Principal's Notes 5/8/2020

Message of the Month
Communication and Friendship- Conversation Skills

Important Dates

• May 15- Spirit Day - Beach Day
• May 25 - Memorial Day Observed – No School
• June 5 - Last Day of School work for students

Family Resources:

MEM Remote Learning Parent Guide
BSD Remote Learning Website
Executive Functioning Parent Resource
Supporting Kids During the Coronavirus Crisis

2020/21 Placement
Placement will take place over the summer this year. We are aiming for the end of July. At that time, your child’s new teacher will reach out via email with a welcome letter and supply information. Please make sure that your email information is up to date in Power School.

Quarter 4 Report Cards
As a reminder… Governor Sununu recommended schools report a Pass/Fail reporting system. Bedford does not use letter grades at the elementary schools, but we will make the adjustments described below.

Based on participation in the subjects of reading and mathematics, please expect your child's fourth-quarter progress to be either "Meeting District Expectations" or "Meeting Some District Expectations.” For those rare instances when students did not participate in remote learning, they may receive “Not Meeting District Expectations.” This information will be provided in the comment section of the report card. Since the entire fourth quarter instruction has been under the conditions of Remote Learning, it is more difficult to provide a four-point reporting system as we had in the first three quarters of the year. Your child will also have a comment section from the teacher providing more detail.

Integrated Arts (Specialist Teachers) will also provide progress on the report card (grades 3 & 4) with "Good" and "Satisfactory" in the area of participation. For those rare instances when students did not participate in remote learning, they may receive “Needs Improvement.”

Spirit Day
For our weekly Remote Spirit Day next Friday, May 15th, Wear beach-themed clothes to show how much we want to be playing in the sun and sand.

Boredom Busters
For all you Harry Potter fans this weeks Blog may be of interest to you.  Click HERE for some exciting activities in the world of wizardry.  

Parent Survey is continuing
In order to calibrate and plan their weekly lessons, teachers will be sending out a very quick questionnaire to parents each Friday. It is very important that you complete it each week. It will be turned off Monday morning at 9:00 AM. Thank you!

Playground Access
I know that it is tempting as the weather continues to get nicer, but in staying in compliance with the Town of Bedford and given the guidance from the CDC and DHHS about stopping the transmission of the COVID-19 virus, we are asking that students DO NOT come to our playgrounds.  Thank you.

Breakfast and Lunch other Food Options (Updated)

The Bedford School District Food Service Department continues providing grab-n-go breakfast and lunch for all students in the community at no charge.  Pick up is available 9am-12pm at the High School gymnasium entrance.  There will be NO BREAKFAST or LUNCH available on May 25th, Memorial Day.

PLEASE fill out the Food Service Meal Order Form (Link is below). Deadline for pre ordering is 2pm the previous day. Please know that pre-ordering is a must in order to ensure you have meals.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSefPlzhEtEz3Dx5eu9p0yK_zziRbCtnlsy-fc4AWcoB1idnjw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Contact Emily Murphy at murphye@bedfordnhk12.net for any questions or concerns.

For additional meal and food support contact the Bedford Community Food Pantry.  Click HERE for more information.

HAPPY STAFF APPRECIATION WEEK: Although we couldn’t be together to celebrate, as Staff Appreciation Week comes to a close, we want to express our deepest appreciation for All Bedford School District Staff. All Bedford staff has been amazing in taking care of our kids in good times and in challenging times and for that we are grateful. We look forward to when we can all be together again to thank them in person. Thank you to all the families that contributed to our video shout out to BSD staff…PTG Teacher & Staff Appreciation Video

Reminders

Bedford Presbyterian Church COVID-19 Resources

The Bedford Presbyterian Church and Bedford Food Pantry reached out to us offering resources to our community.

These include:
A dedicated COVID-19 Fund to provide assistance to community programs and individuals
Helping Hands Outreach Ministry, that can provide necessary urgent home repairs to people that are unable to afford or perform them themselves.
Bedford Presbyterian Church also houses the Bedford Community Food Pantry, which is open every Saturday from 9am-11am. (603) 867-1445

Google Meet Uses
Some of our teachers are using Google Meet as a platform to interact with their students.  You, as a parent, will be notified if this is happening.  We have heard that some students are setting these "Meets" up for a social gathering.  Please continue to monitor these invitations as you would any other playdate for your child. Student accounts are only to be used for school purposes. Email accounts are only for teacher to student or student to teacher communication and should only be used if the teacher has instructed students to use email. Thank you.

School Offices

All physical buildings in the BSD are closed to the public. Employees will be working remotely. If you need to get in touch with someone at the school, please call our main line 603-627-1776 and leave a message. Messages will be returned within 24-36 hours. Email is the most efficient method of contacting the schools.

Attendance
Attendance will be taken daily.  It is our expectation that students will be working each day on the assignments prepared by their teachers.  If we see students did not do any work on a particular day they may be marked absent.  If a student is sick or unable to complete any work for the day you should call the attendance line and report the absence as usual.  
603-627-1776

Wellness Team is here for you
Memorial School's Wellness Team consists of our School Nurse, School Counselor, Social Worker, Assessment Specialist and Assistant Principal. Throughout the school year, we've met to support students in a variety of ways. As we transition to Remote Learning, please feel free to reach out to us individually or as a group if needs arise. Please let us know if you have concerns about emotional and behavioral support, school supplies, access to food, illness and any other needs for additional resources or support. We will continue to be here for you! 

- Anna Cook (School Nurse), Christine Hodgdon (School Counselor), Katelyn LeBlanc (School Social Worker), Beth Purcell (Assistant Principal)