Superintendent's Update

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As we announced on Wednesday, May 11, PSB now strongly recommends masking for all individuals when inside our school facilities due to the recent increases in COVID-19 cases in our schools and community. We will continue to monitor our case counts and the community metrics and remain open to altering these guidelines in the near future. The Brookline Department of Public Health, the Advisory Council on Public Health, and Advisory Panel 4 will meet on Wednesday, May 18 to again review all data and metrics. Learn more here.

This week, we shine the spotlight on excellence at the METCO Core (Communicating our Real Experiences) program at BHS. This program was designed to bring awareness to and address the social, emotional, and mental health impacts that METCO students are experiencing in their lives. Through various affinity spaces and opportunities for student leadership, CORE also provides mindfulness training and self-care activities each week. We especially want to highlight the efforts of BHS students William Finklea (Class of ‘24) and Geanna Bryant (Class of ‘23) in helping shape the culture of CORE. As facilitators, their continued presence in the program has helped reduce the emotional distress and anxiety of their classmates and teachers in a particularly difficult year. Congratulations to William and Geanna for all of their inspiring work! You can view the spotlight in its entirety here.

The BEU and School Committee will meet tomorrow evening, Saturday, May 14, and again on Monday, May 16 as part of two scheduled mediation sessions assigned by the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations. PSB has also learned that members of the BEU have voted to strike on Monday, May 16, if no agreement is reached with the School Committee over the weekend. We are hopeful that the parties will reach an agreement before then. PSB will keep the community updated as more information becomes available. The latest update from the school committee can be found here.

Please mark your calendar for Wednesday, June 8 in the late afternoon. We are planning a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the newly renovated and expanded Brookline High School campus. We will offer tours of the STEM Wing and 22 Tappan, mark the occasion with a few speeches, and make it official with a ribbon-cutting! Please be on the lookout next week for complete details. You can find an overview the project our website.

The Brookline Adult & Community Education (BA&CE) Program is excited to announce that registration for their Summer Children’s Programming is now live! SmartSummer sessions begin as early as July 5 and are available for students ages 5-13. If you cannot wait that long, BA&CE will also be offering classes for learners of all ages through the end of the school year, including Walking Tours around Boston, special lectures and talks, and a family movie night at the Frederick Law Olmsted Home on Saturday, May 21. Sign up today!

GreenZine Brookline invites students and PSB community members to submit writing and artwork for its Spring 2022 issue.GreenZine Brookline is a Brookline K-12 online magazine that features work about the environment, climate justice, and the outdoors. We strongly encourage writers and illustrators with, or without, experience, to submit news, opinion, interview, fiction, poetry, photography, illustrations, or other creative media. This is a great opportunity to use your voice to address a world increasingly impacted by climate change.

Collectively run by Brookline educators, GreenZine offers our students, staff, and the Brookline Schools community a forum for news, opinion, and creative expression about climate change, outdoor education, and the environment. GreenZine highlight the excellent work being done by students, staff, and parents in our school community, as well as the need for more. GreenZine Brookline aims to amplify student voices and passion in order to catalyze a conversation about climate change and outdoor education in our schools so that our students will be more resilient and prepared to lead in a climate-disrupted world. The publication is currently looking for a rising junior and senior co-editor for the 2022-23 school year. Submit a letter of interest or any questions here: greenzinebrookline@gmail.com

The virtual award ceremony for the 7th Annual Asian American Student Essay Contest was hosted on Wednesday, May 11. Click on the video above to hear our four winners speak -

Emerson Lin (Class of ‘22), Ellie Hyde (Class of ‘22), Eun-Jae Norris (Class of ‘22) and Kayla Chen (Class of ‘24) - as well as the premiere of the documentary "Being Asian American at BHS" created by Jean Hur (Class of '22) and Sam Lee (Class of '22). Congratulations to all of our students for their excellent work and tributes!

Registration for the BHS Model United Nations is still open! It's not too late for 6th, 7th, or 8th graders to join Brookline High School's annual Model United Nations conference next Saturday, May 21. The conference costs $15 per delegate. More details, including the link to register, can be found on the Brookline MUN website. Please join the Brookline High School Model United Nations for a great day of international relations and politics! Act fast, though, as registration closes on Wednesday, May 18 at 5:00 p.m.

If you haven't already, we ask that you complete the enrollment survey in the Aspen Parent Portal by Monday, May 23, and inform PSB of your family's preliminary considerations for the 2022-23 School Year. Completing this survey will help facilitate your student(s) class placement for the upcoming school year. More information on the survey can be found here. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our enrollment team at enroll@psbma.org or by telephone at ‪(617) 264-6492.

Feedback Requested for Town of Brookline Website: The Town of Brookline webpage is getting a redesign! As the developers prepare to launch their final mock-up, they are seeking feedback from the Brookline community on the site’s design, accessibility, and functionality. If you are interested, please contact James Pouliot (jpouliot@brooklinema.gov) to schedule a time for a design review session.

• Previous community updates can be found here.

(Background Photo Credit: C. Muldoon)

Website: www.brookline.k12.ma.us
Location: 333 Washington Street, Brookline, MA, USA
Phone: (617)-730-2401
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Twitter: @BrooklinePublic