Principal's Newsletter

The final date to return borrowed Chromebooks is Monday, August 17th from 9:00 - 11:00. We will have a return table set up outside on the front foyer of Cunniff West. Please ring the bell and we will come out to assist you. A reminder to please wear a face mask when you arrive on the campus. We are hoping to have all Chromebooks returned so that we can adequately deploy Chromebooks to students as we begin a new school year. Thank you for your help with this.

I will be hosting two forums for parents and guardians to check in with me during the coming week. They will take place via Zoom on Thursday, August 20th at 9:00 AM - Zoom Parent AM Forum and 7:00 PM - Zoom Parent PM Forum.

Cunniff Parent Andrew Stefano has captured a time-lapse video of the Cunniff demolition. I thank Andrew for preserving this memory for us.

It is with mixed feelings that I announce to you that grade three teacher Debbie Munger is retiring. Debbie has been an outstanding teacher, colleague, and friend. She always put forth her best effort in providing students with exceptional learning experiences that were creative, challenging, and enjoyable. Always willing to support best practices on behalf of students, Debbie was surely a role model. She will be dearly missed. We wish Debbie good health and happiness as she embarks on new adventures that she previously did not have time for. Let's hope that she a little time reserved to substitute for us. Here is a letter that Debbie has written to her colleagues and the community. Best wishes, Debbie. We will miss you:)

Kitchen manager - Gussie Forte is also retiring. We will miss the efficiency, diligence, and care with which Gussie planned and prepared breakfast and lunch for students and staff. Always happy and willing to lend an extra hand, Gussie enjoyed being in her kitchen at Cunniff. We send Gussie and her family well wishes for a happy and healthy retirement.

Part-time literacy and math coaches Joia Kirby and Emily Show have been assigned full-time to the Lowell. Their skillset will be hard to match. Joia was a tireless coach always looking for ways to support and enhance best practices in literacy. Her enthusiasm for planning lessons that enabled students to think critically was exceptional. Emily truly enjoyed working with numbers. We all valued her natural ability to use data to inform and to plan engaging instruction that was a match to student needs. Both coaches will surely be missed.

Half-time positions for literacy and math coaches have been posted.

We welcome Jacklyn Brehm to the grade two team. Jacklyn has a Bachelor of Arts from Providence College and a Master of Science from the University at Albany. She holds certifications in Elementary Education, Moderate Special Needs, and is SEI certified. During the last academic year, Jacklyn was a grade one teacher at the Bell Top Elementary School in East Greenbush, NY. Jacklyn will replace Ms. Lauria who will be teaching grade three.

Message from Señora Koehler to students in Spanish grades 1 - 4th :

¡Hola! ¿Cómo están? I miss all of you and thought that doing a casual Spanish Zoom to see and chat with each other might be really fun! Thinking about it is bringing a smile to my face! If you are going to be in 1st grade or 2nd grade, please join on Tuesday, August 18 at 9:30 am. If you are going to be in 3rd grade or 4th grade, please join on Tuesday, August 18 at 10:00 am. If you can join, the Zoom will be 20 minutes and you can leave whenever you would like. I hope to see you there and I look forward to catching up!!!

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/98006211308?pwd=WkFWbHdTbFN6d01FbXpTZFBUS0tGZz09

Meeting ID: 980 0621 1308
Password: Spanish

The district will not be transporting students to the Boys and Girls Club during the upcoming school year as we did during the past school year.

A few families have asked about daily school bus transportation to Cunniff West, once we return to school. At this time, there is a waitlist. However, you can certainly add your name to the list. Please visit: http://watertown.ss19.sharpschool.com/about_our_district/registration_for_bus and scroll to the bottom where you will find the link for the waitlist for the Cunniff West bus. Thank you.

Plans are being finalized for the addition of two outdoor tents at Cunniff West. Dimensions are 20 x 30. One will be placed along the hardtop area of the Cunniff West playground area and the second will be placed in the parking lot. We were not able to accommodate irregular-sized tents. These tents will be used to schedule outdoor learning when students are able to come back to school. Details to follow.