TBMS Weekly Newsletter - Issue 26-27.6

Dear Bromfield Middle School Families, 

Thank you to all who attended last week’s TBMS Curriculum Night. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and to meet folks I did not already know. Special thanks to the Bromfield Strings Ensemble and their dedicated leader, Profe Burokas. For those who were not in attendance, here is the slideshow from the opening presentation that Julie and I shared.

As we near the end of the first month of school, we now have actionable data regarding where students are in their learning - both academically and socially-emotionally. In response to these data, we are beginning to implement interventions to support identified student needs.

If your child is identified as someone who would benefit from additional support, a teacher will reach out to let you know the basic plan. No response is required, but you are always welcome to ask questions about the supports being provided.

I have heard that there are some questions about SmartPass, so I want to clarify its function in our school. SmartPass is a digital hall-pass platform used by schools across the country. Like other technology vendors we use, SmartPass has signed the district’s Student Data Privacy Agreement, which establishes requirements for the protection and appropriate use of student information.

There is certainly nothing new about having students sign out when they leave the classroom for the bathroom, nurse, counseling office, or another location. Schools need to be able to account for students during the school day. Rather than signing out on paper and carrying physical passes, we now use SmartPass, which provides students with a virtual pass and gives staff an easier way to know when students have left class and where they are headed.

I have also heard some concern that the school is tracking how long individual students spend in the bathroom. That is not how we are using SmartPass. What the system does allow us to do, much more easily than paper passes did, is identify patterns of missed instructional time. For example, we may notice that a student is regularly leaving during a particular subject or at a particular time of day. Recognizing those patterns allows us to partner with students and caregivers to understand what may be happening and help students remain engaged in class - ultimately supporting both learning and student well-being.

Certainly, an electronic pass system makes information about students’ movement during the school day more readily accessible to appropriate staff. As with the other student information entrusted to schools - including attendance, health information, academic records, discipline records, and demographic information - we have both a legal and moral responsibility to safeguard that information. Families trust us with sensitive student data, and we take that responsibility very seriously.

If you have continued questions about SmartPass or how we use it at TBMS, I encourage you to reach out to me directly.

Speaking of important student information, if you have not had the chance to update your student(s) Health Information Update for the 2026/2027 school year please do as soon as possible. This form must be updated every year. Please double check you've done it for all your students and that records are up-to-date.

Directions:

Here is a guide with these steps: Submitting Forms via Parent Portal

For new accounts please reference this guide:  New Parent/Guardian PowerSchool Account Guide. During the account creation process you can link to your student at the same time.

To link another student to your account please see this guide: Add Student to Account Guide

If you have any questions, or need further assistance, please email Chris Boyle at cboyle@psharvard.org

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Bromfield Middle School Principal

Upcoming Events:

Upcoming Celebrations & Observances:

If you have an announcement, event, reminder, or other information you would like included in the newsletter, please email your request to mscarborough@psharvard.org. We’d love to help share your news with The Bromfield Middle School community!

In Ancient Civilizations, students are learning how to use GRAPES—Geography, Religion, Achievements, Politics, Economics, and Social Structure—to organize their thinking and better understand how ancient civilizations developed and functioned. By examining these six areas, students are beginning to recognize the connections between a civilization’s environment, beliefs, government, economy, accomplishments, and daily life. GRAPES will serve as a framework that students can use throughout the year as they explore different ancient civilizations. Coming up, students will begin an exciting research project called “Everything Has a History.” For this project, students will choose a topic that interests them, research its history and development, and explore how it has changed over time. Students will then use their research to create a presentation that teaches their classmates about the history of their chosen topic. The goal is to help students see that history is not just about ancient people and places—it is all around us.

Students in Math 7 have been learning about Proportional Relationships and finding the constant of proportionality (k) from a table, equation, and graph.  They learned about complex unit rates and how to convert unit rates when necessary to solve a problem.  They are finishing up their Food Truck Projects: Part 1, which requires them to design a food truck and a menu of their choosing. The food trucks will be used as a theme for projects throughout the year.  Every week the students are also assigned a Skill Drill to review math skills.  The front focuses on topics from previous grades and units, and the back focuses on our current unit. 

In Flex, students continued their community rotations learning about The Bromfield Middle School.  The remaining activities included having small group discussions with community helpers to learn about their roles and responsibilities. This included Officer Fawne Russell from the police department; Dana Labb, Molly Superchi, Michelle DellaValle, Mandy Ostaszewski and Karen Shuttle from the administration offices; Kim Faulconer and Madison Price from the Counseling offices; Kim Murphy, Dan Hudder, and Julie Horton our principals; and Gerin Murphy, Jennifer Meegan, and Samantha Barrett from the Special Education Department.  We thank them for giving up time from their busy schedules to meet with our students. The students also had a rotation where they learned about email etiquette and wrote emails back to our community helpers about what they learned about them and thanked them for their time.

Grade 8 students have kicked off the year off in Civics with incredible curiosity and  engagement. They began by designing personal “flags” as a fun icebreaker before diving into the core values of civic engagement and civil discourse with a focus on how students can put these ideas into practice every day at school and at home. Now, students are launching our first major unit on the foundations of the United States political system.  Students recently explored the major forms of government (and had a blast creating “gummy bear” models to illustrate them!). We’ve also been examining the influence of ancient Athenian and Roman democracies, keeping a critical eye on their limitations and how far governments had to evolve toward true equality and inclusion. Next up, we’ll dive into the ideas of Enlightenment thinkers and explore the major impact of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy on early American democracy.

During our flex blocks this week, students are continuing to balance academic support with social-emotional learning (SEL). After working through a few early-year routines, the 8th graders have done a fantastic job taking full advantage of this time. They’ve been focused, productive, and proactive about checking in with teachers for extra support. On Tuesday, students tackled a math extension on simplifying expressions and looking ahead to Friday, we’ll be focusing on the crucial middle school skill of personal organization through a hands-on lesson designed to help them manage their time and materials effectively.

It's been a pleasure to welcome returning students back to the gym and to greet our new 6th graders with active tag games, along with our first net sport of the year, Nitroball. Students have been building cardiovascular endurance through warm-up games of tag and capture the flag, meeting one of the major goals of our middle school PE curriculum by having as many class members moving at the same time for as long as possible.

In Nitroball, we've utilized our town tennis courts to learn aspects of volleyball striking, as well as rules shared by similar net sports like tennis, volleyball, and badminton. Next week, we will begin using our personal heart rate monitors during class as we transition into an Ultimate Games unit (frisbee, touch rugby, and team handball).

Looking forward to another great year of physical activity and fun!

The PTO is overseeing an election to fill 2 open Parent / Caregiver Representative positions on The Bromfield Middle School Council beginning this school year. The openings are for up to 3-year terms, provided you have a child at TBMS. The school council, which functions at the mandate of the state Department of Education, is a representative, school-building-based committee, composed of teachers, parents, and community members and is co-chaired by the school principal and a parent representative. The council meets monthly and its purpose is to assist the principal in carrying out specific responsibilities. Learn more HERE.

Eligible candidates will have a student at TBMS during the 2026-2027 school year. Please be advised that if your student leaves TBMS during your 3-year term then a new representative will be elected for the remainder of the term.

Below are the dates of the meetings. They will take place from 2:50-3:50pm in Mr. Hudder's office.

In order to be considered as a candidate please send a personal statement about yourself and your interest in the position to info@harvardpto.org by Friday, October 2nd with the subject "TBMS School Council". Statements should be no more than 225 words and will be used as ballot statements in the election which will be held (if needed) in October.

Please consider giving back to the school community by running for this important position!

The PTO is a membership-based volunteer organization for HES and TBS. Our primary goals are to raise money to support the student experience, and create programs in support of our teachers, staff, and community, such as Teacher and Staff Appreciation. With the help of critical annual membership donations, we fund over $25K of teacher and staff-requested grants each school year, for stuff like $1K towards field trips for each grade, library books, scholarships, and much more.  Please consider joining or renewing your membership today!

The PTO supports the whole Harvard Public School community. Even when your children transition to TBMS and TBS, the PTO is still hard at work supporting them! From academic enrichment and classroom resources to student programs and special events, PTO-funded grants make a real impact at every grade level. We invite all school community members to be part of this work. Curious how PTO funds are used? Check out recently funded grants here. Ready to make a difference today? Join the PTO and help continue these valuable programs by becoming a member here. Want to get involved, or have questions? Email info@harvardpto.org,