RJ Grey Weekly PTSO Chatter

ABRPTSO

Weekly Chatter

RJ Grey Junior High School

October 3, 2021

"Creating a community of thinkers, learners, and responsible citizens."

Table of Contents

Calendar of Events
NEW Email Address for The Chatter
Ready, Set, We're Back!
After-School Clubs
Daily Substitutes Needed
Community Ed Update
Rise to the Challenge
Boys & Girls Basketball Clinic - October 9th
Project Graduation 20202...and Beyond!
ABSAF Phone-A-Thon Begins this Weekend
Looking for a Mental Health Provider?

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Thursday, October 7: Back to School Night (virtual)

Monday, October 11: No School for Indigenous Peoples' Day

Monday, October 18: Early Release at 1pm

The Chatter Has a New Email Address

Many thanks to the PTSO's loyal Chatter readers and those that submit weekly school-related content! The email address for The Chatter is now: chatter@abrptso.org. Please update your records to reflect this new address.

Ready, Set, We’re Back!

Welcome back to all our students and staff and a Very Special Welcome to the new 7th Graders! The ABRPTSO is wondering if summer is over yet? We are still enjoying warm days - when it’s not raining ;) - yet we are also excited to be back together again

in school. Together, the PTSO can help you organize your school months with our weekly Sunday Chatter updates and on-line School Directories (which are coming soon).

Not only are the students together again in person, but the ABRPTSO is too! If you can spare a little time, we would love for you to join us at our monthly meetings. Please see below for meeting dates, time and location, and see upcoming Chatters for links to our agendas. We are always looking for new ideas, and welcome your energy and input into making this year a success. Now off to find a pumpkin spiced something or other...

ABRPTSO Meetings: Tuesdays at 7:00pm in ABRHS Conference Room 115N:

Oct. 19, 2021

Nov. 19, 2021

Dec. 19, 2021

Jan. 18, 2022

Feb. 15, 2022

Mar. 15, 2022

Apr. 12, 2022

May 17, 2022

Jun. 7, 2022

After-School Clubs

The official RJ Grey Clubs doc is now on the RJ Grey Website. Click here to link to the page. If you have any questions about the clubs, please contact the club advisor.

Daily Substitutes Needed

This is an appeal to anyone who might be interested in becoming a more active part of our school community. We are in need of adding some daily substitutes to our pool! If you are interested in coming to work with us on a temporary basis, we'd welcome you to fill out an application to become a substitute teacher at RJ Grey or any of the other AB schools. Our staff has a very good attendance records, so this is not to say we're in dire straits. However, we can always beef up our pool of adults who are willing to come in and sub throughout the year. We are also looking for a teaching assistant in our Academic Support Center.

Community Ed. Fall Offerings

Community Ed has a myriad of offerings for JH kids this fall. Visit our website or sign up for our email list to receive updates regarding new classes. You can reach our office at 978-266-2525 with questions or to register.

Some examples of upcoming classes for JH students are:

Community Ed Basketball for Boys 7/8 or Girls 7-12

Early College Savings for Parents of Young Children - Thursday, November 4

Rise to the Challenge

Rise to the Challenge is something the Junior High started as a way of recognizing student involvement in community service. We know that many students are already participating in service activities outside of school, and we hope to celebrate those efforts along with encouraging more students to become active in service opportunities. Students who complete 10 hours of service within a school year will be recognized for their efforts. Please visit the Community Service webpage for details on this program. If you have any questions please email Debbie Brookes.

Boys & Girls Basketball Clinic, October 9th

BASKETBALL CLINIC with AB Girls Varsity Coach and Players

Saturday, 10/9 10am - 12pm at AB Lower Gym

For Boys and Girls, grades 3-9. New players and returning players welcome - Come have fun - Get ready for AB Travel Basketball or AB Comm Ed Basketball!

*REGISTER at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSclYv93cYvUwbkwJpleZoigrPxO5q7qgmvT355Rk5R-0Lw36Q/viewform?fbclid=IwAR3v_HBwc_-LlS2dUlMYWTdEa0vppmtejFn-f6DIusTt0UhNLKl8V8WbLaU

Walk-ins welcome. $40 per player (can be paid at check-in.) Sibling discounts.

Questions? Email: ABGBBoosters@gmail.com

Project Graduation 2022... And Beyond!

Happy Fall, all! After two years of creative non-traditional graduation activities, we are looking forward to bringing back our all-night substance-free party held on graduation night for the Class of 2022! Our talented team of parent volunteers is ready to roll up their sleeves. Here's the thing: we NEED YOU TO JOIN US to keep this amazing, decades-long tradition going! After leading the charge for years, many of the current team will be graduating along with their children. Looking ahead, we will need new co-chairs as well as decoration and entertainment team leaders. Now is the time to get involved; we need you to shadow the current chairs! You'll have fun, and together we will continue to keep kids safe on graduation night as we have done for 33 years. Grab a friend or make a new one with Project Graduation. Please send us an email before the end of October to find out more about shadowing current chairs. We'll announce our kick-off meeting in November, and then have monthly meetings starting in January. It's going to be a great year!

Jennifer Mabardy & Jennifer Philion

AB Project Graduation 2022 Co-Chairs

abprojectgraduation@gmail.com

https://www.abprojectgrad.org

Acton Boxborough Student Activities Fund Phone-A-Thon Begins this Weekend

Hoping you will be home to answer the phone this weekend!

Our Acton Boxborough students will be calling you to ask for your support!

It's our largest fundraiser of the year!!!

ABSAF is hosting our annual Phone-A-Thon on Sunday, October 3rd and Wednesday, Oct 6 from 5-8pm. The committee volunteers will be calling members of the community during the two day phone-a-thon. ABSAF was created to support extracurricular programs at the junior high and high school.

Please consider PICKING UP THE PHONE AND DONATING to support our students!!

100% of donations is gifted to AB for activities.

Need a PASS? Start off the fall season with an ABSAF pass for your family!

ABSAF is a non-profit organization that supports our students in all of the extracurricular activities they participate in. ABSAF contributions support athletic teams (Junior High to Varsity), academic teams (Math Team, Science Team, Speech and Debate Team, and Academic Decathlon Team), performing arts groups (Band, Chorus, and Theater), and community service at ABRHS and RJ Grey.

Donations are accepted throughout the school year and any amount is appreciated. Many families also benefit from the tremendous value of the ABSAF Pass. With a donation of $175 or more, you and your immediate family will receive an ABSAF Pass.

When purchasing the $175 ABSAF Pass you receive the following BENEFITS:

Admission for all immediate family members to home high school regular season sporting events

Two complimentary tickets to a performance for each of the High School's Proscenium Circus' (PC) main stage productions and to the RJ Grey musical

Convenience for your family when attending AB events

To learn more about how to obtain an ABSAF pass and support extracurricular activities at the Junior High and High School, please visit www.absaf.net.

ABSAF Donations in 2020-2021:

$10,000 towards High School and Jr High Student Activities Stipends, Interscholastic Athletics, Performing Arts, and High School Proscenium Circus

Where can you purchase the ABSAF pass?:

VISIT www.ABSAF.net

On behalf of the AB student community, we thank you for your support!

Looking for a Mental Health Provider?

INTERFACE Referral Service is a mental health resource and referral Helpline that helps children, adults and families, in subscribing communities, become connected with mental health and wellness resources. Part of your ABRPTSO Membership Donation goes towards the funding of this service.

INTERFACE Referral Service looks forward to continuing to help residents of Acton & Boxborough find a successful match with an outpatient mental health provider in their area, who is able to see them at a convenient time, takes their insurance or meets their fee requirement, as well as meets their clinical needs.

Please call the William James College INTERFACE Helpline at 617-332-3666 Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM, for resource information and/or provider referrals from a mental health professional. Please also review the very extensive website at interface.williamjames.edu for additional information about the service, as well as resources on mental health and wellness across the lifespan.

The Weekly Chatter is distributed each Sunday. If you have a submission you'd like to include in the Chatter, please email it to chatter@abrptso.org by noon on Friday. The Chatter was created solely for the purpose of communicating school-related events, groups and forums to parents and students.