5/5 - 1/2 Day for Students
Professional Afternoon for Staff
7th Grade Dance (7-9 p.m.)
5/8 - Grade 7 Math MCAS
Community Conversations (see info below)
5/9 - Grade 7 Math MCAS
Blake Site Council Mtg - 3:30 p.m.
5/10 - Blake Student Council
5/11 - Day of Silence (see info below)
DEI Task Force Mtg
Pride Alliance
5/12 - Blake Mini-Marathon (see info below)
Jazz Night
5/15 - Grade 8 Science MCAS
5/16 - Grade 8 Science MCAS
5/18 - Pride Alliance
5/19 - 8th Grade Dance (7-9 p.m.)
5/23-5/26 - 8th Grade Trip
Blake’s Question of the Week
To encourage dialogue and reflection about growth, new beginnings, and ‘second chances’, our question for this week is: Why are fresh starts and 'second chances' important? Fresh Starts and 'Second Chances' (Week of 4/30/23) (This is an anonymous Google Form)
Career Day at Blake - 5/5/23
For over two decades, Blake Middle School has proudly offered students an opportunity to hear about jobs that our community members and friends have and their paths to get there through our Career Day. Like everything else, this year Career Day is going to look a little different, and we are hoping that the technology we have become so familiar with - Zoom - makes it even easier for participants to join our 8th graders for this event. We will be holding panels of speakers that will address a cluster worth of kids (around 80 kids) for each of the 2-3 35-minute sessions on the morning of Friday, May 5. The panelists represent an array of different careers identified by the students as jobs of interest. We would like to invite you to be on one or more of the panels, depending on your availability. The details of the day are still being worked out, but please let us know if you are interested and can be available on that morning.
Blake - 7th Grade Dance
Student Council is excited to announce a 7th grade dance on May 5th from 7-9 pm in the Blake gymnasium! This event is open to 7th graders only. The cost is $5. 7th graders will be getting a dance contract in Advisory that needs to be completed by the day of the event. If students do not fill out the contract, they will not be permitted to attend. Contracts can be submitted to Mrs. Shaw. If there are any questions, please see Mrs. Shaw!
Blake - 8th Grade Dance
Student Council is excited to announce an 8th grade dance on May 19th from 7-9 pm in the Blake gymnasium! This event is open to 8th graders only. The cost is $5. 7th graders will be getting a dance contract in Advisory that needs to be completed by the day of the event. If students do not fill out the contract, they will not be permitted to attend. Contracts can be submitted to Mrs. Shaw. If there are any questions, please see Mrs. Shaw!
Blake Intramurals
The Spring Intramurals session has begun. You can find information on the Blake Intramural Website. If you have any questions, please contact Matt Marenghi ([email protected]).
Community Conversations - 5/8 at 6:30 p.m.
On Monday, May 8th Medfield Public School and Medfield Outreach Community Presentation on Medfield Results of the MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey in the cafeteria of Memorial School (59 Adams Street). Doors open at 6:00PM, and the event will start at 6:30PM. The event will include:
-Medfield adolescent data & trends
-Tips for talking with kids of all ages
-Risk & protective factors
-Ongoing local prevention efforts
-Discussion time
-Additional resources
On Thursday, May 11th, the Blake Pride Alliance, as it has done in past years, will observe the GLSEN National Day of Silence. This day highlights the erasure LGBTQIA+ people feel in their daily lives. Participation is optional and voluntary. Students who choose to participate can either pledge to be an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community or pledge to remain silent through the first three periods of the school day. For more information about the National Day of Silence, please visit https://www.glsen.org/dayofsilence.
The 9th annual Blake Marathon is here!!
Who: Blake staff, students, & families
What: Runners/walkers will be grouped into heats, by grade level.
When: Friday, May 12, 2023
The route runs through the Hillcrest Rd., Ledgetree Rd., Hearthstone Dr., Bow St. neighborhood, and we are reminding all families who live along the course that all of our participants/runners need to stay along the roads/course for safety reasons.
Where: The race will snake around the Middle and High School campuses for 2.1 miles.
Why: To bring our Blake Community together and raise money for a good cause - Medfield Outreach
(**Registration form with more details)
What do we need from families?
1) Parents MUST sign the Indemnity Form (linked here and paper copies coming home) for ALL students (Runners, walkers, and cheering group) in order for students to participate.
2) This year’s registration “fee” is a suggested donation of $5.00 to Medfield Outreach. “Fees” can be submitted in cash or checks made payable to Town of Medfield - Blake Middle School.
3) Parents/guardians interested in helping with the following roles, should click on the Google form below – we’d LOVE any support you can offer, especially in providing cases of water - we need more than 20 cases!!
Parent Help sign-up - Click here!
BEFORE RACE DAY (drop off in main office 5/8-5/11):
- Dropping off a case of water - WE NEED OVER 20 CASES of water!!
- Dropping off a tailgate tent - (to borrow)
- Recording running times– during the race
- Operating water station/ recovery zone - after race
MassHealth Info from DESE
Outreach toolkit about renewing MassHealth: Families with MassHealth need to renew their coverage this year in order to maintain coverage. Information is available on mass.gov/masshealthrenew; and school leaders can help spread the word using the newly available Phase 2 Redeterminations Outreach Toolkit, which contains downloadable flyers, posters, and other materials in nine languages. Individuals who interact with MassHealth members might also find the new MassHealth Renewal Help Guide helpful.
Update from SEPAC
The Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) mission is to work for the understanding of, respect for, and support of all children with special needs in the community. Our role as a parent council is to advise the district on children with special needs; share information and discuss matters of common concern and interest; offer speaker events, workshops, and other programs for families and children; and fundraise to support the schools and award scholarships. We like to say we “Advocate, Educate and Celebrate”.
SEPAC is starting to plan for next year and has many fun ideas. We seek members to join our Fundraising, Community & Events, and Communications committees. If interested, please reach out to [email protected].
We also hope to see you at our next events:
May 16th - Elections & Yoga (all levels), 7pm, Blake Middle School Library
Jazz Night is back on May 12th at 7pm at Medfield High School! Join us for a special evening with John F. Mastroianni, Saxophonist, Woodwind Doubler, Composer, Arranger, Clinician. His talents as a saxophonist, woodwind doubler, composer, and arranger have led him to a diversity of musical experiences. John will also be performing with musicians from MHS and BLAKE School Jazz Bands, Jazz Combo, Jazz Choir and more. Get your tickets today at http://www.medfieldmusicassociation.com. Buy your tickets NOW!
Do you know a Medfield teacher or staff member who has made a positive impact in a student's life? MCPE's Blue Ribbon Recognition Program is the perfect way to honor their efforts and show your appreciation! By making a donation to MCPE in their name, you can recognize their hard work and dedication to our students.
And what better time to participate in the program than during Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week? This is a thoughtful and easy way to recognize the important role these individuals play in shaping our children's future.
Let's show our gratitude and make a difference in our school community by participating in the Blue Ribbon Recognition Program today!
Submit your Blue Ribbon Recognition here: https://www.medfieldcoalition.org/blue-ribbon-recognition-2023
Message from The All Night Grad Party Team
Please 'Pay it forward' and volunteer to help the Class of 2023 celebrate their Graduation in a fun, memorable, and SAFE party space at Medfield High School.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090A4BA8AF2CA3FF2-angp1
Parents of Seniors are not allowed to volunteer during the All Night Grad Party. It’s really not cool to have your own parent or guardian at the same party watching over you!!
So, as you’re more cool, please consider volunteering your time to help keep the Seniors safe during the night of June 3rd going into the morning of June 4th. Time flies as it’s such a fun and entertaining night.
Graduation is on a Saturday this year, so you’ll be able to sleep it off all day Sunday or come in early Sunday morning to help dismantle it all.
Your kid will be graduating before you know it, so lets keep this really fun 30 year Medfield tradition alive by helping the ANGP team put on the party of the year for these deserving seniors.
Thank you for signing up!
Janie Boylan and Patty Borteck
ANGP Co-Chairs
To Donate visit: www.medfieldangp.com
The Blake Winter Intramural Program wraps up at the end of this month. Look for the Spring Offerings in the coming weeks.
Blake’s Pride Alliance
We are pleased to announce that the club formerly known as Blake GSA is now called Pride Alliance! This more inclusive name better represents the values of our club, where we strive to create a safe space for people in the community, those who want to learn more about the LGBTQIA+ community, and also those who wish to learn how to become a better ally. Meetings are every Thursday until 2:45 in room 502. Everyone is welcome to join, regardless of identity.
Blake Student Council
Blake’s Student Council meets every Wednesday afternoon from 2:15-2:45 in Mrs. Shaw’s room (525). All are welcome to join - the more members we have, the more we can accomplish! Spread the word!
Substitute Applications
Blake is always looking for substitute teacher applicants. Applicants need not have teaching licensure but should be energetic, flexible and enjoy working with children. For more information or to apply, please visit Medfield Public Schools - Employment Opportunities and look under ‘Substitute Teaching’. Please contact Marcia Berkowtiz ([email protected]) with any questions.
Webinars/Workshops of Interest
Mental Health Essentials for Parents and Caregivers
Monday, 5/8 at 7 p.m.
The office of Massachusetts Senate President Karen E. Spilka, in partnership with the Mental Health Collaborative, is pleased to host a presentation from the Collaborative, “Mental Health Essentials for Parents and Caregivers.” Mental Health Collaborative is a Hopkinton-based nonprofit organization that serves educators, school districts, and families across the country by improving their understanding of mental health.
This free webinar aims to provide parents and caregivers, particularly those with children in grades 6 through 12, with the tools they need to understand their children’s stress, identify emotional and behavioral health issues and their treatments, and empower them to obtain and maintain good mental health for their families. Knowing whether to worry and when, where, and how to get help is key. It’s important that we overcome the stigma that has prevented too many of us from taking good care of our mental health for too long.
Mental Health Essentials for Parents and Caregivers is part of the #MetroWestKids Initiative, which for six years has offered programs related to mental health, social-emotional learning, and related topics for audiences in MetroWest. For the first time, this program is available to statewide audiences. Attendees can RSVP here. Live translation is available in Portuguese, Spanish, and American Sign Language (ASL).
Youth Mental Health: Understanding the Challenges and Opportunities
Wednesday, 5/10 at 6 p.m.
Panel discussion featuring: John Della Volpe, Wendy Fischman, Robert Kinscherff, Nadja Lopez Reilly, and Gemima St. Louis.
Moderator
Julie L. Ryan, PhD is a licensed psychologist, Core Faculty member and Associate Professor in the Clinical Psychology Department at William James College. Dr. Ryan directs the Children and Families of Adversity and Resilience concentration within the department. She received her PhD from the Clinical Psychology Program at the State University of New York at Albany. She completed her predoctoral internship at Montefiore Medical Center, in Bronx, NY. She completed her postdoctoral Clinical Research Fellowship at New York University Medical Center, Child Study Center, the Anita Saltz Institute for Anxiety and Mood Disorders. She was an Assistant Professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University (2011-2015) teaching and supervising doctoral students, as well as serving as FDU’s Associate Director of Clinical Training (2012-2014) in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral program before joining the faculty at William James College.
Panelists
John Della Volpe is the director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, where he has led the institute’s polling initiatives on understanding American youth since 2000. John's best-selling book, FIGHT, How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America, has been called "the definitive account of America's next great generation," and "a great read with a tremendous amount of learning for anyone in the business of marketing, selling, or otherwise engaging with the most exciting generation in decades."
John is an NBC and MSNBC Contributor, appearing regularly on Morning Joe; his op-eds have been featured in The New York Times and The Washington Post. He is the founder and CEO of SocialSphere, Inc., a public opinion research company headquartered in Massachusetts—and is pollster and advisor to President Biden.
Wendy Fischman joined Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1995. Since then, she has managed various aspects of the Good Project, a collection of research initiatives focused on the meaning of work in the lives of young children, adolescents, and novice professionals. With Howard Gardner, she has completed a large-scale national study of higher education in the United States. Their book, The Real World of College: What Higher Education Is and What It Can Be is just published (MIT Press, 2022). Now, they are working with colleges and universities to help bring ethics “front and center” on the college campus. Over the years, Wendy has written about education and human development in several scholarly and popular articles. She is also the lead author of and Making Good: How Young People Cope with Moral Dilemmas at Work (Harvard University Press, 2004).
Robert Kinscherff, PhD, JD is a clinical/forensic psychologist and attorney who currently serves as a Professor (Doctoral Clinical Psychology Program) at William James College (WJC) and Executive Director of the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior (CLBB) at Massachusetts General Hospital (Harvard Medical School). His previous service has included Associate Vice President at WJC, Assistant Commissioner for Forensic Mental Health for the MA Department of Mental Health, Director of Juvenile Court Clinic Services for the MA Trial Court, and Director of Clinical Services for residential and community-based behavioral health services of Easter Seals of New Hampshire. For the American Psychological Association, his service has included: co-author of its US Supreme Court amicus brief filed in Roper v Simmons (2005) in which the Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional for crimes committed under age 18; Chair of the Ethics Committee, Committee on Legal Issues, Task Force on Gun Violence Policy, and Working Group on Juvenile Solitary Confinement; and, APA representative for Rand Corporation briefings, Congressional briefings, an Expert Panel on Mass Violence in America, and White House Summit on Community Violence. His career has been at the intersections of behavioral health, law and policy, and professional practice and ethics. He publishes widely and his authored and co-authored publications have subsequently been cited in hundreds of chapters and articles. Dr. Kinscherff teaches and consults nationally and internationally. He oversaw the drafting and dissemination in January 2022 of the CLBB White Paper on the Science of Late Adolescence: A Guide for Judges, Attorneys and Policy Makers, and in recent years has provided legislative and court expert testimony on clinical, legal and policy issues involving the neuroscience and developmental psychology of adolescent and young adult development.
Dr. Nadja Lopez Reilly is the Executive Director of the William James College Center for Behavioral Health, Equity, and Leadership in Schools. Throughout her career, Dr. Lopez Reilly has focused on translating research and clinical practice into accessible school and community-based approaches aimed at promoting youth mental health. She has worked directly with thousands of educators, parents, and community leaders; directed philanthropy-based initiatives focusing on prevention of adolescent depression and suicide; served as Co-Director of a Graduate Certificate in School Climate and Social Emotional Learning for educators; and served as the Training Director for an internship program at William James College. Her primary clinical and research interests focus on the treatment of anxiety and depression in youth, school climate and social emotional learning, culturally responsive treatment and teaching, and systems change. Dr. Lopez Reilly has presented at numerous national and international conferences on the topics of depression prevention in adolescents, social emotional learning, and community practices for prevention of mental illness and promotion of emotional health. She has written multiple publications to support student mental health, including her book Anxiety and Depression in the Classroom: A Guide to Promoting Self-Regulation in Young Students.
Dr. Gemima St. Louis is Vice President for Workforce Initiatives and Professor in the Clinical Psychology Department at William James College. She is the Program Director for three federal grants funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration—i.e., the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) Program for Professionals, the BHWET Program for Paraprofessionals, and the Specialized Training and Academic Retention (STAR) Fellowship. She also directs the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Initiative, a workforce development program supported by Boston Children’s Collaborative for Community Health that aims to diversify the behavioral health field by offering scholarships, academic training, and field education experiences to students from historically excluded and underserved communities.
Dr. St. Louis is the Founder of the Center for Multicultural and Global Mental Health and the African and Caribbean Mental Health Concentration at William James College. For more than seven years, she directed the PATHWAYS Program, which continues to provide culturally-responsive and trauma-informed mental health services to youths in local urban school districts. Her primary clinical focus is on the impacts of trauma on children, adolescents, and families. Dr. St. Louis has presented at local, national, and international conferences on trauma, disaster mental health, health disparities, and behavioral health workforce development. She is the recipient of several awards, including two Community Appreciation Awards, the Massachusetts Service Recognition Award, and the City of Boston Mayor’s Office’s Award for Leadership and Dedicated Services to the Haitian Community. She is an alumna of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology, and a Member of APA’s Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race, and Clinical Child Psychology.
Reimagining Grading in K-12 Schools: A Conversation on the Value of Standards-Based Grading
Thursday, 5/12 at 2 p.m.
Standards-based grading continues to gain popularity as schools look to measure students’ mastery of grade-level standards, in addition to, or in place of, traditional grades. As school leaders reimagine the grading systems utilized by educators in their community, many are finding that grading is not a “one-size-fits-all” model.
Join this webinar to hear from three educational leaders with extensive experience with standards-based grading in K-12 schools who will explore:
- How standards-based grading is different from traditional grading and the impact school leaders are seeing on student growth following implementation
- Revisioning grading systems flexibly – what works best across grade level bands from elementary to high school
- Common challenges that arise when revising grading policies in a K-12 community and tangible solutions
- How to gain buy-in from teachers, students, and families
Alexandra Baird
Director of Curriculum & Instruction, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, Austin, TX
Matt Townsley
Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, University of Northern Iowa
David Dustin
Principal, Jaffrey-Rindge Middle School/Conant High School, NH
Growing Up in Public: Supporting Students in the Social Media + Digital Age
Monday, 5/15 at 4 p.m.
Hosted by Spark Kindness
About this event
Educators are inundated with issues related to students’ public online sharing. What can we do when explicit or hateful images and videos circulate in school communities? How can we prepare all students (and staff) for the realities of having a searchable digital reputation? Drawing from the research for Growing Up in Public, Devorah will engage educators, school leaders, and guidance counselors on how we can shift our focus from the threat of reputation consequences to a conversation about character.
About Our Presenter
Dr. Devorah Heitner is the author of Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World and her book on navigating Privacy and Reputation with kids and teens, Growing Up in Public will be out in 2023 with Penguin Random House.Dr. Heitner’s work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN Opinion. She has a Ph.D. in Media/Technology & Society from Northwestern University and has taught at DePaul and Northwestern. She is delighted to be raising her own teenager and she lives with her family in Chicagoland. You can follow her on Twitter @Devorahheitner and on Instagram @devorahheitnerphd.
Teen Truth: Youth Mental Health, Managing Success and Achievement, and Understanding the Pressures of Adolescence
Tuesday, 5/23 at 7 p.m.
Join us for a discussion of balancing mental health, achievement, the pressures of adolescence, and what caring, supportive adults can do to help. Ex-NFL Linebacker, West Point Graduate, and former Army Officer, Caleb Campbell, will share his story of overcoming challenges, managing success, and finding his way to a life he loves. Teens are encouraged to join with their parents/caregivers.
Free, Virtual Event
Hosted by the NWH Resilience Project’s Building Resilience Series