Open House:
Our Open House for all families will take place on Thursday, September 28th from 5pm-7pm. We hope all families can come out, meet the teachers and hear about what your child will learn this year! In addition, we will host an activity for families in the auditorium regarding some new funding for furniture to create 21st Century learning environments for our students. We look forward to seeing you!

Election Day:
Tuesday, September 26th is Election Day and the Curley is a voting site. This will mean a lot of traffic around our school all day and potential parking issues. Please keep this in mind as you commute to school for Tuesday. All Curley Families that vote at our school must use the voting entrance on Pershing Rd. No one will be allowed to walk through the building to vote.

Come join us at The 11th Annual Curley K-8 Fall Fling on Friday October 13th from 5:30 – 8:00PM
This is a enjoyable family event and fundraiser with food, fun activities, a raffle with major prizes and a DJ! Parent volunteers play an essential role in making this a great event for our school community. Please see links below to sign up to volunteer. The money raised goes toward important enrichment programs such as music, art, dance, Playworks and field trips for our children.

Please click here to sign up for a task that you are interested in helping with. Even if you have an hour to make a few phone calls or to pick up some pizza on the night of the event, every bit helps!

In addition to the event, we raise money through selling raffle tickets to the Jamaica Plain community. We need your help selling them next weekend, Saturday, September 23rd and Sunday, September 24th in front of JP Licks when there is lots of foot traffic due to Open Studio. It’s lots of fun and a great way to meet other Curley families. Please click here to sign up for a shift!

Please contact Jessica London-Rand at jlondonrand@gmail.com/617-694-2405 (hablo español) or Molly Brigham mollykbrigham@gmail.com/617-519-0167 if you have any questions.

Library Committee:

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the the Library Fundraising campaign! We met (and exceeded!) our initial goal of $70,000. Work on the renovations to the room and on the collection continues, and we now have Sandra Samuel, our new library paraprofessional, leading the charge! Interested in helping? Here’s what you can do:

• Share with friends and family the news that the Curley K-8 Library is receiving Shelf Help from the Boston Book Festival! The organizers of the Festival are promoting and publicizing this wishlist, to help us re-open the library with new, hardcover children’s books. The Boston Book Festival is October 28 in Copley Square.
• Volunteer in the library on a regular basis: if you can donate several hours a month during the school day, and are willing to be trained on specific tasks, please email curleyk8library@gmail.com and note when you are available, and if you have been CORI checked for this school year.

Thank you to everyone who has helped the library, we look forward to a grand opening later in the fall.

Curley Ambassadors of Dance (CAD): is starting this fall! Kim Taylor Knight will begin rehearsals on November 14th at 4-5 pm in the Auditorium.
This year CAD will be performing at the MLK celebration at the Strand Theater in January, the Art Show in April and the District Arts Festival on the Common.
For more information please contact Kim at storyinabox@gmail.com

Playworks:
We are thrilled to have Playworks as a returning partnership this year. Thank you to all families who assist us in funding this partnership. Playworks has been proven to decrease bullying behavior, increase physical activity and support learning. They provide elementary schools with a full-time recess coach, throughout the school day. Our coaches enhance and transform recess and play into a positive experience that helps kids and teachers get the most out of every learning opportunity. If any parent’s would like to reach out for questions or concerns about the program they can email Coach Jacqui at jacqueline.conley@playworks.org

The Playworks after-school program model works with 15 students, called Junior Coaches, for the entire school year. The Junior Coach program focuses on leadership development and training and is designed primarily for 4th and 5th grade students. Junior Coaches attend 2 hours of training after school each week led by the Playworks Coach Jacqui. They also participate in team building activities and service at recess. The Junior Coach Program provides leadership opportunities for students. Students will receive forms to fill out this week on why they would like to be a junior coach. They can give the forms to their teachers or to the coach directly. Over the next week Coach Jacqui will review all the candidates and choose 15 junior coaches for this school year.

Arrival and Dismissal:
Please keep in mind that the doors open at 8:15am and the official school day begins promptly at 8:30am. Please make sure to have your child arrive on time for the start of the day. Dismissal begins at 3:05pm. We are asking all families to remain outside at dismissal and not to release their child from school after 2:30pm. More Information Can Be Found Here

Parking for Family Drop off or Pick Up:
Please note that parking can be more difficult at drop off and pick up times. Parking lots are for staff and our buses line up along the school side of the street on Pershing Rd and Centre St. It helps arrival/dismissal move more efficiently when families adhere to these parking procedures. Thank you!

Celebrations Policy:
Last year we implemented a new Celebration and Reward policy: Curley K-8 Celebration and Reward Policy_memo across the community. Thank you for your support!

Guide to BPS:
New this year, the Boston Public Schools is encouraging families to view the annual “Guide to the Boston Public Schools” and fill out the necessary back-to- school forms by accessing the BPS website at www.bostonpublicschools.org/familyguide. The Guide is available in English and nine other languages. This helpful guidebook contains summaries of many of the district’s policies, programs, and services.
A separate booklet contains forms that need to be completed by parents, or students 18 or over. The online form is available at www.bostonpublicschools.org/contact. We encourage you to go online to complete the form for each of your children as soon as possible. A limited number of the printed guides, as well as booklets containing the forms, will be available at our school office for the families of students who are new to the district or do not have access to the Internet. We thank you for your cooperation.

A Note from the Curley Nurses:
Please send in an updated copy of your child’s annual physical and immunizations. For more information you can email our nurses at Apumphret@bostonpublicschools.org and Mregan@bostonpublicschools.org

Curley Before and After School Program Welcome:
Erika Mercado, the Director of the Curley Before and After School Program (CASP). For more information, please visit CASP’s webpage here: http://www.curleyk8.com/school-information/after-school-program/. CASP Before and After School begins the first day of school, Thursday, September 7th. Before school begin at 7:00am. There is a one-time $25 application fee for new students. The CASP before school application must be on file on the first day of school for your child to attend. If you have not yet submitted a before school application you will be required to do so upon arrival with your child. Students attending CASP afterschool on the first day must have an application on file. Click here to download the application in English. Click here to download the application in Spanish. Please let your child’s teacher know if they plan to attend CASP.

Social Media: For up to date information about the Curley K-8 School please sign up for email alerts by joining the Mailing List. You can also follow Principal Grassa on Twitter @principalgrassa and be sure to always use the hashtag #curleycares when sharing/posting/tweeting information about our school.