Principal's Newsletter
March 19, 2020
Dear Families,
I hope that all of you are remaining safe and finding meaningful and engaging ways to spend your days during this uncertain time. As you heard from Dr. Fleishman, we are providing you with resources that will provide continuity for our students during this uncertain time. As you work to develop schedules and routines that work for your family, we encourage you to access the site below for grade-level appropriate activities that complement and reinforce our curriculum: www.newton.k12.ma.us/covid19.
We are committed to helping families that may need access to devices at home in order to engage in online learning opportunities. If you do not have a web-capable device at home other than a cell phone (such as an iPad, Chromebook, PC, or Mac) please complete this request form (https://forms.gle/K3SgotNY38V1ncNe9). Our technology support team will be in touch with you to discuss next steps.
You can expect to hear from your child’s teacher on a weekly basis starting on Monday, March 23 (end of day). Each week, teachers will be reaching out with a personal message for students and specific recommendations for activities that students and families can complete. These activities are grade-level appropriate and can be completed by students independently or with support from family. Special education staff, English language learning teachers, and counselors and other staff are also available to communicate with students and families through email. Please understand that we are all doing our best to support our students, while, like you, adjusting to the realities of our current situation and supporting our own families.
We recognize that with school closing, it may be difficult for some of our families to access adequate food. So many of you have already reached out to help and responded to the request sent out by our PTO. Spencer Poole and Cristal Balis have been working with our social worker, Nicki Eastburn, to collect and distribute donations. Moving forward, we will have a weekly Community Food Table at Burr. The table will include mostly nonperishable items, and from time to time, some fresh items and some hygiene supplies.
If you need to access this there will be no questions asked, no need to verify need, and it will be completely confidential. The Burr Community Food Table will be available on Wednesdays from 10:30-11 a.m. and be staffed by Nicki Eastburn. If you have any questions about food insecurity or other supports you might need, please feel free to reach out to Ms. Eastburn at eastburnn@newton.k12.ma.us.
Additionally, if you would like to donate items for our Community Food Table, please be in touch with PTO Co-President, Spencer Poole at burrschoolptonewton@gmail.com.
I hope that we will be able to resume life as we know it soon. I wish you all good health and invite you to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Best,
Mindy
johalm@newton.k12.ma.us
Dear Families,
I hope that all of you are remaining safe and finding meaningful and engaging ways to spend your days during this uncertain time. As you heard from Dr. Fleishman, we are providing you with resources that will provide continuity for our students during this uncertain time. As you work to develop schedules and routines that work for your family, we encourage you to access the site below for grade-level appropriate activities that complement and reinforce our curriculum: www.newton.k12.ma.us/covid19.
We are committed to helping families that may need access to devices at home in order to engage in online learning opportunities. If you do not have a web-capable device at home other than a cell phone (such as an iPad, Chromebook, PC, or Mac) please complete this request form (https://forms.gle/K3SgotNY38V1ncNe9). Our technology support team will be in touch with you to discuss next steps.
You can expect to hear from your child’s teacher on a weekly basis starting on Monday, March 23 (end of day). Each week, teachers will be reaching out with a personal message for students and specific recommendations for activities that students and families can complete. These activities are grade-level appropriate and can be completed by students independently or with support from family. Special education staff, English language learning teachers, and counselors and other staff are also available to communicate with students and families through email. Please understand that we are all doing our best to support our students, while, like you, adjusting to the realities of our current situation and supporting our own families.
We recognize that with school closing, it may be difficult for some of our families to access adequate food. So many of you have already reached out to help and responded to the request sent out by our PTO. Spencer Poole and Cristal Balis have been working with our social worker, Nicki Eastburn, to collect and distribute donations. Moving forward, we will have a weekly Community Food Table at Burr. The table will include mostly nonperishable items, and from time to time, some fresh items and some hygiene supplies.
If you need to access this there will be no questions asked, no need to verify need, and it will be completely confidential. The Burr Community Food Table will be available on Wednesdays from 10:30-11 a.m. and be staffed by Nicki Eastburn. If you have any questions about food insecurity or other supports you might need, please feel free to reach out to Ms. Eastburn at eastburnn@newton.k12.ma.us.
Additionally, if you would like to donate items for our Community Food Table, please be in touch with PTO Co-President, Spencer Poole at burrschoolptonewton@gmail.com.
I hope that we will be able to resume life as we know it soon. I wish you all good health and invite you to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Best,
Mindy
johalm@newton.k12.ma.us