Welcome Back to School – from Principal Vargas

February 3, 2024

Hello Peirce families, 

It gives me great pleasure to share this letter with you from all NPS Elementary Principals welcoming the return to school on Monday, February 5th. Please note that teachers have decided to wear their Peirce spirit gear on Monday. We invite your children to wear their Peirce shirts or our school color– green– to celebrate our community coming back together. 

Best, 

Andrea Vargas

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Dear Elementary NPS Parents and Guardians,

As we return from the recent strike, we want to reassure you that, above all, we all care deeply about our students and our families. We are all excited to see you on Monday, February 5! 

Please note we have a one hour delay on Monday, February 5th with school beginning at 9:10 am. This means that all buses will be at their dedicated locations one hour after they typically arrive. For those students who receive breakfast at school, it will be available starting at 9:10am. Dismissal times will remain the same.

We want to acknowledge the difficulties students and families may have experienced during this period. We understand that families have had a range of experiences and emotions. Our work going forward is to reestablish trust, connection, and community.

In preparing to welcome our students back, our school teams are ready to focus on teaching, learning, and meeting the needs of our students. At the elementary level, reestablishing classroom community, returning to classroom routines and schedules, and grade-level learning are our top priorities. While we will provide space as needed to acknowledge this experience, our focus in our classrooms will be returning to academic learning.  

We know that students may have questions and feelings about this experience, and we are prepared to support them. Staff will communicate the following to their students:

  • We missed students, we are happy to be back at school together, and we are excited to return to learning together.
  • As students bring up/ask about the strike, the following will be shared:
    • The strike was about a contract disagreement between the Newton Teachers Association and the School Committee about how we keep our schools wonderful places for kids to learn. They used the time during the strike to come to an agreement. 
    • Staff will refrain from sharing specifics about the strike.
  • We will provide support if any students appear to need more time to talk about the strike and/or its impact, or are having a harder time transitioning back to school. 

Details regarding school-specific rescheduling of events, progress reports, other meetings and calendar events will be shared soon.

As always, we are here to support all of our students and families. 

Sincerely,

Your Newton Public Schools Elementary Principals