Brown School Buzz
April 24, 2023
Dear Families,
We are off to a roaring start to our third trimester with a STEAM Fair, kindergarten concert, and April break already in the books! In addition to a host of activities coming up over the next 9 weeks (Fun Run, Folk Dance, Field Days, Field Trips and more!), we have also started planning for the 2023-24 school year, beginning with our classroom placement process.
To begin our multi-layered placement process, teachers, counselors, and administration all participate in the process. Our goal is to create balanced classrooms, to support all students as a group, while also considering each student's social, emotional, and academic service needs. We work together to make the best placement for your child. We hope that as a parent, you trust this process and know that we have the best interest of your child in mind. However, if you have concerns about something specifically related to your K-2 child, including their learning style or peer concerns, we invite you to make us aware by completing this optional form and share what has worked well for your child this year.
*Parent requests to place a child with a particular teacher, in a specific class, or with certain other children are not part of the process. Specific teacher requests will be not be considered. We thank you for respecting this policy.
We will work through the placement process this spring and make any necessary changes over the summer that may need to occur due to an influx of incoming or exiting students. Placements will be shared with families in mid-August.
Thank you to second grade teacher, Gianna Blanchard, for being our school based coordinator and to all of the staff members who volunteered to be scientists and interviewed students about their projects. I appreciate the support of parents and family members who helped keep their child engaged in their ideas and process and bring their visions to fruition. We are already making plans for next year's event!
Safety in Our Schools
Before vacation we practiced our evacuation procedure (fire drill). The students and staff did a great job of exiting the building safely and in a timely fashion. Our attendance procedures were also well timed. And, as with any procedure, we identified a couple of things we could do better. We will continue to work on our safety procedures, as well as practice additional drills this spring. We will keep you posted on any new experiences your children may be having with regard to safety procedures and drills. Again, we thank you for supporting our efforts.
Friendly Reminders from Nurse Karen
There has been some reporting in the news regarding the increase of childhood illnesses nationwide. These have included strep, flu-like, and respiratory illnesses. While we have not had any "outbreaks" at the Brown school, we have had a number of students and families managing these health challenges. Here are some reminders from Nurse Karen as you make decisions about attending school when your child is not feeling well, or is recovering from an illness.
While daily attendance is very important, in order to keep everyone as healthy and safe as possible, we need to have children who are ill stay at home. A child who is sick will not perform well in school and could spread the illness to other students or staff. Please see below for the earliest date of return:
- Strep Throat - Students being treated for strep throat must be kept home a minimum of 24 hours after treatment begins.
- Conjunctivitis/Pink Eye - Students may return to school after 3 doses of antibiotic treatment.
- Vomiting and Diarrhea - Students should be kept home for 24 hours after the last episode of gastrointestinal distress.
- Fever - Students should be fever free without the use of fever reducing medication for 24 hours prior to returning to school.
- Head Lice - Please notify the school nurse if your child contracts head lice. We will notify parents of any head lice concerns and serve as a resource for treatment. Please do not keep children out of school for this very common childhood condition.
Parking Lot Challenges
1.Handicapped Parking Spaces- It is NEVER ok to park in a Handicapped Parking spot without the appropriate plate or visible placard. The designated spaces near the PK and K drop off/pick up area have been used by a number of folks who are dropping off quickly. Please only use these spaces if your vehicle has the appropriate license plate. If you have a placard, please be sure it is visible. We thank you for leaving these spaces for those who need them.
2. Designated Parking Lot Spaces-The front row of the parking lot and the spaces running parallel to Baldwin are reserved for PK and K drop off and pick up. They are also used throughout the day for visitors coming for a short time to dismiss children or for district employees attending meetings. There are 27 spaces, which we acknowledge is not nearly enough for the traffic we have, especially during the winter months. Please be timely when using those spaces, and mindful that others are circling the parking lot looking for a space to open up.
3. Staying Awhile?-We have noticed as the weather becomes warmer, a number of families are choosing to stay on the PK playground with their children after school. If you are planning on staying well after dismissal time has ended, it would be helpful if you used the spaces in the back of the parking lot in order to keep the front row and side spaces actively open for families needing to leave in a more timely manner.
4. Early Birds.- We have a number of folks lining up very early in the car line early for dismissal. We understand wanting to avoid the traffic and arriving early, however, our PK classrooms dismiss at 2:00 and this is making it difficult to safely dismiss them safely on that side of the building. Please be sure to arrive AFTER 2:10 for the car line. This should give our K and PK families time to complete their dismissal process.
5. PARKING LOT STOP SIGNS-There are stop signs in the parking lot. Often the traffic is heavy and moving slowly and some cars are not stopping, but rather following traffic. Other times it has been more unsafe, with vehicles moving more quickly while students are trying to access the crosswalk. This has been most concerning at the corner of the building near the PK playground. Please, please please be sure to stop at the stop sign in the parking lot to make sure our kids arrive at school safely.
I thank you all for working together to keep our parking lot, and our kids safe.
Kindergarten Concert- BRAVO!
Upcoming Dates
May 1-Town Meeting
May 4-School Committee Meeting
May 8-12-Teacher Appreciation Week
May 18-School Committee Meeting
May 24-Brown School PTO Fun Run
May 31-Family Folk Dance Night
L & J Brown School
Email: maxfield.mary@marbleheadschools.org
Website: https://www.marbleheadschools.org
Location: 40-42 Baldwin Road, Marblehead, MA, USA
Phone: 7816393112