10/27/16 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Craig Melzer for empowering his students to support the people of Haiti. There was a buzz in the building today about the upcoming fundraisers. Thank you for instilling in our students the importance of caring about others!

Save Your Shoes

Cleaning out your closet? Save your old shoes! We need them for our Peacelove expressive arts workshop on November 15. Please drop shoes off in the box outside of Ms. Nason’s office in the lower school. Thank you!

Student Lead Fundraiser for Haiti

Two of our 7th grade Geography classes are facilitating fundraisers to raise money for victims of Hurricane Matthew in Southwestern Haiti.  On Friday, 7B will be hosting a Movie Day fundraiser for the upper school and on Monday, October 31, 7A will facilitate a Hat/Pajama Day for our entire Curley K-8 Community.  Please look out for our student-generated fliers next week.  Students are hoping all of our Curley families are able to contribute $3-$5 to support Partners in Health and Doctors Without Borders as they work to prevent and control the outbreak of cholera in Haiti. Please contact Mr. Melzer with any questions and/or concerns.  cmelzer@bostonpublicschools.org

Curley Shares

On Thursday we hosted our first Curley Shares of the school year! Several people have asked for the videos to share with their class again. The first, Keep it Clean, Curley video was made by Lindsey Wright. The second Keep it Clean, Curley video was created by Laura Merdkhanian.

Race Dialogues

Curley K-8 is partnering for the third time with YWCA Boston to offer Dialogues on Race & Ethnicity. We will be having an open, honest, and action oriented dialogue on race, ethnicity, and community. As a group we will learn about key concepts in racial equity and use personal experiences to foster deeper understanding of race’s impact in their lives. We will also develop an action plan to build a more inclusive and equity driven school community. 

At the Curley our core values are that We Care About Ourselves, We Care About Each Other, and We Care About Our School. Our community is a very diverse community so part of caring about ourselves, each other, and our school is being willing to engage in conversations about the different races and ethnicities that are apart of our community. By doing this we will build a stronger community bond by learning about and respecting the different cultures that we come from. 

So come out and be apart of our courageous conversation on race and ethnicity. We are looking to engage in conversations with a diverse audience. We will have our dialogues on race and ethnicity on 11/10, 11/17, 12/1, 12/8, and 12/15 from 5:30pm - 7:30pm. All dialogues will happen at the Curley. Food and childcare will be provided for children 3 and older. To sign up please contact, Sean Guthrie, Principal Fellow, at sguthrie@bostonpublicschools.org

Dr. Chang Town Hall Meeting

Superintendent, Dr. Tommy Chang is hosting a neighborhood town hall meeting at the Curley K-8 on Tuesday, November 1^st from 6pm-7:30pm in the auditorium (located at 493 Centre St. – Upper School). This is meant to provide parents, students, stakeholders, and staff an opportunity to hear directly for Dr. Chang about different topics of interest and importance, and to provide time to interact via Q&A. Dr. Chang plans to specifically address Extended Learning Time (ELT), long term financial planning and school quality. This meeting is open to anyone and is not specific to the Curley School. Please come to meet our Superintendent.

Picture Day for grades K-8

Picture Day this year for grades K-4th will take place Tuesday, October 25 from 8:15 am to 2:20 pm. On Thursday, October 27th, grades 5th-8th will take their pictures from 8:15 to 2:20 pm. Picture Day is rain or shine. If it’s raining photos will be in the the auditorium. Mrs. Powers and Mrs. Vasquez will place the picture forms in your mailbox by Friday, October 7, 2016. Please go the link Picture Day for more detailed instructions. We also have a schedule. Please see Mrs. Powers or Mr. Diaz if you have any questions.

Guidance Office Announcement 

Dear Staff, I will be out of the office 10/20/16 until 10/28/16 attending a Urban Leadership conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This means, the Guidance Office is closed during this time. If you need assistance during my absence (i.e. crisis management), please contact an administrator. Thank you! Sugeily

 Bulletin Boards

All bulletin boards should be updated by November 15th and each board should display student work (either final products or process) that ties directly to our instructional focus "Teachers will vary demands and resources, to optimize challenge in writing tasks, so students can express a clear, organized idea." If you need help please check in with your Climate Representative and don't forget to access added resources and description template here.

PARCC Results for Parents

We are hoping to have PARCC results to send home to families soon. We wanted to share this link to help staff and families better read the scaled score results - http://www.parcconline.org/assessments/score-results.

ELT (Take 2)

Some of you may be laughing remembering that we thought we would be adding 40 minutes this year but it was taken away last year. Well the district is once again moving forward with ELT for SY 2017-2018. Below is information that was sent out by the district to school leaders this week. We will be looking for staff to volunteer to participate in the trainings and planning sessions. Please let Katie know if you are interested.

Next year, your school will implement Schedule A Expanded Learning Time (ELT), a joint initiative between BPS, BTU, and the Mayor of Boston, to increase the length of the school day. This will provide children with more time for high-quality instruction and give teachers the time they need to collaborate as professionals. We know that this change will take significant planning, and - in partnership with Education Resource Strategies (ERS) - we have developed a hybrid model of whole group professional learning sessions and school-based workshops to support you through the process.

We ask that you assemble an ELT planning team, composed of:

• The principal
• 2-4 teachers (preferable to include a BTU building rep)
• An assistant principal, if your school has one
• A parent/family member of a student

Members of this team will ideally attend all sessions.

The professional learning/coaching schedule through the end of this year is:

• October 24-November 9: School-based Workshop #1 with ERS/ELT team
• School Design Vision
• Needs assessment
• Review organizational charts and current schedule
• Stakeholder Engagement
• November 10th 8:00-3:30: Whole Group Session #1
• Adult Culture
• Collaborative work and professional growth at your school
• School Community and SEL
• Personalized Learning
• Developing your stakeholder engagement plan
• November 16: Whole Group Session #2 (during regularly-scheduled Principal PD)
• Finalize “Building Blocks” for your design plan
• Introduction to strategic scheduling and scheduling tools
• November 17 - December 7: School-based Workshop #2
• Work on your school’s individual schedule
• Personalized support based on your school’s needs
• December 8: Whole Group Session #3
• Support developing your budget and staffing model for SY17-18 and aligning it with your schedule and priorities
• This will happen after the regularly scheduled budget session

For a list of schools that will be planning this year for implementation in SY17-18, click here. For a folder of resources related to Schedule A ELT (including an FAQ, an overview of Schedule A ELT, and sample letters to send home to families) click here.

FLU Shots

On November 3rd from 11:30-1:30 we will be offering Flu Shot Vaccines to all Curley Staff. Please connect with Nurse Pumphret for more details.

Halloween

The Curley K-8 will not have a Halloween celebration during the school day. As a community we are focused on health and wellness and therefore we ask that all candy remain at home. We are also asking that students leave all costumes, masks and face painting at home as well. Thank you in advance for your support around this matter.

SPED PD Options

Below are some PD options being offered at the Curley during our contractual PD dates. Staff may want to include one or more of these into their team PD plan. Here is the link to sign up   https://goo.gl/forms/BwtGbumLgXBfLUMF2

• Nov 17th --- The IEP Process/Meeting Expectations 
• Jan 19th --- Paperwork/IEP Progress Reports 
• Feb 16th --- Tier 1 and Tier 2 Interventions/curriculum modification 
• March 16th --- Behavior Supports 
• April 27th --- Understanding Disabilities and Services available 
• May 18th --- Middle School Transition/Life Skills 
• June 1st --- Inclusion 

Build BPS

BPS is looking to hear from various communities regarding the 10-Year Educational and Facilities Master Plan. There will be a Open House for communities on October 29^th-30^th from 9am-5pm at the Bruce C. Bolling Building. For more information go to http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/buildbps