Dear Secondary School Families:
It’s been feeling very “spring-like” the last few days, but snow appears to be on the way for the weekend. In my twenty-one years as an educator, I cannot recall the last time the holiday break arrived without any delays or closures. The mild weather has been great for our in-person instructional time with students - with any luck we can keep things rolling along into the new year. I would like to extend a big congratulations to the Tamarac music department for two incredible performances this week. The band and chorus students looked and sounded absolutely wonderful! I had chills when the auditorium went completely dark and the chorus began their opening set last night. I know we share our community's excitement to welcome back live performances! In case you missed it, check out the wonderful performances here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoZg9QpBnq4E4wK5mPyvQyg
A reminder that we only have three full days of school next week. Thursday, December 23 is a half day and school is closed on December 24. We will be following a period 1-9 (half day) schedule on Thursday. Breakfast and lunches will still be served with dismissal at 10:32am. Please remember to check the parent portal today for quarter two Interim reports. Academic Ineligibility for the second half of the marking period will go into effect on Tuesday, December 21.
I want to conclude by touching upon the recent online threats to schools across our state. We continually work to evaluate our emergency plans and response to situations that impact school. Reflectively, this morning I was reminded of the importance of open communication with our children in order to help them process stressful situations and how to appropriately respond. Experience tells me students are not always prepared for uncertain times. Unfortunately, inappropriate cell phone/social media can have an adverse impact on school and learning; we saw it today and see it all too often when we meet with students. Mr. White and I are grateful for the strong collaborative partnership Brunswick maintains with the state police and sheriff department. Student and staff safety will alway remain our number one priority. To our parents and caregivers, thank you for the trust you extend to us every day.
i-Ready: All middle school students will be taking another short i-Ready assessment in math and ELA shortly after we return from the break. i-Ready is an important diagnostic tool administered three times a year (September, January, and June) that we use to make informed decisions around instruction and programming for your child. Please reach out to sbartczak@brunswickcsd.org or your child’s team leader if you would like more information.
Project Design Construction/SEL Course: Mr. Scalzi and Ms. Johnston recently started a project design course after school with middle school students. We hope to be able to provide more of these types of opportunities to promote engagement with peers and school.
January 25 Regents Day: The English Language Arts (ELA) Regents will be administered on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. This will be a half day of in-person instruction for all Secondary school students. Dismissal will be at 11:05am. Students will be provided with flipped learning/ independent online activities by their teachers to work on independently at home.
Secondary Bell Schedules:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vBRG0IFT7EBPjlntumTTlY7kNkULqnuT/view?usp=sharing
Attendance Guide for Families:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15mVsKFnWWMX6X8KgaiNs23zpHImqeTff/view?usp=sharing
Spirit Week!: December 20-23…
Mr. White and I want to wish our students and their families a very healthy and happy holiday recess! We will see you in 2022!
Sincerely,
Ken Rizzo
Secondary School Principal