Dear Bigelow Families,

You should have received a message from David Fleishman with updates about our school closure.  Thank you all for your patience and flexibility over the past 48 hours as we deal with this unique health challenge.

The NPS Office of Teaching and Learning is assembling a collection of materials to provide enrichment and connectedness opportunities for your children during this closure.  The materials will provide educational opportunities and activities at grade level for your children while school is closed. They are not intended to replace classroom instruction, or to substitute for instruction in any way. Rather, they are supplemental–grade-level activities that are interesting and fun and encourage students to explore new topics on their own.

As David mentioned, all school activities have been postponed.  We’ll revise our schedule for trimester 2 report cards and other key events once we resume normal school functioning.  In regards to the grade 8 New York City field trip in June, no decision has been made about it yet. We are working with our travel company, EF, to explore options for the trip, and will re-assess the situation later in March. Please refrain from contacting EF’s travel support team directly until we determine our plan for going forward.

Please take care.  We will be in touch with further information.  Stay well.

Todd
Todd M. Harrison
Principal’s
617-559-6800

03.11.20 – Principal’s Update on School Events and Activities

Dear NPS Families,

We write to provide you with an update on our school closure related to COVID-19. While we continue to assess the situation and ultimately make a firm decision on the length of our closure, we want to let you know what to expect over the next few days.

Because we had only used one of our five “snow days” when we decided to close, the days out of school until Wednesday, March 18th, will be considered “snow days.”  Only these four days are required to be made up at the end of the school year, which means that the last day of school for students is now firmly set for Wednesday, June 24th.  As with any snow day, there are no expectations of academic work by students and teachers are not expected to provide assignments or instruction. Next week, we will provide you with an update on next steps to support student learning.

We know a school closure may impact our most vulnerable families, especially those experiencing food scarcity. Food resources, as well as additional resources and updates related to COVID-19, can be found on our website at: https://www.newton.k12.ma.us/COVID19

As a reminder, the decision to close schools is an attempt to slow the spread of the virus. It will only be effective if the community also takes steps to practice self-isolation, monitor for any symptoms, and avoid large gatherings. We need all community members to do their part or the school closure will not be successful in limiting the spread of the virus. Of course, all school activities regardless of location, including athletics, parent/teacher conferences, club meetings, and extra-curricular classes are cancelled until further notice.

We will be in touch with you next week as our plans progress. Thank you for your patience as we navigate this unprecedented situation.

Sincerely,

David Fleishman
Superintendent of Schools

Previous Updates from the District

• COVID-19 School Closure Update – 3.13.20
• SCHOOLS CLOSED – MARCH 13 – MARCH 20, 2020
• COVID-19 Update – 3.11.20 – 1:00 p.m.
• COVID-19 UPDATE – 3.8.20 – 8:00 P.M.
• COVID-19 UPDATE – 3.4.20 – 9:30 A.M.
• COVID-19 UPDATE – 3.1.20 AT 8:15 P.M.
• COVID-19 UPDATE – 2.26.20

Dear Bigelow parents and caregivers,

As you know, all school related events have been cancelled due to COVID-19. This includes all PTO sponsored events, such as Big Night, PTO Meetings, Skate Night, and Bigelow Unplugged (a PTO event of various board games set up for play in the gym for Bigelow students).

The PTO Board is discussing how we will handle these rapidly evolving changes, and we will continue to communicate with you in a timely fashion. While we are disappointed that these events have been canceled, we know that the concern for the health of our Bigelow community is of paramount importance.

Big Night, as you may know, is the PTO’s biggest annual source of funds. So we are now working on our Plan B to raise as much money as we can without holding this event. We are fortunate that our chairs, Alexia Giannakopoulos and Cheryl Abramson, so wisely suggested we hold an online auction as part of Big Night. So we will continue with this plan and will be in touch in the coming days with further information.

As always, we are extraordinarily grateful to the Bigelow community for their generous support of the Bigelow PTO. We are lucky to be part of such a wonderful group of parents and caregivers.

Please contact us at bigelowbulldog@gmail.com if you have any suggestions, questions or concerns.
Sincerely,

The Bigelow PTO Board

Come see the Bigelow’s Winter Musical, Twelfth Night! Bigelow is the first school in New England to produce this new musical! The show is fun, funny and only 90 minutes long with a 10 minute intermission. If you wish to attend the show, you can buy tickets at lunch or at the show. The tickets cost US$5 for students and US$10 for adults.

Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare
The Public Works Musical Adaptation,
conceived by Kwame Kwei-Armah and  Shaina Taub

Thursday March 12th at 7:00pm
Friday March 13th at 7:00pm
Saturday March 14th at 12:00pm and 7:00pm

More at the Bigelow Drama website.

Thank you to all those that donated goodies for the Super Tuesday 8th Grade Bake Sale! And a Super Bigelow thank you to those that volunteered their time at the table: Radha Muthian, Chichi Grove, Olena Sargsyan, Vicki Spetter, Una Simmons, Karen Markson and several 8th grade students.

We raised over $400 for the 8th grade end of year activities!

Monday, March 9th, 7pm @ the Bigelow Library.

The PTO invites all Bigelow caregivers for a conversation with Superintendent Dr. David A. Fleishman and members of the School Committee. This is a great opportunity to hear from our school leaders about what is happening in the district, including future enrollment news, and to ask them questions in a small group setting.

One  lucky person will win two tickets to Big Night. Please, take this opportunity to bring in auction items you wish to donate to our March 28th event.

Attention Rising 9th Grade Parents! Newton North High School welcomes volunteers for the 2020-21 PTSO
Meet new friends and get involved in the parent community at Newton North.  The PTSO is seeking volunteers for 2020-2021.  Serve on the board, chair a committee, lead a strategic imitative.  Dive in and get to know our vibrant and exciting high school.  Click here to see current opportunities.

Update from David Fleishman, Superintendent of Schools – March 4, 2020

Dear NPS Families,

Following our email to you on Sunday evening, we received many inquiries and requests for additional information related to COVID-19 and our schools. We wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with up-to-date information and share new resources with you.

The Newton Health and Human Services Department (HHS) has developed a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document, which can be found on their website at: www.newtonma.gov/COVID19. The FAQ covers a variety of topics including:

• People who have traveled and returned to Newton and household members
• Cleaning public buildings, including schools
• Personal prevention measures

Items to note

• School nurses continue to work with teachers and students to emphasize good hand hygiene and illness prevention strategies.
• Our school buildings are regularly cleaned and disinfected, including high touch surfaces. Soap and hand towel dispensers are refilled regularly.

Siblings/Household Members

The Department of Health and Human Services has been very clear on guidance related to household members of students returning from our high school exchange program in Italy. It is as follows:

Household members of students who recently returned from Italy are in no way considered to be a risk for community transmission. Someone who is in contact with someone who is exhibiting no symptoms of the COVID-19 virus is no more likely to be a carrier of the disease than anyone else.

We know this is an unsettling time for many in the community. Please be mindful that the lives of some of our students and their families have been significantly disrupted. We must work together as a community to support each other and to resist the temptation to discriminate or stigmatize groups of people in any way. We are a wonderfully diverse school community with students, staff, faculty, and community members from around the globe. Continuing to support each other is more essential now than ever.

Because the COVID-19 information is changing rapidly, we do want to remind you that credible, accurate, and Newton-specific information will come from the Newton Health and Human Services Department, the superintendent’s office, or your building administrator. Should you hear information circulating in the community, please be sure to check its accuracy with one of these sources.

We will continue to provide you with information as it becomes available from our City health partners. Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,