January 4, 2026
Dear Parents/Guardians, Staff, and Students,
Happy New Year!! I hope you enjoyed the holiday vacation and I wish you all a healthy and happy 2026. Let’s try to keep those resolutions …
We are back with a busy week and 5 DAYS OF LEARNING! Let’s see what’s happening …
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: locke_middle_school
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written.” — Melody Beattie
SCHEDULE THIS WEEK
Monday – A Day — HW Club
Tuesday – B Day
Wednesday – C Day – HW Club, Wicked Wings PTO Restaurant Night
Thursday – D Day – HW Club, Wicked Wings PTO Restaurant Night
Friday – A Day
PTO RESTAURANT NIGHTS
The PTO is having a restaurant night fundraiser at Wicked Wings on Wednesday, January 7th and Thursday, January 8th this week. Please see the attached flyer for more information.
8th GRADE MATH PLACEMENT
7th-grade parents, guardians, and students,
Please see the attached letter regarding math placement for 8th grade at BMHS.
TRIMESTER 1 REPORT CARDS
Trimester 1 report cards have been published to the ASPEN portal. It appears under published reports on your Aspen homepage. Please return the report card envelope to indicate you have seen the report. For parent account login assistance or to re-set your password, please email: portalhelp@billericak12.com
STUDENT RECOGNITION
Congratulations to all students who achieved honor roll and high honor roll. We also recognized students in individual subjects with “Student of the Trimester” awards. Great job!
CHROMEBOOK INSURANCE
Parents and Guardians, please see the attached flyer outlining the benefit of Chromebook insurance. We are encouraging families to consider insurance based on the frequency that we see students with Chromebook damage.
LOCKE SCHOOL SITE COUNCIL
Our school council met on December 8th. Please see the minutes for the meeting. All related documents for the council can be found on our website.
HOMEWORK CLUB
HW club will continue throughout the year. It will meet in the library every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 1:45 – 2:45. (not on early release Wednesdays) Students do not need to sign up ahead of time for HW club. Students will report to the library immediately after school and sign in. They can attend as many days as the parents/teachers believes are necessary. Students will receive help with assignments, organization, preparing for assessments, and are expected to stay for the full hour. Parent pick-up at 2:45 is required.
RIDDLE/JOKE OF THE WEEK
This Week – 1. Why should you stand on just your left foot during the New Year’s Eve countdown? 2. What’s a cow’s favorite holiday?
Last week’s answers: 1. What’s an elf’s favorite kind of music? – Wrap Music! 2. Where do Santa’s reindeer stop for coffee? Star — Bucks!
MATH PROBLEM OF THE WEEK
New Year’s Resolution
Jean made a New Year’s resolution to exercise more. She decides to run for 30 minutes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. If Jean plans to run at an average speed of 6 mi/h, how many total miles will she run during the months of January and February 2026?
Last Week’s Answer: 1. 15 gallons 2. $3.60 per gallon
Send your answers to Mr. Garas – tgaras@billericak12.com – Show your work! You can win a Dunkin gift card and the highly coveted math certificate!! We will have prizes on Friday this week.
MESSAGE FROM OUR NURSE
One of the issues currently being addressed by the Health and Wellness Department, along with Billerica School Nurses, is chronic absence. Chronic absence — missing 10 percent or more of school days due to absence for any reason—excused, unexcused absences and suspensions—can translate into students having difficulty learning to read by the third-grade, achieving in middle school, and graduating from high school. This isn’t simply a matter of truancy or skipping school. In fact, many of these absences, especially among our youngest students, are excused. Often absences are tied to health problems, such as asthma, diabetes, and oral and mental health issues. Other barriers including lack of a nearby school bus, a safe route to school or food insecurity make it difficult to go to school every day. There will be a series of posts/links to help students and families surrounding the issue of chronic absence and the importance of regular school attendance over the next few weeks:
● 10 Facts About School Attendance
Up next is a link to a video highlighting the importance of regular school attendance from a parent point of view:
PTO CORNER
The PTO welcomes all families to the Locke. We will be meeting monthly to plan several events throughout the year.
LOCKE GEAR is for sale! Go to this link to purchase. A portion of the price goes to the PTO.
UPCOMING PTO EVENTS:
Wednesday, January 7th and Thursday, January 6th – Wicked Wings Restaurant Nights
Wednesday, January 21st – PTO Meeting 6:30 PM Library
Our PTO Facebook page is: “Billerica Locke PTO”. Click on the link below to take you there:
REMINDERS
CELL PHONE POLICY
Our cell phone policy is that all student phones/smart watches are to be kept in student lockers and turned off for the duration of the school day. If parents need to contact students, please contact the main office.
ABSENCES
If your child is going to be absent, please call 978-528-8650 to report the absence. You can leave a voicemail at this number which goes directly to our secretary. You may also email our secretaries, Ms. Brewster at nbrewster@billericak12.com and/or Ms. O’Brien at lobrien@billericak12.com
BUS ASSIGNMENTS
Students who ride the bus can only ride on their assigned bus in the morning and afternoon. Students are not allowed to ride different buses to be with friends after school.
The bus routes for the year are listed at this link.
If you have any questions regarding bus assignments, please contact our assistant principal: Phillip Peters: ppeters@billericak12.com — 978-528-8654
LUNCH/BREAKFAST
All breakfast and lunches are free to all students again this year. Students will be receiving a 4 digit pin code that they will need to use when they get breakfast or lunch. Breakfast will be served beginning on the first day. It will be “grab and go”. Students can grab a breakfast in the cafeteria when they come in and then report to homeroom. They can eat breakfast in homeroom. Students are not allowed to bring in breakfast/drinks from Dunkin, Starbucks, etc.
FROM THE COMMUNITY
Scholarship Foundation Trivia Night – See attached Flyer
UPCOMING DATES
All Dates are also on our master calendar on the Locke website.
· Monday, January 5th – Return to School
· Monday, January 12th – School Site Council 5:00 PM Library
· Monday, January 19th – MLK Day, No School
· Wednesday, January 21st – PTO Meeting 6:30 PM Library
· Friday, January 23rd – Day 90, Quarter 2 Ends
· Monday, January 26th – Day 91, Quarter 3 Unified Arts classes start
· Wednesday, February 4th – Early Release 11:40 Dismissal
· Monday, February 9th – School Site Council, 5:00 PM Library
· February 9th through 13th – Spirit Week
· Wednesday, February 11th – PTO Meeting, 6:30 PM Library
· February 16th through 20th – Winter Break, No School
· Monday, February 23rd – Return to School
If you have any questions, please contact me at tgaras@billericak12.com or call at 978-528-8655. Have a great week!!
Warmest regards,
Tony Garas, Principal