September 14th, 2018

Good Afternoon Parents and Guardians:

Littleton Stride:
Beth Best, the Executive Director of the LPS Foundation is looking for a Newton Parent Volunteer to assist our PE teachers with coordinating Newton’s involvement in the STRIDE this year. Beth will give the parent volunteer free registration to the event and a free STRIDE t-shirt. If you are interested please contact Beth at 303-347-3478.

The Annual PTO Fund Drive
The PTO’s Annual Fund Drive continues!!  Thanks to those who have donated.  To date, the PTO has collected $15,405.  This amounts to 51% of our total goal.

If you have not contributed yet, please donate!  Our goal for this fundraiser is 100% participation by the Newton community.  We are asking for $125 per student, but the PTO will accept any amount that fits your family budget.

Click here to make a donation via Paypal today.  You can also contribute  cash (or a check payable to Newton PTO) and deliver it to the main office at Newton.  All donations are tax deductible.  Please give before the fund drive ends on October 31, 2018.

Detailed information about the Annual Fund Drive, including the Paypal link, is available on the Newton website under NMS PTO Fund Drive.

Thank you for supporting the Newton PTO!

Newton Community KNight Out
Our first Newton Community KNight is next Tuesday, September 18th at Bad Daddy's Burger Bar in Southglenn from 4pm-8pm.  Mention Newton and 20% of your dine in or carry out check will be donated to Newton.  Stop by the PTO table and enter our door prize drawing for the chance to win a $50 Streets of Southglenn gift card.  Hope to see you there!

SOS Signs of Suicide® Prevention Program
The adolescent years are marked by a roller-coaster ride of emotions—difficult for students and their parents. It is easy to misread depression as normal adolescent turmoil; however, depression (among the most common of mental illnesses) appears to be occurring at a much earlier age. Depression—which is treatable—is a leading risk factor for suicide. In addition, self-injury has become a growing problem among youth.

To proactively address these issues, Newton Middle School is offering depression awareness and suicide prevention training as part of the SOS Signs of Suicide® Prevention Program. The program encourages students to seek help if they are concerned about themselves or a friend.

Our goals in participating in this program are straightforward:

• To help our students understand that depression is a treatable illness

• To explain that suicide is a preventable tragedy that often occurs as a result of untreated depression
• 
To provide students training in how to identify serious depression and potential suicide risk in themselves or a friend

• To impress upon youth that they can help themselves or a friend by taking the simple step of talking to a trusted adult about their concerns

• To teach students who they can turn to at school for help, if they need it


We will start this program with all 8th grade students during the first two weeks of October. They will receive a lesson and complete a simple depression screening by our Mental Health Team during their elective class. We hope to reach our 7th grade and 6th grade students later in the school year as well.

We will also be hosting a parent education night during our arena conferences on  October 17th. Our Mental Health Team will be sharing a lesson, discussion, and screening to help support and educate parents about this difficult but important topic. Please join us!  We will be sending out more information as this date approaches.

If you do NOT wish to have your child participating in the SOS Program in school, please write a brief email indicating this to Susie Swingler at sswingler@lps.k12.co.us.  If we do not hear from you, we will assume your child has permission to participate in this program.

I hope you have an enjoyable weekend.

James O’Tremba
Principal, Newton Middle School