Before the Parade...update! SB 6-16-2020

Today’s Wave Parade was simply amazing!  For over an hour, there was a full line of cars wrapped around the school making their way around the building to share waves and smiles with all of our teachers.  That was a promising end to a strange year. It was especially great to see all of the Gr8 students’ for a last trip around the ol’ stompin’ grounds as their time in the hallowed halls of our dear Stony Brook were unceremoniously cut short.  The Gr7 students, however,  were all pretty happy to have a shorter year climbing the three flights of stairs.  We might start next year with them up in the penthouse just so they can get a few more reps of stairs in before settling on the ground floor in the Gr8 wing.  I mentioned it to a few of them and they were not amused.  The Gr6 students were all wonderfully cheerful and very excited that middle school does not seem to be as long a year as elementary school :-)

The Gr8 Celebration went off well this morning with the majority of our Gr8 families tuning in live for the YouTube premiere. The feedback I have received so far has been that the sound was in sync.  Many of the presenters were with me in the auditorium watching the live premiere together and the audio was not lined up so I eventually abandoned YouTube and we continued watching it directly from my laptop.  I guess it was the YouTube feed to the projector that created a delay...problem solved at any rate.  I shared the archived link earlier today and you can now find it on our website under the Principal Communication tab.  Remember, it is only accessible through our WPS Google Domain so in order to watch it students must use their student google accounts.  Which means, you can harass them everytime you want to show it to another family member and keep the joy of trying to engage teenagers in family events alive and well all summer long :-) 

Along with report cards (insert: unenthusiastic hooray), next year’s schedules have been released (insert: joyous applause & cheers).  They can all be accessed via iParent.  A few students saw them earlier in the day and the teachers' names were not visible and the students were like, "of course I am taking Language Arts...I can't not take Language Arts...but who is the teacher???"  Well, that was fixed.  They are all now visible.

For those of you transitioning on to another building next year, we will miss you.  If your students are heading off to WA, sign-up now for Principal Antonelli’s weekly emails on their website as he will be using that platform to share important WA information throughout the summer.

Additionally, I was asked recently to share this information with any of our Gr8 students interested in cross-country at WA next year: 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). 

Finally, we have had an incredible program here at Stony Brook for two years now called the Anti-Defamation League-World of Difference.  The students involved have been remarkable in leading events and activities not only for their peers but for our staff, as well.  The Anti Defamation League- A World of Difference program trains young people to go into classrooms of their peers to run activities and have difficult discussions about race, religion, orientation, and other biases. Their strength and leadership have helped to create safe spaces throughout our schools.  Mrs. Bailey and Ms. Ryle are seeking new seventh and eight grade leaders to add to our group for the fall.  If interested, please head to this website to complete an interest form and/or to apply.  ADL Leaders-Westford

Remember if you miss reading any of these weekly missives you can always go back and binge read them throughout the summer from our website. 

Too soon?

I’m still smiling from the incredible participation of our Wave Parade.  When we warned a man playing tennis that a few hundred cars will be driving through the parking lot, he told us not to worry because he teaches in another town and barely anyone showed up for theirs.  Well, I’m glad I don’t work in his school.  I am also glad there weren’t any horses in our parade; that is always a tough act to follow.

Enjoy,

Chris

Dr. Christopher Chew

Principal

Stony Brook School