Hello WB Students, Staff, and Families,

I hope you all are enjoying the February break. It is our intention to provide you with some information on what is going on in each of the schools and in our district. I hope you enjoy the newsletter and as always if you have any comments or thoughts please do not hesitate to reach out.

Mark Bodwell

Superintendent

Check out the newsletters for each of the 4 schools in WB! Lots of great information. If you have not yet had an opportunity to read these you will find lots of great information as well as many great pictures!

Spring Street School https://secure.smore.com/n/cj7ws

Rose L MacDonald School https://secure.smore.com/n/psqjy7

Howard School https://secure.smore.com/n/myrb1

Middle/Senior High School https://secure.smore.com/n/7arkc

Just a reminder (posted last month as well) to check out the Executive Summary results from the Climate and Culture Surveys. Thank you to all families, staff and students who took the time to participate!

As we are in the midst of the winter season I wanted to share some reminders with you. (This information has been previously shared in past newsletters)

• In considering delays or cancellations I am in constant contact with many people/organizations to get updates on conditions in town and around the schools including but not limited to: WB DPW, WB Fire Department, WB Police, school maintenance, weather service organizations, Lucini Bus Company, and local area Superintendents. These communications usually start the evening before and continue into the early morning hours.

• The West Bridgewater DPW does an outstanding job clearing and treating the roads in town and the school parking lots. Our school custodial and maintenance staff do an outstanding job clearing the school sidewalks and other areas around the schools. Thank you for your continued support and efforts!

• I will decide on a cancellation/delay when I feel I have sufficient information to do so. Sometimes this may be the night before but often it will not be until early in the morning. I do understand and appreciate that people like to know the night before but if I am uncertain I will wait to make a decision.

• When a decision is made students, staff, and families will be notified in a variety of ways. These include an email, phone calls, posting on the district website, social media, and news stations. A reminder that it is important that if there is a change in your email and/or phone number families communicate this with the office at the child's school.

• We may be able to have school but the conditions indicate we need a delay to the start of the school day. If there is a delay there will be no Surround Care. We will have either a 1 or 2-hour delay. This means that school will begin 1 or 2 hours after the regularly scheduled start time.

• If there is a delayed opening, Preschool will run as follows for the morning sessions: One hour delay: No Morning Prek, extended day (Mrs. Mattos' class) will run 10 a.m.-1 p.m. PM Prek will arrive at their usual time. Two-hour delay: No Morning Prek, extended day (Mrs. Mattos' class) will run 11 a.m.-1 p.m. PM Prek will arrive at their usual time

• At this time the state continues to not allow "work-from-home days" So if we do need to cancel school that will extend the school year.

• If there is any change due to weather (cancellation or delay) we ask that families have contingency plans for their child. It is our goal to be in school as long as it is safe. If as a parent you do not feel it is safe to send your child to school you may decide to keep them home.

I know and understand that not all will agree with the decisions that are made. Please know that when I make a decision it is my best judgement using all of the information I have available.

SAVE THE DATE - Next Community Forum April 1st! - Come and learn more about the project.

The first Community Meeting was held on Tuesday, January 14th in the MSHS Auditorium. Information was presented by School Building Committee Chair Gary Keith, Superintendent Mark Bodwell, HMFH Architects James Liebman and Stephanie MacNeil and OPM Senior Project Manager Mitch Miller. There was also opportunities for attendees to ask questions. If you did not attend or watch it live here is the link to the video https://youtu.be/3Y4z1NCIHs4

Also information such as the presentation and FAQs are posted on the building project website. The FAQs have been updated since the community meeting to include them. https://wbesbuildingproject.com/ Check out the Building Project website (link below) for information and updates. Questions? Email the project team at wbes@pmaconsultants.com

Next School Building Committee Meeting - February 25th 5:30 pm at MSHS

It is our goal to keep you and the community updated as much as possible as we go through this process. As always if you have any questions please reach out mbodwell@wbridgewater.com .

Thank you to School Resource Officer Chris Packard for all his hard work and dedication. The schools, students, staff and community are so fortunate to have him working in the schools. He does an outstanding job and we are very grateful!

BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION - Please scan your shopping receipts! Every little bit helps our school! The program transitioned to a new digital format. You can now scan your shopping receipts from any store (like Market Basket, Trucchi’s, Target, Walmart, CVS, etc.) to earn money for our school. Download the app today or send your receipts to school. We are happy to scan them for you!

Here are some important dates for FY26 School Committee Budget Presentations:

Budget Dates

• March 3, 2025 Budget Hearing at School Committee meeting

• March 19th - Board of Selectman Budget Presentation
  

• March 20th - Finance Committee Budget Presentation

Congratulations to our very own Mrs. Gauthier! Today, she presented at the ST Math Champion Day in Norwood, where she shared her expertise with educators from across Massachusetts. Mrs. Gauthier highlighted how she differentiates her support to maximize student success using ST Math. We’re so proud of her dedication to innovative teaching and student learning! #STMath

MARC Trainings - We have been fortunate to have MARC (Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center) trainers come to the Rose L MacDonald School, Howard School and MSHS recently to discuss issues related to bullying prevention. MARC is a longstanding and very successful program out of Bridgewater State University.

West Bridgewater was happy to host the SCC Honor Bowl again this year. Students from each of the 10 conference member schools sent members of their NHS to come and compete in an academic bowl. Congratulations to Case and Apponequet for winning their respective divisions.

MONDAY 3/3 -Books make us BRAVE! Dress like a superhero!

TUESDAY 3/4-Try-out Tuesday. Dress like your favorite athlete or dress to represent your favorite sports team!

WEDNESDAY 3/5- Wild About Books Wednesday. Rock that animal print, animal costumes, or

clothes that have animals on them!

THURSDAY 3/6- Silly Stories with Dr. Seuss. Wear those wacky clothes or dress like a

Dr. Seuss book character!

FRIDAY 3/7- Cozy up with a book: Reading is RELAXING. Come to school in your favorite jammies and bring your favorite book! Flashlights are welcome too.

Thank you to SRO Packard for starting this program at the MSHS. He will be looking to bring in professionals to meet with our students during the Powerblock time. This past week he had an officer from Bridgewater State University with his K9 partner Mikey. It was a great opportunity for our students to hear about how Mikey was trained and get to meet him.

A big thank you to Officer Packard and Bobby McElvoy, Mikey's handler for arranging the visit.

Here are some ideas that can help you and your student when your anxiety gets the best of you.

1. Acknowledge your anxiety - in your mind say to yourself “High anxiety is a normal human emotion . . . I’m OK.”

2. Take a deep breath in, hold it and then expel all the air in your lungs - repeat.

3. Sit down and put your hands on your legs, stretch your arms and connect to your body.

4. Go into a quiet room, shut your eyes to remove yourself from stimulation.

5. Name 5 things you can see, touch and smell orienting yourself to the present.

6. Go for a walk outside and get fresh air.

7. Listen to music.

8. Hum to yourself, the vibrations in your throat are soothing.

9. Splash cold water on your face to disrupt the powerful emotions.

Be gentle on yourself. As mentioned before, high anxiety is a normal human emotion. It doesn’t do you any good to judge it. In fact, fighting high anxiety can often lead to feeling anxious about your anxiety. Take the judgement out of it and accept that it is there for a reason.

Congratulations to the WBMSHS band students who auditioned with the SEMSBA band. Great job Kaitlyn Barry who successfully auditioned and will be performing with the Senior SEMSBA Band as a percussionist. Great job! The Senior SEMSBA Band Festival will take place on March 14 and March 15th at Sharon High School.

WB Music Night at the Providence Bruins - congratulations to Howard School band students and some MSHS band students who performed at the Providence Bruins game recently. They were on the jumbotron during the second intermission playing as well!

Congratulations to George Baroud who proudly represented WB at the BSU HS Honors Band. Students were nominated by their band directors and were selected through their merits by the BSU Music staff.

Learning English can be very challenging, especially for beginners! Our 4th and 5th Grade students are about to engage in very "wordy," novels: The Phantom Tollbooth and Hatchet. These novels are part of the Wit and Wisdom ELA curriculum, and will engage all students in learning some of the intricacies of the English language. In preparation, ML students practice with Figurative Language and Homophones, and also increase background knowledge to support their comprehension. Meanwhile, they also continue to develop their general descriptive speaking and writing abilities, as seen in the photos

WB Athletics Newsletter:

Check out the links below for the dates, times and locations of competitions and games for the Winter Season. As we come to the end of the regular season make sure to check out the MIAA Power Rankings and come out and support our teams that make the State Tournament. Don't forget to follow our coaches Twitter, as well as @WBMSHSAthletics, for schedule updates and the most recent game highlights. The link to the Wildcat Store is still open and at the bottom of the newsletter. Feel free to personalize and order any Wildcat Gear you would like.

Winter Sports Schedules:

Arbiter Live Link - https://arbiterlive.com/Teams?entityId=25160

Check out our sports schedule using the link above!

Hudl Link https://fan.hudl.com/

Catch games live on Hudl using the link below and searching for West Bridgewater Middle Senior High School!

**WB-CAM**:

A big thank you to the WB-CAM for live streaming our athletic events! They do an amazing job! Please follow them on Twitter to find out which athletic events are being live streamed. Let's Go Wildcats!

Twitter: @WBCAM0998

https://www.youtube.com/@westbridgewatercommunityac669/streams

Winter Power Rankings:

MIAA Power Rankings are based on results entered by member schools into Arbiter. The first release of power rankings each season generally will be 3-4 weeks into the regular season, and subsequent updates will be released each Tuesday and Friday throughout the remainder of the regular season. There are 3 Winter Power Rankings releases before the official cutoff date of Feb. 20. No power rankings on Friday 2/21.Final power rankings are published along with the release of tournament brackets for each sport.

Check out our winter teams rankings by using the following link. https://www.miaa.net/tournaments/tournament-central/power-rankings

Boys Basketball: West Bridgewater lost 72-53 to Greater New Bedford Regional VT High School on Senior Night. Congratulations to all 4 seniors who contributed in the game for the Wildcats. Henry Sainrisme had 8 points. Brendan Hulme had 5 points. Quincee Huggins had 2 points. Colin Maher scored 1 point and had a big rebound. Junior Jag Garces 14 points and Freshman J.J. MacLean 11 points both scored in double figures in the loss for the Wildcats. The Wildcats will play their final regular season game of the season on Wednesday February 19th at 12pm at WB.

JV Boys Basketball: The Boys JV team lost a hard fought battle to Greater New Bedford Voc Tech on February 12th 2025. GNB got off to a hot start taking an early double digit lead. The boys fought back to cut the lead to 4. GNB was too much for the JV team to handle. The boys lost 56-39. They will wrap up their season with their final game at home against East Bridgewater on February 19th. Good Luck!

Freshman Basketball: The Freshman Boys team lost a tough game to Greater New Bedford Voc by a score of 61-41. They will wrap up their season with their final game at home against East Bridgewater on February 19th. Good Luck!

Cheer: The WB Varsity Cheerleading team has been out supporting our winter teams in their games. They have also been working hard to perfect their routines daily in practice. They are in the process of getting ready for their competition on February 23rd at Bellingham HS. Keep up the good work! Way to go WB!

Co-Op BR/WB Gymnastics: The Co-op team of Bridgewater-Raynham and West Bridgewater won the Cranberry League Championships scoring 144.2. BR/WB is now undefeated in the regular season and won their 9th consecutive Cranberry League Championship. Brockton/Cardinal Spellman/Stoughton was second with a 143.6 and Falmouth/Mashpee/Barnstable/Sandwich was third with a 137.45. On Vault BR/WB Sophomore Lindsay Woodbury had the top score of 9.55. Case/Somerset/Berkley’s Leah Braga was second with a 9.5 and there was a three way tie for third with a score of 9.35 from Juliah Donahue-Wilfred from Brockton, Mia Webb from Brockton and Vo Dangelo from F/M/B/S. On Bars BR/WB Junior Lily Moreira had the top score with a 9.55, Brockton’s Ciara Thomas was second with a 9.1 and Brockton’s Gigi Pires was third with a 9.05. On beam Brockton’s Juliah Donahue-Wilfred had the top score with a 9.4. BR/WB Senior Captain Cecilia Meoli was second with a 9.3 which was tied by F/M/B/S Elena Garguelo. On Floor Brockton’s Ciara Thomas had the top score with a 9.5, BR/WB Lindsay Woodbury was second with a 9.4 and F/M/B/S Braylinn Foutain was third with a 9.3. BR/WB Lindsay Woodbury won the All Around with 37.0, Brockton’s Juliah Donahue-Wilfred was second with 36.65 and Brockton’s Ciara Thomas was third with a 36.5.

Girls Basketball:

West Bridgewater lost to Hull 41-36 on Senior Night in West Bridgewater on Monday, February 10, 2025. The team honored their seniors Grace Polen and Ava O’Neil at the game on Monday. The Wildcat’s were led on offense by Freshman Alyssa Caldeira who had 8 points. Grace Polen played a strong game defensively while also tallying 12 rebounds and 4 blocks for the Wildcats.

JV Girls Basketball:

The JV Girls basketball team won a close game against Greater New Bedford Voc. They battled to come back and win in a tight game. Emma Croce, Abby Kellog, and Emma Maher were all over the glass securing a ton of rebounds. Allie Edgerly, Brianna Depalma and Reegan Bryant played outstanding defense. Leah Perez also played well on defense and contributed many assists.

Indoor Track (Boys And Girls):

WB indoor track teams brought 8 boys and 8 girls to the D5 state relay meet at the Reggie Lewis Center on Saturday night. Teams of 3-4 athletes competed in a hurdles relay, a 50M dash relay, a sprint medley, a distance medley, a 4 x 200M, a 4 x 400M, a 4 x 800M, a shot put relay and 2 long jump relays. Each team worked together to run, jump and throw against teams from all over the state. We had two standout teams for the night. The girls hurdle team (Kate Austrino, Alanda Fidalgo, Chloe Gauthier and Riley Turner) placed 5th overall, earning medals. The boys 4 x 800M team of Alex Kelly, Sam Stapleton, Jason Gothage and Jude Tait came together in one of the sports’ toughest events and earned a new school record with a time of 9:16.40. Several of these athletes will now prepare for the State qualifier meet and state divisional meet… keep up the great work Wildcats!

Middle School Basketball

Boys: On Tuesday, the West Bridgewater middle school boys won a hard battle against Avon middle school. Trey Coulter set the tone by scoring nine points in the first quarter on his way to a 23 point performance. He was aided in the scoring department by Rob Kellogg, John Vesey and Captain Karter Rowe. Defensively once again, Nick Karras dominated Avons offense with many steals. He was aided by Dean Baker, Ferrell Eugene, KJ Reis and Jake Maclean. Jeremy Jacobs brought the crowd to its feet with a long 3 to seal the game.

Girls: The WB middle school girls team beat Southeastern with team defense, ball movement and a full court press that caused numerous fast break points and turnovers. The team took care of the ball, played as a team offensively and defensively. They won 39 to 18. What a great way to wrap up your season! Great Job!

WEB Boys Hockey Team: WEB Boys Ice Hockey lost to Abington in a South Shore League matchup! Seamus Dowd made his Varsity debut in net and turned away 27 shots in his first game!! Great effort!! WEB goals scored by Kyle Greeley, Jack Pimental, and Brian Westerlund! Assists came from Tyler Henderson, Jack Pimental, and Kyle Greeley! Next game is Saturday night at 6pm at Bridgewater Ice Arena vs Blue Hills. We will be celebrating Senior night for Aiden, Gavin, and Drew!!

WEB Girls Ice Hockey:

The WEB Girls’ Hockey team secured a 5-4 victory in their latest matchup. They had goals scored by Evelyn Concannon, Teagan O’Connor, Caitlin Kelly, Rachael Spooner and Kenzie Whitman. Goals were assisted by Caitlin Kelly and Evelyn Concannon. Congratulations to Olivia Carabin for being named player of the game.

Wildcats Athletic Store:

Check out the West Bridgewater Athletics online apparel store where you are able to personalize and order gear. Check out the link below to create and order your Wildcats Apparel. Let’s Go WB!!

https://sideline.bsnsports.com/schools/massachusetts/westbridgewater/west-bridgewater-high-school

As a school we raised $1,153.16, which is awesome!!!! $230.00 will be donated to the Lions Club disaster relief fund to help with the California Wildfires and the rest will be donated to the Massachusetts Lions Club Eye Research fund. Thank you for your generous donations and helping support people in need!

As part of our ongoing focus on Student and staff safety we have recently conducted lockdown drills at each of the schools organized by School Resource Officer (SRO) Packard. The drills are an essential part of ensuring that our students and staff are well-prepared for emergency situations. We are pleased to share that both students and staff did an excellent job following the procedures and responding swiftly and calmly during the drill. Their cooperation and focus were truly commendable. We remain committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment for all our students. Thank you for your continued support.

Every month our West Bridgewater Safe Schools Committee meets and we are always discussing issues related to Student and staff safety. The committee consists of members of the school district, WB Police, WB Fire, Lead Nurse, Administration and School Committee.

The next Superintendent Coffee Hour with Mr. Bodwell will be on Friday, March 21st at 9:15 am at the Spring Street School. As always it is open to all and we hope to see you there!

February 3, 2025

The objective of the Policy Subcommittee is to regularly review the policies of the West Bridgewater School Committee to determine if they are current, consider the interests of stakeholders, and are in line with guidance from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. At the most recent school committee meeting on February 3, 2025, the following policies were reviewed and revised as indicated:

• IHBF - Homebound Instruction

• IHBG - Home Schooling

• IHBH - Alternative School Programs

• IHBHE - Remote Learning *New*

• IHCA - Summer Schools

• IJ - Instructional Materials

• IJ-R - Reconsideration Of Instructional Resources

• IJL - Library Materials Selection And Adoption

• IJLA - Library Resources

Additionally, the following policies were opened and are scheduled for review at the next school committee meeting on March 3, 2025:

• ACA: Non-Discrimination of the Basis of Sex

• ACA-R: Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex Under Title IX Including Sex-Based Harassment

• ACAB: Sexual and Sex-Based Harassment

• ACGB: Title IX Sexual Discrimination Grievance Procedure

• IJNDD - Policy On Social Media

• IJOB - Community Resource Persons/ Speakers

• IJOC - School Volunteers

• IKAB - Student Progress Reports To Parents/Guardians

• IKE - Promotion And Retention Of Students

• IKEA - Academic Honesty

• IKF - Graduation Requirements

• IKFB - Distribution Of Diplomas At High School Graduation

• IL - Evaluation Of Instructional Programs

• ILD - Student Submission To Educational Surveys And Research

• IMA - Teaching Activities/Presentations

• IMB - Teaching About Controversial Issues/Controversial Speakers

• IMD - School Ceremonies And Observances

• IMG - Animals In School

For any questions or to provide feedback, please contact the policy subcommittee at kmilton@wbridgewater.com and rdragonetti@wbridgewater.com. A complete listing of policies can be found in the WB Policy Index at https://www.wbridgewaterschools.org under the School Committee tab.

We are always looking for qualified persons to fill substitute teaching positions. If you are interested, please visit https://www.wbridgewaterschools.org/page/substitute-teaching for more information or contact one of the building principals for more information.

January, 2025

This notice is provided in compliance with State and Federal regulations for conducting Child Find activities in order to identify students who may be in need of an evaluation to determine eligibility for special education services.It is the responsibility of the West Bridgewater Schools to identify any child who resides in West Bridgewater and may have a disability. This includes students who are homeschooled.

West Bridgewater Public Schools is also responsible for the evaluation of those students to determine if they are eligible for special education or related services under Federal law, IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) or, Massachusetts State Law, 603 CMR 28 (Massachusetts Special Education Regulations).

West Bridgewater Public Schools is also committed to identifying children before their third birthday in order to provide early intervention services for three and four year olds with disabilities. If you have questions or concerns regarding your child’s development and would like to have him/her screened, please call Kathy Marble at 508-894-1236 to set up an appointment.

If you suspect that your child may need an evaluation to determine eligibility for special education services, you may request an evaluation, at no cost, through the West Bridgewater Public Schools. Please contact the principal at your child's school for information about referring your child for an evaluation. Contact information for each school is listed below:

Keitha Goulet: Spring Street School and Rose L. McDonald, kgoulet@wbridgewater.com

Mary Giuffre: Howard School, mgiuffre@wbridgewater.com

Christine Page: West Bridgewater Middle Senior High School, cpage@wbridgewater.com

If you have any questions or require any additional assistance, please contact Kathy Marble at the following: kmarble@wbridgewater.com or 508-894-1236

Mark Bodwell, Superintendent of Schools

Email: mbodwell@wbridgewater.com
Website: www.wbridgewaterschools.org
Location: 2 Spring Street, West Bridgewater, MA, USA
Phone: (508) 894-1230
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wbridgewaterschools