Dear Parents, Caregivers and Community Members,

We have had somewhat somber but productive days in all schools this week. Administrators and Guidance personnel were available to teachers, parents, and the students themselves to support them in dealing with the atrocity in Connecticut. Teachers re-established routines but, at the Middle and High Schools, allowed discussion of the events in Newtown if the older students requested or seemed to need to discuss it. Some teachers simply allowed students time to express their thoughts in writing rather than orally. The message we all tried to convey is that their school environment is quite safe and that it is our job, and one we take very seriously, to try to make sure they are all safe. Schools are "in loco parentis", i.e., in the place of a parent, and we all consider keeping students safe, both physically and emotionally, as our most important task. They cannot learn if they do not feel safe.

Some very exciting news has arrived at the Middle School.  We received a letter that our school has been selected as an Apple Distinguished School for the 2012-2013 school year.

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Staff,

As you may have heard, there has been a terribly tragic shooting in Connecticut at an elementary school. All of our hearts go out to the families of the victims in this community. It is an unthinkable tragedy, but one that we have thought about and planned for here in Millis.  While this type of incident is rare, we have instituted several measures to safeguard our students, like always having the doors locked, so that visitors must buzz in and identify themselves at the offices. Other doors are locked.

Your support at the Barnes and Noble Book Fair was tremendous! We raised nearly $1400 for the School Libraries! Moreover, the support of staff, students, parents and friends showed truly how we have a "Small School, Big Family!"

The student artwork is still on display and will be visible through next week. Please look at the selection of readers in our photos!

Again - thank you ALL for your help!

On Thursday, November 29, the seventh grade members of the Millis Leadership Team attended the Stand Up to Bullying 2012 event.  Stand Up to Bullying was created to educate, motivate and empower young people to stand up to bullying and bullies and to help create a culture of non-tolerance of this behavior.  The goal of Stand Up is to empower youth to actively promote positive social change in their schools and communities.

Dear Millis Colleagues and Community Members:

Dear Parents,

Dear Parents and Community Members,

For more than a year the teaching staff and administrators in the Millis Public Schools have been focused on increasing the rigor in our classrooms by focusing on the higher order thinking skills and 21st century skills that students will need for college and career readiness. There were great faculty meeting discussions about what rigorous teaching and learning looks like and what student and teacher behaviors would be observable if students were highly engaged and rigorous learning were happening. This work laid a good foundation for the new Educator Evaluation system developed in Massachusetts (see http://www.doe.mass.edu/edeval/ for more detailed information).

Attached please find the application for Free and/or Reduced lunch