Dear Burr Families,
Welcome to the 2016-2017 school year! I hope the summer vacation was a wonderful time of relaxing and re-energizing for everyone. The children came in with energy and excitement this morning! It was so nice to have the school buzzing with their positive energy. I am looking forward to beginning this journey with you towards another successful school year.
Those of you who dropped children off in the building today, or came to the Burr Open House last week, saw how fabulous the classrooms and common areas in the building look, and as you can imagine, it took many hours of hard work to get it looking just right! The teachers, office staff, and custodians have spent the last couple of weeks preparing for today. I’d like to thank them all for their dedication because there were some extra obstacles to work around this year.
It is unfortunate that after all the hard work done by the city and school department, we still have some issues with our water. Please know that we continue to work toward a solution. As you know, we have water dispensers around the building and I ask that you continue to send your child(ren) in to school with a water bottle. Cups will also be available as needed.
Please note that the school doors will open at 8:20 AM each morning and classes will begin at 8:30 AM. This allows a window of 10 minutes for children to come into the school, unpack their backpacks, and settle in. The doors by the kindergarten rooms will lock at 8:35 AM but children will be marked tardy at 8:30 AM. Please try to get children to school as close to 8:20 AM as possible because children, like all of us, need that extra time to settle in and say hello to friends before beginning their work. I hope habitually tardy families can make it a goal this year to be on time.
Last week, I learned that Andrew Arnold, the Burr music teacher, accepted a position in another town and we are left with a vacancy at Burr. Luckily, Emma Barker, a qualified music teacher, was available to help out as a substitute for a few weeks while we conduct a search for a new teacher.
On Friday, September 9, we will have a New Parent Welcome Coffee. It will be from 8:30 to 9:15 AM in the Burr Cafetorium, so come on down after dropping off your child(ren). All parents are welcome to attend. It will be a time to reconnect with old friends and meet some new families. Current parents are always a great help in answering some of the ‘newbie’ questions that come up. The PTO board members and other committee chairs will share a little information about the school. We will also have a brief update on the water remediation plan. I hope to see many of you at the coffee or at other school opening events.
The Burr Back to School Picnic will be on Wednesday, September 14. I am looking forward to a wonderful year as we work together to ensure that each child’s school experience is an exceptional one.
Sincerely,
Mindy Johal
A Few Important Reminders:
Now is a great time to sign up for our online school directory! If you signed up last year, you don't need to sign up again but you should login to update your child's teacher, any changes in information, addresses, etc. Room parents will also distribute paper copies for individual classes, but you still need to sign up for the online directory to be included.
Newton's Life Threatening Food Allergies Policy: This policy calls for reducing/eliminating food in schools for birthday and holiday celebrations. For the past six years, the teachers and parents have thought of creative alternative ways to acknowledge and celebrate students' birthdays in class.
Student Absence/Tardy Notification: If your child will be tardy or absent on a given day, please call the "call back" number to leave a message: 617-559-9380. Please do not call the main number.
MESSAGES: Please DO NOT call the office to have us give messages to your child unless it is an emergency. With 400+ students in the building, taking and delivering messages overwhelms the office and disrupts classrooms. Please make after school arrangements and tell your child what these are, before sending him/her to school. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.
BLUE ZONE: PLEASE abide by the Blue Zone rules to ensure that dismissal and drop off is as safe as possible for our children.
Students in grade K-2 should be picked up on the school side of the road. This will ensure that the teachers see you pull up and can get your child to you quickly and safely.
Any motor vehicle may stop in a Blue Zone location only long enough to let a child enter or exit the vehicle. There is no parking in the Blue Zone before or after school. The two zones (directly in front of the school and directly across from it) are marked by signs. Also, there is a “No Turning in Driveways” policy for cars. Since most of our students walk to school and cross two school driveways or the Gazebo driveway opposite the school, we can only be sure of their safety when cars do not pull into the driveways to reverse direction. It takes a little longer to continue around the block, but please do observe the rules to protect our children.
Please do not park in the teachers’ parking lot. You want your child’s teachers to be in the classrooms and not looking for parking! Parking is difficult at Burr. To alleviate this problem I encourage driving around the block, car-pooling, walking children to and from school, having children walk across the field and picking them up on Lexington Street. Thank you for your cooperation. http://www3.newton.k12.ma.us/