Principal's Newsletter—May 26, 2021
Dear Burr Families;
The students, teachers, and Burr PTO are busy completing projects, planning activities for the end-of-year, and even beginning to imagine what the fall will look like. We’re all hoping we can have a ‘regular’ school opening in September. Each week it feels like we’re getting closer to it. For planning purposes, here is the school calendar for the 2021-22 school year.
For now, I want to share some quick updates with you all:
Retirement
The Burr executive administrative assistant, Maura Albano, will be retiring at the end of this school year. Maura has been at Burr School for 21 years and I can’t imagine a Burr front office without her! Maura’s smiling face and great energy in our front office will be missed. We will begin the search for a new administrative assistant soon. I hope to fill it before the end of the school year.
Classroom Assignments for 2021-22
The classroom teachers at each grade level will be:
Kindergarten: Ms. Frail, Ms. Mc Mahon, Ms. Russo
Grade One: Ms. Espinal, Ms. Fitch, Ms. Golden
Grade Two: Ms. Cooley, Ms. Field, Ms. Roberts
Grade Three: Ms. Canning, Ms. MacNeill, Ms. Oh
Grade Four: Ms. Bapat, Ms. Li, Ms. Tice
Grade Five: Ms. Robinson, Ms. Harris
Due to a reduction in classrooms in fifth grade, Ms. Cooley has volunteered to join the second grade team. She is looking forward to teaching the younger students after many years in grades 4 & 5.
Student Council News
The Burr Student Council members ran a very successful Bubble Drive collecting toiletries for the Centre Food Pantry in Newton. The fifth graders visited classrooms (both in-person and virtually) to introduce the project and encourage participation. The donations bins have been overflowing and we have collected over 200 bags filled with soap, shampoo, toothpaste, a toothbrush, and dental floss. The bags were delivered to the food pantry this week. Thank you all for your generosity.
Information about the Move-a-thon and pledge sheets was sent home with students earlier this week. For your convenience, I have linked them in this email as well. The funds raised will go to UNICEF to provide COVID 19 relief for hard-hit areas in the world. Families are invited to come to Burr to cheer students along as they move around the field. The times for each class are listed on the Move-a-thon information sheet.
Visitor to Burr School
On Monday, Congressman Jake Auchincloss visited Burr School. He stopped by several classrooms and met with staff members. He spend an extended amount of time with our 5th graders who shared the challenge the pandemic has posed to their schooling and social well-being.
Assessment Time
MCAS is done! Our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders are to be congratulated on taking the tests and putting forth their best efforts.
Our classroom teacher and literacy team are currently, busy administering reading assessments to all of our students to find out how they have progressed this year. The information we gather about the students will allow us to more accurately report progress in the June report cards and make plans for supporting students in the fall.
Warm Weather Attire for School
Each year when the weather warms up we have to remind the students about appropriate school dress requirements. I have asked all the teachers to remind the students about our dress code and ask that you also reinforce this at home. Children should not come to school wearing spaghetti strap tops, bare midriffs, low-cut or low-riding pants, or very short skirts. We also ask that they not wear flip-flops. Even some sandals can be dangerous on the playground. If your child is not dressed appropriately, please know that we will contact you to bring in a change of clothing.
Have a lovely weekend.
Best,
Mindy