Newton Public Schools: Covid-19 Information & Resources

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Distance Learning: April 5 Parent Meeting on Google.Meet

TONIGHT: Meetings for parents on the new distance learning plan at Bigelow that begins Monday, April 6. Norms for this large gathering: Video Conferencing Etiquette

Sunday, April 5, 7:00-8:00pm
Clusters 6A, 6B, and 7C: meet.google.com/tvr-fvqo-vny

Sunday, April 5, 8:15-9:15pm 
Clusters 7D, 8E, and 8F:  meet.google.com/vka-imwh-heg

Materials that I will be presented tonight:

Please record any questions you have after the meeting in the Bigelow Parent Meeting Parking Lot, and you will receive a response emailed to you: Parent Meeting Parking Lot

Tonight’s sessions are for parents only. Students will view “Mr Harrison’s Message,” a 3-part screencast of the student powerpoint, on Monday morning.

Newton Schools Foundation grants $85,500 to NPS for student access to online learning

Newton Schools Foundation this week approved a grant of up to $85,500 for the Newton Public Schools to purchase 300 Chromebooks for students who need access to online learning during school closures. NSF is committed to closing gaps in achievement and opportunity as part of its mission to advance educational excellence and equity in the Newton Public Schools. When the schools closed unexpectedly, NSF committed to working with school administrators to make available the balance of unrestricted NSF grant funds for this year for emerging system needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The district has already distributed more than 400 Chromebooks to families. As additional requests for Chromebooks continue to come in, this NSF grant will help the Newton Public Schools fulfill the need to support remote learning for students who otherwise wouldn’t have access to educational opportunities online. For more information or to donate click www.newtonschoolsfoundation.org.

Student Volunteer Group for COVID-19

Learn about the Greater Boston hub of Students Against Corona, a worldwide student volunteer organization. This organization works to connect low-risk volunteers to at-risk people to help them with everyday tasks such as grocery shopping, walking the dog, etc.

Recently, the worldwide organization has been getting media attention such as the Oxford branch appearing on a BBC News article. Let’s help to spread awareness to better help our community during this crisis. Please click here to see the flyer with additional information.

Feedthefight

In partnership with the Rotary Club of Newton, FeedthefightBoston was founded to support local restaurants by feeding healthcare workers on the frontlines of COVID-19. Within the first week of operation, FeedthefightBoston raised enough to feed more than 1,000 healthcare workers in 4 major hospitals with healthy meals purchased from local Newton restaurants.

Donations of $500.00 or greater allow donors to select a favorite restaurant for a meal delivery donation.

Please visit www.feedthefightbos.com  or Facebook at FeedthefightBoston or Instagram at FeedthefightBoston

Virtual Guitar Teacher for Beginners

Check out a great opportunity for kids/parents sheltering at home. You just need a guitar and desire to have fun and learn some chords and songs. Half hour lessons. Max Greenberg can get you started and advance your level.

It’s lots of fun. Mandolin beginners too. Please contact him at Max_Greenberg@yahoo.com for more information.

Free SAT/ACT Prep Test & Review Program

Kyoko Horowitz, Artistic Director of the Boston Music Institute (BMI), announces a wonderful academic program being provided by former BMI students under their academic firm CPC Boston. Please click below for information about Free SAT/ACT Prep and Review Programs that they will be holding for two weeks from April 13th to the 26th.

SAT/ACT Prep and Review Programs

 

Message from Mr. Harrison: Bigelow version 3.0

Dear Parents,

I hope you and your family are doing well. We are now ready to launch Bigelow version 3.0!  This version of online schooling is complete with a schedule of directed learning activities and daily office hours. Thank you for your patience as we built this new version from scratch.

I invite all parents to a meeting on google.meet on, Sunday, April 5, to learn more about this new distance learning plan. There are two sessions:

Both sessions will cover the same material.  I will do a screencast with some background information about the plan, and then share with you a 3 part “Mr. Harrison’s Message.” This three part screencast and a follow-up survey will be emailed to all students on Monday morning for their viewing.

If you can’t attend your cluster’s meeting time, you may join another time.  We are trying to balance the size of the meetings as much as possible.  Due to size limits, this session is for parents only.  Students will view “Mr Harrison’s Message” on Monday morning.

Please mute your microphone when you join the google.meeting and enter all questions in the chat list.  After the screencasts are shown, Assistant Principals Courtney Rau-Rogers and Lucas Mogensen will moderate the chat list and ask your questions aloud for all to hear. In addition, we will record the meeting, and post it on the Bigelow website afterwards.

In the spirit of growth mindset, the plan is not perfect yet. There will inevitably be some bumps along the way as we get technology and pedagogy to sync.  Nevertheless, we are moving onward–Bigelow 3.0 or bust! Hope you can virtually join me tomorrow evening.

Best regards,

Todd

NPS Student Gmail Activation

From the NPS IT Department

Dear Families,

Students in grades 3-12 have already been issued login information to various Newton Public Schools tools for online learning. This includes the Google Suite of Tools (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, etc). In an effort to increase communication between students and teachers including the sharing of learning resources we are turning on Gmail for students beginning on Monday, April 6. We hope to have this implementation completed in the morning on Monday, though it may take until Tuesday to fully implement. Here are some additional details about this rollout:

  • Student Gmail will be INTERNAL ONLY meaning emails can only be sent to and from recipients within the Newton Public Schools Domain (newton.k12.ma.us). Students will be able to email each other, to email faculty and staff, and to receive email from faculty and staff. Restricting email in this way helps ensure a more secure environment for students.
  • NPS does maintain an archive of all documents and email generated by students. This is to ensure safe and secure use of these services.
  • Every year students are provided with instruction on the acceptable use of technology in a school environment as well as on how to be a good digital citizen. All students are expected to abide by the district’s Students’ Rights and Responsibilities Handbook, including the Acceptable Use Policy, Acceptable Use Guidelines and the Rules of Behavior and Discipline of Students.
  • Student GSuite accounts are subject to Google for Education Privacy Policies and Google’s online use policies.

It is also important that parents play an active role in monitoring student online behaviors and email use, and provide guidance on the proper use of online tools. Below are some resources you can use with your child in teaching them about acceptable use of online tools:

Please see Gmail Login Instructions for two methods students can use to access their account. For technical assistance with logging into your child’s account, please email us at familytechsupport@newton.k12.ma.us.

Thank you.

Steven Rattendi
Director of Information Technology and Library Services