10/2/17 Daily Bulletin

Shout Out

Shout out to Laura Negoshian for handling a difficult situation with a student and de-escalting in a timely fashion and keeping a positive attitude.

Shout out to Emily Beck for being supportive, flexible and helping me set up our self-portrait gallery before open house!

Shout out to Charles Tewksbury, Craig Melzer, Lesley Peck-Oser, Linda Griffith, Kyriaki Iatrou and Debbie Bryson for their efforts in rethinking International Week and addressing the bias that was present in our previous practices.

Shout out to Mary Ryan, Ms. Faulkner, Mr. G., Katelyn Coveney, Kristen Hawes, and Ms. Reese for all doing a fabulous job covering for Ms. Clark today. We ran it like a well greased machine, all team players!

Shout out to our ABA specialists who have been extremely flexible and hard working during this challenging time! We appreciate all of the hard work you all are doing. Thank you for all you do!

Shout out to Patty Garcia. I am so impressed with her calm demeanor and gentleness with her students despite challenging and unsafe behaviors. She's an inspiration.
Shout out to Karen Wiesen-Chan, Leida Arroyo, Maria Santos, Shawn Paulling, Nina Wessen and many members of the Health and Wellness Committee for running a successful smoothie station at the Open House. They bought all the supplies for the stations, set up, made our delicious smoothies and then cleaned up (even after a very long day). A special Curley Community shout out goes to parents: Katie Fitch and Ann Williams for representing both Curley parents and the Health & Wellness Committee. They helped in planning the logistics of the stations, smoothie making, passing out flyers and getting more parents to volunteer for our events! Lastly-thank you to fellow teacher Lindsey Wright for generously lending us your table!

 

Flu Shots for Staff

On Wednesday, October 11th we will be offering FREE flu shots to Curley staff. From 12:30pm-2:00pm stop by the Teacher's Room and remember that staff MUST bring their health insurance card with them. Please see out nurses for further details.

K-5 Teachers

As we have begun to settle into the school year we realize that teams may have adjusted their daily schedules to best meet the needs of students. We need to update the grade level and CPT tabs on the Master Schedule to ensure that administrators and other school staff have accurate information. If you have made changes to your daily schedule or your CPT times since you submitted them in the spring, please send the updated versions to Waverly (wkidd@bostonpublicschools.org) by Friday October 6th. Thanks in advance!

Curley Shares

Please submit student names for October, 2017 Curley Cares awards using THIS FORM.

• The awards are one way to recognize up to three of the students you work with who exhibit consistent or improved understanding of the Curley Cares rules as demonstrated by a specific deed, general conduct, overall academic perseverance and/or improvement, or some other form of participation. 
• Awards will be given to students at our first 2017-2018 Curley Shares assemblies on Wednesday, October 18, 2017. 
• The intent behind Curley Cares is reinforce positive (caring) behaviors and that each Curley K8 student receive at least one Curley Shares award each year. All Curley K8 staff members can submit student names for an award. If you have any questions about the awards or the submission process, please contact your Climate Team representative. 
• Submissions are DUE by 4:00pm on Friday, October 13, 2017.

Health and Wellness Committee

Please join us for our October meeting on Tuesday, October 3rd at 7:30am in Room 203. All families and staff are welcome to attend!

School Site Council (SSC)

Please join us for our first SSC meeting of the year on Tuesday, October 10th from 5:30pm-7pm in Room 209. All families and staff are welcome to attend. We are looking to fill the remaining elected seats onto SSC for staff. We can elect up to 6 teacher and paras and 7 parents are elected as well. Please see email from Connie Redden with details.

ID Badges

Please remember to wear you badge tomorrow and also to let yourself in the building. If you have lost or misplaced your badge please let Kathy Powers know. We recognize that not all new staff have their IDs yet and we are working on this.

Library Committee

Please share with friends and family the news that the Curley K-8 Library is receiving Shelf Help from the Boston Book Festival! The organizers of the Festival are promoting and publicizing this wishlist, to help us re-open the library with new, hardcover children’s books. The Boston Book Festival is October 28 in Copley Square, and is a fantastic, free, family-friendly celebration of literature for readers of all ages. Our first Library Committee Meeting will be Saturday, October 21 at 9 am, in the Community Room of the JP Branch Library on South Street (next to Curtis Hall.) Please join us to talk about next steps for fundraising, publicity, work in the library, and more. Thank you to everyone who has helped the library, we look forward to a grand opening later in the fall!

Refrigerator Available for Teachers Room

A Curley parent, Rob Ditzion, is replacing a perfectly good refrigerator, about the size of the one the Curley has now. Teachers and Paras, please consider whether to pursue it. It would have to be retrieved from his JP residence. If enough people think it would be good to have a second refrigerator, please weigh in and plans can get made for several strong people to pick it up, if someone can make a pickup available. Contact Charles T. (would be one of the pickup crew). He'll have to let Mr. Ditzion know - YES OR NO - by Monday afternoon.

Support for Hurricane Victims

Our 7th grade Geography classes are taking on a project to help us think about how to Care About the World. They are particularly focusing on the devastation in Puerto Rico and Houston. We will have an event to raise funds for these effected areas. More info will be forthcoming and we will be looking for your input and support. Please reach out to Craig Melzer with ideas or questions.

Emergency Cards

We need emergency cards from all students. Once you receive one from everyone please make a copy for the main office and the nurses office as well. Open House is a great time to collect any that are missing.

Window Schedule

In both the Upper and Lower School you may see our contractors caulking the outside of the windows while you are teaching. We are trying to not distract the work in classrooms but this work needs to be done in daylight. Below is the two week schedule for rooms that will be working on in the afternoon inside each classroom. Please make sure that all furniture in these rooms is 3ft-5ft away from the windows and staff exit this space after dismissal. We will send a new update every two weeks. Please direct all questions about windows to Katie Grassa.

James Curley School Window & Door Replacement
Week of 9/25/17- 10/7/17
Work Hours Monday – Friday: 4:00 – 11:30pm 

Week of 9/25- 9/30
Caulking Ongoing
Roller Shades Week of 10/2 – 10/7

Mary Curley School Window & Door Replacement
Week of 9/25 – 10/7
Work Hours Monday - Friday: 4:00 – 11:30pm 

Week of 9/25-9/30
Interior Blocking
o Complete in classrooms. Continue on stairwasy, hallways, gymnasium,
and auditorium.
Interior Finish Trim
o All rooms on the Centre St. wing
Interior Painting
o Following behind finish trim crews 

• Caulking
o Exterior ongoing 

Week of 10/2 – 10/7
Interior Blocking
o Complete in classrooms. Continue on stairways, hallways, gymnasium,
and auditorium.
Interior Finish Trim
o All rooms on the back section of Mary Curley and connector
Interior Painting
o Follow behind trim crew 

• Caulking
o Exterior ongoing

Note from Superintendent Tommy Chang

The devastating natural disasters in recent weeks that have impacted large portions of the southern United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Caribbean have touched many of us directly or indirectly. During these times, it is important for us to come together as a community to support our students, families and staff who have been affected, as well help the people in these regions try to recover from these events.

Within the Boston Public Schools (BPS) community, many students, families and staff have loved ones living in the impacted areas. This BPS website has resources to help staff talk to students about natural disasters. We have also included tips on how to care for your own mental health after a natural disaster.  

I ask that schools share ideas on how we can provide comfort to our communities and support relief efforts. We can all work together to collect ideas on this document.  I would like to thank the school leaders who have shared their thoughts with me directly and provided examples of letters that they have sent to their school communities.

As Bostonians, we don’t shy away from stepping up to help others in times of emergency — and our city has been grateful for the support it has received during our own times of crisis. Please join us in donating to organizations such as the American Red Cross, UNICEF, and Save the Children, and in supporting one another everyday.

Pathways

Pathways (ESL, Moderate Disabilities, Severe Disabilities) is now posted on MyLearningPlan. Please sign up ASAP!!!! Email Katie once you sign up so she can recommend you.

Aspen/SIS Student Assignments

Please check your 'Attendance' and 'Student' tabs. If there are any students that are incorrect on either tab, please let the following admin know so that they can update the student's schedule.

• K-2: Lindsey Morgan 
• 3-5: David Diaz 
• 6-8: Adrian Ward-Jackson 

Playworks Class Game Time (CGT)

Due to Playworks professional development trainings, the afternoon CGT are cancelled for this week.Those who have signed up for morning slots on weeks 1 & 3 of the month will have their first CGT this week. I will be stopping by in the morning the day of your CGTs as a reminder and notify the location. Feel free to email me any questions you have (jacqueline.conley@playworks.org).

This is the finalized CGT schedule for K2-5th grade. Please double check that your times are correct and fit with your schedule. We have a little wiggle room for swaps with open times so please get back to me as soon as possible if there is a problem or concern. This week is the 3rd week of the month so I will be seeing all of my morning classes for the rest of the week. I will come by in the morning as a reminder and work out a good location for your CGT. Afternoon lessons are cancelled for this week and will begin next week. I apologize for this inconvenience but I have professional development training with Playworks at 3:00 pm.

Evaluation and Goals Reminders

Our school-wide Student Learning Goals and Professional Practice Goals can be found at the following link: SLP & PPG 2017-2018

Here are some important upcoming dates regarding evaluation:

Goals & Action Steps – Due September 29th
Response from administrator by October 6th

Early Childhood Assessments now on Illuminate! 

The Early Childhood assessments are on Illuminate for the 17/18 school year! PALS and LAP-D currently available. EVT coming very soon. Contact: Brian Gold

Counseling Services for Students

The Guidance Office is charged with providing a range of services to students, families, and faculty that support and promote the successful functioning of our students. One of the ways we do this is by providing students with individual counseling services. We are very fortunate to have amazing clinicians from The Home for Little Wanderers, Children Services of Roxbury (CSR), and Community Service Institute (CSI) to support our students. These Clinicians provide a range of services including, but not limited to: providing solution­-focused strategies to help students manage problems that may arise during the school day, providing crisis assessments and developing safety plans, and working with teachers to help them understand how a student’s social­/emotional concerns may impact their academic performance and identify classroom strategies that can help the student to be successful.
If during the course of this school year, you have a student in need of counseling services, please inform Ms. Santos (4-8th grade) or Ms. Silva (K-3rd grade). All students seeking counseling services MUST receive parental consent in order to receive school-based services. You can obtain parent permission by sending home the "Parent Permission Form," then, submitting the form to Ms. Santos or Ms. Silva. You can find copies of this form below, in the Lower or Upper school office, or by visiting the Guidance Office located in the Upper-School room 203.

Guide to the Boston Public Schools (Formerly Blue Guide Books Handed to Families)

The following is a message going out to families:
In an effort to reduce paper waste and create a more efficient system, BPS has decided to move the guide online. Families and students will view the guide and fill out necessary online at www.bostonpublicschools.org/family guide.

The guide is available in English and nine other languages. It outlines many of the district's policies, programs, and services. A separate booklet contains forms needs to be completed at www.bostonpublicschools.org/contact.

A limited number of paper booklets will be provided to each main office for families of students who are new to BPS or do not have access to the internet. We encourage you to go online and complete the form for each of your students as soon as possible. Thank you for your cooperation.