Hello Auburn Families and Staff,
Well the start of the 2024-2025 school is in the books and by all accounts, it was a great start! I visited the schools during the day, some at arrival and some during dismissal and I was so pleased to see all of the safety protocols and routines in place and most importantly, all of the smiles from staff and students. Everyone I asked noted that they were happy to be back in school. Wonderful!!
I am thankful for all of the preparation completed this summer by our school and district administrators with school schedules, class placements, and building preparation. Their efforts had a direct impact on the smooth start of school. I am also thankful for all of the teachers and professional staff members who spent hours in their classrooms this summer preparing to receive their students. Without a doubt, this preparation had a direct and positive impact on the start of school! I am also thankful for the secretaries, both in buildings and here at Central Office that diligently made sure new families were warmly welcomed and current families received all of the support and information they needed. They helped to ensure a smooth start to the school year too! I would also like to thank Joe Fahey and his custodial team for the work they do each year to clean and maintain our school buildings. They too had a direct impact on the smooth start to the school year! Thank you to everyone on the APS Team!
And I would like to take this moment to give Joe Fahey, our Director of Facilities, a special shout out as Joe will retire effective December 28, 2024. Joe has served the Auburn Public Schools for approximately 20 years. During this time, Joe has helped to maintain our buildings in a manner that has ensured our students and staff have clean and safe facilities within which to learn and to work. Joe has been instrumental in the construction projects for both Auburn High School and Auburn Middle School along with numerous other major projects across the District. Joe has also led the District Wide Safety Team for a number of years, helping to ensure that we have the best possible safety plans, processes and tools in place in our schools. Joe has also been a huge resource to the Town of Auburn, as he is always ready to step in and lend a helping hand, no matter the project. Joe’s easy going manner, high level of expertise and his generous spirit will be hard to replace. On a personal note, Joe met me at the front door of Central Office on my first official day as Superintendent to open the door for me and since then, Joe has been a constant source of support….even at 4:30am on a snow day. Thank you Joe, for all you have done and all you will continue to do to support the Auburn Public Schools.
If you are interested in joining the Auburn SEPAC(Special Education Parent Advisory Council), there is a survey below. Please take a few moments to complete the survey as they work to grow the participation of families.
I would also like to remind AMS and AHS Families that the deadline to obtain insurance for your child's iPad is October 1st. We strongly urge you to obtain this insurance as it protects families for incidents, accidental damage or theft of the device. Purchasing the insurance will provide your child’s iPad with coverage for up to 2 incidents of damage at NO ADDITIONAL COST to you! Many students have accidental incidents with their iPad during the course of the school year. If you do not have the insurance coverage, repairs can cost from $50-$299! Insurance for the iPad costs only $50.00 per device with a family cap of $100.00 which covers the device starting 9/1/2024 through 8/31/2025.
iPad insurance can be purchased through our online payment system linked on our district website www.auburn.k12.ma.us or directly at the Unipay site https://unipaygold.unibank.com/transactionInfo.aspx?CustomerID=1493 .
The full APS Insurance Agreement is located at our district web site https://www.auburn.k12.ma.us/departments/technology/1-1-ipad-program .
Insurance will be available for purchase until 10/1/2024. After October 1, 2024, if you have not obtained insurance for your child’s iPad, any charges resulting from damage or theft that occurs to devices not covered by insurance will be the responsibility of the family.
Stolen iPads require a report to be filed with the Auburn Police Department.
Parents will also be required to complete the annual iPad agreement form through the Returning Student Registration Online Form. There is additional information below if you are interested.
Finally, as you all know, earlier this week there was another senseless school shooting in Georgia. The Auburn Public Schools takes school safety very seriously and we work together with the Auburn Police Department on a daily basis to ensure we are doing everything we can to keep our students and staff safe. We all need to work together in this regard and I would ask that if you or your child hears or sees anything that could pose a risk to the Auburn community, that you please report it immediately. You can report to a guidance counselor, a building administrator, a trusted staff member, the school resource officer, the Auburn Police Department or to me. We want to know so that we can help anyone in need. In the late fall, we will be sharing information regarding an anonymous reporting system that will be available for students, staff and families at Auburn High School and Auburn Middle School as we continue to work to do everything we can to make sure our students, staff and schools are as safe as they can possibly be. Our staff is committed to fostering positive relationships with each and every student as we know if students feel seen and supported, they are less likely to harm their community. We continue to focus on the social and emotional well being of students and provide multiple avenues for mental health supports. Each school will implement Just Say Hello from Sandy Hook Promise to ensure we have schools that inclusive and welcoming. Schools will also be starting SAVE(Students Against Violence Everywhere) clubs to offer community building opportunities. We are fortunate in Auburn to have an amazing, positive, supportive and productive relationship with Town of Auburn Leadership, the Auburn Police Department and Auburn Fire Department. In collaboration with these groups along with the District and School Based safety teams, we have formal written multi hazard plans in place. We continue to make physical updates to our schools to enhance safety. Thanks to the APD, we have two full time School Resource Officers whose daily presence in our schools enhances the safety of all. We conduct ALICE(Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) reviews with staff at the start of each school year and with students at AMS and AHS. This is just the tip of the iceberg of initiatives we have in place to keep everyone safe. But again, we can always use your help so if you see something or hear something....please say something.
Thank you for your continued support of the Auburn Public Schools and I wish you all a positive, productive and safe school year.
Best,
Beth
This was a very unusual year for us in that we received nearly 250 new bus registrations since August 1st. While we made every effort to stop this from happening by communicating frequently with families, we had many current students register very late. There is an enormous amount of planning that goes into the bus process each year and we continue to work through late registrations as well as the issuance of bus passes to students who never use the bus but choose to apply for a bus pass in the event it might be needed. This creates a complicated process of ensuring we have enough seats for students to be safely accommodated on the bus balanced against, not paying for bus transportation that is not needed. As you might imagine, school buses are very expensive.
This week and into the beginning of next week, bus drivers are providing our office with actual counts of students on each bus both in the morning and the afternoon. We will use this information to determine if any adjustments need to be made to our bus routes/fleet.
Again, thank you for your patience and we will provide more information as it becomes available.
While I hope that you do not need to refer to this information at all this school year, I am sharing the plan should there be a need to delay or cancel school. Please know that these plans will only be used in response to a significant weather event or unexpected school event that warrants the delay or cancellation of school. The most important thing you can do is have a plan in place should it be needed. As you might suspect, these events don't always allow for a lot of planning of time so it is best to be prepared.
I wish this was a topic that did not need to be addressed anymore...but seemingly, COVID is still a bit of a thing albeit very different than a couple of years ago. Kerri Gustafson, our Lead Nurse, created a quick sheet on what to do if you get COVID. Thank you to Kerri for putting this together and let's hope none of us get it!
