2026-02-22 Newsletter

Dear Countryside Families,

We hope everyone had a wonderful February vacation week, and are now getting ready for another snow day tomorrow! Welcome back! Whether your time off was spent traveling somewhere fun, enjoying time with family & friends, or simply embracing a slower pace to rest & recharge, we hope it was just what you needed!

Reflecting briefly on the month of February, we had the wonderful opportunity to host two PTO events – our annual Countryside Parent Party (held on February 7) and a “Cookie & Hot Coca Bar” staff appreciation event celebrating our teachers & staff (held on February 11). Starting this calendar year, we will be rolling out brief surveys following each of our events (~1-2 mins) as we continuously strive to put out engaging, fun, and welcoming events for our Countryside families. Our first feedback survey covering our recent Parent Party is: HERE! We look forward to hearing from you, whether you were able to attend or not! In the future, we’ll have post-event surveys directly embedded in the recap section of the newsletter.

Peeking ahead to the month of March, we have two additional PTO events for our families to look forward to – Family Bingo Night (March 7) and Multi-Cultural Festival (March 28). See below for more details and how to sign up to participate or volunteer!

Hope you have a great week ahead and see you all soon!

Warmly,
Steve, Tera and Melissa
PTO Co-Presidents
copresident@countrysidepto.org

Coming Up

Saturday, March 7

Bingo Night

Wednesday, March 11

PTO Meeting, 7:00 p.m., in Library

Thursday, March 19

Early Dismissal at 12:10 p.m.

Saturday, March 28

Multi-cultural Festival at Brown Middle School

View Calendar

March Calendar

Updates

Parents Party - Saturday Night, February 7!

Get ready for a fun night out with the Countryside community! Join us for our Parent Party on February 7 at 7:00 pm at The Biltmore on Chestnut Street. Enter to win some great door prizes, sign up for a Super Bowl square (Go Pats!) and enjoy mingling with friends.

Tickets are $35 per person and include heavy apps, a drink ticket and tickets for door prizes. Please RSVP by Wednesday through the Evite and send payment via Venmo to @Countryside-PTO, noting “Parent Party” and attendee(s) name in the memo. Visit our website for more details—we can’t wait to see you there!

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to our Parent Party co-chairs: Melissa Monokroussos, Adam Bernstein, or Steve Lee.

RSVP to Parent Party

Recap of Recent PTO Events

Parents Party

Thank you to everyone who joined us at The Biltmore for our annual Countryside Parent Party! It was wonderful to spend the evening enjoying great food, drinks, and conversation with so many members of our community. Congratulations to our door prize and square winners! We also extend our sincere thanks to our party planners — Melissa Monokroussos, Steve Lee, and Adam Bernstein — and to our PTO for sponsoring this special event.

FEBRUARY STAFF APPRECIATION EVENT

To celebrate our staff, the Staff Appreciation Committee hosted a cookie and hot chocolate bar. Parents filled the teacher break room with cookies, candy, donuts, and muffins, as well as a hot chocolate station with whipped cream, marshmallows, and chocolate chips. Staff members could fill boxes with sweets to take to their afternoon meetings and warm up with hot chocolate to-go.

Thank you to everyone who donated treats! Special thanks to Maegan Spontak for organizing this event, as well as Beth Harmon and Tera Hickle for assisting.

Upcoming PTO Events

Bingo Night – Saturday, March 7!

Join us for a FREE Family Bingo afternoon on Saturday, March 7, sponsored by the PTO. Bingo is great for all ages, and all children will win a door prize for playing. Kids can volunteer to be number callers and there will be prizes for game winners. If you have children in multiple grades, you can come to both sessions or choose one, just let us know in your RSVP. A quiet space will be available throughout the event, and a sensory-friendly session will be offered. Hot dogs, pizza and snacks will be available for purchase.

This event cannot run without volunteers! Please SIGNUP for a 30 minute block to help make our BINGO bash a success! Please RSVP on this Google form, and click HERE to learn more about playing BINGO.

Saturday, March 7, Countryside Cafetorium

Sensory session: 2:15-2:45pm

Grades K-2: 3-4:30pm

Grades 3-5: 5-6:30pm

Boks Spring 2026 Registration Now Open!

We’re excited to share that registration for the Spring 2026 BOKS session is now open! Whether your child joined us in the fall or is curious to try it for the first time, we’d love to welcome them this spring.

BOKS (Build Our Kids’ Success) is a before-school fitness program at Countryside that gets kids moving through fun games, strength-building, and age-appropriate activities—helping them build healthy habits, confidence, focus, and a positive connection to movement in a supportive, inclusive environment. Best of all, BOKS is completely free!

Spring session begins Monday, March 23. We will meet on Mondays & Wednesdays, 7:30–8:05 a.m. Students are greeted at the main office entrance.

Spots are limited to 26 students across all grade levels: Click here to register

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Chris Campbell, Ryan Allen, Nanda Campbell, or Casey Pepek.

Looking forward to another fun and energizing season ahead!

Multicultural Festival - March 28!

We have a great line up this year! See the full list of participating Countries below. If your child/ren connect with and would like to participate in one of our Country performances, please visit the PTO website for participant signup link. Students are able to sign up to participate in the Parade of Nations for all countries (where Table and Performance is listed) and on stage performances (where performance is listed). Once you complete the signup, Country leaders will reach out to you to coordinate practices.

If you have any questions, please reach out to the MCF Co-Chairs.

Countryside Online Auction

We're gearing up for our annual Countryside Online Auction later this Spring! This continues to be a wonderful opportunity for our Countryside families to get access to great deals on awesome items, while supporting our school at the same time - what a win! Every dollar raised goes directly back to Countryside students and our community.

We're asking for your help!

Whether you own a business, provide a service, or know someone who does, we'd love to feature any items you would like to donate to our auction. We're seeking:

Gift cards from local restaurants, coffee shops, retail stores, or entertainment venues
Services such as landscaping, tutoring, music lessons, piano lessons, photography, or home services
"Gifts of Time";—teach a skill or class you're passionate about (cooking, art, fitness, languages, etc.)
Connections to local businesses willing to contribute

Reach out directly to Amye Kurson-Collins with details or questions about your donation. All donors will be recognized in our auction catalog, and your generosity will help us make this year our best auction yet!

Next PTO Meeting

Please join the PTO on Wednesday, March 11 at 7:00 p.m. We will meet in the library, or you can join via Google Meet. Link to follow. Please contact Casey Allen if you have any questions or items you’d like to add to the agenda. This meeting is open to all Countryside parents/guardians. We always welcome new involvement and volunteers. We hope to see you there!

Community Updates

Newton Community Education (NCE)

NCE Winter/Spring Clubs

Winter/Spring after-school clubs are now open for enrollment! Elementary students can explore a variety of interests, including STEM, art, cooking, chess, sports, and more. Families can browse and register through the new NCE Registration Portal. Scholarships are available through NCE’s Financial Assistance program.

NCE Summer Camps & Swim Lessons

2026 summer camps are now live, with offerings such as 3D Printing, Glass Art, Creative Filmmaking, Wide World of Storytelling, Art Adventures, Swim Lessons, and so much more! Families can view full camp listings and register through the new NCE Registration Portal. Scholarships are available through NCE’s Financial Assistance program.

Think Spring Think Softball

Registration for Spring Rec Softball is open! Our Rec program welcomes players in grades K through 8 of all abilities and experience playing softball. All teams are coached by parent volunteers.

Sign up your player(s) at https://www.newtongirlssoftball.org/. For any questions, please first read our policies and guidelines page on our website. If you have further questions feel free to email info@newtongirlssoftball.org.