Boo...an update! WPS 10-1-22
Students in grades 6-12 were able to participate in the voting process to select the image for the new Westford Academy Ghost last week. Principal Antonelli revealed the winning image designed by WA student Julia Donescu during our School Committee meeting on Wednesday night. We would like to thank all of the individuals who dedicated their time and energy to move this process forward and remained engaged throughout this conversation as it has progressed over the past few years.
Although we are still early in the year, some of my school visits this month already gave me quite the workout. At Miller, I enjoyed playing multiple math games on the floor with second graders and tried to keep up with students outside at recess. Students at Robinson included me in some of the morning meeting community circles which again gave me plenty of opportunities to try and get up off of the ground. Crisafulli students enthusiastically requested my participation in one of the Phys Ed classes. Again, I started on the ground, but this time experienced the joy of also doing a lap around the gymnasium each time I lost the cone flip challenge. While at Blanchard, even though students were always spread out collaborating with each other...some on the floor, some at tables...I didn't need to kneel or bend to communicate with them; the majority of the workout was trying to follow along in the different World Language rooms only using the respective target language to communicate...that was exhausting.
Looking ahead through this month, there are a couple of dates on our calendar that we want to highlight that are different from previous years. We are happy to remind everyone that we adjusted our calendar this year to provide the opportunity to observe Yom Kippur and Diwali which both take place this month. Westford Public Schools will not be in session on Weds October 5 for Yom Kippur and Monday, October 24 for Diwali. Additionally, Westford Academy will be hosting their Back to School night on Thursday October 6 and therefore the WA students have an early release scheduled for that day. The early release is only for WA, the rest of the district has a full day of school on October 6.
Many of you were able to participate in the Back to School events that took place for our families with students in grades prK-8 over the past two weeks. I have heard a lot of positive feedback as to how great it has been to be able to see classrooms and experience the learning environments again in person. The purpose of the Back to School events have been more focused on trying to provide glimpses of what the students experience throughout a typical day. The preK-8 conferences coming up later in the fall are designed to provide some specific feedback for each individual student and will have both in person and virtual options again this year. More information regarding those will come from each school.
The principals in each of our schools will be utilizing their October and November School Advisory Council meetings to discuss and provide feedback on our potential priority areas for the next Strategic District Improvement Plan (SDIP). We are developing the SDIP this fall to help guide us through the next four years. This action oriented document is similar to the School Improvement Plans in organization but includes a multi-year approach to address the needs of the district as a whole. Each of the individual School Improvement Plans connect their goals and action items to the articulated strategic objectives the district has identified as priority areas. All of these plans will be reviewed and presented to the School Committee for approval. As we finalize our priority areas and develop action items to support them, I will continue to provide updates for everyone.