Dear Students, Parents and Community Members:

As we open a new school year, my last as an educator of more than forty years, the excitement and anticipation remain the same. We have spent the summer getting ready for your children and cannot wait to have the halls and classrooms filled with laughter and learning! 

I am delighted to be spending the year in transition with our new Deputy Superintendent, Dr. Elizabeth Hallett.  Beth, is a talented and experienced educator who comes to us after sixteen years in the Quincy Public Schools, where she served as a high school science teacher, department chair and the ESL Administrator.  Most recently she served as the Director of Secondary Education. She received her BA in Italian Studies and Environmental Science from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and her Master’s in Teaching English as a Second Language from Simmons University.  Dr. Hallett recently received her doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of New England.  She has also been an adjunct professor at Simmons and Cambridge College, teaching graduate level courses in Sheltered English Instruction (SEI).

We have been busy working on both the inside and outside of our schools this summer.  Landscaping, fields and playgrounds have been improved; classroom and hallway floors resurfaced; and new safety and security features added.  More importantly, new staff have been hired to replace those who have departed or retired, and we are very excited with this new group who joins our dedicated faculty.  All of this has occurred while a full slate of summer school and summer camps have been going on.  School no longer stops in June!

As we prepare, we hope that you and your child(ren) are doing the same.  Parents often ask me how they can best support their children as they grow and learn.  I usually answer by suggesting that they take the steps necessary to make sure their children develop socially and emotionally.  If you address proper nutrition, adequate sleep and daily school attendance, we can do our part helping your child acquire the academic skills they will need to be successful in school and beyond.  School and home must be a partnership.  There are hundreds of ways to make a difference in your child’s education – come into our schools and find out what we are doing and what you can do to help!

This Refrigerator Calendar is filled with important dates throughout the year and we hope it will provide valuable information about our schools.  We hope that you will post it in a prominent place in your home and refer to it often so you can stay involved in your child’s education.  The 2019-2020 calendar is also posted on our district website at www.npsk.org.  The website is a great source for even more information about each of our district’s schools and all of our programs.  Inevitably, there will be changes to the calendar, including some deletions and far more additions, so check the calendar on the website as we update it regularly.

The beginning of each school year is an exciting time for your children, our staff and the administration – we still get butterflies in our stomachs as we anticipate the first day.  We look forward to the hallways, classrooms and playing fields filled with the sound of happy and engaged students!

Respectfully,

W. Michael Cozort
Superintendent
cozortm@nps.k12.ma.us

Please click the photo above for achievements by Nantucket students.