THIS WEEK: Superintendent Search Public Panels

As you may know, the search for our next district Superintendent has continued apace over the past year or so. The twelve member Search Committee was initially charged with recommending a total of three finalist to the School Committee to choose from.

This past Thursday, they recommended four finalists to the School Committee.

There will be four days of public panel discussions run by different stakeholders as well as public interviews by the School Committee. Each candidate will be given one day each. The dates for each of these starts TOMORROW. Below are the dates with each of the candidates:

• Monday, February 23 – Guadalupe Guerrero
• Tuesday, February 24 – Tommy Chang
• Wednesday, February 25 – Dana Bedden
• Thursday, February 26 – Pedro Martinez

The process is happening very, very quickly and I urge all of you to spread the word, AND ATTEND!

These four finalists’ individual profiles and their (selectively redacted) applications are here: http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/Page/4464. At present, this page also contains a live stream to the interviews and to the public panels BPS plans to hold. BPS has made the assurance some of the panels will be live streamed.

If you are able to attend in person though please do. Please encourage other parents including from other schools who may not know about them, teachers, staff, students, and community members to join you as well for these public events.

Details about the public panel discussions and School Committee interviews are below, and are identical for each day:

• 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
  Panel Discussion with Community Partners
  Paramount Center, Bright Family Screening Room
  559 Washington Street, Boston
  Moderator: Ayele Shakur, Search Committee Member and Education Chair of Boston NAACP

• 1 – 3 p.m.
  School Committee Interview
  Winter Chambers, 26 Court Street, Boston

• 4 – 6 p.m.
  Panel Discussion with BPS Students and Teachers
  English High School Auditorium
  144 McBride Street, Jamaica Plain
  Moderator: Samuel Acevedo, Search Committee Member and Executive Director of Boston HERC

• 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
  Panel Discussion with BPS Parents and School Leaders
  English High School Auditorium
  144 McBride Street, Jamaica Plain
  Moderator: Dania Vazquez, Search Committee Member and BPS headmaster

Many thanks to the many Curley parents who submitted some really thoughtful questions the Citywide Parent Council co-chairs for the evening panel.

Hope to see you all there!

All details about the panels are found here.

BPS Citywide Parent Council Update

The panel discussions in the evenings will have one parent from the Boston Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SPED-PAC), and two of the four co-chairs of the Citywide Parent Council (CPC).

The Curley’s two CPC reps this year are Heshan Berents-Weeramuni and Leah Barcan. Please contact them for more details.

We need to elect this year’s SPED-PAC representative at our next SPC meeting.

For those of you who may have missed the report backs from the CPC at this year’s Curley SPC meetings, the Citywide Parent Council is the umbrella organization of all School Parent Councils in all our schools. Schools send their representatives to the CPC in order to work with other parents from every other city neighborhood on issues that affect all parents and students. It is the official voice at the city level of all BPS parents, and was formed under Judge Garrity’s 1974 desegregation order.

Below are the links to the past few meeting minutes. The December minutes contain a list of the elected members of the various committees if you want to know who to contact:

• CPC Meeting Minutes – 092914
• CPC Meeting Minutes – 10212014
• CPC Meeting Minutes – 11182014
• CPC Meeting Minutes – 12162014
• CPC Meeting Minutes – 01202015

The CPC has been working on a range of topics including the budget, school quality, facilities and long-term planning, equity issues, and building more effective parent voices in decision making within BPS, including on the Superintendent Search Committee and the Joint Steering Committee on SSCs.

All meetings are public, and the remaining CPC meetings for the year are as follows:

• Monday, March 2nd, 6-8pm, Title 1 Center, 445 Warren Street, Dorchester (rescheduled from this Tuesday)
• Tuesday, March 24th, 6-8pm
• Tuesday, April 28th, 6-8pm
• Tuesday, May 19th, 6-8pm
• Tuesday, June 16th, 6-8pm

Meetings from March onwards we hope to move to the new BPS headquarters in the Bolling Building in Dudley Square.

DonorsChoose.org, a fundraising site many teachers use to raise resources for specific classroom projects has been used by many, many Curley teachers to improve instruction for our students.

There are FOUR Curley projects currently in need of funding, for Ms. Daly, Ms. Quatrale, Ms. Shea, and Ms. Silverstein.

Ms. Daly is hoping to complete her project for a computer station with laptops for 3-5th graders. She has only 20 days to go to meet the DonorsChoose.org deadline.

Ms. Quatrale seeks to fund two some technology needs including headphones and two iPad minis, as well as funding for binder dividers, art materials, and highlighters for her for 3-5th graders.

Ms. Shea is trying to raise money for a laptop and software to enhance her 4 and 5 year old K0/K1 students’ ELA and math literacy. She is almost there – only another $89 left to raise!

Ms. Silverstein wants to raise funds to purchase 4 headphones for her Kindergarten through 2nd grade students. They use the headphones to practice their reading skills. She too is almost there.

Please help if you can, the link is below:

http://www.donorschoose.org/school/curley-k-8-school/62879/?active=true

The general DonorsChoose page that lists all our teachers is also here (a number next to their name shows an active project):
http://www.donorschoose.org/school/curley-k-8-school/62879/?teachers=true

Many thanks to you all for helping our teachers help our kids.

The Kindergarten Dance performance, “Make Way for Ducklings” will now take place on Friday, March 20th at 9 AM in the Upper school auditorium.  The date has been pushed back by a couple of  weeks to make up for the snow days.  Kindergarten students will be asked to wear yellow tops for their performance, so start digging out your Countdown to Kindergarten or other yellow T-shirts now.

To get ready, Kindergarten students will attend an Instrument Petting Zoo on Wednesday, February 25th (date has NOT changed).  Please plan to do whatever you are able to ensure your Kindergarten student arrives on time to school that Wednesday as this event will start promptly at 9 AM for many classes and your child won’t want to miss their chance to play the oboe or viola!

We are extremely grateful to Chameleon Arts for helping bring this experience to our Kindergarten and encourage older students to check out their free Instrument Petting Zoo at the Hyde Park library in May.   Thanks also to Needham Music & Dance who have donated the student-sized instruments for our Zoo and to Principal Grassa for her support of this event.  We are still in need of parent volunteers to help out with the Zoo (2/25 9-11 AM), so please email parent, Dana Willeke, for more details.

Due to the parking conditions, The AWC/GEN ED planning meeting has been cancelled for today. We are planning a conference call to replace this meeting. Date and time to be determined.

Please email Leah Barcan: lbarcan@gmail.com
if you are interested in participating in the conference call.

We are planning on meeting in person, in early March.
In the meantime, look at these happy flowers:

This week’s Paw Prints from Principal Katie Grassa:

• School closed today and tomorrow: As you know, due to today’s storm, Boston Public Schools are closed today, Monday, February 9th, and tomorrow, Tuesday, February 10th. To support childcare needs, Boston Centers for Youth and Families will be open from 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM. Children must be at least seven (7) years of age. For more information about locations and requirements, please contact a BCYF site near you, or call the Mayor’s Hotline at 617-635-4500.
• Snow: During this winter we would like to ask all families to talk with their children around throwing snow. We want all students to be safe as they enter and exit school and we are asking that all adults and students leave the snow on the ground during those times. We are also asking that families and students use the shoveled spaces to walk and do not walk through the snowy yard. This is to help assure that no one falls and gets hurt. Thank you!
• AWC/General Education Integration Meeting: We will be meeting on Wednesday, February 11th from 3:00pm-4:00pm in room 121. We will check in with families around next year as well as begin to plan the rising 4th grade open house event. All families are welcome to attend.
• School Site Council: Due to the weather, our next School Site Council will be rescheduled to a later date. We will update you as soon as the new date has been finalized.
• Principal Breakfast: Please join us for the February Principal Breakfast on Friday, February 13th from 8:45am-9:45am in the Upper School Library. We will continue our talks around supporting student learning mathematics and State Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz will be joining us. She is looking forward to participating in the session as a learner as well.
• 6th-8th grade: Grades have closed for students and report cards should go out by the end of this week.
• Social Media: If you are on Twitter be sure to follow me @principalgrassa. This is a great way to share up to date information about the Curley.

The Curley K-8 is known for fundraising activities that bring much needed funds to the school while also helping to build our community, and the annual Silent Auction is one of our most popular events. This year’s auction is taking place the evening of March 24, 6 to 9pm, at Canary Square in Jamaica Plain. It’s an adults-only event, so book your childcare in advance. This year there will also be a new, super-cool online bidding option. More details on that soon.

We’re asking the the Curley community help make this our most successful auction yet by working with us to secure donations for the event. Popular items from past years include:

• Sports, movie, or theater tickets
• Tablets, laptops, flat screen televisions, and other electronics
• Stays at hotels, inns, or B&Bs
• Beer, wine, or food baskets
• Professional services (architectural, beauty, etc.)
• Artwork, jewelry, and other handmade items
• Use of time share or vacation homes

Know of a business or individual willing to help out with a donation? Please email the silent auction team at curleysilentauction@gmail.com and we’ll approach them with a formal request and more information about the event. Donations must be locked down by February 28 in order to be included in on-line bidding, so please send us your ideas as soon as you can!

We also need volunteers. Think you might be able to help out either during the night of the event or in the weeks leading up? Please use the email above and we’ll be in touch. Or, if you’re free, join a planning conference call that we’ll be having this evening (Mon, Feb 9) at 8pm by calling  1 866 590 3642 and using meeting number *9751440*.

Stay tuned for more updates and thanks in advance for your help!

James Nyei is a 9 year old 4th grader in Mr Petmezis’s classroom. James’s family is from Liberia, and prior to Thanksgiving James decided to find a way to raise money to support the fight against Ebola in his family’s country. He came up with the idea of The Outreach Tree Project.

After he concluded the project, James received the Curley Care “I Care for Others” reward.

James explained his project thus:

This is my project called Outreach Tree. It is for a good cause, because it is going to help families in Liberia to have the right care.

As you can see, below this sign there is a box of leaves. Take a leaf, write your name on it, place it on the tree, and put the money in the big box.

After James collected donations, with the help of the Home For Little Wanderers’ Christina Silva, Christina announced the amazing work to James’ donors:

We were able to collect $151.04. We (James, myself, his mom and dad) went to Bank of America near James’s house and changed the money to a check (picture below). The bank did not charge the fee of $10.00 from writing a check. Kudos!!!

The whole family was very proud.

Once more, thanks to all of you that made this possible for this lovely 9 year old boy.

James Nyei with his mother Teneh Nyei and father Boakai Nyei.

Amazing! A huge well done and thank you to James, his parents Teneh and Boakai Nyei, and to Christina Silva.

The Curley community is very proud of you James!

Some of our older students got to strut their stuff in the International Dance show last month and now it’s the Kindergarten’s turn to show off their dance moves in Robert McCloskey’s “Make Way for Ducklings” set to music by Daniel Pinkham and performed by the Boston Landmark Orchestra.

Save the Date: Friday, March 6th at 9 AM in the Upper School Auditorium, All Welcome!

Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston has generously joined with us to bring a musical petting zoo to the school on Wed. February, 25th from 9-11AM to introduce the Kindergarten students to the instruments they will be dancing to in their performance.  Accomplished musicians or parents unable to to tell an oboe from a french horn, if you are able to volunteer at the Zoo in February or at the dance performance in March, please see parent, Dana Willeke for more details.

DonorsChoose.org, a fundraising site many teachers use to raise resources for specific classroom projects has been used by many, many Curley teachers to improve instruction for our students.

There are TWO Curley projects currently in need of funding, one for Ms. Nason, and a second for Ms. Daly.

Ms. Nason’s needs include art aprons, scissors, paint, paper, markers, crayons and clay for her K1 students. Donations to the project will be doubled by DonorsChoose if you donate by February 6th – enter the code SPARKS on the payment page for a matched dollar for dollar contribution (up to $100).

Ms. Daly is hoping to complete her project for a computer station with laptops for 3-5th graders soon as well.

Please help if you can, the link is below:

http://www.donorschoose.org/school/curley-k-8-school/62879/?active=true

The general DonorsChoose page that lists all our teachers is also here (a number next to their name shows an active project):
http://www.donorschoose.org/school/curley-k-8-school/62879/?teachers=true

Many thanks to you all for helping our teachers help our kids.

Just in case you just came in after shoveling and haven’t heard yet…, why yes, all BPS schools are again closed tomorrow, TUESDAY, February 3rd. School buses will not be running.

To support childcare needs, Boston Centers for Youth and Families will be open from 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM. Children must be at least seven (7) years of age. For more information about locations and requirements, please contact a BCYF site near you, or call the Mayor’s Hotline at 617-635-4500.

This week’s Paw Prints from Principal Katie Grassa:

• Snow: During this winter we would like to ask all families to talk with their children around throwing snow. We want all students to be safe as they enter and exit school and we are asking that all adults and students leave the snow on the ground during those times. We are also asking that families and students use the shoveled spaces to walk and do not walk through the snowy yard. This is to help assure that no one falls and gets hurt. Thank you!
• AWC/General Education Integration Meeting: We will be meeting on Wednesday, February 11th from 3:00pm-4:00pm in room 121. We will check in with families around next year as well as begin to plan the rising 4th grade open house event. All families are welcome to attend.
• School Parent Council: The next SPC meeting will be on Thursday, February 5th from 8:45am-10:45am in the Upper School Library. All families are encouraged to attend.
• School Site Council: Please join us on Tuesday, February 10th from 5:30pm-7:00pm in the Upper School Library. We will be joined my Network Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris and a representative from the BPS Strategic Planning Office.
• Principal Breakfast: Please join us for the February Principal Breakfast on Friday, February 13th from 8:45am-9:45am in the Upper School Library. We will continue our talks around supporting student learning mathematics and State Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz will be joining us. She is looking forward to participating in the session as a learner as well.
• ACCESS Testing: All of our English Language Learners (ELLs) are required to participate in the ACCESS test. This involves a written exam as well as a speaking test. All students will be text over the next three to four weeks. The results of this test will help to decide the student English Language Development Level (ELD).
• Social Media: If you are on Twitter be sure to follow me @principalgrassa. This is a great way to share up to date information about the Curley.

Just to confirm what you’ve already heard, BPS has announced that all schools are closed TOMORROW, Monday, February 2nd due to the impending snow storm. School buses will not be running.

To support childcare needs, Boston Centers for Youth and Families will be open from 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM.

Children must be at least seven (7) years of age. For more information about locations and requirements, please contact a BCYF site near you, or call the Mayor’s Hotline at 617-635-4500.

For your further entertainment pleasure, here is the agony and the ecstasy in replies to the original announcement by the BPS twitter feed.

Yes folks, three in a row! Mayor Walsh has just announced this evening that all BPS schools are closed tomorrow, THURSDAY, January 29th. School buses will not be running.

The Boston Center for Youth and Families will open a limited number of community centers for children ages 7 and older from 7:30am-6pm. Parents/guardians will need to fill out a short intake form at drop-off.

For information and locations, you can also call the Mayor’s 24-Hour Hotline at (617) 635-4500.

You’ve probably heard from your (gleeful) kids, but if not, BPS has announced that all schools are closed Tuesday AND Wednesday, January 27-28. School buses will not be running.

The Boston Center for Youth and Families will open a limited number of community centers for children ages 7 and older from 7:30am-6pm. Parents/guardians will need to fill out a short intake form at drop-off.

For information and locations, you can also call the Mayor’s 24-Hour Hotline at (617) 635-4500.

Mayor Walsh has also declared a snow emergency from 6pm on. For more information, please read the City of Boston’s announcement.