This week’s Paw Prints from Principal Katie Grassa:

• Middle School Terms: Students in 6th – 8th grade have four terms instead of three in the elementary grades. The first term ends on Friday, November 8th. Reports cards will follow approximately two weeks later.
• Represent your Alma Mater Day: On Friday, October 25th staff wore clothing that represented the college they attended. Students were excited to ask questions about college and make connections between adults who attending the same college.
• Quality School Plan Meeting: The remaining event will take place on Wednesday, October 30th from 6:00pm-7:00pm. All families are welcome to attend and hear about the goals and actions steps the Curley K-8 will focus on this school year.
• Halloween: I have heard from many staff and families around the celebration of Halloween and I appreciate their honesty and support. The Curley K-8 will not have a Halloween celebration during the school day. As a community we are focused on health and wellness and therefore we ask that all candy remain at home.
• School Showcase: Stay tuned for updates and volunteer opportunities for the Boston Public Schools Showcase. This is the first time the new student assignment process will take place and we are going to be opening our school to potential families on Saturday, November 16th from 9am-1pm.
• NAEYC: The Curley K-8 School will be recognized for receiving NAEYC Accreditation at the November 6th School Committee Meeting. The meeting will take place at 6pm in the Winter Chambers at 20 Court Street. All are welcome to attend.
• Katie Grassa Professional Development (PD): Our school is participating in a national study concerning principal use of time. As a principal I try to make instructional work my priority but management duties sometime get in the way. A data collector will be shadowing me on 10/28, 10/31. Every five minutes my “shadow” will take data on what I am doing. The data collector can’t talk to me, or anyone else. The data collector will carry a clipboard with a stopwatch and will try to be as “invisible” as possible and not disrupt our work.
• I will receive the results of the data collection ten days later and will work with my SAM to increase the percentage of time I spend on instruction.
• Next year we will repeat the data collection process to see how much progress I have made.
• Please make every effort to interact with me as you do every other day.