2025.2.13 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

February 13, 2025

Dear Saxe MS Family,

Another week is in the books and we are on to our next break… While our committed staff will be here tomorrow for Professional Learning, we wish everyone the best on a wonderful winter break! It is my hope that you are able to enjoy some time with whoever you choose, doing whatever it is that brings you the most joy. While I will be spending time with some family, I also look forward to getting caught up on a few things (both home and work-related), “sleeping in” a little more, getting outside and into nature during the day, maybe sneaking in a nap or two, and just appreciating all that I have to be grateful for. Whether you are traveling across the globe or staying local right here in New Canaan – enjoy!

This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at Valentine’s Day, Winter Daytime Open House (again), our next Saxe MS Staff Spotlight on our Saxe SRO, Black History Month, Start with Hello, “Being Kind”, Clubs and Extracurriculars, positive displays around the building, School Counselor lessons, scenes around Saxe, Dogs of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy, and again, have a wonderful winter break!

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

2/14 – No School – Happy February Break!

2/15 – School Resource Officer Day

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”-Maya Angelou

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” —Muhammad Ali

“You can always give something, even if it is only kindness!” – Anne Frank

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” – Mother Teresa

Saxe jokes to “keep it light” and get a laugh each day:

Why can’t the music teacher start his car? He left his keys on his piano!

What did the snowflake say to the road? Let’s stick together!

What did one tangerine say to the other on Valentine’s Day? Orange you sweet?

What goes up but never comes back down? Your age!

Happy *Valentine’s Day

*Note: since it is a challenge to find a “Happy Valentine’s Day” with our mascot of the hawk, I turned to AI… While there are many benefits to AI, image creation with proper spelling does not seem to be “quite there”, yet. Regardless, we wish you the best for a terrific Valentine’s Day!

Daytime Open House

Thank you to everyone who came out to see us for our Winter Daytime Open Houses! For those who were unable to attend, please click the link to your child’s respective open house session to see the slides of what was discussed.

Tuesday, 2/4	Friday, 2/7	Monday, 2/10	Tuesday, 2/11
8:55 a.m. G7: Green Team Room #: 144 7 Green Slides	8:55 a.m. G7: Purple Team Room #: 105 7 Purple Slides	8:55 a.m. G7: Red Team Room #: 102 7 Red Slides	8:55 a.m. G7: Blue Team Room #:111 7 Blue Slides 7 Blue Social Studies
11:20 a.m. G8: Green Team Room #: 163 8 Green Slides	11:20 a.m. G8: Blue Team Room #: 209 8 Blue Slides	11:20 a.m. G8: Red Team Room #: 208 8 Red Slides	11:20 a.m. G8: Purple Team Room #: 221 8 Purple Slides

Saxe MS Staff Spotlight: SRO, Matt Blank

February 15th happens to be National School Resource Officer Appreciation Day. While safety and security are a #1 objective, our School Resource Officer (SRO), Officer Matt Blank, is about much more than this. Office Blank has become an integral part of our middle school family through daily positive interactions with students in the cafeteria, hallways, classrooms, extracurriculars, in the community, and beyond. As a trusted mentor and role model, Officer Blank builds meaningful relationships with students, staff, and parents alike. These connections help create an environment where everyone feels safer and supported, making our school community stronger. Thank you for the role that you play in helping make Saxe Middle School be the best we can be, Officer Blank!

We appreciate all that you do for our entire learning community!

Black History Month

Throughout the month of February, we recognize important African American members of our community at large. This week, we celebrate the lives and work of Viola Davis, Ralph Johnson Bunche, Rosa Parks, and Regina Marcia Benjamin – our lives, and society in general, would not be the same without their contributions!

Start with Hello

Our Start With Hello Initiative began on Friday, February 7th with “Feel Good Friday” where students shared a compliment with someone. On Monday, students said “hello” to as many people as they could and started conversations with someone outside their friend group. On Tuesday and Wednesday, students had their photos taken in front of the “Be Kind” poster and became the “I” in kind! On Thursday, students thanked a trusted adult in their lives. It is a wonderful reminder that our students and staff help to make our school such a caring and connected community and that together, we are all committed to a positive school climate. Thank you to Ms. Nettleton, Ms. Perretti, Ms. Grainsky, Ms. Ryan, and all involved students for putting this all together for our entire school community!

Check out more pics, below!

Clubs & Extracurriculars

A huge “thank you” to Ms. Jarosik for coordinating our Spring Club & Extracurricular session! Please see the message that she sent out earlier today:

Grade 7/8 After School Activities are now open for sign ups! They will begin on Monday, February 10th and end on Friday, June 6th, 2025 (a few clubs will begin the week of February 24th but are marked as such). You can find a copy of the brochure and the sign up link on the Saxe Website and I have attached them as well below. Please email me if you have any questions at Lisa.Jarosik@ncps-k12.org. Have a wonderful weekend!

Fun in the Snow!

We’ve been fortunate to have some nice wintry weather this season to celebrate in so many ways! Not only do I see some fun times/memories, I spy some “Dogs of Saxe” spiritwear on display!

Saxe MS Supporting NCHS

GOLF BALLS ON SALE NOW!!

GIVE YOUR VALENTINE A CHANCE AT WINNING, BUY A BALL!

SATURDAY, MARCH 22 @ 10:00am
WAVENY PARK

MARCH 22nd: The helicopter will release 2,000 golf balls over a target at Waveny Park. Each ball will be numbered individually and the participants whose golf ball(s) land closest to the target will win one of the grand prizes below! 100% of proceeds will be donated to need-based college scholarships for NCHS graduates. Spectators are welcome.

Click to learn more about:
NC Color Drop
NCHS Scholarship Foundation

Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe Middle School page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!

It has been exciting to see an idea start with our Saxe MS Leadership Team & grow into a focal point in our school! Our new “Be Kind” poster was in action today as part of our “Start With Hello” Week! Thank you to Ms. Nettleton, Ms. Perretti, Ms. Grainsky Ms. Ryan & all students!

So many Saxe MS students stopped by to be the “I in K-nd” during our “Start with Hello” week! There were tons more who got their pics on the old-school Polaroid & those will be up, soon… Stay tuned!

And, we caught a few staff members to be the “I in K-nd” during our “Start with Hello” week at Saxe MS!

Thanks to our Saxe PTC for helping us celebrate our terrific School Resource Officer for SRO Appreciation Day (&, included enough to thank other members of our safety & security team like our Campus Monitors & office staff)… Thank you for all you do for Saxe MS, Officer Blank!

Always amazing to hear the terrific proposals our Saxe MS students bring forward to help improve our school & help make our staff feel appreciated! This group used the design thinking process to consider improvements to our Building Manager’s office space – very impressive!

Just a few projects you’ll see walking around Saxe MS after school during the Club & Extracurricular time…

A sneak peek at some “soon to be awesome” Saxe Artwork that is “in process”! Stay tuned for some amazing creations that will be displayed around Saxe MS!

The 8Red Bulletin board has been updated yet again! This time, Saxe MS students were able to share some positive, motivating, kind, &/or caring messages. I continue to be impressed by how thoughtful & caring our students truly are – they’re the best!

Thank you to our Saxe Counselors for the dynamic & informative lesson about the middle to high school transition! There were great examples of all our Saxe MS students have to look forward to at NCHS, or beyond (&, modeling being humble by posting a recent “correction” 🙂 ).

Thanks to our Saxe MS parents who attended the 8Red Winter Daytime Open House! It was a nice turnout & our teachers/school counselors did a great job of sharing about all our students have done, & still have to look forward to, including the upcoming transition to NCHS!

Thanks to our Saxe MS parents who attended the 7Red Winter Open House!

Thanks to our Saxe MS parents who attended the 7 Blue Winter Daytime Open House!

Thanks to our Saxe parents who attended the 8Purple Winter Daytime Open House!

Special thanks to Ms. Benware for the helpful signage!

Scenes Around Saxe

The Saxe MS lobby & entryway has transformed in many forms over the years… Last Friday? Hollywood! Good luck to all of the West School students on their performances this evening!

Winter brings some amazing scenes around Saxe! In addition to all the great things that go on inside the building, we are grateful for the beautiful sights all around our Saxe MS campus too!

We’ve thanked our Saxe Custodians quite a bit the last few weeks, & rightfully so! We appreciate all they do to keep our Saxe MS campus safe (&, looking great)!

Even with the cooler (Click the links to watch!) CT winter weather, our Saxe MS students still enjoy getting out for some activity, fresh air, socialization, & creativity every day!

It was a little misty today at Saxe MS but we still had about 60 grade 8 students take advantage of #SaxeRecess to get outside & get some fresh air, activity, & socialization with friends!

Dogs of Saxe

Clara, Luna, & Rocky helped make our mornings brighter this week at a.m. arrival at Saxe MS!

Have a great February Break, and see you the week after next!

Thank you to all of our Saxe Weekly contributors! Each weekly edition is an example of collaboration in action. A special thanks to Melissa DiMeglio for the continuous stream of positive, optimistic quotes!

Saxe Resources (live links)