Principal Grassa’s Pawprints 3/15/20

School Closure Update

Mayor Walsh announced that the Boston Public Schools (BPS) will be closed Tuesday, March 17 until April 27, 2020. Schools will be open tomorrow, Monday, March 16 during regular school hours. All BPS buses have been cleaned and disinfected and will run on normal schedules tomorrow.

Learning at Home

Monday will serve as a transition day for students to pick up their belongings and parents and guardians can pick up student medication. Printed learning materials will be available at all schools for students to use at home while schools are closed. In addition, educational resources will be set up with Google Classroom, an online location where students and families can find materials and work independently on activities at home. Your student’s learning materials can be accessed at:
www.bostonpublicschools.org/backpack using their BPS Google account. 

If you cannot pick up your student’s learning materials on Monday, we will have them available by grade level at meal sites throughout the City, noted below, beginning on Tuesday. We strongly encourage families to pick up their student’s materials, either at school or online, to help prevent lost learning time that could occur during an extended time away from school and to keep students positively engaged. 

Internet and Computer Access

In the coming days, we will be releasing details for BPS families to receive no-cost options for Internet and computers as needed. 

• Many Internet service providers have already offered discounted or no-cost options and we are working with providers to ensure families have access to home Internet.
• Chromebooks will also be provided to students in need of a device and BPS has purchased an additional 20,000 Chromebooks to assist with families in need. Each Chromebook will provide access to the learning activities above, as well as new learning resources to assist students.
• The new chrome books will be prioritized based on need and to students in grade 3-12. We will use our already established equity measures to make these determinations. 
• Distribution sites will be set up throughout the City for students to receive a Chromebook. We are also working with our partners to ensure that families can access support services for technical help with their Chromebook or Internet access.

Meal Locations

BPS will continue to provide free breakfast and lunch meals to all Boston students. We are proud that the Curley K-8 is one of those sites in the JP community. BPS will distribute the meals at several dozen locations throughout the City of Boston beginning on Tuesday, March 17. A variety of packaged meal options will be available for pick-up Monday – Friday from 8:30 am – 11:30am. Visit www.bostonpublicschools.org/coronavirus for the full list. No child will be turned away. 

Additionally, the City of Boston in partnership with Project Bread, YMCA of Greater Boston, Boston Centers for Youth and Families, and other community organizations will also be providing free meals to school-aged children at various locations and times across the city. Click here to view all the current meal locations and times. More locations will become available over the coming week.

For as long as our schools are closed, we will continue to assess how best to meet the needs of our students with a close eye on equity and may adjust our plans as needed based on our continued analysis. We will provide you with regular updates along the way to keep you informed about learning opportunities, access to healthy meals, and resources about the virus.  

BPS Coronavirus Website

BPS launched a website outlining key questions families may have, prevention tips, and tips for educators. Our goal is to keep you as informed as possible and make sure you have the tools and resources you need in order to both talk with your students, staff, and families and keep your school community safe and healthy. We will be updating the website weekly. www.bostonpublicschools.org/coronavirus If parents or community members are asking questions about coronavirus that cannot be answered on the BPS Coronavirus Website, please have them email coronavirus@bostonpublicschools.org and they will receive an answer within 48 hours.

Amazon Smile

Do you shop on Amazon? If so, did you know that you can give back to the Curley K-8 with your shopping? Amazon Smile is an easy way to give money to the Curley via the Student Parent Council (SPC) (no fees, no extra charges- nada). If you shop amazon.com just change to amazonsmile.com choose the charity “The Friends of the Curley K-8 School” and that is it. Amazon will donate a percentage of your purchase to the Curley. The funds raised by the SPC can be used to support many of the initiatives and resources we currently use in or classroom or those we wish to deploy in the future. Please note that the SPC is not able to see the items that you purchase on Amazon; they are only able to see the dollar amount donated.

Social Media

For up to date information about the Curley K-8 School please sign up for email alerts by joining the Mailing List. You can also follow Principal Grassa on Twitter @principalgrassa and be sure to always use the hashtag #curleycares when sharing/posting/tweeting information about our school.