Go-Go's...update! SB 4-16-21
My original thought for today’s dismissal dance music was Vacation by the Go-Go’s...that quickly turned into Winter Wonderland…followed by Lights Out when we briefly lost power. If it was written in a story about the Friday before vacation in a middle school, you simply wouldn’t believe it. Thankfully, it was Team Imagination’s turn to pick the music and they went with a more universal sentiment associated with a week’s vacation...Happy by Pharrell Williams.
Translations via Google Translate
So, in just over a week, we will be celebrating Welcome Back from Vacation with Transition 2.0: Pod People Unite...according to dictionary.com, a pod person is a person who behaves in a strange manner...not fully human. Well, that certainly could describe middle school students and the adults who choose to work with them...sometimes :-)
On Monday, April 26 we will be bringing both of our Pods together for the full day for the rest of the year...well, they will still be done with classes for the day at 1:55 and then have classes the next day...except for Saturday and Sunday and May 4...ok, you get the picture.
For those students coming into the building, the link above will direct them to all of the video tours and explanations that we shared before the start of the year as our traffic patterns and procedures are staying intact with this transition. The most important piece of information regarding traffic might really be encouraging you not to rush down here to pick up your students right at 1:55. Doubling our pick-up line could create some serious back-up on Farmer Way. With weather getting nicer (except for today) students can wait for their rides for a few minutes. We are not going to yell at you if you arrive at 2:10 to pick someone up :-) Think of pick-up time as a window from 1:55-2:10 as it will ease the traffic and shorten the time you need to sit in line.
This morning Dee Bus sent us an updated Stony Brook Bus Route Information that will begin on April 26 to accommodate bringing the pods together. If you use the bus, please take a minute to review this as some of the times have been adjusted as well as the combination of a few routes. If you have any questions, please reach out to Dee Bus at (978) 392-8639
Our teachers and guidance counselors have been communicating with students who are pivoting from one model to another. While there are some students changing models, the majority of our students are continuing in the same model with the only major adjustment really being lunch here at school and bringing the two pods together all day instead of only in the afternoon remotely. Everyone’s day is still 7:35-1:55. Some of the Advisory groups have shifted their internal class rotation but none of our students are changing teams so the positive relationships they have been building with their teachers all year will continue.
With our new model in place, it is important to remind families that students participating in person here at the school can’t simply switch to RLA for the day if there is a reason that they can’t come to school. Changes to students’ model will need to be coordinated through the guidance counselors and cannot be made on a day to day basis. If a student needs to quarantine or isolate, the counselors will continue to be facilitating how students can access their work.
All of this talk about transition and a new schedule, it is hard to believe that we are quickly approaching the end of the year. If you haven’t already ordered a yearbook, you still have time...our Yearbook Club has been working diligently all year to capture all of the awesomeness of this crazy school adventure! Final sales for the Stony Brook Yearbook will be happening over the next few weeks! If you would like your student to have a custom spread, get your orders in before May 5th!
https://www.treering.com/validate?PassCode=1015224146213733
Stony Brook Passcode: 1015224146213733
This week’s Notes from the clinic brought to you by the snow broom already stored away in my basement:
Spring sports will be taking place here at Stony Brook! If you will be signing your child up for track, softball or baseball, please make sure I have a current physical on file in the clinic.
6th grade parents, please continue to send in your child’s physical (And immunization record) from the fall, winter and spring. That is the one that I will be looking for to meet the 7th grade requirement-not next fall’s physical.
As you are aware, the State of Massachusetts has now changed their travel order to an advisory. If you are planning to travel out of state for the vacation week, you are not mandated to get tested upon return nor do you need to quarantine. This is the link: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-travel-advisory Although we will no longer be requiring you to quarantine or produce a negative test upon return, please be mindful that when we do return to school, there will be more students who will need to quarantine if there is a positive case in their classroom. There are plenty of testing sites still available. We will always prefer the PCR test versus the Antigen tests which can produce both false negatives and false positives. 70 General Street in Lawrence, a Stop the Spread site, does a PCR test. The hours have been M-Sat 8-4:30 and Sundays from 9-1. Please call this number to confirm: 978-946-8409. This is a drive up site which does not require a referral or an appointment.
My colleague, Cheryl Carpenter, the Day School Nurse also provided this information to all of the nurses:
Circle Health in Westford- no referral is necessary but you can no longer just show up:
If you have symptoms - you need to call and schedule an appt and afterward will be tested
If you are a close contact - same, and they will only test you on Day 5
If you are traveling they will just test you. But you still need to call them first.
AFC Urgent Care in Drum Hill https://www.afcurgentcare.com/chelmsford/; appt required, no referral, testing for all patients; register online for appt
Walgreens - https://www.walgreens.com/findcare/covid19/testing?ban=covid_vanity_testing. They offer PCR, rapid PCR, and antigen testing here in Westford. Have a drive thru option.
CVS - https://www.cvs.com/; appt needed; does offer regular PCR testing, results in 1-3 days and the patient needs to know to request that specific test. Otherwise they do rapid antigen testing. They distinguish them as "rapid v. lab" - need to request a lab test.
Have a wonderful vacation week. I will be checking my email over the break so please email me with any questions or concerns. I look forward to seeing our halls filled with children all day starting on April 26th! It has been far too quiet here!
Sue Hanly, MSN, RN, NCSN
978-392-6974 (direct line)
There are a lot of upcoming opportunities for our students and families, please don’t miss all of the information included at the end of this update!
The sorting hat placed me on Team Pfizer and now that my muscles have recovered from what seemed like a run in with the Hogwarts’ Express...I’m ready for vacation...nothing like a nice mixed metaphor to wrap things up :-)
Wishing you all a wonderfully restful week!
Chris
Dr. Christopher Chew
Principal
Stony Brook School
STONY BROOK PTO Update
Stony Brook PTO wishes you an Amazing April!
- THANK YOU to our Stony Brook parents and supporters! We have exceeded our $4,500 goal for 3 water filling stations. Not only will we be able to purchase and install 3 new stations at Stony Brook, but we will have funds left over for staff appreciation and some 21-22 initiatives.
- Teacher Appreciation continues from the Stony Brook PTO. In March we had a special treat and a token of good luck for the staff. April’s plan is to provide a lunch from Westford’s Subway.
- DO you have a WMSPTO Amazon Smile account – it is closing down. Please change to the WEPTO Amazon Smile. Or if you use Amazon please sign up and Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible purchases to Westford PTO no cost to you https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/homepage?orig=%2F .
- Thank you all who purchased Stony Brook Gear from our Spring Sale. We will be in touch when orders are in and can be picked up outside the school.
If you would like to find out more about these events and other PTO plans, please join us at our next PTO Meeting on Tuesday, April 13th at 2:15. Please email stonybrookschoolpto@gmail.com for the meeting link or with any questions. You can also find the agenda for the meeting on our new website https://sites.google.com/view/stonybrookpto/ .
In addition to discussing staff appreciation, we will be reviewing our budget, discussing if a student event is possible, developing a fundraising plan, and planning for next school year. Everyone is welcome!
WA GIRLS' BASKETBALL SUMMER CLINIC
The WA Girls' Basketball program is happy to offer several options for outdoor basketball clinics at the Blanchard School this summer! Members of the Girls' Varsity basketball team are ready to teach all levels of players how to become better basketball players while participating in a fun, supportive environment. Please check out the new WA Girls' Basketball website for clinic dates and registration information. All proceeds go to the WAGB program account. Thanks for your support!
WA BOYS' BASKETBALL SUMMER SIZZLER CLINIC and THE 29th ANNUAL 4 on 4 SUMMER BASKETBALL LEAGUE:
The WA Boys' Basketball program is happy to offer several options for outdoor basketball clinics at the Stony Brook and Blanchard Middle Schools this summer! Members of the Boys’' Varsity basketball team are ready to teach all levels of players how to become better basketball players while participating in a fun, supportive environment. Please check out the Westford Academy Boys’ Basketball website for clinic dates and registration information. All proceeds go to the Westford Academy Boys’ Basketball program account. Thanks for your support! Email Coach Bramanti if you should have any questions at cbramanti@westfordk12.us or go to our website at https://www.basketballwa.com/
Join Westford Friends of East Boston Camps Walk on The Wild Side challenge and help raise money to refurbish Nashoba Lodge. The challenge will encompass the whole month of May to see how many trails or miles you can walk. Create a group with your friends or families and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Learn more about our event on our website westfordfriendsebc.org
Hi 8th grade orchestra students! Westford Academy Troubadours is a fun after school orchestra that rehearses on Fridays from 2:30-4:00 PM. We play music together as an orchestra/in chamber groups with friends and perform at gigs throughout the community (you can earn community service hours this way!!). Our repertoire consists of a variety of pieces that we vote on—a mix of serious and fun (you can see what pieces we played this year on our youtube channel). We are planning on holding a session where you guys can come in and play during one of our rehearsals (date and time TBD). No matter your playing level, you’re always welcome, and we would love to have you! Check out our youtube channel: TroubTube and our instagram https://www.instagram.com/waTroubadours/. Hope to see you soon!
Attention all middle school students and families!
The Westford Academy Ghostwriter will be hosting its second annual journalism camp for 6th to 8th graders this summer from August 23-27. This camp will be held in-person with social distancing guidelines at Westford Academy from 9am - 12pm each day. Students will explore a variety of different disciplines within journalism, including photography, interviewing techniques, news/feature writing, videography, social media design, and sportswriting.
If you are interested in signing up, please fill out this Google Form and mail payment to Westford Academy before June 1st. Please check out our website for more details on camp dates and information where we will be providing updates about the camp specifics as we sort through more information or email us at thewaghostwriter@gmail.com if you have any questions. Thank you and we hope to see some of you this summer!
The WA Ghostwriter Staff