Colrain Central School News
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May 31, 2024
A Note From Mrs. Looman
Today is the deadline to register your child for summer tutoring. Please make sure you register them with the link I sent you. If you need the link again, please let me know.
If you know someone who is considering our preschool or kindergarten program for next year, please remind them that the due date for registration packets is fast approaching. We need all registration forms returned by June 1st.
Please be sure you are kept up to date with all the events happening throughout the school. Please check https://colrain.mohawktrailschools.org/Calendar regularly to see what's going on.
PLEASE PARTICIPATE IN OUR COMMUNITY & FAMILY/CAREGIVER SURVEY
The Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont School Districts have engaged Berkshire Educational Resources K12 (BERK12) to complete a thorough sustainability study that ultimately will present the Districts, their member towns, and their communities with ideas about the educational, financial, and operational future of the Districts. For this work to be successful, we need your help!
Please fill out a survey and let us know your thoughts for the Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont Regional School Districts by clicking on the link below, or entering in your web browser. Thank you!
MAY UPDATE ON MOHAWK TRAIL AND HAWLEMONT REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT SUSTAINABILITY STUDY
Contact: H. Jake Eberwein, Project Manager, jakeeberwein@gmail.com
MAY 24, 2024 -- Berkshire Educational Resources K12 (BERK12), in partnership with the 2districts8towns Steering Committee, continues to gather input from community members for an ongoing study and analysis of the operating and organizational structure of the Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont regional school districts. The 2districts8towns Sustainability Study encompasses the towns of Ashfield, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Hawley, Heath, Plainfield, and Shelburne.
In the first stage of work (February through April), the BERK12 team met with local select boards, town administrators, and legislators to brief them on the project, answer questions, and solicit their thoughts. Community engagement sessions were held at each of the district’s schools to provide an opportunity for families and community members to engage with the research team. Information sessions were also held with the district’s faculty/staff, union leaders, and the Rowe School Committee. We thank all those who participated (over 300 individuals)!
Outreach work continues to move forward as we launch three comprehensive surveys: 1) a survey of families who reside in the 8 towns but do not attend the Hawlemont or Mohawk Trail schools has been completed, 2) a survey of faculty/staff and students will be electronically administered at Mohawk Trail Regional School after Memorial Day, and 3) a community and family/caregiver survey will be electronically administered after Memorial Day and is available HERE. Residents of the district towns will receive a direct mailing notice with the survey link. For this work to be successful, we need your help - your ideas are critical to assuring the educational and operational future of the Districts. We encourage your participation!
The first stage of BERK12’s work has also included developing baseline reports on the historical and current status of the district across various domains (enrollment, educational programming, facilities, & finance). BERK12 has recently released three draft reports for the Steering Committee and public to review including:
● Enrollment report: historical and projected enrollment trends by district, school, & town; patterns of student migration in/out of the district; and class size.
● Historical Review: look back at district formation, historical studies, state efforts around regionalization and rural issues, and best practices (nationally) in rural education.
● Regional Agreement analysis: a side-by-side look at the Hawlemont & Mohawk Trail regional agreements.
These reports are accessible on 2districts8towns.org under the RESOURCES tab.
The Steering Committee has a busy couple of months ahead. Advisory teams in the areas of community outreach, educational quality, finance, and facilities have been organized to help guide the BERK12 research team in its research and analysis. Additionally, the Steering Committee has set its next five meetings into July to review reports and examine and evaluate potential options and opportunities. Steering Committee minutes and presentations by the Project Manager are posted and available on the website under RESOURCES. Members of the public are welcome to attend Steering Committee meetings either in person at Mohawk Trail Regional School (superintendent’s conference room) or virtually by accessing the meeting agenda posted on the website (2districts8towns.org).
Community members are always encouraged to submit questions or comments through the CONTACT link on the website….or for those just becoming familiar with the Sustainability Study, a one page project overview is available HERE as a good place to start.
For more information, contact project manager H. Jake Eberwein, jakeeberwein@gmail.com.
Puppet info for families
Did your child participate in the Puppet Project and enjoy it? Is your family interested in Puppetry? Please check out these resources from Ms. Kotel:
You Tube how to videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vkhcjE4TTg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym13GbygiSM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tYXX7I0mvU
Articles about puppetry:
History of Puppetry
https://puppetnerd.com/the-origin-of-puppetry/
https://www.artattheheartcic.org/the-history-of-puppets/
Types of puppets and teaching resource.
upcoming events
6/1: PK/K registration packets due
6/3: 6th grade Step-Up Day at MTRS
6/4: Colrain Town Meeting
6/6: 2:00 Tom Ricardi assembly
6/6: 6:00pm 4th/5th grade virtual meeting
6/7: Field Day
6/10: Rain date for Field Day
6/11: 6th grade field trip to Morse Hill Outdoor Education Center
6/12: 6:00pm School Committee meeting
6/14: 12:30 dismissal Last Day of School
6/14: 5:00pm 6th grade graduation
1:50 dismissals: 6/5
12:30 dismissals: 6/14