Principal Grassa’s Pawprints 4/5/20

April 5, 2020

Upcoming School Holidays & Vacation

We will not have any Learn from Home lessons on Friday, April 10th in observance of Good Friday as well as Monday, April 20th–Friday, April 24th for April vacation. We will resume our virtual learning on Monday, April 27th.

Food Sites will remain open throughout the city of Boston during this time.

We Need You: Support our Curley Community

Many of you have been reaching out wanting to know how you can support Curley families during this incredibly challenging time.

After talking with Principal Grassa to identify the greatest and most immediate needs of our community, the SPC is launching a fundraising campaign to purchase supermarket gift cards to help feed families. Principal Grassa and our school counselors will distribute these resources to Curley families who have contacted them seeking support.

How You Can Help

We believe access to healthy food will be an ongoing and growing need for many Curley families in the weeks and months ahead. To help address this need, the SPC is committed to matching donations up to $2,000 each month over the next three months. Donations can be made via Paypal at:

paypal.me/curleyk8

If you are able, please consider making a donation each month.

We ask that you donate cash instead of purchasing and donating physical gift cards so we can streamline the process to allow the administration to purchase gift cards from stores that are most convenient for the families in need and to ensure equitable distribution of resources. Reach out to the SPC leadership team at chair@curleyk8.com with any questions.

If You NEED Help

If you need support or know someone who does, please contact our guidance team:

Contact	Email	Phone	Languages
Sugeily Santos	ssantos2@bostonpublicschools.org	617-230-2661	Spanish & English
Cristina Silva	csilva4@bostonpublicschools.org	857-308-7889	Spanish, English & Portugese

Thank you in advance to our amazing community for pulling together to support one another. I Care, We Care, Curley Cares!

Check In: Let Us Know What Support You Need

We hope that all Curley K-8 community members are safe, practicing social distancing, hand washing, and encourage their child to participate in virtual learning.

We recognize that as time goes on the level of support families need can change and we want you to know we are here to help all Boston families. Please know we want to help and support families and all information shared is confidential. If you, or someone you know has needs please reach out for support:

Access to Boston Public Library Resources

Boston Public Library sites are all closed, any materials that are currently checked out have been renewed for several months. Also, digital resources are still available. If students (or caregivers) don’t have library cards, or if their cards are expired, they can sign up for an ecard at www.bpl.org/ecard and still access everything.

Please visit www.bpl.org/kids for additional information. Families can also reach out to Sandra Samuel csamuel@bostonpublicschools.org for support.

Learn From Home

The Curley’s Learn From Home virtual learning website is live. You can link to learning activities for students and contact information for teachers by visiting www.curleyk8.com. (Look for Red Learn From Home link at the very top of each page.) We want students to have access to internet, technology, and other resources necessary to support their learning. Please reach out to your child’s teacher if you need any support with this or visit https://www.bostonpublicschools.org/laptop for more information.

Here are some helpful tips to support families at home.

On the homepage of our website www.curleyk8.com you can link to grade level work for all students. This link on the site was created to give families one spot to access information for multiple grade levels and resources.
Your student’s learning materials can also be accessed at www.bostonpublicschools.org/backpack using their BPS Google account.
Your child’s teachers are the best resource for support with technology and academics. Their emails are also linked on this site.

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. A variety of packaged meal options will be available for pick-up Monday – Friday from 8:30am – 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. https://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.