Welcome Back Letter to Families 2023-24 School Year

August 21st, 2023



Dear Horace Mann Families,



I hope that this letter finds you in good health and a renewed spirit as we head into the waning weeks of summer. The Nardelli family had quite the adventure in July, traveling to Italy for two weeks. The six of us visited Venice, Florence, Ischia (an island off of Naples), and ended in Rome before flying back to Boston. We saw all of the major tourist sites, ate a lot of pizza and pasta, sat through a train strike, endured the sweltering temps, and mostly got along (gelato was a big help). The kids were generally appreciative, and got a chance to see how another culture lives.


We have now turned our attention to the fall, where we have some big transitions coming up. Eliana (20) will be heading back to Lesley to give the Threshold Program another try, where she will work on life skills like cooking, budgeting, and internet safety as well as exploring job internships and again living resident life. Julia (18) will be attending Northeastern, where she will study criminal justice, psychology, and forensics. She’s nervous and excited at the same time. Julia moves in on Labor Day, and Eliana moves in the following day (Sept. 5th). Alora (almost 13) will be in 7th grade this year. She spent time with friends and cousins this summer, got her giants on bars at the gym, and is in full blown teenager mode with any and all boundaries. Vincent will turn 8 in October and will soon start second grade. He attended soccer camp, played some summer hockey, and practiced reading short books to keep one toe in his schoolwork. We also watched the Women’s World Cup on many early summer mornings. September promises to be a busy and hectic month for us.


I also want to congratulate a few staff on their big news from the summer. Congratulations to Lilah Byers on the birth of Sol (Solomon) in late June. Congratulations also to Alex Salvatore and Caolinn McSwiggan (Sara’s daughter) on their wedding nuptials.

I also wanted to acknowledge some uncertainty about what the year will look like, given the ongoing contract negotiations between the teachers’ union and the city of Newton. The calendar of events is listed at the bottom of this introductory letter, and I don’t know what the guidance will be for staff participation on any of them. I will update families as I know more.




*********CLASS PLACEMENT GOES OUT THIS FRIDAY, AUGUST 25th around 12 NOON*********

LOG IN TO YOUR ASPEN ACCOUNT TO SEE YOUR CHILD’s CLASS PLACEMENT. You should receive instructions on how to do this. If you need help with seeing placement, please email me at nardellimv@newton.k12.ma.us






Grade Level Teaching Assignment Changes - I sent a version of this info out in June, but this version has a few new changes that have been made during the summer.



Kindergarten - Bonzey, Ferland, McSwiggan

• Our teaching team will stay the same, but we will no longer have three K aides in place. Jessie Whalen and Hemo Rao will stay on as K aides, working 5 days each week across three classrooms. Vin Lahey will move into a special education paraprofessional role.

1st Grade - Gower, Rose, Sandison

• Melissa Chatfield will be moving out of a classroom teaching role and into the role of interventionist. She will work .5 and will provide intervention support for students in math and literacy.
• Karen Sandison is moving from 2nd grade to 1st grade.

2nd Grade - Bartley, Thorne, Mann

• After teaching 3rd and 4th grade in Boston for serial years, Amanda Mann came to HM and taught 5th grade last year alongside Anna Cox in our 5th grade co-taught classroom. For next year, Amanda will join our 2nd grade team.

3rd Grade - Bard, Cox/Deehan, Rosen

• Anna Cox and Katie Deehan will team up to form our co-taught classroom in 3rd grade for next year. Anna will officially serve as the special education teacher in the classroom and Katie will be the regular ed teacher, with both teachers bringing a wide range of skills to the model.

4th Grade - Berardi, Bruno, Lewis

• Alex Bruno filled in as a long term sub in 4th grade for Melissa Lewis this winter, and then filled in for Daniela Gentile as our SEL interventionist. We were impressed with her willingness to take initiative, her efforts to collaborate with colleagues and her growing confidence with the 4th grade curriculum. This year, Alex will have her own 4th grade classroom.
• Maureen Berardi will move from the 3rd grade co-taught into her own classroom in 4th grade.
• We will NOT have a traditional co-taught classroom in grade 4. Veronica Burker and Allison Hutchinson will service all academic service delivery needs across two of the three 4th grade classrooms.

5th Grade - Akdag/Salvatore, Derubeis (Moore), Oldmixon

• The Akdag/Salvatore co-taught team will move up to 5th grade for the year. Please note that this doesn’t change how we will be doing placement. We will regroup students into the three 5th grade classrooms.
• Lauren Fischer will return from a leave of absence to be a .5 special educator, providing services to students in partnership with Lisa DeRubeis (Moore).

Special Education

• Our new Team Specialist will be Rebecca Comiskey. Rebecca has worked as a special educator at Oak Hill Middle School and at Newton North High School. She has also been a special education administrator in Newton and most recently in the Natick Public Schools.
• Lauren Fischer will return from a leave of absence to be a .5 special educator, providing services to students alongside Lisa DeRubeis (Moore). She will work Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
• Allison Hutchinson will be moving from our team specialist position into a special education teaching position for next year.
• Veronica Burke will take on the role of special educator, after spending a year working in our 3rd grade co-taught classroom.

Other Staffing Changes

Library

• Monique Arasian will take on some added time at HM for this year (1.5 days total). We also welcome a new librarian, Suzanne Coppola, who will work another 1.5 days. Susanne brings an incredible wealth of experience to this position. Over the years, Susanne has been a long-term sub in several NPS schools including: Mason-Rice, Angier, Countryside, and Franklin. Prior to becoming a Library Teacher, Susanne was a classroom teacher in New York City - Bronx - teaching grades 1, 2, 3 along with being a science teacher and Reading Intervention Specialist.

Intervention

• Alan Ripp and Joelle Pederson will be returning to their coordinator roles for this year and won’t be supporting our intervention.
• Melissa Chatfield will support both math and literacy. We have yet to determine her schedule.
• Meredith Andrews will be work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays each week (8:30-12:30)
• Lisa McLellan will work Monday - Thursday (8:30-2:00)

Social Worker

• We will welcome a new .5 social worker to our team this fall. Sabryna Eastwood comes to use after interviewing four candidates this summer. Sabryna has been an SEL interventionist in Newton and worked in the ESSP program to support students at multiple Newton schools, and is ready to advance her career as a school social worker. Thanks to Jenna Goldstein and Jesse Krotick for their time this summer supporting this process.

Title 1

• Horace Mann did not qualify for Title 1 Status this year so we will be without additional support.

Health Office

• Lilah Byers will be on maternity leave to start the school year. I will update families when I get confirmation about who will be covering for Lilah during her absence.

Curriculum Update

• As you may know, NPS is adopting a new literacy curriculum, called EL (Expeditionary Learning). This will include major changes to our reading AND writing instruction for grades 1 and 2, and for Kindergarten later in the year. We will have more detailed information about what this change entails as we get further into the school year.
• We are also one of three Newton Schools who will be part of the ST Math grant, which will provide us with full access to the ST Math program, as well as staff professional development.

Facilities

• We had no major changes to our building this summer. A few items to note:Working Group Design meetings have re-started and will take place every other week during the school year. There is also a schedule of evening meetings that are open to anyone who would like to attend. I will add these to the HM calendar.
• Surveying and soil sampling has begun. Crews have been digging holes everywhere, testing for drainage, soil composition, etc.in preparation for the larger work that will go on down the road.
• Rose has been diligently working to clear the bureaucratic obstacles in our plan to install the Heath Dias Memorial Garden. We now have an arrangement with the contractor and the city to move forward with the work (finally), but we still don’t have a firm installation date.

Food Services - The State of Massachusetts confirmed dedicated funding to allow for universally-free meals again this upcoming school year.




School Supplies

• If you PRE-ORDERED school supplies, the materials will be distributed to classrooms sometime this week.
• If you did not PRE-ORDER, and would like to purchase supplies on your own, you can see the list of supplies at the following link: https://www.newton.k12.ma.us/Page/2636

SY23-24 Elementary Early Morning Program

The program is designed to provide a needed service giving parents the opportunity to bring their children to school prior to the beginning of the regularly scheduled school day.

Details

• NPS students in Grades K through 5 in each of the elementary schools can attend.
• Starting September 5, 2023
• 7:20 a.m. until 8:10 a.m. (when the school day begins.)
• Sign up for 1-5 days a week for the whole school year
• Drop-ins are not allowed (reach out to Mark if you need support on a given morning)

Registration

• Register your student online through. MySchoolBucks.com or
• Once you have registered, your student’s registration status will not be active until it has been approved by the Business Office. If your registration is approved, you will receive a confirmation email.
• Registration is not guaranteed. The Early Morning Program is offered based upon available space, which is determined by the number of staff available at each school to provide appropriate adult/student ratios.
• Financial Waivers are available but you must be approved for a financial waiver before you select this option when registering. To apply for a financial waiver, please apply through Aspen.
• If you register after Sept. 11, a pro-rated payment will be determined based upon your child’s start date and payment will be coordinated and invoiced through MySchoolBucks.

Visit this website for more information about the program.


Any questions, please contact the business office at 617-559-9025 or feepayments@newton.k12.ma.us.




Summary of Classroom Teaching Assignments for the 2023-24 School Year

Kindergarten - Bonzey, Ferland, McSwiggan

Grade 1 - Gower, Rose, Sandison

Grade 2 - Bartley, Mann, Thorne

Grade 3 - Bard, Cox/Deehan, Rosen

Grade 4 - Berardi, Bruno, Lewis

Grade 5 - Akdag/Salvatore, Oldmixon, DeRubeis




Staff List

Rosemary Mariano - Executive Assistant

Lilah Byers - Nurse

Kathy Hylander - Head Custodian

Mike Hinds - Custodian

David Tynes - PE

Mike Dailey - Art

Monique Arasian/Suzanne Coppola - Library

Alex King - Music

Ann Baseggio - ELL

Barbara Kwan - ELL

Rebecca Comiskey - Team Chair

Allison Hutchinson - Special Educator

Lauren Atkinson - Special Educator

Veronica Burke - Special Educator

Lauren Fischer - Special Educator

Nicole Levasseur - BCBA

Daniela Gentile - Behavior Intervention

Sabryna Eastwood - Social Worker

Michelle Reddick - Metco Social Worker

Jenna Goldstein - School Psychologist

Kristyn Stem - Speech

Melanie Chan - OT

Georgia McGinnis - Math Coach

Lauren Dietz - IT Specialist

Louise Martin - Literacy Specialist

Toni Duncan Brown - Literacy Intervention

Meredith Andrews - Literacy Intervention

Lisa McLellan - Literacy Intervention

Melissa Chatfield - Math/Literacy Intervention

Mackenzie Beatrice - Special Education Paraprofessional

Alethia Matthews - Special Education Paraprofessional

Dina Tedford - Special Education Paraprofessional

Justin Walker - Special Education Paraprofessional

Amira Elamri - Special Education Paraprofessional

Michael McGonigle - Special Education Paraprofessional

Vin Lahey - Special Education Paraprofessional

Stacy Louissaint - Behavior Therapist

Eleanor Beatrice - Building Aide

Hema Rao - Kindergarten Aide

Jessica Whalen - Kindergarten Aide

Linette Castro - Food Services

Darlene Atkins - ISS

Billy Young - ISS

Elena Boyington - Co-taught Intern (Akdag/Salvatore)



Important Dates

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.



August 2023



29 Kindergarten Play Date (families only)



September 2023

5 First Day for Students

12 Back to School Picnic 5-7pm

19 School Photos

20 Curriculum/Back to School Night

25 Yom Kippur

28 Early Release 12:10pm



I'll be back with more details about the opening of school next week. Please reach out with any questions



Mark Nardelli

Principal