Dear Cohasset Families,

 

As the hours pass I am at a loss for words about the tragedy of our neighbors in Newtown, Connecticut.  This heinous crime resulted in the loss of life among innocent children and adults.  We do not want our children to be afraid to come to school.  They should feel they are safe when learning under our roof.  We take school safety and security very seriously.  Unfortunately, we can never guarantee that nothing could ever happen in our schools or community but we can be vigilant about creating a safe environment.  We have plans in place for emergency situations and they are reviewed during the school year.  Additionally, we remain in regular communication with the police to ensure we we are doing everything possible to maintain a safety in the schools.  

 

On Monday the principals and other key personnel will gather to discuss how to help our students if concerns or anxiety should arise.  We will work in conjunction with the Cohasset Police reviewing our safety plans and making any necessary changes.  The central administration will remain in close contact with the principals and offer assistance when necessary.  Please feel free to reach out to your student's principal if questions or concerns should arise.  Finally, I have included an additional document from the National Association of School Psychologists titled "Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers".  I hope you find it as helpful as I did.  

 

This weekend take time to hug your children and remind them they are loved.  I will be available by e-mail this weekend if you should have any concerns or questions.  Thank you.

 

Sincerely,

 

Barbara J. Cataldo

Superintendent of Schools

August 17, 2012

 

Dear Parents, Guardians, and Students of Deer Hill School,

 

I am excited to welcome you back to school for the 2012 - 2013 school year! I hope your summer has been the perfect balance of play and rest for the whole family. 

 

Many of our teachers and support staff have been engaged in activities this summer that will help to further us in our goal of continuous improvement. Several teachers, including special education, counseling, and literacy staff, engaged in professional development focused on enhancing our ability to provide targeted support services to meet the needs of all students through a tiered system of support known as Massachusetts Tiered System of Support, or MTSS. (You may be familiar with the National version known as Response to Intervention, or RTI.). This represents our efforts to more effectively target our support of students through differentiated instruction, consultation, co-teaching, child study team processes, and collaborative scheduling.   Other faculty have been involved in other coursework, curriculum planning, technology instruction, and multi-media presentation. When our students enter Deer Hill School in September they will be greeted by a dedicated and motivated staff, brand new materials, and a cheerful, spotless building, thanks to the efforts of our outstanding custodians!

 

We welcome three new teachers to our faculty: Mrs. Michelle Wilson in the third grade, who is the long term substitute for Emily Gibbons, (who has just announced the birth of twin beautiful baby boys!) Mrs Kara Moser in the fourth grade, who is the long term substitute for Erica Parrell (who has just announced the birth of a beautiful baby girl!), and Mrs. Jacqueline Kelliher in the fifth grade, who is the long term substitute for Katie Penwell. We are very fortunate to have these three experienced teachers join us, and it is a testament to the excellent reputation the Cohasset community has for supporting its schools and teachers that we can attract such talent.

 

Every year we seek to improve our programs on behalf of our students, and this year is no exception. Some of you will see a change in our math program, as two teachers from every grade level will be piloting a new math program called EnVision. Our current program, Everyday Math, has been a solid program that has helped to elevate children's mathematical thinking and problem solving. We are piloting the new program because it has shown great potential to continue to strengthen students' mathematical skills through a curriculum that emphasizes mastery of fewer skills at each grade level, rather than revisiting them over a longer period of time. This is reflective of the new Core Curriculum in Mathematics that will be required by the start of the next school year. We will continue our implementation of the thematically based Reading Street, with writing instruction designed by the teachers last year to coordinate with the thematic units as well as the new Core Curriculum in English/Language Arts. We will also continue in our implementation of Words Their Way Word Study program, a robust spelling program that helps students to fully understand the rules of spelling. Students new to Deer Hill will enjoy science instruction in our STEM lab and our school wide enrichment program EMC, (Enrich, Motivate, Challenge). 

 

This year you may notice some changes to our lunch program as well. Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education have announced new requirements for our school lunch program consisting of new standards of nutrition. According to these departments, “The goal of the standards is to ensure that public schools offer students food and beverage choices that will enhance learning, contribute to their healthy growth and development, and cultivate life-long healthy eating behaviors.” The new requirements are contained in a document entitled Healthy Students, Healthy Schools: Revised Guidance for Implementing the Massachusetts School Nutrition Standards for Competitive Foods and Beverages (June 2012). You can access the document through their website:

 

 

Marilyn Haraden, Cohasset’s Food Services Director, will be providing more detailed information to parents and students regarding how these new requirements will affect our lunch program, but I think we can count on a shift to more nutritious foods and less sweets! Also, at the time of the writing of this letter, I am attempting to change the lunch schedule so that children have recess first and then come in for lunch, which is a reversal of the traditional schedule. Of course, scheduling is extremely complicated! So please wish me luck, as research is emerging that shows recess before lunch helps children in a number of ways physically as well as academically. 

 

I know all the Deer Hill teachers and support staff are looking forward to getting back in the classroom, meeting your children, and beginning the important work of teaching and learning. Teachers will be back in school on August 29^th and 30^th, (school is closed on the 31^st for one final floor waxing) but they will be fully engaged in district sponsored professional development, grade level meetings, curriculum meetings, and classroom preparation. Oftentimes, parents reach out to teachers prior to the beginning of school in order to facilitate a shared understanding of their children’s learning profile. Deer Hill teachers are invested in establishing a relationship with their students and their students’ parents, but they will probably not have the chance to meet in this two day period. As a former teacher, I can tell you that for me, in the days leading up to the first day of school, I was so focused on getting my classroom ready that I wouldn’t have been able to give my full attention to information regarding individual student needs (except in medical situations) and found it much more helpful to obtain information after the first few days of school, when I had a face and a personality to go along with the information.

 

Here are some important dates to help in planning:

 

September 4^th             First day of School (students arrive between 8:20 and 8:30)

September 14^th            First PSO meeting and Room Parent Orientation

September 19^th            Early release day for Professional Development (12:30 release)

September 20^th            Back to School Night, School Council Elections

 

In the meantime, please call, email, or drop by if you have any questions. See you in September!

 

Yours truly,

 

Jennifer deChiara, Ph.D.

Principal

Deer Hill School