and 8th grade. 8th grade recognition and awards is combined with continuation. Please access all information on the link to our website that is listed in the next paragraph. Eighth grade continuation parking and dress code information is attached.

2019-2020 Registration
All registration information for next years sixth, seventh and eighth grade students is posted on the front page of our website. This information will include information regarding schedules, fees, locker set up day etc. for the 2019-2020 school year. 2019-2020 Registration is here.

New Drop Off Procedure For Students
Beginning on Monday, May 13th we will no longer have our students standing outside of the building in the morning to wait for the first bell to ring. Students who are dropped off by parents in the northwest parking lot by the fire station will immediately go into the north courtyard between B and C wings to wait for the bell to ring. Students who are dropped off by buses or parents in our east parking lot will go directly into the building and will report to our courtyard that is located between A and B wing.  We will have adult supervision in both courtyards.

We will no longer allow students access in the morning into the main office. Our walkers who access the main entrance in the morning can access at either the north entrance or the south entrance to go into the courtyards with all other students. Our front doors will now be locked in the morning and the only access to the main office will be through the buzzer system. If students arrive early to meet with a teacher they will need to enter through the main entrance and access the buzzer system.

We continually review and revise our safety protocols here at school. On Wednesday morning I met with our SRO, another member of the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s department, my administrative team and spoke with my director regarding the safety concerns of students standing outside in the morning before school and we decided to make these changes. This will go into effect on Monday morning and will continue in the fall when we resume school.
I will also meet with our SRO and our administrative team when school is out to review our fire drill procedures and how and where we evacuate the building for our fire drills.

Have a great weekend and again……...Happy Mother’s Day!
James O’Tremba
Principal, Newton Middle School