Informational Update: NSboro News, Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Posted Date: 6/17/25 (8:30 PM)

The Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Denise Johnson, Neary Elementary School Art Educator, led students' creations for the Art on the Trail exhibit. Fourth and Fifth grade students in the group photo are (L to R): Sofia Dugdale, Bennett Greene, Isabelle Iodice, Juliet Ho, Denise Johnson (Art Teacher), Story Holtschlag, Emma Bellafontaine, Lyla Azzalina

Fifth graders from the four Northborough elementary schools gather to celebrate the end of the year and make connections as they prepare for their middle school experience. Photo credit: Jen Callaghan

The Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough
"Educate, Inspire, Challenge"

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Superintendent's Weekly Message

Table of Contents:

1. 2025-2026 School Calendar
2. The Beat - June
3. Art on the Trail
4. Message from Southborough Youth and Families

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope you and your family have a wonderful summer. In preparation for the start of the 2025-2026 school year, I've linked the 2025-2026 school calendar.

Link to the 2025-2026 School Calendar for The Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough

Respectfully,

Gregory L. Martineau
Superintendent of Schools

The Beat - June Edition

Art on the Trail

Neary students help install the exhibit. For more information (including a site map), please go to https://artonthetrails.com/

Art on the Trails is a special annual event in Southborough, and this year's theme, "Number 9", celebrates its ninth anniversary. For this juried event, thirteen pieces of art are selected. This is the seventh time that Art teacher Denise Johnson has submitted an application on behalf of her students, and the seventh time that their work has donned the beautiful Beals Preserve trails. Neary School brings to the exhibit the only installation created by children, and once again, it will hang alongside installations created by professional sculptors and artists.

Johnson landed on "9th Letter of the Alphabet Portraits" for this year's piece as a play on words--the letter i is the 9th letter of the alphabet and her students painted portraits that focused on their eyes. Students decorated the back of their blocks however they wished, inspired by the number 9. Some children chose to paint nine of one thing they really enjoy, such as nine soccer balls or musical notes. Others were inspired by nature--a flower with 9 petals, or a sunset with nine bands of beautiful warm hues. You may find a couple of complicated math equations with 9 as the answer. There are nine innings in baseball, a cat has nine lives, one can be on cloud nine...the ideas and creativity of nine to twelve-year-olds is pretty wonderful!

The blocks of balsa wood were donated from a fellow teacher's aunt, who works at Guillow's in Wakefield, Massachusetts, the factory that has been making balsa wood gliders for nearly 100 years. Neary parent volunteers primed each piece of wood then drilled a hole down the center. Deep-sea fishing line was used to string the blocks, and when hanging them for display, each strand was anchored to a stone or a branch to prevent the lines from tangling. When considering art for this outdoor exhibit, one has to consider that it must hold up to Mother Nature for three months.

Installation art is unique in that, oftentimes, it is temporary. The installations for Southborough's Art on the Trails were installed on Saturday, June 14th, and will remain up through September 14th, 2025.

On Monday, June 16, the 4th and 5th grade students at Neary School will enjoy a school-wide walking field trip providing the opportunity for each child to see their painted block of wood hanging with the other 275 students' paintings. Collaborative art is impactful. Each painted block is wonderful on its own, but 275 paintings strung together and hanging outdoors from an elm tree become a beautiful tribute to our school's core value of belonging.

Now that the exhibit is complete, the Director of Art on the Trails, Catherine Weber, has put out a call for poetry. People of all ages and experience are invited to write poems inspired by any or all of the thirteen art installations over the summer. Selected poems will be included in a chapbook, and at the closing ceremony, poets will read their poems alongside each artist as we take a gallery walk along the trails. For more information (including a site map), please go to https://artonthetrails.com/

A message from Southborough Youth and Family Services