February 14, 2017

2/15/17 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Marilynn Regan and April Pumphret who go above and beyond the call of duty for our students. They are willing to do the ground work to connect with doctors, families and other family support organizations. Thank you for helping us teachers connect with all the important student support stakeholders.

Shout out to Eileen Cronin and Kate Davis for all their hard work in getting our internet upgrade! You regular communication, clear plans and quick response to questions was so helpful!!! Thank you for helping our school get one step closer to improving technology usage!

Literacy Collaborative & PACE PD

Just a reminder that PD will take place on Friday from 3pm-5pm.

Middle School Dance

Valentine's Dance on Friday, February 17, 2017 from 1:05 to 2:10 pm in the gym. Price: $3.00 and the proceeds will be used for the end of year field trip to Canobie Lake. Bottled water will be sold for $1.00 in the gym and again the proceeds will be used for the trip to Canobie Lake. Wrist bands will be available on Wednesday, February 15, 2017 from your homeroom teachers. Active chaperones are welcomed. Each team will send at least one adult chaperone who will actively supervise and help at the event. A cleaning crew will be ready after the dance. For more information please ask Maria Amy-Moreno in room 210, Upper School.

Stars Math

Our next math STARS assessment will be conducted Feb. 13-17th. Please make sure that students that are absent when you give the test make it up when they show up. This round we will be asking why students have not taken math STARS assessment.

If you have not already done so make sure you are analyzing the STARS data from the last assessment to help inform your teaching in order to increase SGPs. We will be looking closely at SGPs to ensure we are conducting the best instructional practices to ensure an increase in student achievement this year. If you need any help getting STARS data or analyzing it to think of next steps please email Sean Guthrie at sguthrie@bostonpublicschools.org to set up a time to meet.

 Computer Network Update

Upper School Only 
1. The new wireless network has been activated. To log into the network:
· From the Airport menu located in the upper-right-hand corner of your laptop select “BPS Staff”
· Enter your BPS Employee ID in the username field
· Enter your BPS password in the password field.
2. Remember to enter your attendance as usual on Tuesday morning by 9:30AM. 
3. Beginning tomorrow, all non-BPS wireless devices will be manually added to the new network by OIIT based on information staff entered on the provided Google form. Personal cell phones will only be able to access the BPS network with permission of Ms. Grassa.

Lower School Only 
Please contact Kate or Eileen if you still have non-BPS devices that need access to the new network at: Kdavis3@bostonpublicschoools.org & ecronin@bostonpublicschools.org
Thanks for your continued patience throughout this upgrade process. We look forward to improved Internet performance for the entire Curley Campus.

School Climate Team

Please join us for our climate team meeting on Wednesday, February 15th from 3pm-4:15pm in room 003.

Join us for our 10-day Happy Curley Teacher Challenge!

Wednesday is day 5, do the challenge below! If you'd like to be entered in a raffle on the 17th send a picture connected to your challenge to gmehari@bostonpublicschools.org.
Challenge #5: Do something nice for a colleague.
Potential Pictures Ideas: a picture symbolizing the nice thing you did, a picture of the colleague, a selfie of the both of you.




Educator of the Year Nominations - Due 2/24

The City of Boston, Boston Public Schools (BPS) and the Boston Teachers Union (BTU) invite all of our stakeholders: teachers, administrators, students, families and community members, to nominate exceptional educators and to honor their work and dedication through the 2017 Boston Educator of the Year Awards. Visit bit.ly/eoyboston for nomination information.

MCAS (Yes, it is that time of year again!)

As we get closer to our MCAS testing date we want to make sure we are continuing to make progress towards our team goals that are linked to the school wide instructional focus:
  • Teachers will vary demands and resources, in order to optimize challenge in writing tasks, so students can express a clear organized idea. 
It is important that we are preparing students to express clear organized ideas because this will lead to improved student outcomes. We want to be able to see improvements in our data from last years results.
Please use the link below to prepare students for the technology that they will be using on MCAS 2.0. Our students come to this online test with a range of exposure to technology. It is expected that all students taking MCAS 2.0 will have taken the practice MCAS 2.0 online for math and ELA by Friday March 3rd. The admin team will be checking in with teachers to ensure you are familiar with the online tools of MCAS 2.0.
Please map out how many weeks you have until your MCAS dates and plan to cover the major standards that you want to cover before the MCAS. It’s more important to cover essential standards over trying to cover as much as you can before MCAS. This is a case where less is more and quality trumps quantity.
MCAS Calendar Link
Any questions, concerns or ideas regarding MCAS scheduling or the practice test should be sent to David Diaz.

Using ESS

If you wish to request a day off (medical appointments, religious holidays, professional day, bereavement, personal day etc...), sign on to Boston Employees Self Service (ESS, Please bookmark this page). When possible, request a personal day at least two weeks in advance. Staff members will request sub coverage through SubCentral (https://subcentral.bostonpublicschools.org/logOnInitAction.do). Please do not decide whether you think a sub is needed and submit the request as soon as you know a day you will be absent. We have many unexpected coverage needs that might need sub help. We are attaching a list of subs who usually work at the Curley upon request.
Sick Day Procedure (teachers and paraprofessionals)


    Buddies Update

    Are you struggling to think about what to do with your buddy classroom during these cold, snowy, winter days? Check out this link for ideas and feel free to add any fun ideas you may have!

    Equity Circular Acknowledgement

    A reminder that all employees must sign off by 2/24/17 that they have read and understood the Equity circulars. Please ensure that everyone in your school or department has done so by using this link: https://docs.google.com/a/bostonpublicschools.org/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScn_XBQo_a1EoyHaWpJ7Xtx6m760tcEj67OI3X6KUsRAS1pAA/viewform Contact: Grace Jung, bpsequity@bostonpublicschools.org

    NAEP Testing Grades 4th and 8th

    The Curley K-8 School will participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on 3/8/2017 (8th grade) and 3/9/2017 (4th grade). Your students will take a mathematics or reading assessment. I will send a list of all students taking the assessment once we input all the accommodations for ELL and Special Education Students. The assessment also asks students questions about their daily routine and their educational experiences. Student responses are anonymous, and they provide context and meaning to the assessment results. You will also receive an email for NAEP with a Teacher Questionnaire to help them gather information on teacher training and instructional practices. Please visit http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/booklets.asp to review sample questions.


    The assessment takes about 90 to 120 minutes for most students. This year, students might take a computer based or paper test and the Department Of Education sends their own staff to administer the test. A letter notifying parents about the NAEP Assessment and other helpful information will go out no later than February 17, 2017. It is important to note that the information collected is used for statistical purposes only. Students may be excused for any reason, are not required to complete the assessment, and may skip any question. While the assessment is voluntary, NAEP depends on student participation to help policymakers improve education. If parents do not want their children to participate, they are able to opt out. However, parents need to notify the school in writing by 2/28/2017.

    K2, First and Second Grade Teachers

    The BAS and Dibels windows are open from January 23rd to March 3rd. Teachers should find an independent, instructional and hard level for students not meeting the current benchmark according to your most recent running records. The current benchmarks are: K2 - C, 1st - H, 2nd - L.

    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
    • 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

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