Whom should I contact if I have a question or concern?
Your child’s home base teacher is usually the best point of contact for any questions or concerns relating to your child. Team teachers meet together on a regular basis, so discussing an issue with the home base teacher is the easiest way to reach out to all of your child’s teachers. If it is a particular class you are concerned with, it is best to contact the subject teacher directly.
Your child’s guidance counselor is another point person for questions or concerns you may have about your child’s academic performance or social well-being. Guidance counselors’ responsibilities include supporting a student’s emotional needs (i.e. friendships, etc.) writing and implementing 504 plans, contacting teachers, and advocating for students to outside agencies.
How do I reach my child during the day?
If you need to get in touch with your child during school hours, please call the school office, 617-559-6900.
Who do I call if my child is going to be absent or tardy?
Please use the Absentee Call-In line, 617-559-6980, to report an absence or late arrival. Please do not call the main office line. Absences and late arrivals must be called in at the beginning of the school day.
What is the Aspen Parent Portal?
Aspen is an online student information management system used by the Newton Public Schools. Aspen’s Family/Student Portal is a secure website that allows you to view your child’s school attendance, term grades, and update family emergency contact information. Families of Newton Public Schools students are provided a username and password to the Aspen Family Portal. Login information is emailed to families at the start of the school year. If you do not know your login, please email aspen@newton.k12.ma.us with your name, your child’s name, and their school.. Schedules, team assignments, home base rooms, and progress reports are all posted on Aspen. Click here to log into Aspen. More information on Aspen is available on the NPS website.
I’ve given the school my contact information. Why does the PTO need it too?
Any contact information that you provide to the school is confidential and cannot be shared with the PTO.
The Brown PTO collects student contact information for its mailing list and the school directory. This information is not shared or used for anything outside of the school community.
By giving my email address to the school and PTO, will I get bombarded with emails?
Both the school and the PTO use email to send important and timely notices and announcements. We try to keep the communications to a minimum. Start-of-school and end-of-year tend to be when you will see the most communications.
On the first Friday of every month, Principal Lysaght sends out her First Friday Letter with an overview of the month ahead. The PTO emails the Brown Bear Report newsletter every week with notices about school activities and happenings. Announcements are also sent out in as needed about special events, team sports, concerts, etc. Announcements that are specific to a grade or activity group are only sent to the parents/guardians of those grades or groups.
The Brown PTO also distributes a weekly Community Notes newsletter containing community announcements relevant to the families of Middle Schoolers. If you prefer not to receive that newsletter, please click here to update your mailing group preferences. Do not “unsubscribe” from the PTO list or you will no longer receive any notices from the PTO.
What are Daily Announcements?
Every day at Brown, timely information about events and activities is shared with the students over the School Office PA system. Most of these announcements are then posted on the school website. If you want to keep up-to-date, it’s worth checking in on a regular basis, just in case your student forgot to share the information…
Click here to see the Brown School Daily Announcements.
How do I get a School Directory?
The Brown PTO School Directory is published online using a secure website. Access to the online directory is granted at the beginning of the school year to the parents and guardians of registered students who have used a secure link to confirm their data.
For more information about the Brown PTO directory and to create an account, please click here.
Should my child have a cell phone?
Many students need cell phones to connect with parents and/or rides after school so it is your decision. Cell phone use is not permitted during school hours and needs to be shut off and kept in the student’s locker. If you need to get in touch with your child during school hours, please call the school office.