Good evening,
I’m not sure what has been different about the sun over the past few days - but maybe the fact that it has been present is a good start…and it feels brighter! I’m sure any 7th grader could give me a lesson or two on this topic based on their science studies this year, but it just feels different this week. Maybe we’re emerging from our winter dark period. Whatever we call it, it works for me!
We are heading into the last week before February vacation! On Friday, February 18th, we’ll have Blue and Gold Day at RJ Grey. This is a fun day where students dress in their blue and gold to show their school spirit. In a more typical year, we would have an assembly featuring several student groups. We made the call about a month ago to skip the assembly this year. At the time, bringing together two full grades, or even one, seemed to go against the Covid norms we were enforcing. We seem to be coming down from those high case counts, which is great for all of us. So while we’ll skip the assembly on Friday, we’ll still ask students and staff to dress in their blue and gold. And as we’ve shared before, RJ Grey will also have an early release (11:10 am) on Friday, February 18th.
You might have seen the news out of DESE on Wednesday where the Commissioner announced he is not going to renew the mask mandate in schools, effective February 28th. We’ll share more info next week about what that looks like, but it is important to us to find a way to make sure that anyone who wants to continue wearing a mask feels comfortable doing so. I’ve thought about my own mask-wearing post February vacation. I think I’ll likely still wear one while supervising lunch, but maybe not when I’m visiting a class? The point is, this will be a personal and family decision and we’ll support students with those decisions. More will come out next week on this most recent change.
On Tuesday, our students watched a brief video that we prepared, highlighting our new Incident Reporting Form. This can be an anonymous way for students or families to report to us something important. The video we made for them highlights that they can use this form if they’ve already considered how to handle this with one of their trusted adults at home or at school. Our ideal situation is when a student comes directly to a staff member to talk about an issue. This lets us respond immediately, offer support, and make sure the student is feeling okay. Receiving an electronic report makes it less personal, but it may make students feel a bit more safe, so we welcome it. While the form does allow for anonymous submissions, we do encourage students to share their own names so that we can follow-up, ask additional questions, and when possible, provide resolutions. If you have a child struggling with something, and they’re not ready to approach someone at school, please remind them of this option, which also resides on our school homepage.
Here are some upcoming dates to be aware of:
-Tuesday, Feb 15: ABRHS Curriculum Night, 6 pm, on Zoom
-Wednesday, Feb 16: RJ Grey Chorus Concert, 7 pm
-Friday, Feb 18: Blue and Gold Day!
-Friday, Feb 18: RJ Grey Early Release, 11:10 am
That’s it for now. Take care,
Jim Marcotte