Williams is hosting a series of six ” Walking Wednesdays.”

Walk to School with a Walking School Bus. Routes and Drivers:
Below are starting points and departure times for each “Walking School Bus,” lead by a Williams parent volunteer. Students are encouraged to join up with these groups as they pass your location.
# 1 John Sangiolo, will leave from upper Central St at 8:00, walking down Central to Williston and over to Williams.
# 2 Heidi Shepherd, from Lower Falls, leaves from the intersection of Pierrepont and Sherrin at 7:45, and will walk down Pierrepont Street and then to Grove.
# 3 Sandy Stoia, leaves from Evergreen St at 7:50, walking down Evergreen to Auburn St and then Woodland Road.
# 4 Jean Mixer will leave the intersection of Hawthorne and Aspen at 8:00 and walk down Hawthorne to the cut through to Lake St and then to Seminary Ave.
# 5 Anne Stephens, leaves from Bonmar Circle at 8:00 walking to Route 16 and proceeding to Williams via Woodland Road.
#6 ==>Trooper Seth Newman, of the Massachusetts State Police will lead a group from the corner of Comm Ave and Auburn Streets (the 1800 block of Comm Ave, near Parish of the Messiah) at 7:50, walking via Maple and Woodland. He’ll teach kids about walking safety along the way.
Walking at School
Walk with friends, walk in the morning when you get to school, walk with a friend at recess, or take the scenic route to your classroom.

Bus Heroes
Kids who ride the bus also help ease traffic congestion, save time in the morning commute, and help the planet. Walk to your bus stop, or at school in the morning or at recess.

Safe Routes to School, May 7 is Walk-to-School Day at Williams

This spring, Williams will join with 8 Newton elementary schools taking part in Safe Routes to School programs that promote walking to school. Safe Routes is a federally-funded program that is administered through the Executive Office of Transportation and managed by MassRides. (You can learn more by going to www.commute.com.) The Safe Routes program educates students, parents and community members on the value of walking, bicycling, carpooling, and taking public transit and the school bus for travel to and from school. The goals of the program are to:

• Promote walking, a healthy activity.
• Decrease traffic congestion and pollution.
• Increase safety around schools.

On May 7th, Walk to School Day, will be kicking off a series of six ” Walking Wednesdays”. Each Wednesday, students will be greeted as they arrive at school and can get a jelly bracelet (different color each week) for walking. Some kids take the bus to school, and they will be invited to take a walk around the field if they’d like to.

We need your help. We need parents who are willing to lead walking school busses to school, so that students can join a bus walking their route. If you’re willing to help organize or to lead a walking school bus, please send an email to president@williamspto.org.

Williams, Burr and Franklin will host a joint PTO meeting at Burr to answer questions about the override.

We hope to see many Williams families there!

Wednesday, March 26th
7:00 pm – Burr School
171 Pine Street, Auburndale

Burr, Franklin and Williams school communities are invited to a discussion with School Superintendent Jeff Young and School Committee members Jonathan Yeo, Kurt Kusiak and Marc Laredo. We will be discussing the override proposal and what it means for our city and our schools.

The meeting will be in the Cafetorium at Burr School – enter at the main entrance, go down the stairs directly ahead of you and the room is on the right.

All are welcome – hope to see you there!

7:00PM,
Mason-Rice Elementary School
149 Pleasant Street, Newton Centre

METCO IN MASSACHUSETTS: A SIGNIFICANT WORK IN PROGRESS -Susan Eaton will explore the history and founding purpose of METCO; discuss METCO’s evolution over the years; explore the benefits of the program for students from Boston and from the suburbs; present new research findings on the benefits of diverse learning environments; and examine Massachusetts’ efforts in a national context.

Susan Eaton is the Research Director at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law, and is the author several books, The Children in Room E4: American Education on Trial, The Other Boston Busing Story: What’s Won and Lost Across the Boundary Line, and co-author, with Gary Orfield, of Dismantling Desegregation: The Quiet Reversal of Brown v. Board of Education.

This presentation is sponsored by Newton PTO Council and Newton PTOs, with special thanks to Angier Human Differences Committee.

Lost and Found items will be on display at the school today. Any items not claims will be donated to charity.

Primary voting will take place in the Williams School gymnasium. Please allow extra time for pick-up and drop off due to potential traffic and parking congestion.

Grades 3 and 4 will learn about making good food choices through a health and wellness program.

Public Hearing on Override and Allocation Budgets
7:00 p.m.
Day Middle School

Superintendent Jeffrey Young will present the Proposed Allocation Budget (i.e., what the budget will look like if the override does not pass).

7:30 p.m.
Day Middle School

Grade 5 will attend a performance of Ringmasters during the school day.