We know that the Thursday ice cream service during lunches is popular for many of our students. Here is the schedule for October:

There WILL be ice cream service on 10/30

There will NOT be ice cream service on 10/23

Parent-Teacher Conferences are scheduled for the week of October 20th and the overall conference hours for JCS are:

Wednesday, 10/22 after school, from 3:45pm to 5:15pm

Thursday, 10/23, 1:15pm to 8:30pm

Teachers sent out links via ParentSquare to allow families to schedule conference slots across the hours available. We certainly encourage parents and caregivers to meet with their child’s teacher in-person, however teachers will be flexible and offer a virtual conference when needed.

If families were not able to successfully schedule a conference or get the ParentSquare link from your child’s teacher to work, please let us know.

The Solmonese Parent Organization (SPO) is planning to host a Scholastic Book Fair Tuesday, October 21st through Thursday, October 23rd. Families can visit the Book Fair on Wednesday, 10/22 from 3:45pm to 5:15pm and Thursday, 10/23 from 1:15pm to 8:30pm.

Please see the linked flyer for all of the details AND to setup your e-wallet,

We are planning to continue the JCS tradition of inviting students to bring a costume to wear to school to celebrate Halloween on Friday, October 31st. We understand that not all families celebrate or recognize Halloween and bringing a costume to school is completely voluntary and optional. Each grade level from PreK to 3rd grade will decide exactly during which part of the school day they will wear costumes, so be on the lookout for an email from your child’s teacher/grade level team with more information.

Here are the traditional guidelines that all grade levels will follow in terms of student costumes:

Tuesday, November 11th is Veterans Day and we are looking to celebrate together as a school community. We are planning to have a short ceremony on Monday morning, November 10th at 9:30 AM shortly after student arrival. If the weather is clear, we will gather outside the front of the school near our flag pole to say the pledge of allegiance together and engage in a moment of silence. We’re also working to see if Norton student musicians will be able to join us for the playing of “Taps”. If it is raining, we will gather together in the gym.

We would like to invite any JCS parents who are veterans to join us on Monday morning, November 10th for this quick school celebration so that we can acknowledge and honor you as part of our ceremony. My own father was an Army veteran of the Vietnam War who received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star and I understand how important it is for all of us to thank and honor our veterans all throughout the year, especially on Veterans Day.

If you as a parent would be interested in joining us, please let Mr. Barrette know by sending me a quick email at pbarrette@norton.k12.ma.us. We would love to have JCS veterans join us on this special morning.

An update on the results of the donations that the JCS community raised to support seas turtles last year.

We ended up donating:

The annual Desfosses/Petersen Memorial Food Drive is accepting donations from 10/15 to 10/31. A donation bin is located in the JCS main lobby and every donation of non-perishable food helps. The Food Pantry itself is scheduled to be held on Saturday, November 1st from 9:00am to 12:30pm at the Norton Senior Center. See the linked flyer for details,

Norton families can apply for fuel assistance this winter through the Norton Senior Center. Please see the two flyers linked below for more information:

​View and subscribe to the JCS Public Events Calendar at https://bit.ly/jcspubliceventscalendar. Click on the "Add to Google Calendar" button in the lower right corner to subscribe to the calendar using your own calendar app. Events from the JCS Public Events Calendar also appear on the JCS website.

First Combined Elementary School Council Meeting, Tuesday October 21st at 6pm

SPO Scholastic Book Fair, Tuesday, October 21st through Thursday, October 23rd

Early Release, Teacher Conferences, Thursday October 23rd

Early Release Day, Wednesday October 29th