Thursday, August 29, 2019

Welcome Back Letter to Families 2019-2020

August 19th, 2019


Dear Horace Mann Families,

I hope that this letter finds you well amidst the anxiety and excitement about starting school in a new space.  The Nardelli family recently returned from a two week trip through several southern states: South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky.  We spent the first part of the trip with the entire family (12 grandchildren in all) celebrating my parents’ 50th anniversary.  We then spent some time hiking and sightseeing on the Blue Ridge Parkway, in the Smoky Mountains, and in Nashville before landing in Kentucky, where we joined a group of 30 families who have children with Mosaic Down Syndrome.  The goal of this annual gathering is to connect with other families, share experiences, and participate in research for this relatively rare diagnosis.  We swam, talked about school advocacy, life skill acquisition, and much more. We were excited that Eliana met another 16 year old girl from rural Michigan with Mosaic Downs...they exchanged numbers and Instragam accounts and have been texting back and forth.   Overall, it was good to all be together for some extended time.

Thinking about the upcoming year, Eliana will be heading into 11th grade.  I think I mentioned that she passed her Biology MCAS...we now await her English and Math scores from her 10th grade year (high stakes stuff in high school!).  For activities, Eliana will be cheerleading and participating in theater this fall.  Julia (14) will be in 9th grade and will have a full slate of challenging courses.  She has also made the decision not to continue with soccer.  She will instead try out for the high school volleyball team and hopefully join Eliana on the gymnastics team in the winter.  Alora will turn 9 in a few weeks and will be in third grade.  She has continued with gymnastics, has become our family safety officer (with sunscreen and bike helmets, for example), and has yet to show any signs of limits to her energy level.   Vincent, who will be four in October, has spent the summer avidly playing with Legos, riding his bike, swimming, and learning that you can’t take trinkets from gift shops without paying for them.   Christine will again work as a part-time integrated preschool teacher, returning home in time each day to be available for the kids and their activities.  As always, we are now dreading the return to the busy fall schedule of work, carpools, making lunches, daycare, and more!

This summer I spent a lot of time writing to staff, interviewing candidates for open positions, managing the move, reading, and trying to develop some healthier and more productive habits.  I’m hoping that some of it will actually carry over into the routines of the school year!

I look forward to hearing about your adventures as well...

Entering a New School - With the move, our energy will obviously be engaged a bit differently from years past.  There’s still a lot of work being done, and lots of moving parts as furniture gets moved around, DAD gets their materials set up, teachers unpack, etc. In addition, the first few days will be geared towards working through some logistics: arrival/dismissal, lunch/cafeteria, safety procedures, new technology, a new phone system, etc. 

Because of the timing, I DO NOT anticipate that we will have an opportunity to open the school to families prior to the first day of school.  If that should change, I will let you all know.  For now, I would appreciate families giving teachers the time and space required to get set up. It literally takes hours and hours of work to get settled in.  If you have concerns about your child’s transition for any reason, please send me an email and we can talk about options.

Programming News -
We WILL again be a Title 1 School and Sara McSwiggan will again be back at HM full time.  We will also have money for some before school math intervention and some community outreach efforts.
This year will be making the transition to full day Kindergarten.  For each K classroom, we’ve hired a Kindergarten aide to support the work that will come from this transition.  Details are provided below about K aides.


New Staff Roles/Summer Departures

Welcome back to Kristyn Stem as she returns from maternity leave.  Good to have you back!
Kayde Gower is due to have her baby within the next couple of weeks (amidst a move to a new home...congrats!).  She recently made the decision to take the year to be home with her children.  Sarah Thorne (see below) has been hired to teach first grade this year.
Keith Testa - Keith will be working as ISS this year during the school day.  He will continue to work at DAD during after school hours.
Anna Mignon - Will be shifting from an inclusion aide role into a Kindergarten aide position.  Anna will work in Lisa Seyferth’s classroom.
Hema Rao - Will move from the building aide role to a Kindergarten aide position.  She will work in Courney Bonzey’s class.
Alex Frail found a job teaching part time at NNHS.  He will be teaching a couple of history courses.  I can’t say enough about Alex and his efforts to support inclusion over the past several years.  He’s been an amazing team player, taken on just about every task under the sun, and has been a tremendous advocate for students.  There’s no doubt that Newton North will benefit from Alex’s talents and work ethic.  Best of luck!
Amira El Amri will be out on maternity leave for a few months.  When she returns, she will take on the building aide role. 

New Staff -

Sarah Thorne - A previous graduate of Boston University, Sarah has worked at the Newton South PreSchool for the past several years and will be coming to Horace Mann to teach first grade in place of Kayde Gower during her maternity leave.  Sarah impressed us with her experience managing a challenging preschool population, with her commitment to diversity and inclusion, and with her ability to work with other adults.  We welcome Sarah to the first grade team and to the HM community.
Laura Blushi - Laura brings her preschool teaching experience and apply it to her work as an inclusion aide in Kindergarten.
Kayla Aguilar  - Native of Waltham and graduate of Framingham State.  Currently works in a preschool and will be working as a paraprofessional first grade.
Sara Angelo  - Will be returning to HM after student teaching with Lisa Moore a few years back.  She will be an inclusion aide in 5th grade.
Danielle Phinney - 5th grade intern in Lisa Moore’s classroom. Danielle is currently a student at Simmons and will be working to earn her Master’s.
Meagan Hallaran - Will work as an early literacy aide until December break before heading to Spain to teach English in January.
Hayley Veiga - Recent graduate of Curry College.  Hayley will be an inclusion aide in grade 3.
Jessie Whalen - Previously worked and volunteered at Underwood in K-2 classrooms. Will now work as a Kindergarten aide in Julie Ferland’s class.
Alexis Triest - 5th grade co-taught intern.  Has worked as support staff in Medfield in the preschool and K-1 programs.
Jenny Mittleman - 4th grade co-taught intern.  Is in a graduate program at Simmons College.
Rita Rossi - Longtime Newton resident.  Will be working as a lunch monitor for the school year..

Placement -  We made a few tweaks to placement over the summer.  We are also in the process of registering new students.  Information will go out to families on Friday, August 23rd.  I will send placements out electronically via email and also post class lists on the front of the school.

Facilities/Custodial Support -  I can’t say enough about the arrival and efforts of Kathy Hylander, our new senior custodian.  She has done an incredible job managing this monster move.  She’s taken the lead on interfacing with building contractors, central office people, vendors, etc.  She’s also moved literally hundreds of pieces of furniture and equipment, thinking about logistics in a sensible and practical way.  Most importantly, she has done all of this hard work with a smile, a gracious attitude, and limitless patience. You can welcome Kathy by sharing your appreciation for all of her work this summer…

Of course, Kathy didn’t do all of this alone.  We had a couple of guys here from Cabot for a good chunk of the summer...Matteo and Tim have been outstanding as well.  A big thanks to both of them for their work.  Finally, Al Zelmann has split his time between the old location and Nevada St.   A big thanks to Al for holding down the fort and guarding our stuff at the old location, as well as working with teachers here at the new HM to get setup.


School Supplies - If you participated in the school supply program last spring, kits are scheduled to arrive soon and will be distributed to classrooms prior to the first day of school.  If you chose not to participate, a copy of each grade’s supply list is posted on the Horace Mann website at http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/Page/2636.  You can take advantage of sales and buy the items on your own.  Please be sure to send your child into school with these supplies ready to start a great year of learning. The PTO can sponsor any student for whom the purchase of supplies would create a financial hardship. Please contact me for information.

The school calendar has been integrated into our website and will be updated regularly.  You can access the calendar at this link: http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/horacemann.  You can also follow us on Twitter @HoraceMann687.


Classroom Teacher Lineup Summary

Kindergarten Seyferth, Bonzey, Ferland
1st Grade Chatfield, Rose, Thorne
2nd Grade Bartley, Lewis, Sandison
3rd Grade Bard, Harris, Rosen
4th Grade Berardi/Fischer, Hoover, Oldmixon
5th Grade Adkag/Dias, Feldstein, Moore


Important Dates


August 27th at 5:30pm -  K Playdate* (please note that this is a PTO event, teachers will not be present)
September 3rd -  1st Day of School
September 10th - Back to School Picnic
September 17th - PTO Open House (specialists, special ed, literacy, ELL)
September 23rd - School Picture Day
September 26th - Early Release Day and Back to School/Curriculum Night
September 30th - No School - Rosh Hashanah

Friday, August 9, 2019

Summer Update 8/9/2019

Hi all,

I'm back from vacation and back with another summer update for those of you who are wondering how things are going. 

  • All of Cabot School was moved out last week. 

  • On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week, the moving company moved our supplies and furniture to Nevada St.  We are now officially moved in...
    

  • There's still lots of work to be done here...they are installing lockers on Saturday, patching holes and painting walls in some rooms, finishing renovation and A/C work, installing storage in classrooms, etc.   And we have TONS of unpacking to do!  Work will continue throughout the remainder of August.  You can see the work that has continued in a number of different areas in the photos below.

I'll be in touch soon with more details and my traditional summer letter.




Office Supply Room: old countertops and furniture have been dismantled/removed:


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Staff Room/DAD Space - The wall partition has been completed and plumbing has been installed.   The wall intentionally only covers a portion of the space to allow for natural light to come in from the rear wall.  Cabinet installation is next for this space.

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Seyferth:  Photos from inside the room and from the hallway:


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     Literacy Space

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Sandison


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A/C Units - Many of the AC units have been installed in classrooms.  Not all of them are connected yet.  This work is ongoing.

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Kiln Room Door Installation (Chatfield)

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Sink/Plumbing Installation (Gower):


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Bus Loop

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