9/11/15 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Kiki Iatrou for helping a colleague today. A teacher was in line at the copy machine and needed to grab her students.  Ms Iatrou took the papers, interrupted her own copying, and made all of the copies. Then she brought them to the teacher. None of us EVER have enough time for our own planning and work.  It was an incredibly thoughtful, caring thing to do. Sometimes these things that seem so little when you mention them to other people, really make a big difference in your day and your outlook!

Shout out to all the teachers and paras in K0, K1 & K2 for a successful first day of school! Today we welcomed 170 students who were excited to learn and meet new friends. There were a few tears at the start of the day but by 9am all students were learning and smiling. Families were so pleased about their child's first day experience. Thank you all for your incredible attention to detail, boundless energy and love of early childhood education.

Elementary Math Assessments - From Linda Ruiz Davenport

A few of you have been asking about beginning of the year assessments, particularly since we are not giving predictives this year, and we do have posted some BOY assessments for the primary grades that were intended to serve the same purpose as the predictive. You may want to hold off on the primary grade BOY assessments until there is more clarity over how these data would be useful, especially considering the importance of maximizing instructional time with students, and how much testing has taken time away from that focus in the past.

Nursing Needs - ALL STAFF MUST COMPLETE from Marilyn Regan RN & April Pumphret RN

BPS staff are required annually to complete training on Blood Borne Pathogens and Life Threatening Allergies.  We are asking that you complete both and take the Blood Borne Pathogens Test. When you have completed both please bring the completed Blood Borne Pathogens Test and the Life Threatening Allergy Certificate to the Nurse's Office. We will give you a short 5 minute demonstration on how to use the Epipen. We ask that you get this done no later then 9/30. We will keep a list of staff and check you off as you come in. The list of trained staff will be given to Katie Grassa on October 1st. We realize that you are all very busy this time of year, but the safety of our staff and students is a top priority.  We have multiple students in this building with Life threatening Allergies that could require the use of an Epipen.  We have had multiple visits/phone calls from concerned parents this week.  Thank you in advance for your cooperation and please stop by and see us in the Lower School Nurse's Office with any questions or concerns.

https://bpshealthservices.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/microsoft-powerpoint-bbp_ppt_09.pdf

http://www.allergyhome.org/schools/management-of-food-allergies-in-school-what-school-staff-need-to-know/

ILT

Our first Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) meeting will take place on Wednesday, September 16th from 3:00pm-4:15pm in the Upper School Library. We are asking that each team send a representative to the meetings that occur bi-weekly to assure that follow of information and decision making throughout the school. Please email Sara Silverstein with questions ssilverstein@bostonpublicschools.org.

Attendance on SIS

Teacher are required to take attendance daily on SIS. It is so important to have accurate students attendance each and everyday. We must assure that students are safe and in school. If a student is absent the teacher should call/email/text the family to inquire about the absence. If a problem persists please contact Sue Trotz strotz@bostonpublicschools.org. Also the district tracks student attendance and having accurate numbers impacts enrollment and budget for this school. If you see an error in a child's attendance online please contact the made office and notify Madeline Vazquez mvazquez@bostonpublicschools.org or Kathy Powers kpowers@bostonpublicschools.org.

Fire Drill

There will be a fire drill next week for the whole school. Please practice this procedure with your students so they are prepared on the practice day. We are not announcing exactly when this will occur but it will be next week. We are working with the Fire Dept to assure we have a safety plan for our students who are unable to use the stairs.  Please refer to the staff handbook under Fire Drills for the protocol and don't forget to have a student attendance list with you upon exiting this building (This should not be a list you create once you get outside it should be a class list that you can quickly mark if students are absent or present.