LIFE AT THE LOCKE … Issue #16 2024-2025
December 15, 2024
HOLIDAY EDITION!!
Dear Parents/Guardians, Staff, and Students,
I wish you all a happy, healthy holiday season and a happy new year. We have had another great year at the Locke. The Locke Middle School community is truly something special, and it's because of the invaluable contributions of our dedicated staff, supportive families, and amazing students. We look forward to 2025 with a renewed sense of hope, purpose, and determination. The Locke certainly has incredible days of learning planned for the coming months. Until then, enjoy your vacation and I hope you get some time to rest and recharge. The newsletter will be taking a week off and we will publish again on January 1st. See you in 2025!!
4 ½ DAYS OF LEARNING remain in 2024! Let’s see what’s happening …
FOLLOW US ON X @LockeMiddle and INSTAGRAM: locke_middle_school
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. – Melody Beattie
SCHEDULE THIS WEEK
Monday – A Day – HW Club, Book Fair All Week
Tuesday – B Day Orchestra Concert Period 6, Auditorium
Wednesday – C Day – HW Club, PTO Meeting 6:30 PM
Thursday – D Day – 7th Grade Field Trip, HW Club
Friday – A Day – Half-Day Schedule 10:40 Dismissal (depending on buses)
HALF-DAY – FRIDAY, 12/20
Students will be dismissed at approximately 10:40 (depending on buses) on Friday, 12/20. For the safety of all students, we will wait to dismiss until all buses have arrived.
PTO MEETING THIS WEEK
Our next PTO meeting will be Wednesday, December 18th at 6:30 PM in the Locke library.
TRIMESTER 1 REPORT CARDS
Trimester 1 report cards have been published to the ASPEN portal. It appears under published reports on your Aspen homepage. Please return the report card envelope to indicate you have seen the report. For parent account login assistance or to reset your password, please email: portalhelp@
HOLIDAY CONCERT SEASON
Congratulations to our talented band, chorus, and orchestra students for their great holiday performances last week. Bravo!!
STUDENT RECOGNITION
Congratulations to all students who achieved honor roll and high honor roll. We also recognized students in individual subjects with “Student of the Trimester” awards. Great job!
BOOK FAIR INFORMATION
The book will be held this week: December 16th – 20th. You can set up an e-wallet for your child at the following link:
LOCKER CLEAN OUT/LOST AND FOUND
We will be cleaning out lockers this week and the lost and found. Students, please check the lost and found. We have assorted sweatshirts, jackets, and water bottles that need a home. Any items not claimed by the end of the week will be donated.
MIDDLE SCHOOL HANDBOOK UPDATE
We want to inform you that our district's handbooks have been updated. While there are no changes to our day-to-day operations, we have revised the language to ensure it aligns with current state and federal regulations. These updates were approved by the School Committee on December 10th, and the most up-to-date version is now in effect. You can view the revised handbook at the link below. Please take a moment to review it, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
MIDDLE SCHOOL SPRING SPORTS
From Mr. Magliozzi – Athletic Director
Hello Families, As we began the start of the 24-25 school year, we have been working on ways to bring back Girls' volleyball and track and field to our middle schools this spring. To make these two sports available, we have had to increase the fee to participate and adjust the operational structure for volleyball. Below is a description of the changes.
Volleyball Structure:
The goal is to have an intramural program within each middle school as well as have a few matches between the two schools. Overall, this will allow for more students to participate, learn, and receive volleyball- specific training while maximizing the after-school hours for involvement. The students will play games within their own school and will have additional matches with the Marshall in order to provide more competition.
Track and Field:
The team will continue to compete in the Middlesex League as it has in previous years.
Fee:
For the spring of 2025, the fee will be $140.00 to participate.
Transportation:
After-school busing will not be available, therefore families will have to arrange transportation after the practices and games. Transportation will be provided for the away meets for track and field as we have done in the past.
As we plan for the spring season, we are asking for your input based on this information. In order to assess the interest level for each sport, please complete the Google survey to help us work towards reinstating the sports.
Google Link: SPRING SPORTS SURVEY
LOCKE MONSTERS ROBOTICS UPDATE
The Locke Monsters Robotics team competed in their first event of the 2024 - 2025 season on Saturday, December 14th at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School. This competition consisted of both high school and middle school teams, many of which had already attended at least one competition already this season. We have four returning 7th graders on our team and seven members, a combination of 6th and 7th graders, who are new to our team this year. The students are working in three separate teams, each with their own robot. VEX Robotics is a student-centered program where the students are responsible for designing, building, coding, and driving their robots. In yesterday’s event, each team participated in 7 qualification rounds, skills rounds, and were also interviewed by judges who asked them a variety of questions about their robot.
Congratulations to Srihaas Mynampati, Ethan Beach, and Arius Wirsch of Team 8025B who ended up in 4th place out of 43 teams at the end of the day. They chose team 8025A (Nikhil Gandhi, Colin Baldwin, Avery Gagne, and Tyler Hardy) to be their alliance partner in the elimination rounds. Their alliance made it through the round of 16, but was defeated in the final seconds of the quarterfinal round.
Team 8025C (Cassie Berube, Megan Hogan, Sophia Amato, and Michael Beach) worked diligently through numerous challenges over the course of the day and have already started planning improvements to their robot for the next competition.
Mr. DeBenedetto and Mrs. Tolleson are extremely proud of the perseverance these students demonstrated over the course of a 10 hour competition day, in addition to more than two hours of commuting time. We would like to thank Mr. John Berube and Mr. Jim O’Connor who have been serving as mentors to our students throughout the season. We would also like to thank Locke Monsters Alumni Eli Baldwin for coming to our after-school sessions to help with a wide variety of tasks. Our next competition is scheduled for Sunday, January 12, 2025 at Walsh Middle School in Framingham, MA.
HOMEWORK CLUB
HW Club will continue throughout the year. It will meet in the library every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 1:45 – 2:45. Students do not need to sign up ahead of time for HW club. Students will report to the library immediately after school and sign-in. Students can attend as many days as the parent/student believes are necessary. Students are expected to stay for the full hour. Parent pick-up at 2:45 is required.
LOCKE SCHOOL SITE COUNCIL
Our school council met on December 2nd. Please see the minutes for the meeting. All related documents for the council can be found on our website.
PTO GIFT CARD FUNDRAISING PROGRAM
The Locke Gift Card Program through RaiseRight (formerly Scrip) is up and running! Order gift cards from hundreds of vendors and earn cash for the Locke! To get started, go to RaiseRight.com, select to join a program, and when prompted enter the Locke registration code: 2CL88E7B61823.
Some retailers offer physical cards and e-gift cards, so you can choose your amount and delivery method. Additionally, you can choose whether your physical cards will be sent to the Locke and home with your student, or if they are eligible for direct ship, you can choose to have the cards shipped to your home. Customers can opt for a variety of payment methods, including to pay by check. However, anyone who chooses this method needs to bring their check to the school and it must be deposited and clear the bank before your order will be pushed through for processing. For anyone opting for shipment to the school, orders placed and paid for by 10:00 on Mondays will be processed with the week’s order. Once received at the school, it will be sorted and sent home with your student.
Please be sure to email the Locke PTO at BillericaLockeMiddlePTO@
BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION
Our school is participating in Box Tops for Education, which means that you can earn cash with the products you already buy that can be used for our students! Here’s how you can help:
1. Download the Box Tops app on your phone and follow instructions on how to set up an account and sign up to support our school. Use referral code TD580QUF to earn bonus box tops which means extra money for our school!
2. Shop as you normally would. There are hundreds of participating products that help our school earn money! Look for the Box Tops logo on product packages and download a full list of participating products at BTFE.com/products.
3. Use the app to snap a photo of your receipt or submit digitally within 14 days of purchase. The app will identify any Box Tops participating products and credit them to our school. You can also connect your Box Tops and Walmart accounts. Once your accounts are connected, your school will get credit for any Box Tops products you buy at Walmart when you pay with the saved payment method in your Walmart wallet.
4. Twice a year, our school will get a check! Help us give students what they need to succeed. Let’s see how much we can earn!
SEE THE ATTACHED FLYER FOR MORE INFORMATION
PTO CORNER
The PTO welcomes all families to the Locke. We will be meeting monthly to plan several events throughout the year. We are always looking for volunteers to help plan great programs that will benefit our students. Please see the minutes from our last meeting. Our future meeting dates have been set. Please see the attached list. Our next meeting is Wednesday, December 18th at 6:30 PM in the Locke Library.
Our board members are:
Andrea Toomey -- President
Amit Gandhi -- Vice-President
Jacqui Chaffins -- Treasurer
Katie Malone – Secretary
We also have a new Facebook page – “Billerica Locke PTO”. Click on the link below to take you there:
https://www.facebook.com/
LOCKE GEAR FOR SALE
The PTO is now selling Locke gear. Please see the attached flyer with the link to the store.
MATH PROBLEM OF THE WEEK #12
Holiday Dessert (My favorite)
Vanessa bought some round holiday dessert plates to give as a gift to her friend. However, the store only had 5 of the 8 plates she wanted. (All of the plates are the same.) The stack of five plates measured 1.5 inches tall, and when two plates were removed from the stack the remaining stack of three plates had a height of 1 inch.
1. When Vanessa finally has all 8 of the plates she wants, how tall will the stack of 8 plates be, in inches? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest hundredth.
2. What is the height of just one of these plates, in inches? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest tenth.
Last Week’s Answer: 16 people Send your answers to Mr. Garas – tgaras@billericak12.com – Show your work! You can win a Dunkin gift card and the highly coveted math certificate!!
RIDDLE/JOKE OF THE WEEK
This week – 1. What did Santa Claus say to the angry Christmas tree? 2. Where do reindeer get their coffee?
Bonus Holiday Riddle -- Two elves play five games of hockey. Each elf wins the same number of times. There are no ties. Explain how.
Last week’s Answers -- 1. When the gingerbread man broke his leg, what did the doctor tell him to do? Put some icing on it 2. Why didn’t the computer programmer have any gingerbread? – Because he deleted his cookies
REMINDERS
SCHOOL TIMES
School starts promptly at 7:30. Students should be in their homeroom at 7:30. The car drop-off time for students is 7:10 -- 7:25. Students will be allowed to enter the building at 7:10. From 7:10 – 7:20, students that enter the building will be supervised in the cafeteria. Students will not be allowed in before 7:10 AM.
CAR DROP-OFF
Student car drop-off will be in the lower lot beginning at 7:10. STUDENTS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO EXIT CARS UNTIL 7:10. Parents are to enter VIA URBAN ST (off Baldwin Road), drop students off at the sidewalk, make a U-turn, and exit via Urban Street.
Parents, please do not enter from Allen Road in the morning. The Allen Road entrance is only for school buses.
DISMISSAL
Walkers and pick-ups are dismissed at 1:50 after the buses depart.
TRAFFIC PATTERN FOR DISMISSAL
Parents enter via Urban Street and line up in lower circle. After the buses leave, parents are to pull around circle in a SINGLE file line to pick up children. The pick-up zone is between the two crosswalks. This is the only place we would like children picked up. We do not want children stepping in front of cars to be picked up. Please keep the line single file.
PLEASE DO NOT PICK UP STUDENTS IN THE LOWER LOT.
ABSENCES
If your child is going to be absent, please call 978-528-8650 to report the absence. You can leave a voicemail at this number which goes directly to our secretary. You may also email our secretaries, Ms. Brewster at nbrewster@billericak12.com and Lucy O’Brien at lobrien@billericak12.com
CELL PHONE POLICY
Our cell phone policy is that all student phones/smart watches are to be kept in student lockers and turned off for the duration of the school day. If parents need to contact students, please contact the main office.
CHROMEBOOKS AND GOOGLE CLASSROOMS
Students are required to bring their school-issued Chromebooks to school every day beginning on the 1st day of school. Students should charge their Chromebooks overnight. All teachers will be setting up a Google classroom for their students where assignments will be posted and where assignments can be turned in electronically. If your child does not have a Chromebook, please contact the main office at 978-528-8650. Fifth-grade students who did not pick up a Chromebook will be sent home with the paperwork for parents to sign. Please return it with your child and we will issue them a Chromebook.
BUS ASSIGNMENTS
Students who ride the bus can only ride on their assigned bus in the morning and afternoon. Students are not allowed to ride different buses to be with friends after school.
The bus routes for the year are listed at this link.
If you have any questions regarding bus assignments, please contact our assistant principal: Phillip Peters: ppeters@billericak12.com -- 978-528-8654
MEDICAL INFORMATION
Our school nurse is Janice Roberts – jroberts@billericak12.com
- Students may drop off EpiPens, inhalers, and any over the counter medications.
- A parent or guardian must drop off any prescription medications.
- All medications need to be accompanied by a medication order from the student's physician and with either an Anaphylaxis Action Plan or Asthma Action Plan as applicable
- If families need copies of these forms they can be found on the Billerica Public Schools website: https://www.
billericak12.com/departments/ health-services-wellness/ school-nursing
Also, as a reminder:
ALL 7th GRADE STUDENTS must submit proof of TDaP (tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis) and MCV4 (meningitis) vaccines, as well as an UPDATED physical exam, by 9/30/24
LUNCH/BREAKFAST
All breakfast and lunches are free to all students again this year. Students will be receiving a 4 digit pin code that they will need to use when they get breakfast or lunch. Breakfast will be served every day and it will be “grab and go”. Students can grab a breakfast in the cafeteria when they come in and then report to homeroom. They can eat breakfast in homeroom.
UPCOMING DATES
- December 16th through 20th – Book Fair
- Wednesday, December 18th – PTO Meeting 6:30 PM Library
- Thursday, December 19th – 7th Grade Field Trip
- Friday, December 20th – Half Day 10:40 Dismissal
- December 23rd through January 1st – Holiday Recess
- Thursday, January 2nd – Return to School
- Monday, January 6th – School Site Council 5:00 PM Library
- Wednesday, January 8th – PTO Meeting 6:30 PM Library
- Monday, January 20th – No School MLK Day
- Monday, January 27th – Day 90 End of Quarter 2
- Tuesday, January 28th – 1st day of quarter 3 Unified Arts classes
If you have any questions, please contact me at tgaras@billericak12.com or call at 978-528-8655 Have a great week!!
Warmest regards,
Tony Garas, Principal