THE BURR BUZZ: August 2019

Burr Newsletter From Principal Johal

August 30, 2019

Dear Burr Families,

It was so lovely to see so many of you and your children at the Burr School Open House yesterday. Student and parents were checking in with staff and sharing vacation stories and family updates. There was a lot of excitement (and some nervousness) about the start of a new year. We are well prepared and poised for a successful start.

The staff has been working hard to get the classrooms and building ready for the first day! This year, we only have 17 classrooms at Burr with three at each grade except in grade three, where we have two sections. This reduction in enrollment has allowed us to repurpose some of the classroom and move a few things around. The special education and ELL classrooms are now in a classroom that we have divided up to allow for some private small group teaching. The Inclusion Facilitator’s room is now upstairs, and the book room has moved to a bigger space, making books easily accessible for teachers. Our social worker and school psychologist now have offices downstairs near the front office.

As you can imagine, these changes have required a lot of extra work on the part of our custodians, Dan Diaz, and Thaddeus Romero. They have worked through the hot summer days to get it all done. Over the last two weeks, they have good-naturedly moved around heavy bookcase, cabinets, and tables as teachers have tried to get their spaces just right. I want to thank them for their hard work and commitment.

I’m excited for Tuesday and the start of another great school year.

The following is information to help with the transition back to school.

ARRIVAL PROCEDURES

On the first day of school, parents will be able to walk their children into the building if they wish to do so. Starting Wednesday, September 4, parents will be asked to stop at the entrance and allow children to enter the building independently. Staff members will be in the hallways to assist students as needed. The one exception will be for kindergarten families, who will begin the new procedure on Monday, September 9 because separation for a few kindergarten children (and parents) can be a little harder.

Please note that the school doors will open at 8:20 AM each morning and classes will begin at 8:30 AM. The 10 minutes window of time allows 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 after 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.

Student Absence/Tardy Notification: If your child will be tardy or absent on a given day, please call 617-559-9380 and leave a message. Please do not call the main number.

DISMISSAL PROCEDURES

First Week Dismissal

Dismissal can be a little confusing the first few days of school, so to make it a little easier for our kindergarten families, kindergarteners will be dismissed ten minutes earlier the first week of school. This will allow new parents to become familiar with the dismissal procedure without so many people crowding the dismissal area. If you have older children at Burr, then you can plan to pick up your kindergartener at the regular dismissal time with his/her sibling(s). They will stay with their classroom teachers until you pick them up.

Procedures for the year

Be sure to send in a note with your child if there are any changes in his/her dismissal plans. Teachers collect those in the morning and send them down to the office. Last-minute changes should be avoided. If an emergency arises and a change must be made, be sure to call the office. Emailing the classroom teacher during the school day is not a good idea because teachers often do not get to check their email messages during the school day.

Last year, some of you faithfully displayed signs in your cars for Blue Zone pick up. Please continue this practice. It is really helpful for staff as we try to get students to their vehicles. I’d love to see an increase in this practice this year. We will distribute signs to new families during the first week of school and provide replacements if needed.

A reminder of our Blue Zone rules is included below. When everyone follows these rules, dismissal is safe for all our children.

FOOD ALLERGIES

The Burr staff is diligent about ensuring that children with food allergies have safe spaces in classrooms and the cafeteria to eat. Teachers spend time educating all students about safe practices for eating food around their peers with allergies. A few Burr classrooms have a more restrictive food policy to safeguard students in those rooms with severe life-threatening allergies. Notices will be sent home this week to families in those classrooms.

On Tuesday, September 3, we will have a Welcome Parent Principal Coffee from 8:30 to 9:15 AM in the Burr Cafetorium. I invite you to join us 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. I hope to see many of you at the Welcome Coffee or other school opening events.

BACK TO SCHOOL EVENTS

Burr School Picnic - Thursday, September 12

Student School Picture Day – Friday, September 20

Burr Curriculum Night – Thursday, September 26

EARLY RELEASE DAYS

In addition to the early release days on Tuesdays, we will have six early release days throughout the year. Students will be released from school at 12:30 PM on the following early dismissal days, and lunch will not be served:

· Thursday, September 26

· Wednesday, October 30

· Wednesday, December 4

· Thursday, February 6

· Thursday, March 19

· Thursday, May 7

Please be sure to mark these dates on your calendar.

Sincerely,

Mindy Johal
Principal, Burr School

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 & 1 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 without having to leave the rest of their students unsupervised.

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 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/transportation/bluezone

Burr School Open House—Thursday, August 29 1:30-2:30pm

Come in and visit your new classroom and meet the teachers!

Please note that teachers will not be available at other times prior to the opening of school. Teachers are tightly scheduled with meetings to convey important information from teacher to teacher in addition to setting up classrooms.

New Lunch Provider—Whitson's School Lunch

Here is a sneak peak at September's lunch menu with new food vendor Whitson's. Stay tuned for more info about the new lunch program! There is now a page on the Burr PTO website for feedback and Burr has a liaison with Whitson's to help make sure there's satisfaction with the lunch program.

Important Dates—Mark Your Calendars!

9/3 - First Day of School! Welcome Coffee at 8:20am
9/12- Back to School Picnic 5:30-7:30pm
9/26 - Early Release - Curriculum Night 6:30-8:30pm

THE BURR BUZZ

THE BURR PTO PRESENTS

Upcoming event dates!

Burr Newsletter From Principal Johal

Burr School Open House—Thursday, August 29 1:30-2:30pm

New Lunch Provider—Whitson's School Lunch

Important Dates—Mark Your Calendars!