Weekly Update

4/18 - No school - Good Friday

4/21 - 4/25 - No school - April vacation

April 17, 2025

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope this message finds you well. We are reaching out to share some information with you about the spring version of the DESSA 2.0 (Devereux Student Strengths Assessment) self-report screening that we’ll be administering with our students during the week of May 5-9. As you may remember, we conducted our first screening with students back in November. This Spring administration is meant to get an understanding of your student’s social emotional learning growth over this year.

Description of DESSA 2.0

The DESSA 2.0 is a reliable tool designed to assess students' social-emotional skills and strengths. By understanding these areas, we can better support our students’ overall development and well-being; as well as helping to identify school and district instructional priorities. The self-report screening will be administered to all students in grades 6-8, allowing us to gather valuable insights into their social-emotional health. Our Spring administration will take place during the week of May 5-9, during your student’s Sustained Silent Reading Block. The self report will take approximately 15 minutes for our students to complete and consists of 50 strength/asset oriented questions with likert scale responses (e.g. “I ask questions when learning new things…. Never/Rarely/Sometimes/Often/Almost Always”).

How will this be administered to my child:

Students will access and take the screening through the “Aperature” app that is already loaded into Clever.

How can I view my child’s results:

Parent/Guardians are able to view the summary of the student’s strengths and previous ratings by accessing the same app on the student’s device after the administration takes place.

If I do not want my child to participate in the DESSA 2.0 Screening:

We respect your family's privacy and your right to make informed decisions regarding your child's participation. If you prefer that your child does not participate in the DESSA self-report screening, you may opt out by completing a brief Google Form. If you have previously opted out your child for the November screening, your child will automatically be opted out again unless you specifically request to opt back in. Please find the link to the opt-out form below:

Click Here for the Opt out Form

The deadline for submitting the opt-out form is May 2, to have the screening removed from your student’s device. The student is also able to opt out of screening at any time during administration. If you have any questions or concerns about this process or the DESSA screening itself, please do not hesitate to reach out to Jason Levene, District Coordinator of Mental Health & Counseling.

If I want to know more:

If you’d like to understand more about the DESSA Screening tool, please see the following Family Portal: Click Here

Thank you for your continued support in fostering a positive and nurturing environment for our students. We appreciate your partnership as we work to promote the social-emotional health of our students.

Warm regards,

Carl Nelson & Jason Levene

Kennedy Middle School Principal Coordinator of Mental Health & Counseling

CNelson@woburnps.com JLevene@woburnps.com

We have a food pantry at the Kennedy to help out families over the weekend and vacations. If you feel you need assistance please reach out to myself our your child's guidance counselor.

We are also looking for the following donations for our pantry

Peanut Butter

Jelly

Tuna

Mayo

Pasta Sauce--Plain

Cereal

Mac and Cheese

Can goods---Ravioli's-Spaghetti O's, green beans, corn, carrots

Taco kits

Juice boxes

Snack bags--popcorn, pretzels, chips etc

Health and Beauty Supplies

Toothbrushes

Toothpaste

Body Wash

Deodorant--male and female brand

Feminine products

We will also take new or gently warn clothes

If you are dropping off your child you should drop them off between 7:55 & 8:00. All students need to be in their homerooms by the 8:05 bell. Any student not in their homeroom by the 8:05 bell is considered tardy. Please make every effort to get your child to school on time.

1. If you are dropping your child off in the morning please pull all the way to the end of the front parking lot so we don't back traffic up on Middle St.

2. Don't drop your child off before 7:30 as we don't have supervision before then

3. If you have any questions at all please don't hesitate to reach out - we want it to be a good year for not just the students but the parents as well

4. We have a very strict cell phone policy. I ask that you not text your child during the day as they are not allowed to use their phones. If you need to get a message to them please call the main office and we will get that message to them

5. Breakfast and lunch are free this year so please take advantage of that. The breakfast program runs every morning from 7:30 - 7:55

6. If your child is absent from school please call 781-937-8230 and leave a message on the attendance line

If your child is absent from school please call the school - 781-937-8230 and leave a message on the attendance line

The late bus will begin on Tuesday 9/24. It runs on Tuesday & Thursday. The bus typically picks the students up at the school between 3:20 and 3:25. Please keep in mind that we have only one bus servicing the whole Kennedy district so we had to come up with some central bus stops. The following are the stops we will be using.

1. Nashua St/Holton St

2. Good Year School

3. Washington St./Washington Circle

4. Richard Circle/Russell Farm

5. Lowell St./Milyan St

6. Main St./School St

7. Main St./West Dexter

8. Avalon Apts

We don't send many announcements home with the students so please follow us on Twitter @kmswoburn to keep up to date with everything happening at the school

If you need to reach out to guidance for any reason at all please don't hesitate. The guidance counselors are assigned to students by last name

A-J - Ms. Frazier (nfrazier@woburnps.com)

K-Z - Mrs. Satow (csatow@woburnps.com)

Grade 6 - G - Mc - Mr. MacCurtain (bmaccurtain@woburnps.com)