"A child without education is like a bird without wings."

--Tibetan Proverb

On Thursday, September 26, 2024 at 6:00 pm in the Greenfield Middle School library, the district will host its first ELPAC meeting of the school year. If you are a parent of an English language learner and would like to be a part of our team, we encourage you to attend this meeting. Childcare is provided. If you are in need of transportation to this meeting, please contact Mr. David Messing at 413-772-1324 or davmes1@gpsk12.org.

Please join me tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 20, at 3:30 pm at the GHS Field Hockey Field. We will be dedicating this field to the late Donna Woodcock at 3:30 pm and welcome the support of faculty, staff, students, former players, friends, and family to this event. Donna Woodcock was a beloved coach, teacher, and administrator of the Greenfield Public Schools who left us too soon.

Greenfield Public Schools uses the CASEL framework as the foundation for our social and emotional learning ("SEL") lessons. This framework fosters knowledge, skills, and attitudes across five areas of social and emotional competence. The lessons help to coordinate practice and acquisition of these skills in our students.

Steps in developing Social Awareness:

• Be an active listener.
• Repeat and paraphrase what you hear.
• Watch facial expressions and body language.
• Pay attention to tone of voice.
• Study how others react to you.
• Analyze your social cues and reactions.
• Demonstrate empathy and compassion.
• Express gratitude to others.

We encourage our parents, families, and community members to practice and model these skills for our students.

Next Thursday, September 26, 2024, the Academy of Early Learning along with our three elementary schools will host an Open House night from 5:00-6:00 pm. Please visit our teachers and enjoy your student's classroom communities. We look forward to seeing families soon!

Tune in every Friday on your way to school to WHAI 98.3 radio. Updates about Greenfield Public Schools run between 7:00-9:30 am! Each week we will be highlighting different aspects of the schools that air on the radio. Hope you are listening and catching the Green Wave!

Looking for info quickly! Follow Greenfield Public Schools on Facebook and Instagram at the following links:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561436008802&mibextid=LQQJ4d and on Instagram at the following link: https://www.instagram.com/greenfieldpublicschools?igsh=MWl4a3MyeWJraHdueQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr. Instagram at #GreenWave, #GreenfieldPublicSchools or #GreenWaveNation!

Do you have a few hours a day? Once a week even? Want to help the schools by becoming a volunteer? If so, please sign up as a volunteer for Greenfield Public Schools at the following link:

https://forms.gle/op8JBFyZRdnCHXHn8

The elementary schools are really looking for volunteers for the following times to assist with lunch and recess coverage:

Federal Street School 10:45 am -12:45 pm

Discovery School at Four Corners 10:55 -1:20 pm

Newton School 10:15 -12:15 pm

Please indicate on the volunteer sign up which school you would be willing to assist and help! Once you have filled out the Google Form, Connie Thacker, our Registrar/Receptionist will be in contact for next steps. All volunteers do need to be CORI and fingerprinted, but we reimburse volunteers for fingerprinting and they can easily be done at Staples in Greenfield. We hope to assist folks in making this process easier so that those of you who want to support our schools are able to do so with ease! Thank you!

The Food Service Department is led by Director Greta Shwachman. Under her leadership, the district employs over 20 staff , including administrative assistant, Joan Bitters, who make magic happen in our schools cafeterias in six buildings as well as delivery to Four Rivers Charter School. This group of employees is dedicated to making the food experiences for our students and staff high-quality and diverse. They continually take feedback from students on food selections as well as try to diversify the students' palettes by introducing students to foods they might not otherwise be exposed to at home.

Don't forget - GPS has switched the point-of-sale system to SchoolCafé. All existing student balances carried from last year, but to check your student’s balance and load funds onto their account for a la carte items, please visit family.schoolcafe.com.

And get ready because the week of October 7-11th is National School Lunch week! Students and staff should be prepared for fun in the cafeterias as this group is known to be quite spirited during this week. We thank them for all of their hard work and appreciate all that they do behind the scenes to ensure our students bellies are full and that they are energized for learning.

A friendly reminder to parents that the District requires parents/guardians to formally consent to their child's use of the internet and technology available at each school. The Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") must be signed off by each parent/guardian. Your child's access to technology will be halted until the fully executed AUP is returned to your child's school. If you need another form, please connect with your child's Building Principal.

GPS has two COVID/Flu vaccine clinics scheduled at the following locations and are open to the public:

• October 18th at Greenfield High School from 3:30 pm-6:30 pm. Please enter through the Event Entrance.
  
• November 1st at Newton Elementary School from 4:00 pm -7:00 pm. Please enter through the front door.

Flu/Covid Updates

Influenza (flu) is a contagious respiratory illness, with symptoms similar to COVID-19. These illnesses are caused by viruses that infect the nose, throat and lungs. Flu is different from a cold and usually comes on suddenly. Respiratory viruses, such as COVID-19 and the Flu, are thought to mainly spread through the spread of droplets made when someone sneezes or coughs. These droplets can infect people nearby. A person also can get these viruses by touching something that has the flu virus on it and then touching their mouths, eyes, or nose. This is why it is so important to cover your coughs and sneezes and to wash your hands frequently.

The COVID-19 and the Flu vaccines help protect from these illnesses. Both COVID-19 and flu can have varying degrees of symptoms, ranging from no symptoms (asymptomatic) to severe symptoms. Common symptoms that COVID-19 and flu share include:

• Fever or feeling feverish/having chills; not everyone with flu will have a fever

• Cough

• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

• Fatigue (tiredness)

• Sore throat

• Runny or stuffy nose

• Muscle pain or body aches

• Headache

• Vomiting

• Diarrhea (more frequent in children with flu, but can occur in any age with COVID-19)

• Change in or loss of taste or smell, although this is more frequent with COVID-19.

  
  

Flu Symptoms

COVID Symptoms

More information is available at Flu and COVID-19 symptoms.

The CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend an annual flu vaccine for all children 6 months and older.

MDPH also created a resource entitled Flu Guide for Parents in:

• English (PDF)

• Spanish (PDF)

• Portuguese (PDF)

Hello Partners who work with Parents and Families!

Did you know that FAMILY DAY is right around the corner on Monday, September 23rd?

The Communities That Care Coalition along with our PEER Ambassador Host Sites CAPV Family Center, The Recover Project, Valuing Our Children and The Brick House would like your help in spreading the word. Family Day is just a day to encourage families to have dinner or spend other quality time together. Family Day was created to celebrate simple, everyday things parents do to connect with their kids, and to spread the word about the power of family connection.

Spending quality time together regularly helps kids feel connected to their families. This feeling of connectedness is considered a “super-protective factor” that helps kids avoid risky behaviors and promotes their healthy development. Family Day helps remind busy families to work to prioritize regular, quality family time.

Thousands of studies have shown that the more often children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs, report symptoms of depression and develop an eating disorder. In addition, children who have regular family dinners are more likely to do well in school.

The local Student Health Survey shows that most local young people have dinner with their families most nights of the week. And more than 9 out of 10 students say they enjoy spending time with one or both of their parents!

In celebration of Family Day, local parent leaders in the Coalition’s PEER Ambassador program worked with Greenfield Community Television to create a video Public Service Announcements – check out the version in English and the one in Spanish!

You can put something in your newsletter about it, or you can put something up on the marquis outside the school, or on your website. Attached is a flyer with more information and fun ideas to share.

• For more information about national Family Day visit www.CASAFamilyDay.org.
  
• For wonderful family dinner resources visit www.thefamilydinnerproject.org.
  
• For more information about the Communities That Care Coalition visit www.communitiesthatcarecoalition.org
  

For your convenience, please find links to our school handbooks below..