We begin this October newsletter by celebrating our principals during National Principals Month. We want to thank our principals and assistant principals for all the work they do, especially during this challenging time of coronavirus.
We also want to thank the schools' PTAs/PTOs for helping to purchase items such as milk crates for our elementary children to store items under their desks, handwashing timers for students in beginning grades, and for providing snacks and water for teachers during "Meet and Greets."
At this time we want to remind our families that schools are closed on Tuesday, November 3, Election Day, and on Sunday, November 1, Daylight Savings Time ends, marking the time we turn our clocks back one hour.
A MESSAGE FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT REGARDING ELECTION DAY:
We can all agree this is a history-making year with the pandemic causing us to live our lives in a different way, the division in our country across political and racial issues, and the upcoming historic presidential election. Belmont Public Schools is committed to ensuring that all students, staff, and community members feel valued and are treated with respect and kindness.
Next week’s presidential election, no matter what the outcome, may raise questions and concerns from our students. As a district, we have prioritized social emotional learning, and we will continue to ensure that our schools and classrooms are safe places for all students and staff, as well as a place where we learn from each other and the diverse perspectives and experiences that each individual brings to the conversation.
We have provided our educators and staff with resources to support them in this work. Please reach out to your principal if you have any questions or concerns.
Please see the Table of Contents for this month's newsletter below:
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Facilities Update: Town Facilities Director Steve Dorrance and BALA representative Ed Dolan updated the School Committee at the October 27 meeting. Over the past five days, through the weekend, BALA and Steve Dorrance walked the school buildings and looked over the data. In an abundance of caution, we ordered more air purifiers, and reallocated others not needed, in order to return to hybrid learning this week. We feel the peer review of the data by our Facilities Director and BALA senior staff, BALA conducting an internal review, and the walk-throughs have secured the integrity of the data. BALA will provide the data and an executive summary to the school administration, and we will submit it to our stakeholders. As always, we appreciate our community's due diligence in taking the appropriate health and safety measures so we can continue to participate in and move toward in-person learning.
BHS Hybrid Advisory Committee: At the October 27 meeting, the School Committee passed a motion to charge the School Administration with setting up a BHS hybrid advisory group to re-evaluate the high school hybrid model. In addition, the motion determined the composition, charge, and timeline for completion of the revised high school hybrid model no later than November 24. Please see the Preparing for Transition from Remote to Hybrid presentation submitted to the School Committee at the October 27 meeting.
Today, parents, guardians, students, and staff will receive a survey to help guide the work of this advisory committee. The survey is emailed through our online forms family/student database. We ask parents and guardians to answer the questions for their family, not for each individual child, as we have also sent out this survey to our high school students. Please submit your completed survey by November 3.
Professional Teaching Status: The October 27 School Committee meeting began with our annual recognition ceremony to honor those educators who’ve earned Professional Teaching Status this year. Please see the BPS website for more information.
EL and SPED presentations: Director of English Language Education Lindsey Rinder and Director of Student Services Ken Kramer both gave an update at the School Committee on October 27. The directors provided an update on service delivery, assessment, and screening as well as speaking to the work of providing increased supports for students moving forward. Please see the the Continued Return to Learning presentations for their information, as well as the entire School Committee meeting, on the Belmont Media Center website.
Next School Committee Meeting: The next School Committee meeting is on Tuesday, November 10 at 6:30 p.m. Please see the School Committee page for access and the agenda prior to the meeting. In addition to emailing the School Committee, the Committee has created a form for community members to share questions and feedback. The Committee will address as many questions and comments as possible verbally at the beginning of each regularly scheduled meeting. To access this form, please see the Questions and Comments for the School Committee button on the front page of the BPS website (also listed below under Useful Information).
SCHOOL NEWS
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Chenery began hybrid in-person learning today, October 29, and PreK-4 began earlier this month. BHS and CMS had "Meet and Greets" with grades 11 and 8, and the Butler community surprised the staff one morning by placing posters with kind messages on school doors. There are pictures of some events in the gallery below.
- Fourteen students from Belmont High school are semifinalists in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program. These seniors are part of a pool of approximately 16,000 who placed among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.5 million students who took the 2019 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). These students now have the opportunity to continue in the competition for National Merit scholarships offered next spring. Please join us in congratulating these seniors: Isabel Burger, Katarina Chen, Charlotte Conroy, Alexander Fick, Sarah Firth, David Jen, Edward Lee, Alicia Lugovskoy, William Mann, Timothy Minicozzi, Jessica Peng, Jason Tang, Howell Xia, and Yao Xiao.
- Assistant Superintendent Janice Darias and I held a virtual public forum for elementary remote-only families on October 26, 2020. This forum was an opportunity for these families to see their survey results and questions submitted last week to the School Department. Please see the BPS Fully Remote Family Forum presentation.
FOOD SERVICES
The USDA extended free meals through June 30, 2021. Please see more information on this meal program from Director of Food Services Dustin O’Brien.
VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS
BHS students are rehearsing, physically distanced and outside, for Broadway Night. This is in preparation to film the production and stream it online for an audience in November. Please see the PAC website for more information.
ATHLETIC SCHEDULE
Below please find the BHS Weekly Athletic Schedule.
Please note that spectators are limited to one per player and must have a Middlesex League issued pass to attend a scheduled contest. BHS Athletics is currently working with Belmont Media to provide streaming of as many of our home games as possible. Please check the Belmont Media website for their programing schedule.
Updates to the schedule can be viewed on the BHS athletics calendar.
Saturday, October 31
9:00 AM Girls Varsity Soccer Reading Memorial High School Home
9:00 AM Girls Freshman Soccer Reading Memorial High School Home
10:00 AM Boys Varsity Soccer Reading Memorial High School Away
10:00 AM Boys Junior Varsity Soccer Reading Memorial High School Away
11:30 AM Girls Junior Varsity Soccer Reading Memorial High School Home
12:00 PM Boys Freshman Soccer Reading Memorial High School Away
1:30 PM Girls Varsity Field Hockey Reading Memorial High School Home
3:00 PM Girls Junior Varsity Field Hockey Reading Memorial High School Home
4:15 PM Girls Freshman Field Hockey Reading Memorial High School Home
Saturday, November 07
9:00 AM Boys Varsity Cross Country Arlington High School Away
9:00 AM Boys Freshman Soccer Arlington High School Away
9:00 AM Girls Junior Varsity Soccer Arlington High School Home
9:00 AM Girls Freshman Soccer Arlington High School Home
11:00 AM Boys Junior Varsity Cross Country Arlington High School Away
11:00 AM Boys Junior Varsity Soccer Arlington High School Away
11:00 AM Girls Junior Varsity Field Hockey Arlington High School Home
12:00 PM Girls Freshman Field Hockey Arlington High School Home
1:00 PM Girls Varsity Cross Country Arlington High School Away
2:30 PM Boys Varsity Soccer Arlington High School Away
2:30 PM Girls Varsity Field Hockey Arlington High School Home
3:00 PM Girls Junior Varsity Cross Country Arlington High School Away
4:30 PM Girls Varsity Soccer Arlington High School Home
SEPAC EVENTS AND PRESENTATIONS
Please go to the SEPAC page on the BPS website for more information on upcoming events. Also on the page is the Q & A from the September 22 Parent Information Session with BPS Student Services Director Ken Kramer, BPS Assistant Student Services Director Jonathan Libby, and LABBB Collaborative Director Patric Barbieri.
USEFUL INFORMATION
For your convenience, below are links to useful information from previous newsletters.
Belmont Public Schools:
Town and State:
Organizations: