April 17, 2026
Dear Saxe MS Family,
Welcome back, and I hope your first week back from April Break has been a good one! While it may have felt “summerlike” this week, we took full advantage of being back in school, both inside and out. Classes ventured outside, recess fields and the playground were packed, and rich learning, collaboration, and experiences continued inside. While we could never capture everything that contributes to our positive school community, we share snapshots from throughout the week to provide some insight into the “day and life of” a Saxe MS student (or, staff member). Thanks for checking it out and following along!
This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at the latest Saxe MS podcast, Spring Daytime Open House Schedule, Administrative Assistant’s Day, Digital Wellness, Book Club, safety reminders, Spring Walk/Ride to School Day, PTC/NC Cares Event, Hawks Gazette, improving our spaces, Autism Awareness, Scenes around Saxe, Recess, Dogs of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!
Be Well,
Dave Gusitsch
Principal, Saxe Middle School
Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:
4/22 – Administrative Assistant’s Day
4/23 – Saxe PTC/NC Cares Event (9:30)
*Quotes that resonated with us this week:
“Strive for progress, not perfection.”-Unknown
“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something.” — Unknown
“You are the hero of your own story.” — Joseph Campbell
“Education is hanging around until you’ve caught on.”– Robert Lee Frost
“Don’t let what you cannot do stop you from doing what you can do.” —John Wooden
Saxe Jokes of the week:
Did you hear the joke about paper? Never mind, it’s tear-able.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. Spring apparently wasn’t bad either.
What do you get when you cross a fish with an elephant? Swimming trunks!
What’s the difference between a piano and a fish?” You can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish.
What mouse can walk on two feet? Mickey Mouse
Saxe Weekly: The Podcast
Interested in getting an overview of the latest Saxe Weekly in podcast form? Using Google’s Notebook LM, we are able to offer an option to listen to all of the great “goings on” in our school community while you are “on the go”, with the Saxe MS Podcast! We invite you to give it a listen… Enjoy!
Note: We have been using Notebook LM to create our podcast for the past couple of months, and recently, noticed the “create an image – infographic” option. It’s a pretty neat representation of the latest Saxe Weekly and may become part of our weekly update – enjoy!
Spring Daytime Open House
Mark your calendars! Our Spring Daytime Open House is a wonderful opportunity to welcome you into our school and give you a glimpse into your child’s learning. During your visit, teachers will share highlights from the past few months and celebrate the meaningful work students have accomplished over the course of this year.
Administrative Assistant’s Day
We are so grateful for all that our Admin Assistants do each day to keep our school running smoothly. Their organization, kindness, and dedication make a difference for students, staff, and families alike. We are grateful for their steady, welcoming presence at the heart of our school community—we truly appreciate them!
Ms. DiMeglio, Ms. Benware, Ms. Jarosik, and Mrs. Connaughton
Digital Wellness
Earlier this week, Mr. Egan, the Principal over at NCHS, shared the below communication regarding internet safety that he sent out, and I thought it would be a valuable message to share with our school community. In addition to our Digital Citizenship lessons that our students participate in, we place a high value, and maintain a strong focus, on digital wellness and the importance of being vigilant with any online presence. This is a great reminder and also a fine opportunity to review these important tips with your child(ren).
Dear Students and Parents,
We’ve recently received reports regarding several fake Instagram accounts pretending to be members of our student body. While it’s tempting to hit “follow back” or accept a request to grow your circle, we want to remind you to stay vigilant about who you let into your digital life.
Why this matters:
Fake accounts are often created to gather personal information, track your location, or establish connections under false pretenses. Once someone is in your “Followers” or “Following” list, they may have access to your photos, your friends’ profiles, and details about your daily routine.
How to stay safe:
To keep your identity and privacy secure, please keep the following tips in mind:
• Verify Before You Follow: If you receive a request from an account that looks like a student but has zero mutual friends or strange posts, it’s likely a bot or a fake profile.
• Audit Your List: Take five minutes today to scroll through your followers. If you don’t recognize someone or an account looks “off,” don’t hesitate to block and report them.
• Go Private: We strongly recommend setting your account to Private. This ensures you have full control over who sees your content.
• Don’t Share Personal Details: Avoid posting your home address, current real-time location, or phone number in your bio or stories.
See something? Say something!
If you notice an account impersonating a student, a staff member, or the school itself, please report it directly to Instagram and let a teacher or counselor know.
Your safety, both online and off, is our top priority. Let’s work together to keep our community secure.
Best,
Mr. Egan
Principal
Book Club
Book Club (hosted by Ms. Bagley, social work/ESS) finished their first read of the year, The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. All club members (pictured here: Maddie Harbold 8th grade, Celina Sun 7th grade, and Elodie Cotton, 7th grade, not pictured) rated the book 5/5 stars! Our next pick is I Know Your Secret by Daphne Benedis-Grab.
Nice Weather, More Riders!
We are so excited that students are taking bikes and scooters to school in the nice weather! Please “be aware” when you are on campus and be on the lookout for riders. And, if your child rides to school, please remind them to put their bikes/scooters in the bike rack instead of leaving them by the front door. We placed a reminder on the “rides” so that they will park in the racks in the future. Thanks for helping keep our campus safe and “keep rolling”!
Saxe Walk/Ride to School Day
Speaking of nicer weather as it relates to getting to/from school… Save the Date for the Spring 2026 Saxe Walk/Ride to School day on Friday, May 8th! (Rain date will be 5/15). We look forward to as many of our students, families, and pets taking advantage of this special semi-annual event as possible!
We will also have some more exciting safety-related activities throughout the week!
Saxe PTC & NC Cares
(this is such a great springtime header on the PTC website, I had to include it!)
Check out the latest Saxe PTC/NC Cares collaboration with this upcoming event!
Hawks Gazette
Check out the latest editions of the Hawks Gazette! Thanks to our students and staff advisor, Mr. Myers, for this fun, interactive format in which to learn more about, or engage with, Saxe Middle School. We enjoy seeing Saxe through the lens of our students!
Or, check out the latest edition by accessing the Hawks Gazette Google Site, directly.
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Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe Middle School page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!
We returned from April break to some new, fresh banners in our Saxe MS lobby area & they look great! Stay tuned as we continue to improve this space for all to enjoy, appreciate, & feel proud to be a member of our school community – Go Hawks!
Not only do the new banners improve the space, but they also acknowledge where we fit into the “big picture” locally, nationally, & even globally… And yes, the closeup background design includes the actual streets of New Canaan & our building at the corner of Farm & South!
The morning crew returned from our Saxe MS April Break and got right back at it with their a.m. routine! The longer days & warmer temps have been an added bonus!
Thank you to our Saxe MS Peer Buddies for creating this amazing display as we acknowledge Autism Awareness Month – it looks great!
And, here is a group of our students & staff celebrating as the month began (right before April Break)!
Spring is “springing” around Saxe MS, and we are grateful for the care & attention our custodial & maintenance teams give to our entire campus – thank you!
Lots of spring colors are showing up all around Saxe MS to remind us that spring has arrived!
Progress has been made on the Saxe MS “Community Board” with all of our recent Advisory reflections up & on display… Our students (&, staff) have shared some wonderful anecdotes on their middle school experiences & we could not be more proud of them!
Speaking of Advisory, here are a few pics from the session just before the break!
Saxe Recess has been in “full effect” with the warmer temps this week… It is safe to say, almost 90% of our students have been taking advantage of the opportunity to get outside, get active, socialize, or just have a little time to themselves during this important part of their day!
Congrats to the Saxe Leadership Group for their successful “Paws for a Cause” drive – it was a great success!
Dogs of Saxe
Speaking of “paws”, we saw many Dogs of Saxe this week, but were only able to “catch” one at arrival… We love watching them wish their humans well, for a great day of school!
Have a great week, see you next Friday!
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)
Website: https://www.ncps-k12.org/saxe
Saxe Middle School
Celebrating Our Learning Community Through Caring, Communication, & Commitment
