Rolling Raffle...update! SB 2-26-21
Big wheel keep on turnin’...special thanks to everyone who participated in our Rolling Raffle to help raise money supporting the Pantoja family through Ali’s treatments. $1,500 was raised over the two week period. 18 different individuals were selected as winners this morning to choose from a wonderful selection of Hats, Headbands and Masks graciously donated by Chris Roberge. Special thanks to her for all of the support as well as to Mrs. Hanly and Mr. Buxton for doing all of the running around during Advisory. Tess B. and Lily B. were instrumental in getting this going for their dear friend, Ali, and they were on hand this morning to help pick the winning tickets which ended up being a nice representation of folks from both Pods including Hybrid and RLA students as well as some faculty members. Congratulations to all of the winners: Sofia G, Carinna T, Saanvi A, Saachi M, Ms. LeBlanc, Olivia B, Ms. Severo, David S, Claire D, Leen A, Zachary O, Mr. DeLuca, Ms. Ryle, Heath P, Teddy H, Ms. Pentedemos, Tobin M, and Ms. Woodbury!
Translations via Google Translate:
The week as a whole might not have flown by, but each morning session on its own certainly did. With students moving from class to class everyday, traveling to different rooms really made the time seem much shorter in each landing spot. They did an excellent job resisting the urge to gravitate towards each other while in the hallway as adolescents are prone to do. Since we are still able to stagger movement with each grade leaving their team areas at different times, it still keeps the numbers in motion relatively manageable and spread out.
This Monday night, Superintendent Olsen will be discussing the 4-Tier bussing proposal that was mentioned earlier in the year. The School Committee is planning to vote on the proposal during the March 8 meeting. In an effort to provide stakeholders with as much information as possible prior to the discussions, know that the Superintendent’s report is already available for the public to view by accessing the Meeting Packet Search & Minute Archives tab on the School Committee website.
Earlier this week, we sent out a letter from Principal Antonelli to all of our Gr8 families regarding the upcoming orientation on March 10 which will discuss the course offerings and selection process for next year’s classes at Westford Academy. If you have a child in Gr8 and did not receive that communication for some reason, you can also access it here: Invitation to 8th Grade Parent Orientation
As we did back in the fall, we are going to once again conduct some Panorama Surveys for all of our students in a few weeks as we continue to assess their experience here at school. For more information about the purpose of the surveys, please access the following letter: Winter Panorama Survey Information
This week’s Notes from the Clinic brought to you by the Stop the Spread Singers:
Beginning next week, the Westford Public School Nurses will be taking over the Westford COVID dashboard and there will be more charts and clear information about past and present COVID cases. Thank you to Cheryl Carpenter, the Day School Nurse and Kathy Bourdeau, one of the WA nurses for all of the work they have done. This is the link: https://www.westfordk12.us/district/pages/westford-public-schools-covid-19-dashboard
There is a chart posted from Feb 24th that shows the cases from Sept until now at each level. (Graph of WPS Cases By School Level For Year to Date)
Testing questions for COVID come up over and over again. The stop the spread sites tend to turn around the results the fastest. Here are three local sites that you do not need an appt for:
Greater Lawrence Family Health Center at 147 Pelham Street, Methuen. Hours are 1-6P M-Friday and 9-12 on Saturdays.
121 Donald Lynch Blvd, Marlborough, MA. Hours are 8-12P M-Friday. No weekend hours
Transformative Health Care at 76 Manchester Street in Lawrence 11-7P M-Saturday.
Another testing facility not as close but one that you can make an appt through is Project Beacon-this is the email address: https://app.beacontesting.com/login
There are 4 locations around the state: Framingham, Lynn, New Bedford and Revere. Although these are further away, you make an appt so the wait is minimal.
Pediatric West now has a testing capability that turns around a PCR result in less than 12 hours! They will only test symptomatic individuals.
COVID cases in Westford and in surrounding towns have been very low recently. Continue to be diligent in adhering to the social guidelines. If we can individually do the ‘right thing’, we will be able to get our students back into our school buildings sooner rather than later. I cannot wait for that day! Have a good weekend.
Sue Hanly, MSN, RN
978-392-6974
Our dismissal dance music today was the incredible Tine Turner cover of CCR's Proud Mary. Something wonderfully energetic to send you off with...have a wicked awesome weekend.
Cheers!
Chris
Dr. Christopher Chew
Principal
Stony Brook School
Westford
SUMMER SCHOOL FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS OPEN HOUSE
SSPA offers exploration and exercise in Musical Theater, Dramatic Acting, Technical Theater, Shakespeare in the Park, and Film Production (New!)- all of which culminate in realized productions that give our students an understanding of the tremendous power of their voice and the beauty of their art. We look forward to making theater and building relationships IN PERSON again in the Summer of 2021!
Join us for an informational session where we will share our programming and the core principles of SSPA. Wednesday, March 3, 2021 (Virtual) - Sign up for Link http://bit.ly/sspa2021OpenHouse
Access Flyer here: SSPA Open House
F.A.M.E -- Friends Advancing Music Education
Volunteers Needed!!!
Who are we?
F.A.M.E is a non-profit parent volunteer organization that has been supporting music education, through advocacy and fundraising, at all grade levels of Westford Public Schools since 1983. F.A.M.E. ensures opportunities, for both music teachers and students, to enrich their educational environment through a variety of music endeavors.
Music projects funded in the past include:
Eagle Scout Project to digitize the Westford Academy music library
Headphones for Stony Brook chorus
Junior/Senior District Competition transportation
Valentine's Day Strings nursing home transportation
Music for WA Pep Band & WA Jazz Band
Xylophones and whiteboards for elementary schools
Music transposition software
Each year, F.A.M.E also awards scholarships to Westford Academy seniors who have participated in the music programs.
Over the past few years, the number of F.A.M.E volunteers has decreased dramatically, therefore F.A.M.E is in danger of not being able to continue the important work that we do. In today’s climate, with budgets being difficult, we are in need of a strong group of volunteers to both advocate to keep our music programs strong and to fundraise to help support our teachers and students. We are looking for K to 12 parents, as well as alumni of the music programs to help out! The time commitment is one meeting per month (via Zoom) during this school year.
Please join us to support our wonderful music programs! We will be holding an information meeting on Tuesday, March 2 from 7 to 8 PM via Zoom. Our immediate need will be to form a scholarship committee to evaluate scholarship applications from the Class of 2021 (sorry….senior parents cannot be part of this committee).
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://zoom.us/j/97111763240?pwd=aWdqMjhxaUJPd2N3MytDMk1XdTE5UT09
Meeting ID: 971 1176 3240
Passcode: c1TLqH