April 4th, 2020

​Good Morning Parents/Guardians and Students:

I hope this message finds everyone doing well and enjoying their distance learning experience. We have had great attendance this week and it seems like we are settling into a regular routine. Of course this will take some time and patience as we continue to hone our skills in this new experience as teachers and administrator as are our parents and students.

We are definitely trying to  balance the workload for students and problem solving what works best for all students. The work provided may not have been enough for some and too much for others. Please be patient with us as we are also evolving with our learning curve. If you have questions regarding workload please contact your teacher.

We are all trying to reach our desired learning state. This will not be an exact duplicate of students attending school at Newton on a daily basis. This is simply impossible to recreate in a distant learning environment. Negative social media posts are counter productive to our community and the hard work and effort that we have all put forward to ensure our students are receiving the best education we can provide through this difficult time. If you have questions/concerns please contact the teacher directly, Ms. Rahne, Mr. Wyckhuyse or myself. I do appreciate all of the parents that have reached out with positive messages and sharing the experiences of the week. Thanks for all of your assistance!

Arapahoe Make a Wish Week
We are partnering with Arapahoe High School and the Make a Wish Foundation to support kindness and the Make a Wish Foundation. We will be participating in a virtual Disney Week. I am attaching the flyer for you for more specific information. Let's have as many parents/students participate as we can. If you have specific questions please contact Ms. Bond. The event will be held April 6th through the 10th.

NMS Learning Template
I am again providing the link to the NMS learning template. Students need to check here daily, look at the announcements and then proceed to their google classroom Students, please remember to complete the attendance form and submit each day! Ms. Gardner shared a document with me this week that is an organizer for distance learning. I am sharing it here with you. It is template that students can use on a weekly basis, I appreciate Ms. Gardner sharing and I hope it is a useful tool for our students.

District Nutritional Services Information:
We will be operating 4 bus routes to deliver FREE meals to students across the district in addition to the school sites at Field and East Elementary. The bus route meals will be prepared at Littleton High School. I've provided the link for the information about all of the bus routes locations/times. 

Mental Health Services Consent: 
The Newton mental health team will continue to answer new counseling requests and meet with students already being regularly seen. Meetings may be conducted via scheduled Google Hangout meetings, email, or phone call. Consent for these services are based on an OPT OUT system. If you do not want your student to receive mental health services virtually, please indicate this in an email to Susi Swingler.  Please be sure to include your child's name. The opt out policy does not apply to students on IEPs who receive regular service minutes with our school psychologists. Further communication for consent for those services will be sent by case managers.

We conducted a virtual staff meeting this week, I want to pass onto you how much our students are missed and how much we enjoy being with you on a daily basis. Yesterday school was cancelled for the remaining part of the school year. I have had several questions regarding end of the year activities such as continuation, yearbooks etc. I feel horrible for our eighth graders and these milestones they will be missing, as I do for the seniors in high school, colleges etc. We will ensure that students receive yearbooks, continuation certificates etc. Again, if you have any questions please let me know.

Have a great weekend. Be well and healthy.
James O’Tremba
Principal, Newton Middle School