February 8, 2026
Dear Parents/Guardians, Staff, and Students,
Happy Super Bowl Sunday! I hope you are someplace warm and getting ready for the big game. We have one more week until winter break and we have a busy 5 DAYS OF LEARNING ahead this week! Let’s see what’s happening …
We will not publish the newsletter next week. Have a great vacation and
GO PATS!!
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: locke_middle_school
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes the fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”– Rosa Parks, civil rights activist.
SCHEDULE THIS WEEK – SPIRIT WEEK!!
Monday – A Day – HW Club, Activities, School Council Meeting 5:00 PM
Tuesday – B Day — Trinket Sales
Wednesday – C Day – HW Club, Activities, Trinket Sales, PTO Meeting 6:30 PM
Thursday – D Day – HW Club, Activities
Friday – A Day – Student/Staff Basketball Game
SPIRIT WEEK IS HERE!!
Spirit week will be this week February 9th – 13th. Please see the attached themes for the week.
PENNY WARS ARE COMPLETE
The penny wars have ended. We will have the results and the victors soon!
HOOPS FOR HEART FUNDRAISER
We are collecting donations for the American Heart Association as part of our Hoops for Heart Tournament in PE classes. Students received a flyer this week and can register on-line at this link. Thank you for your donations.
TRINKET SALES
Valentine’s Day trinkets will be sold on Tuesday and Wednesday during lunch. The cost is generally $1 or $2 each. The PTO is looking for a few volunteers — please visit the link below to sign up. Thank you for helping the PTO in its mission to provide programming and events for our school community!
ROBOTICS UPDATE
The Locke Monsters Robotics team is competing on Superbowl Sunday at the Walsh Middle School in Framingham, MA. The students are working in three separate teams, each with their own robot. VEX robotics is a student centered program where the students are responsible for designing, building, coding, and driving their robots. In this event, each team will participate in numerous qualification rounds, skills rounds, and will also be interviewed by judges who ask them a variety of questions about their robot. All three teams have showed tremendous improvements since the beginning of the season!
If you would like to watch the tournament while you are waiting for the Big Game, there will be a livestream hosted on YouTube by our host school/team Framingham Walsh Bot.
The Locke Monsters Robotics Team is also holding a Lottery Ticket fundraiser to raise funds for our team. We are selling raffle tickets for a chance to win a book of 100 MA State Lottery tickets ($10 version). We will be selling a total of 300 raffle tickets at $10 each. Once all of the tickets are sold, the winner will be selected and notified. You can Venmo Mrs. Tolleson (one of the coaches) @jmtolleson1 if you would like to buy a raffle ticket. The cost is $10 per raffle entry. Please include your name and phone number in the memo/note line so that you can be entered into the raffle and notified if you win.
QUARTER 2 UNIFIED ARTS GRADES
Quarter 2 unified arts classes ended on Friday, January 23rd. Grades have been posted to the Aspen portal and will appear on the Trimester 2 report card.
7th GRADE PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT
BMHS will be hosting an information night for 7th grade parents on Thursday, February 26th. See the attached flyer for more details. Please note: This night is for parents only.
DISTRICT REPORT CARD
Please see the attached letter from Lori McDermott – assistant superintendent
RIDDLE/JOKE OF THE WEEK
This Week – 1. What did the bacon say to the tomato on Valentine’s Day? 2. What did one piece of toast say to the other on Valentine’s Day?
Last week’s answers: 1. Why did the man get fired from the calendar factory? – He took a few days off in February and thought no one would notice. 2. When is the best day to wear a tutu? – February 2nd – 2/2
MATH PROBLEM OF THE WEEK
Pencil Pyramid (same as last week, we need more submissions!)
Last Week’s Answer: a. 19 b. 24 c. 41
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.
8th GRADE MATH PLACEMENT
7th grade parents, guardians, and students,
Please see the attached letter regarding math placement for 8th grade at BMHS.
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 January 12th. 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.
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
This week’s post: Another component of chronic absenteeism can be related to anxiety and other mental health disorders. Missing school due to anxiety, known as school avoidance, is common and involves intense distress about attending, often with physical symptoms like headaches or stomach aches, stemming from fears of failure, social issues, or separation. Addressing it requires understanding triggers (bullying, performance), collaborating with the school (counselors, plans), creating a supportive home, and seeking professional help (therapist, doctor) for underlying anxiety disorders, as avoiding school provides temporary relief but worsens anxiety long-term.
Is your child missing school due to anxiety?
CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR MORE INFORMATION
PTO CORNER
The PTO welcomes all families to the Locke. We will be meeting monthly to plan several events throughout the year. Our last meeting was January 21st. Please see the attached minutes.
LOCKE GEAR is for sale! Go to this link to purchase. A portion of the price goes to the PTO.
UPCOMING PTO EVENTS:
Wednesday, February 11th – PTO Meeting 6:30 PM Library
Our PTO Facebook page is: “Billerica Locke PTO”. Click on the link below to take you there:
FROM THE DISTRICT
Billerica Schools Nutrition Services is hiring. Please see the attached flyer for more information.
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.
UPCOMING DATES
All Dates are also on our master calendar on the Locke website.
· Monday, February 9th – School Site Council, 5:00 PM Library
· February 9th through 13th – Spirit Week
· February 10th and 11th – Trinket Sales at Lunch
· Wednesday, February 11th – PTO Meeting, 6:30 PM Library
· Friday, February 13th – Hoops for Heart Game
· February 16th through 20th – Winter Break, No School
· Monday, February 23rd – Return to School
· Thursday, February 26th – Community Forum, 6:00 PM Auditorium
· Thursday, February 26th – BMHS Auditorium 6:00PM 7th Grade Parent Meeting
· Monday, March 9th – School Site Council Meeting, 5:00 PM Library
· Monday, March 9th – Booster-Thon Fundraiser Starts
· Tuesday, March 10th – School Committee Student Presentation
· Wednesday, March 11th – Early Release 11:40 Dismissal
· Tuesday, March 17th – Day 120, Last Day of Trimester 2
· Wednesday, March 18th – Booster-Thon Fun Run Event
· Wednesday, March 18th – PTO Meeting 6:30 PM Library
· Friday, March 20th – Spring Dance 6:00 – 8:00
· Thursday, March 26th – Musical 7:00 PM Auditorium
· Friday, March 27th – Musical 7:00 PM Auditorium
· Friday, March 27th – Report Cards Published 2:00 PM
· Saturday, March 28th – Musical 2:00 PM Auditorium
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