November 2, 2025
Dear Parents/Guardians, Staff, and Students,
I hope you are having a great weekend and remembered to set your clocks back. We are back with only 4 DAYS OF LEARNING this week, but we still have a busy schedule ahead as usual. Let’s see what’s happening …
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“It was the best kind of November day. Cold and crisp, but not quite freezing, not icy.” – Rainbow Rowell
SCHEDULE THIS WEEK
Monday – D Day – HW Club, Activities
Tuesday – No School
Wednesday – A Day – Picture Retakes, Advisory Schedule, HW Club, Activities, Day 45
Thursday – B Day – HW Club, Activities, Quarter 2 Begins, Parent Conferences 6:00-8:00 PM
Friday – C Day
PARENT CONFERENCES
Parent conferences for the Locke and Marshall will be held in person on Thursday, November 6th and Thursday, November 13th from 6:00 – 8:00 PM. All conferences are in-person. We are using a computer program called PTC Wizard to schedule conferences. Conferences will be 5 minutes long and each teacher will have 48 openings. There is a possibility that a teacher will be booked and you will not be able to schedule a conference with a particular teacher. If that does occur, I encourage you to utilize email, meet individually with the teacher at another time, or schedule a team meeting.
The link to schedule conferences is now open and there are several openings still available. See the link below.
If you already have an account from last year, you can log in. If you do not have an account, you will need to register and create an account.
- You will need to know your child’s teachers’ names in order to schedule the meetings. The site will provide a list of names for you to choose from.
- For ensembles, the teachers will split the days between the Locke and Marshall.
- Orchestra – Dr. Cardella will not be available, Ms. Harmon Locke on 11/6, Marshall 11/13
- Band — Locke on 11/13, Marshall 11/6
- Chorus — Locke on 11/6, Marshall 11/13
- If you have any questions or difficulty scheduling conferences, please contact me – tgaras@billericak12.com
QUARTER 1 ENDS
Wednesday, November 5th is the forty-fifth day of school and the end of the first quarter. The following courses are on a 45 day schedule this year: art, drama, health, music, industrial tech, and computer science. Students will see a change during one period of their day on Thursday, November 6th, the beginning of the second quarter. Students, please check your schedules. Final grades for quarter 1 classes will be posted to ASPEN by Wednesday, November 12th and will appear on the trimester 1 report card issued in December.
PICTURE MAKE-UP/RETAKES
Picture make-ups and retakes will be taken on Wednesday, November 5th. Please see the attached flyer for more information.
6th GRADE SCIENCE PROGRAM
Thank you to the team from EMD Serono for coming in last week to work on a project with our 6th graders. The program is called “Bacteria Around You” and is teaching students all about how bacteria impact our daily living. The team was back in this past week to analyze the results from their experiments. Also, thank you to Ms. Tolleson and Ms. Santy for organizing this program.
FALL PLAY
The Locke fall play will be on Friday, November 14th and Saturday, November 15th at 6:00 PM in the Locke Auditorium. Please see the attached flyer for more information.
SPRING MUSICAL – INFORMATION MEETINGS
Please see the attached flyer for information on student and parent information meetings for the Spring musical.
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 believe 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.
CHROMEBOOK INSURANCE
We are pleased to share that we are officially launching our new Chromebook insurance option for students. This program provides affordable coverage for accidental damage and other issues, helping families avoid unexpected repair or replacement costs.
Coverage will be available through our partner, Get Cover, and parents can access the enrollment portal here: BPS Chromebook Insurance.
Insurance Details:
· Dell 3100 Chromebooks (all units issued prior to 2025): $31.85 for 1 year
· Dell 3120 Chromebooks (new units distributed in August 2025): $76.85 for 4 years
· Coverage includes accidental damage, spills, and drops
More information can also be found on the BPS Helpdesk site.
RIDDLE/JOKE OF THE WEEK
1. What is the best month to go boating? 2. Why do birds fly south in November?
Last week’s answers: 1. Why don’t skeletons like Halloween candy? They don’t have the stomach for it. 2. What kind of bread do zombies like? Whole brain …
MATH PROBLEM OF THE WEEK
SOCCER SNEAKS!
Betsy, Liz, Mark, Shari, and Wyman were in the league tournament on a rainy day. They left their dry sneakers on the sidelines to put on after the game. Since the sneakers were all the same color and had the same brand logo, telling them apart was a bit tricky. The shoe size was the only difference. There was one pair from each of the sizes: 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Use the clues below to decide who owns which sneakers.
· Betsy knew hers were the smallest.
· Liz said hers were larger than Shari’s but smaller than Mark’s.
· Wyman said his were the largest.
Last Week’s Answer: The large pumpkin with 87 nickels
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.
PTO — LOCKE HOLIDAY TREE
The PTO is looking for donations for the Locke tree at the Billerica Holiday Tree Raffle. The theme is “Family Game Night”. Please see the attached flyer for more details.
PTO CORNER
The PTO welcomes all families to the Locke. We will be meeting monthly to plan several events throughout the year. We had our October meeting last week. Please see the minutes attached here.
LOCKE GEAR is for sale! Go to this link to purchase. A portion of the price goes to the PTO.
UPCOMING PTO EVENTS:
Wednesday, October 22nd – PTO Meeting 6:30 PM
Wednesday, November 19th – Ice Cream Social 6:00-7:30 PM
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.
SCHOOL TIMES
School starts promptly at 7:30. Students should be in their homeroom at 7:30. The car drop-off time for students is 7:10 — 7:25. Students will be allowed to enter the building at 7:10. From 7:10 – 7:20, students who enter the building will be supervised in the cafeteria. Students will not be allowed in before 7:10 AM.
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
Turkey Troy Road Race – See attached flyer
Scholarship Foundation Trivia Night – See attached Flyer
UPCOMING DATES
All Dates are also on our master calendar on the Locke website.
· Tuesday, November 4th – No School
· Wednesday, November 5th – Day 45, Quarter 1 Unified Arts Classes End
· Wednesday, November 5th – Make-up Picture Day
· Thursday, November 6th – Quarter 2 Unified Arts Classes start
· Thursday, November 6th – Parent Conferences 6:00-8:00 PM
· Monday, November 10th – School Site Council 5:00 PM Library
· Tuesday, November 11th – No School, Veterans Day
· Wednesday, November 12th – PTO Meeting 6:30 PM Library
· Thursday, November 13th — Parent Conferences 6:00-8:00 PM
· Friday, Saturday November 14th and 15th – Locke Play 6:00 PM
· Monday, November 17th – Student Information Meeting for Musical 1:45-2:45
· Monday, November 17th – Parent Information for Musical 6:30 PM Auditorium
· Wednesday, November 19th – Ice Cream Social 6:00 PM
· Wednesday, November 26th – Half Day 10:40 Dismissal
· Thursday, Friday November 27th and 28th – Thanksgiving Recess
If you have any questions, please contact me at tgaras@billericak12.com or call at 978-528-8655. I look forward to a great school year!!
Warmest regards,
Tony Garas, Principal