THE BURR BUZZ: May 2023

THE BURR PTO PRESENTS

Welcome to the PTO Board!

We are excited to announce the newly elected members of the PTO Board for 2023–2024 school year! They will take on their positions as of July. Thank you for volunteering for the Burr Community!

Co-Presidents- Amie Butler, Angie Kim, Amir Moghimi, and Jyoti Shah
Treasurer- Casey Kudesia
Secretary- Julie Swersey
Educational Support Chair - Mariko Wong
Communications Chair - Grace Huang
DEI Chair - Shannon Derick

THE BURR PTO PRESENTS

Burr PTO Community Meeting—Wednesday, May 24

Please join us for our last Burr PTO Community Meeting of the school year on Wednesday, May 24th at 7:30. You can register here for the zoom.

Our agenda will feature:

Election of the SY23-24 PTO Board
Upcoming Events
Feedback and brainstorming

Our candidates include:

Co-President (4 positions)- Amie Butler, Angie Kim, Amir Moghimi, and Jyoti Shah
Treasurer- Casey Kudesia
Secretary- Julie Swersey
Educational Support Chair - Mariko Wong
Communications Chair - Grace Huang
DEI Chair Shannon Derick

Look for a separate email with bios and pictures from each of our candidates. We look forward to seeing you on Zoom!

SEPAC Awards

As you may know, each year, parents, guardians, and students are able to nominate NPS and Out of District teachers and staff for a Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) Award. A SEPAC Award recognizes exceptional NPS and Out of District teachers, aides, behavior therapists, psychologists, bus drivers, crossing guards, administrators, and other staff for the role they played in a student’s special education journey this past academic year. Are you interested in nominating an exceptional NPS or Out of District teacher and/or staff member? The deadline for nominations is Monday, May 22nd. Here’s how the process works:

Submit a nomination through this nomination form.
All celebratory nominations will be recognized.
In early June, your nominee will receive:

A printed SEPAC Award delivered to their home school
A note with the kind words you wrote about your nominee
A short slideshow of anonymized nominations lifting up the good work taking place across the district

Each principal will receive a list of nominees from their school
Do you need to nominate everyone from your student’s team? Please only nominate the teachers and staff members who you feel have been exceptional!
Questions? Reach out to: newtonspecialeducationawards@gmail.com

Thank you so much for your participation recognizing the exceptional NPS and Out of District teachers and staff who work so hard to support special education students. Please help us share this message as widely as possible so the SEPAC Awards can reach all corners of our community!

THE BURR PTO PRESENTS

PTO 2023—24 Elections Are Coming!

The Burr Community Needs Your Help!

Could you be the next PTO Secretary? Fundraising Chair? Community Events Co-chair? We still need volunteers for these roles!

Board elections for the next school year are coming up May 24th at the Burr PTO Community meeting @7:30pm. The board is comprised of 10–12 volunteers who are elected for a 2-year term.

These roles generally require 6–12 hrs/month of commitment, including monthly board meetings, and some committee/community meetings. We generally meet in the evenings outside of school/business hours (usually via Zoom), and flex to support each other when other life demands need to take precedence. If you want to help support our school—we'd love to work with you! Reach out to anyone on the board or email info@burrpto.org for more information.

THE BURR PTO PRESENTS

The Department of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Office of Student Services would like to invite you to our upcoming NPS community forum:

Culturally Responsive Community

Tuesday, May 16, 7:00–8:30pm

This virtual event is open to all NPS students, parents, staff, and administrators to hear from Lorena Germán, educator and author of Textured Teaching: A Framework for Culturally Sustaining Practices. Her presentation will be followed by a panel of NPS students and educators, who will speak about their identities and experiences with culturally-responsive instruction and practices in our school community.

For the last several years, NPS leaders have been engaged in professional development and training to enhance culturally responsive instruction (CRI) in the classroom and beyond. This conversation is intended to help broaden the community's understanding of the values, components, and impact of a culturally responsive school community that acknowledges and embraces ALL identities and learning needs represented within NPS.

*To register, please RSVP in advance in order to receive a zoom link prior to the event.

THE BURR PTO PRESENTS

World Culture Fair was a Great Success!

WOW!! What amazing performers Burr had at the World Culture Fair! We hope all the families at Burr enjoyed it. The children seemed so happy watching their peers dance and displaying their culture through dance.

Also a big THANK YOU to all of our country tables, we had over 12 countries! Germany, Brazil, Greece, Chile, Korea, Pakistan, India, and so many more. The kids had so much fun playing with Kinetic Sand, Molding Clay, making bracelets and much more. Thank you for all of your creativity and food. All the diverse food options and information was a great way to learn more from where our peers come from and their cultures. We really appreciate everyone who helped with setup and cleanup, teamwork makes all these events possible. We can't wait to have everyone back next year!

THE BURR PTO PRESENTS

Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week

What do our students have to do during teacher/staff appreciation week? The official week activity calendar is here! Do you need some print outs or guide? Reach out to your Room parents who can provide you with forms that your kids could use. We welcome all families to encourage your kids to spread the love and cheer to our staff, make some of these Thank You letters and drawings to the art, music, library and PE teachers, or even their favorite nurse.