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January 2024 District Newsletter
Barrington School District
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January 29, 2024
Hello Barrington Families;
In the next couple of weeks, when you are visiting our school buildings, keep an eye out in the entryways for our new plaques which display our recently adopted Mission and Vision statements.
~Mission~
We empower our community of learners in a safe and supportive environment to nurture compassion, cultivate curiosity, and inspire innovation.
~Vision~
The Barrington School District strives to be a community learning and growing together; giving students roots and wings.
It is important to keep these statements at the forefront of our minds as we approach each school day. It is also necessary to think about these commitments as we consider the needs of our students, staff, and facilities through the budget process for the upcoming school year.
The Administrative Team in conjunction with the School Board and School Board Advisory Budget Committee have been working collaboratively since October to develop and refine the proposed budget for the 2024-25 school year. Please take a few minutes to look over the 2024-2025 Budget Folder on the SAU 74 Website. This contains all of the presentations, videos, and accompanying financial documents for the budget process to date.
This year we had a Citizen’s Petition filed after the Budget Hearing Presentation on January 2, 2024. This is important to note because this, now Warrant Article #5 on the School District’s ballot, has not been discussed as part of the District’s Budget presentation to date. Another unique feature of this petitioned article is that it will appear on both the Town and District ballots. Please note that this is the same petition with the same intent of having a combined Town and School District Advisory Budget Committee.
In order to get a full understanding of the filed petition, I encourage you to watch the public comment portion of the January 2nd Budget Hearing, where the petition is explained as well as the video from the January 18th School Board Meeting where attendees speak to the petition during public comment.
Also at the January 18th meeting, the School Board Members voted on all Warrant Articles for the 2024-25 Proposed Budget including the newly added Article 5 with explanation.
If after reviewing the Budget Folder you have questions or need additional information or clarification please feel free to reach out to me at the School District Offices at 603-664-2715 or by email at drae@sau74.org.
Important Dates:
February 10, 2024 Deliberative Session 9:00am, BMS cafeteria
March 12, 2024 Voting 8:00am-7:00pm, BMS cafeteria
School Calendar Updates
For short term planning purposes:
At the December 19, 2023 School Board meeting the following 2023-24 School Calendar adjustments were made:
May 24, 2024: This is now a FULL regular school day for students and staff. No longer an Early Release.
The last day of school will also be a FULL school day. Given today’s snow day that is now Monday, June 17, 2024. I would imagine that we will see this date move again as we continue to manage the winter weather.
For long term planning purposes :
Here is the Approved 24-25 District Calendar .
Respectfully,
Curriculum and Instruction
Assessment:
SAS Assessment
In an ongoing effort to improve the statewide writing assessment for SAS (grades 3-8), the state of New Hampshire Department of Education (DOE) will be introducing new writing prompts this year. As a result, all school districts in New Hampshire must complete the writing assessment during the first few weeks of March, which is earlier than in previous years. Reading and mathematics testing will occur during the usually scheduled timeframe of late May early June.
State tests (SAS) are used for accountability and to provide important information for program decision making, support for all learners, and ensuring quality instruction. Federal regulations stipulate all school districts must have 95% participation in the SAS testing each year.
Please be on the lookout for further information and scheduling of the upcoming SAS testing from your child’s school.
iReady & Acadience Assessment
iReady Assessment (grades K-8) and Acadience Assessment (grades K-4) will be coming to a close by February 16, 2024. This winter, or mid-year assessment, will provide insight into each students' academic growth so far this year. Teachers will utilize this data to make adjustments in instruction, student groupings, changes to interventions, and student growth goals.
Curriculum:
The English Language Arts (ELA) Committee has been hard at work bringing our 3-Year Plan to life through examining many highly rated ELA programs, engaging in presentations, and moving forward with the Science of Reading structure for our district. Math implementation is moving forward at all grade levels and students are understanding the new structure and learning process. Implementing a new program is a huge undertaking for our teachers…they have been and continue to be amazing in their own professional practices and learning! Below are links to our new math programs: Reveal Math (grades K-5) and Ready Math (grades 6-8).
Take care!
Sarah Rollins
Student Services
Greetings Barrington Families,
I hope you all are settling into your Winter routines, we have been fortunate so far with the weather. I often attend meetings with families and wonder, how much of this is making sense and how much of this is confusing? I tend to err on the side of confusion as Special Education can sound like a foreign language at first. My intent for the newsletters through the end of the year is to share snippets of information that you can reference if you need it. I hope to create a more common language around special education and provide you with bits of information that will be helpful to you when it comes time for a meeting.
Identification/Child Find:
If you, a teacher or anyone else with knowledge of the child suspect a child may have a disability, they may make a written referral to the school district. If a teacher from the school makes a referral to special education, you will be notified of the referral via writing and often a phone call will be made to schedule the disposition of referral meeting. If you make a written referral to special education it can be submitted to anyone at the school, it is often helpful to submit it to the Classroom Teacher, Advisory Teacher, Principal or Assistant Principal. From there it will be important to look out for a phone call from the school and an email from one of the following Administrative Assistants/Administrators depending on the building your child is in:
ECLC: Laura Deely, Tracey Gower
BES: Donna Shackelford
BMS: Cara Metell
What is the process after referral?
The following is a link to the New Hampshire Procedural Safeguards. You will be offered many copies of this over time if your child moves through the special education process. It is important for you to understand your rights as a parent and your child's rights.
New Hampshire Procedural safeguards
Warm regards,
Technology
Hello Barrington Families,
This month please find some information about keeping your online information safe, as well as a few of the systems that are available to you to manage your day to day interaction with the school community.
Phishing Scams and How to Spot Them
Phishing is a type of online scam that targets consumers by sending them an e-mail that appears to be from a well-known source – an internet service provider, a bank, or a mortgage company, for example. It asks the consumer to provide personal identifying information. Then a scammer uses the information to open new accounts, or invade the consumer’s existing accounts. There are several tips that consumers can follow to avoid phishing scams, such as not responding to e-mails or pop-up messages that ask for personal or financial information.
The Federal Trade Commission has lots of good info to help keep your personal information safe.
PowerSchool Parent Portal
For families who have children at BMS, you have the ability to log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal to view grades, announcements and assignments. Contact the BMS front office to sign up!
PickupPatrol - Pickup patrol is used in all three schools to help families manage dismissals and transportation schedules. Contact your school if you have not received an invitation to sign up.
Website Quick LInks
I would like to highlight the quick links on our website. These contain a quick jump to frequently used pages. They are located at the bottom of the website for easy reference.
Facilities
Hello Barrington Families,
We are excited to be adding new lighting to the BMS stage. This is going to be two new banks of LED colored lighting, along with moving the existing lighting to the front of the stage. This will be student friendly for a better learning experience, and usage.
The season has been fairly calm for plowing and salting. We will have to wait and see what February brings.
Coming off break students have been doing better with bathroom etiquette. Thank you for your help with our concerns from the last newsletter. Best
Food Services
Greetings Barrington Families,
The following is the Breakfast, Lunch and Milk cost for the 2023-2024 school year:
Breakfast:
$2.00 Regular
Reduced rate- Free
Lunch:
$3.25 Regular
$.40 Reduced rate
Milk:
$.65
Best,
Sue Williams
Food Service Director
Fresh Picks Cafe
Barrington School District SAU74