Blanchard School News 6/17/20
Apologies if you are receiving this newsletter for a second time. We were experiencing some technical difficulties with our site yesterday.
Hi Everyone,
Yesterday's incredible send-off made it feel like the first "normal" day of school in a long time. Thank you for joining us at Blanchard to continue the tradition of cheering our students into the summer vacation. We loved seeing the faces we have so dearly missed, seeing the posters and thank-yous written on your cars, and congratulating our advancing eighth graders as they say farewell to Blanchard. We hope the Class of 2020 enjoyed the Completion & Achievement Ceremony. The link will remain posted on our webpage to view, share with family, and archive three years of middle school at Blanchard. If you were unable to pick up certificates and awards earlier this week, they should arrive in the mail by Tuesday.
This week, we also mailed our final round of Blanchard Honored Citizens. Join us in recognizing the following students for going above and beyond in modeling our core values of Respect, Opportunity, Cooperation, Kindness, and Service in the third trimester. Congratulations Andrew S., Eliana D., Caya H., Kaelyn D., Emily W., Joslyn C., Tyler P., Bryan T., Helen Y., Aanya T., Keira G., Kaylee B., Jing X., Priyanka R., Katie K., Clara N., Anshika S., Hailey P., Isha L., Catherine Z., Marie M., Zoe S., Faith W., Kavi S., Saunak M., Nathan D., Han P., Shreyas G., Sathian S., Ben Z., Connor C., Aiden E., Andrew O., Keash H., Katelyn B., Rosey D., Diya J., Luke W., Marisa C., Darshita V., Benjamin S., Meggie N., Carter S., Adam W., Will T., Maia G., Emily F., Shreya V., Ethan G., Derek C., and Jason O!
Closing out this schoolyear and looking forward to 2020-2021 with great optimism, we're including some important updates below in the final newsletter of the school year. If you are leaving us for Westford Academy, we will miss you, and be sure to subscribe to Mr. Antonelli's e-alerts.
Stay tuned for updates on our plans for the fall. Have a wonderful summer! We made it!
Sincerely,
Tim and Patti
Transitioning to Blanchard – Information for 2020/2021 Sixth Grade Families
We are excited to welcome incoming sixth grade families to our new transition website: Welcome to Blanchard! We've shared a variety of resources aimed at promoting a smooth transition to middle school including welcome messages from the staff, a Q&A booklet, our parent orientation slideshow, a virtual tour and more! We will continue to keep this page updated as we learn more about our plans to reopen in August.
Student Schedules
We anticipate 2020-2021 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade schedules will be available in iparent by July 1. An important disclaimer, everything is subject to change depending on updated guidance from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Grade Nine Student Schedules
The iStudent portal has opened for viewing of 2020-2021 ninth grade schedules. Due to the uncertainty of the structure and format for this coming fall, your schedule will show courses and blocks only. Teacher assignments are not available at this time. Thank you for your understanding. If there is an unscheduled block in your schedule, that will be a DLT (study hall). If you are scheduled for less than 32.5 credits, please contact your school counselor via email and they will share with you what is available. Please note: We have an excellent faculty at Westford Academy and therefore do not accept requests for specific teachers. Thank you from WA!
Loaner Chromebooks
At this point, we will not be collecting the devices that have been loaned to students during remote learning. Students will be able to use them over the summer, and we will reconsider the decision in the new school year when we know more about what it will look like.
Field Trip Refunds
Parents who have submitted payment for the Great East Music Festival, Junior Districts or Strand Theatre (grade 8) can expect to receive a refund check by mail by June 20th. If you have any questions regarding your refund please contact Lisa Thomas-Boyle at lthomasboyle@westfordk12.us.
Westford Academy Athletics
We are planning for athletics as scheduled to begin on August 24th (Football August 21st).
**All participants must Pre-Register on www.familyID.com (this link can be found on our WA Athletics website) and must have an up to date physical in order to participate.
Please see coaches contact information if your student-athlete is interested in participating in Fall 2020 Athletics at WA.
Cheerleading - Maddy Kendall (mkendall@westfordk12.us)
Crew - Cate Lacroix (cate.lacroix@gmail.com) JoAnna McNutt (jlm488@cornell.edu)
Cross Country- Phil Archambault (parchambault@westfordk12.us) and Scott Hafferkamp (shafferkamp@westfordk12.us)
Field Hockey - Cheri Fisher (cfisher@westfordk12.us)
Football - Patrick Gendron (pgendron@westfordk12.us) Google Classroom CODE: qrbrgds Twitter: @coachgendronWA
Boys Soccer - Tony Dileo (a.dileo@comcast.net)
Girls Soccer - Katie Andjus (kandjus@westfordk12.us)
Girls Volleyball - Brandon Eang (beang@westfordk12.us)
Golf - Dave Delong (ddlong@westfordk12.us)
Westford Academy Cross Country
Students can join the WA Cross Country Google Classroom with the code: cpmm3vu and request to join the Facebook group: WAXC 2020. A lot of important information and updates will be shared here! If they have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me (21slu@westfordk12.us), or any of the coaches: Coach Archambault (parchambault@westfordk12.us), Coach Hafferkamp (shafferkamp@westfordk12.us), or Coach Estabrook (mestabrook@westfordk12.us).
Blanchard Yearbook Update
Yearbook advisors and I have been in communication with Lifetouch to obtain updates on the status of our shipment. Unfortunately, we do not have any new information to share. We know our yerabook was getting prepared for shipment in early June, and the next update we will receive is confirmation of shipping with tracking information. As soon as we receive an update, we will make plans for distribution. Thanks for your patience!
WA Journalism Summer Camp
WA Ghostwriter asked if we would pass on a great upcoming opportunity for all of our students. The Westford Academy Ghostwriter has decided to run a summer camp this summer for rising 7th, 8th, and 9th graders on the basics of journalism. This camp will expose them to how our newspaper works and provide them an opportunity to experience journalism prior to entering high school. For more information, please access this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1A0sUvPzUMu51mC_vq6EuNDD90TrjxR2K7qHYk-t...