Dear RBS Family,
If you’ve lived in New England for some time, you know the anticipation that comes with a weather forecast that looks like and sounds like the one we’ve all been seeing yesterday and today! I hope you all can stay home and just enjoy a good walloping of snow tomorrow – a great chance to snuggle and read, watch a movie or two, and then play outside with your kids! (Also, the new season of Ozark is really really good – although to be clear, NOT for the kids ??!) A few updates as we wrap up our week:
- We are excited to welcome a number of new staff to our building: first, some of you have already met our new Safety and Security Specialist, Mr. Garrie Dorman! Garrie joins us after retiring from the Bristol PD and is already a delightful presence in our office and around the building. Several new paraeducators have joined our team as well – we welcome Ms. Linda Weldon this coming week and are hiring another individually momentarily, replacing Mrs. Mary Bonner and Mrs. Sara Plotkin, who we wish well in their retirement!
- I thank all of you for your continued diligence in monitoring your children’s health and keeping them out whenever needed – and I’m seeing a good-news trend in our student absences beginning to taper down to more typical ‘regular-winter’ levels! Please do know that our staff provides remote instruction for students who are quarantined or awaiting a positive test, but we do not do so for those ‘regular’ winter colds, sore throats, etc. – those are just the usual ‘sick days’ that we’ve always had. Let your kiddos rest and recuperate, and will definitely make sure they’re caught up then they return. If they are feeling well and you’re just being cautious (which we most definitely do appreciate!), you can always have your child read for 15 or 30 minutes (depending upon the grade level), write for the same amount of time, and practice their math facts as a means to stay engaged in the work.
- Keeping that home-school link up, ask your children about today’s “All School Assembly,” our monthly practice of gathering our grade levels together (still virtually this winter; I hope back in the gymnasium by year’s end!) to ‘see’ each other, celebrate accomplishments, and set goals for the next month. One way we do so is by talking about a “Word of the Month” – we’ve been discussing how ‘perseverance’ is such a powerful trait to practice, and this month, our focus word is ‘abilities’ – the power or capacity to do something! We know that kids are sometimes quick to focus on what they – or their peers – can not do, and Susan and I are excited to flip that narrative with an intentional focus as we head into February on what we all can do.
No doubt we’ll be flexing our ‘snow removal abilities’ this weekend; enjoy it, and thank you as always for being the supportive, thoughtful, kind community we are. Be well!
-Noam, Susan, and the RBS team