February 17th, 2017

Good Afternoon Parents and Guardians:

The next Newton Community KNight is next week on Tuesday, February 21 at Mellow Mushroom SouthGlenn from 5pm-close.  Extend the President's weekend a little longer, enjoy a break from making dinner and support Newton!  Just mention Newton and 15% of your sale from dine-in or take-out will be donated to our school.  See you there!

This morning we conducted a Yellow Ribbon Training with our sixth grade students and will be doing the same with our seventh and eighth grade students next Wednesday. We also trained our entire licensed teaching staff on January 9th.

Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program® to aid in the prevention of youth suicide through education. The Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program has gained national and international recognition for its school and community based activities. If you would like more information about Yellow Ribbon, visit their website: https://www.yellowribbon.org/.

Once the assembly is over we have our teachers working with the students and debriefing. The following information was discussed. Please be aware as your students may come home with questions over the weekend. If you need further assistance please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Debriefing the Yellow Ribbon Assembly

1. How did you feel while listening to the information on suicide?
2. What are some of the warning signs you might see that would tell you one of your friends, or you yourself, might need help?
3. What would you do if you knew someone was having thoughts of suicide or if you were concerned about someone?
4. Think of two adults you could go to if you or someone you knew needed help.

Our school psychologists and our social worker are also available for students throughout this process if they have additional questions or need additional services.

In addition to the work we are doing at Newton. Options Middle School will be hosting a Parent/Adult/Community member Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention training on Thursday, March 16th from 6-7. This is open to parents, staff,and the community! This is a great introduction to Yellow Ribbon and how to be a suicide safer

community in general.

Enjoy the three day weekend.

James O’Tremba

Principal, Newton Middle School