Return to School Protocols

If a student or staff member is sent home with possible COVID-19 symptoms, they must follow this protocol before returning to school. 

Staff and students who have symptoms should contact their primary care physician for further instructions. Please check in with your school nurse for assistance.

Something Fun

After all the high-stakes information we've been passing along, you may enjoy something a little lighter. 

Ms. Woznick has signed up for Postcrossing and has been sending and receiving postcards from all over the world! She is hoping to get some students involved in writing some of these cards, or your family may enjoy signing up for their own free membership. 

You can see her blog with the postcards that she's been sending and receiving here.

Momball Beverly Bootstraps Donations

No Momball this year! 😢

But there's still a big food drive to benefit Beverly Bootstraps! 

BMS Momballers are collecting canned soup. Bet you have some that you got this spring and never ate! Just make sure it's not expired... and bring it to Harry Ball Field this Saturday 9/19 between 10-2. It's a drive-thru dropoff, so quick and easy!

Rolling Pick Up Reminders

If you are using the "rolling pickup" to retrieve your child - please remember to clearly post. your child's name and neighborhood number on your windshield. It will help us speed things along!

School Meals

The USDA has approved universal free meals for ALL Students until December 31, 2020 or until USDA funds run out. This means all Beverly children can receive a free breakfast and lunch. 

At BMS breakfast will be offered every morning, except Wednesday, and upon dismissal they can take a bag meal which will include a lunch for that day and a breakfast to eat at home the following day. 

For all students who are part of the Remote Learning Academy, starting the year in the remote model or have a remote learning day, meals are now available daily for pick up at BHS from 10:30-11:30. Weekend meals are available for all families on Fridays for pick up only at BHS from 10:30a-11:30a. Produce boxes are available on Thursdays. 

We still encourage families to complete an online application at www.lunchapp.com in case this benefit is not extended into the spring, or if funds run out. 

Questions or concerns? Calle 978-921-6132 ext 11129.

Health Attestation Form

This health attestation form that needs to be completed and returned to school ASAP. 

It needs to be filled out once at the beginning of the year and confirms that you will check your children each day for COVID symptoms before sending them to school (Daily COVID Symptom Checklist). 

You may print this copy and send it to school on the first day, or complete the paper copy that gets sent home on Thursday/ Friday and return to school ASAP. 

In-Person Learning Reminders

Everyday that student is attending in-person learning, they should bring: 

• a mask (double layered- no gaiters)
• a small peanut-free snack and a refillable water bottle (filling stations are open and available) 
• BMS iPad
• individual student supplies (as identified by the grade level supply list) 
• backpack large enough to fit all supplies. 

Students should come prepared for outdoor learning and movement. Dressing in weather-appropriate layers with comfortable shoes will help with transitions (please, no flip flops.) 

iPad Reminders
It is expected that students will come to school with their iPad charged and ready to start the day. If you have not picked up your iPad yet, they are available in the Main Office 8-4. If your student does not remember their 4 digit password or log in information please contact Alix Woznick at awoznick@beverlyschools.org or the BMS Tech center at bmstech@beverlyschools.org

• 6-8 - Getting your iPad ready after the summer
• 6-8 Getting your iPad ready checklist

Drop Off and Pick Up Details & Traffic Patterns

We are so excited for Cohort A (students attending school on Monday and Thursday) to arrive for their first day on Thursday, September 17th and for Cohort B (students who join us on Tuesday and Fridays) who will join us for their first day this Friday, September 18th.

Arrival Procedures
Students may arrive by bus, bike, car or walk to school. Bus students will be dropped at the front and side of the building.

• Bikers: Students who take a bike to school may use any of our bike racks and then enter their neighborhood door.
• Walkers will also enter their neighborhood door
• Cummings Center Drop Off: If you choose to drop your child in the Cummings Center parking lot, they may walk to school and enter the building at their neighborhood door. A crossing guard will assist students on Balch.
• Rolling Dropoff: If you choose, you may participate in our rolling drop off. We ask that you enter the campus at the Balch street entrance and follow the traffic flow to the left side of the building. (Please see map). Teachers will be present and welcoming students who will again enter their neighborhood door. Please do NOT get out of your car or pass other cars.
• Exiting to Cabot St.: Please note that when you exit onto Cabot Street you will only be allowed to make a right turn.

Dismissal Procedures

Students who are not taking a bus, may be walkers or bikers, or participate in the rolling pick up.

• If you choose to pick up your child at the Cummings Center, they will be a walker and are to be dismissed at 12:45.
• Neighborhood 1 will be dismissed for rolling pick up at 12:55
• Neighborhood 2 will be dismissed for rolling pick up at 1:05
• Neighborhood 3 will be dismissed for rolling pick up at 1:15
• PLEASE have your child's last name and Neighborhood Number displayed on your windshield.
• PLEASE try and arrive at your allotted time to avoid traffic congestion

And... we're off!

The school year got off to a (remote) start today and all in all, things went smoothly! We are looking forward to welcoming some of our 5th and 6th graders into the building tomorrow and Friday.

Please continue to reach out to us by email or by phone if you need assistance.

Global Apps Information

Some of the Global Apps curriculum will be delivered to students through a board that will be updated weekly, very similar to the choice board they used in the spring. The new board, with a new name and some slightly different procedures is planned to launch next Wednesday, September 23. In the meantime, students are welcome to access the Summer Choice Board.

Students Should Log In With School Email/Password

A reminder that students should all be logging in to Google Meet, Google Classroom and other Google apps with their school issued email and password. Some activities assigned by the teacher will not be available or accessible if they do not use this login.

A parent/guardian can log in to the Aspen parent portal and find their child's password for all the Google apps there. The steps for that are:

• Log in to the parent portal at https://ma-beverly.myfollett.com
• Click on the "Family" tab
• Click on the student
• Once on the student page click the "Technology" tab and that will list their email and password

The screen would look like this:

Summer Work

Math Packets
Students in grades 6-8 are being asked to turn in any completed math packets this week or next. Teachers will give students instructions.

• Grade 6: Due Sept 21-22 - Students may either scan them and email to their math teachers or may bring the physical packet into school and turn them into their math teacher.
• Grade 7: Students are receiving information this week about how to upload to Google Classroom
• Grade 8: Due Thursday 9/17 or Friday 9/18, whichever day they have class. Students are receiving instructions as to what to do with the packet on those days.

Summer Stories

ELA teachers in grades 6-8 will give students information soon about activities and/or assignments related to Summer Stories.

iPad Reminders

 Students will carry their iPads to and from school for in-person and at-home learning. It is expected that students will come to school with their iPad fully charged each day. 

iPad chargers are on the supply lists. Some students in grade 8 ought to have a school-issued charger (although if that charger was lost, you will need to purchase a replacement). Be sure you get/use a 12W iPad charger and not a 5W iPhone charger.

If you have not picked up your iPad yet, they are available in the Main Office from 8 to 4. 

If your student does not remember their 4 or 6 digit iPad passcode or their Google email/log in information please contact Alix Woznick at awoznick@beverlyschools.org or the BMS Tech center at bmstech@beverlyschools.org. Please tell us the name and grade of your child and, if possible, if it's a question about the passcode on the device or the Google login information.

Here is some information to make sure your returning 6-8 grade student's iPad is ready for learning! (This information is not geared toward 5th graders or other students who are new to BMS.) The information in these two items is the same, just presented in different formats.

• 6-8 - Getting your iPad ready after the summer
• 6-8 Getting your iPad ready checklist

Medication Dropoff Change

We strongly encourage you to consider administering afternoon medication to your child once they arrive home, if possible. This will limit exposure to the health office.  

We've had a change in plans for parents who need to get their child's medication to the school nurse. Due to the rolling drop off protocol the nurses will not be set up outside to accept medications on the first days of school.

If your child requires medication at school, please 

1. Complete the required paperwork (see below)

BPS Parental Consent for Medication

BPS Physician Medication Order

BPS Medication Administration Plan 

 2. Email the school nurse Jodi Elder that you are sending the medication to school with your child: jelder@beverlyschools.org

3. Send your child to school with the paperwork and the medication in its original bottle

4. Your child should notify their teacher that they have medication and forms for the school nurse, and they will receive instructions about how to get it to the health office.

Welcome from Principal Lisa Oliver

The following letter was sent to BMS families on Monday evening. It is replicated and linked here for your reference.

Dear BMS Families,

Communication is important to us. Please find detailed information attached for you to view. As noted in our previous email, our ASPEN service is currently presenting us with some challenges. Due to this, if you have more than one child at BMS, teacher correspondence may not yet be consistent. This is temporary.

All families will receive information regarding Wednesday from your classroom teacher before Wednesday morning. Each student will begin their day with a Google Meet at 9:00. We continue to ask for your patience while our system is updated.

Please review this welcome letter.

Best,
Lisa Oliver

iPad Reminders

Students will carry their iPads to and from school for in-person and at-home learning. It is expected that students will come to school with their iPad fully charged each day. 

iPad chargers are on the supply lists for grades 5 and 6. Those in grades 7/8 ought to have their school-issued chargers. If your charger is lost, you will need to purchase a replacement. Be sure you get/use a 12W iPad charger and not a 5W iPhone charger.

If you have not picked up your iPad yet, they will all be available in the Main Office, any day from 8 to 4. 

If your student does not remember their 4 or 6 digit passcode or their Google email/log in information please contact Alix Woznick at awoznick@beverlyschools.org or the BMS Tech center at bmstech@beverlyschools.org

Here is some information to make sure your returning 6-8 grade student's iPad is ready for learning! (This information is not geared toward 5th graders or other students who are new to BMS.) The information in these two items is the same, just presented in different formats.

• 6-8 - Getting your iPad ready after the summer
• 6-8 Getting your iPad ready checklist

Don't Miss Important Emails from the School

We want to be sure you don't miss any important emails! Our administrators often send emails from the Aspen system, which allows them to select certain grade levels, for example. Unfortunately, these emails occasionally land in people's spam/junk boxes.

Please check for emails coming from aspen-sysadmin@myfollett.com (triggered from our Aspen student info system) and email@blackboard.com (triggered from our Blackboard communication system). Check your email settings to sort these correctly so you don't miss any critical messages as we start this unprecedented school year.

Parent FAQ from the Superintendent

This letter from the Superintendent was recently sent out to families and is replicated here for your reference.

Good Afternoon Beverly Parents and Families,


Our first responsibility as we begin this school year is to keep our students, teachers, and staff safe. We have spent the summer months getting the school building and staff ready to execute all of the safety guidelines and best practices based on guidance from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and the medical community. From sanitizing and utilizing space in new and different ways to purchasing extra masks for students who might lose or forget theirs, we have been working hard to make sure our school buildings are as safe as possible. This year, like never before, will require partnership between schools and families to ensure that students are wearing their masks, washing their hands, and physical distancing. Today I am sending along a list of Frequently Asked Questions, many of which have been generated by families and some of which you may have yourself. The FAQ will be updated throughout the year as new questions arise. You will find the FAQ posted on our website and on our Beverly Keeps Learning site. I encourage you to refer back to this document and to submit any new questions to our staff.

Sincerely,

Sue Charochak. Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools

Note from Principal

This letter went out to BMS families on Saturday. It is replicated here for your reference.

Dear BMS Families,

Please note that we have run into a challenge with our ASPEN software. A new feature used to accommodate hybrid scheduling needs to be amended. We are working on closing access to schedules in order to fix this issue. Please disregard what you may have viewed as our software caused some incorrect information to be delivered.

I want to thank you for your continued patience, understanding and grace as we are working hard to open schools and meet the needs of all of our families.

Best,

Lisa Oliver
BMS Principal

Letter from the Superintendent

This letter was sent to families on Friday from Superintendent Sue Charochak and is replicated here for your reference.

September 11, 2020

Good Afternoon Beverly Parents and Families,

Thank you for your patience as we continue to navigate the uncertainties of this year’s school reopening. Our parents, staff and students stepped up in extraordinary ways this past spring to fill the gaps caused by our schools closures. Our commitment to partner with you this year is unlike any other. We have heard repeatedly that “we are all in this together” but nowhere is that truer than in educating our students. We have spent the summer preparing for all three scenarios this fall: remote, hybrid and in person. Our highest priority is to keep our students, teachers, and staff safe and although Massachusetts has some of the lowest transmission rates at this time, we have chosen a combination of remote and hybrid options that we feel is best for the Beverly Public School District.

These past two weeks, we have welcomed back staff and spent time preparing for the coming year. We continue to refine our plans and look forward to welcoming our students back in whichever model of learning they are participating. In Beverly, students in PreK - 4 will begin the year in a hybrid model (five days with an early dismissal) grades 5 & 6 will start with a hybrid model (two days in school, three days remote) on September 16th (Kindergarten will have a delayed start of September 24th). Students in grades 7 - 12 will begin the year in a remote model on September 16th, however, the school committee voted last evening to set September 29th as the date that our 7 - 12 students will begin transitioning to a hybrid model. Students and families in these grades will receive more information from their building principals as to the specifics of their individual schedules. For students in our Remote Learning Academy, remote instruction will begin on September 16th.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, working with our state’s top medical professionals, have put comprehensive safety guidelines in place to greatly reduce the transmission of COVID-19. Our school leaders and staff have worked diligently to create detailed school plans to ensure that we are fully prepared to execute all of the recommended safety measures, including, signs to direct staff and students, mandatory mask-wearing, physical distancing, hand washing and mask breaks, additional sanitizing of the school, notification of positive cases, and the ability to transition back to remote learning should it be necessary.

In the meantime, our teachers have received training on the safety protocols and guidance for in person learning. We are confident that they can provide engaging instruction when students are in the classroom, while implementing the safety measures we need to keep students, teachers and families safe. Teachers have received training on flipped classrooms, blended learning, and remote learning. We are confident that they are ready to teach our students through Google Classroom, Moodle, and Seesaw using a combination of best practices that will include live, whole class instruction, teacher-led small group work, and independent student work.

We are committed to frequent communications to our families to ensure that we are transparent in our decision making and are providing families with information as so as it becomes available. Not only will you receive updates from your school principal, you can expect to regularly hear from your child’s teacher(s) to ensure you have a clear understanding of your child’s learning expectations for the fall. It is important that we hear your perspective regarding your perspective regarding your child’s learning needs as well as his or her social emotional development in order to put a plan in place for your child’s continued growth.

Given the heightened importance of communications over the next several months, we would ask that you reach out to us with your questions and concerns. We look forward to meeting this challenging time together and welcome your input to best serve your child.

As always, thank you for the trust you have placed in us and in our partnership as we work together to educate your child.

Sincerely,

Sue Charochak, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools