The Last Week of May- 2020

Borrowed this family picture from my friend and FRPS Special Educator Bethany Franco.. I wanted to share because this picture is worth a thousand words right now for us as our children have been challenged to interact with their world through a glowing rectangle.  Let's keep faith in the dream that we will be able to return this great world to them soon.

As many of you are beginning to wrap up thoughts on this year, you may have questions about how next year will look.  As we discussed in PLCs this week, the year will happen for our kids, but may not be what we are used to.  As soon as we as a district have information from the state and DESE, we will problem solve together how to best implement the requirements, and sort through the guidelines.  Yesterday, this article was released:

Massachusetts Education Officials Working to Have K-12 Schools Open in the Fall

By Katie Lannan | State House News Service

State education officials intend to provide school districts with guidance on summer programming early next week, followed by a mid-June distribution of draft fall guidance to help schools plan to reopen in the new academic year.

"I want to be clear, we are working to have schools up and running in the fall, with appropriate safety protocols," commissioner Jeff Riley said during a Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting Tuesday. "Moreover, we hope to have some summer programming as well, but as with all, we will await the guidance from the administration on the timeline and the phases and when things are available."

We will continue to plan for our fall opening, and communicate with teachers, students and families as to how we can all still be safe while returning to school.  

Thank you for working on the Supply Orders- they were due today at 3PM.  I have these, and have read through them, and will send them to Russ Lewis so he can obtain bids/supplies for us.  Thanks Russ!  As discussed in PLCs, we are planning to still have students working from a classroom set of supplies, and I will be drafting a letter for families so that they understand the routine, and how they can send students to school with their own personal supplies if they wish.

I really wish I had more answers for you this week, and want you to know I am doing all I can to support my department throughout this time of uncertainty and new territory.  As news is released, I will do my best to be innovative in problem solving around how to best plan for the 2020/21 school year for teachers and students in the Fine and Performing Arts classes.  Please be patient, don't let the unknown stress you out, and know that we will work together to get "Back to School."

In the News This Week:
  • PLC: Itinerants:
    • We discussed Supply Orders, what to plan for- the usual amounts
    • Checked in with Solo Fest and "This is Why I Play" videos 
    • Established timeline for Itinerants to email principals with spreadsheets for instrument returns
    • Planned for next week's discussion on what books to choose for band/orch for next year
  • PLC: K-5: 
    • We discussed student work
    • Reminder about viewing the blog for weekly updates
    • Reminder regarding blogs
    • Reminder about Supply Lists and what to plan for
    • Chalk Challenge Plans
    • Plan for discussion next week will be around PDPs and re-licensure
    • Reviewed Grading and end of year dates
  • PLC: 6-8:
    • Discussed Supply Lists and plan
    • Discussed Chalk Challenge
    • Brief discussion regarding reopening- questions
    • Plan for discussion next week will be around PDPs and re-licensure
    • Reviewed Grading 
  • PLC: 9-12:
    • Discussed Grading, for seniors and 9-11
    • Discussed course sections from the count of student requests
    • Discussed supplies for next year
Planning Ahead:
  • Solo Fest Adjudication: Video submittal ending soon- June 5
  • Students return instruments- Weeks of June 8th and 15th
  • End of Online Teaching and Learning: June 16
  • June 17-22- Students complete/submit missing work- teachers grade
  • FRPS Chalk Challenge- June 15-19
  • Last day of school- Monday June 22nd.
Shout Outs:
  • Morton Teachers for their Morton's Got Talent!  Check it out:LINK
  • Mr. Q for consistently updating his Google Site for kids!!  Check it out: LINK
  • To all of you who challenged yourselves to build an online Bitmoji Virtual Classroom and will be using it with your kids!  Awesome work!
  • Rochelle Pettenatti for her undying passion for her kids and getting art supplies to them.. Congrats on the Donor's Choose donation for Doran!
  • Gael Berberick for being selected to perform in the As Music Heals Concert- June 1st!  Check it out: LINK

Have a great weekend, and see you in June!

Jackie 


Comments