Paw Prints  1/23/2022 

Paw Prints  1/23/2022 

Check out our new Event page on our website, events added this week, you need to apply to this events with time in advance:

• FREE TUTORING AND MENTORING/ TUTORÍA GRATUITA EN LÍNEA Y APOYO DE MENTORES
• Latinx Heritage Celebration- Afro-Caribbean Diaspora Film and Web Series- Febrero 17th
• Parent-Child Reading club- Starts March 3rd- You can apply now
• Reading and Reasoning Workshop- Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13 by Helaine Becker – Starts March 7
• Latinx Heritage Celebration- The Power of Women in the Arts- March 10th 

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Family COVID Protocol Visual: We recognize that processing and understanding COVID protocols is incredibly overwhelming. The Curley Family Engagement Committee created a visual to try to support and help families to better understand what is happening at school and if your child tests positive for COVID 19. We hope you find this useful! If policies change we will update these visuals. Also a paper version of these visuals will go home with your child on Monday, January 24th.

Download the Family COVID Protocol Visual:

Visual  –  English Version

Visual – Spanish Version

Grades 6-8 Cell Phone Changes: We are writing to share exciting news – we will be making our school a phone-free space to improve teaching and learning! We will be using a system called Yondr to achieve this goal. Yondr has been used across the world in over 1,000 schools, as well as at concerts, comedy shows, businesses, camps, weddings, and special events of all kinds. The goal of these spaces is to encourage people to engage with each other and their surroundings.

We believe that cell phones have great utility. We have also found that learning and social behavior improve drastically when students are fully engaged with their teachers and classmates.

The Yondr Program employs a simple, lockable pouch that stores a cellphone. Every student will secure their phone in a personally assigned Yondr pouch when they enter their Homeroom each morning. They will maintain possession of their phones, and will not use them until they are unlocked at the end of the school day. Students must return their pouch to the Distribution Tote in their Homeroom at the end of each day. 

We are encouraged by the effects of this system in learning institutions. Yondr surveyed over 900 school partners to measure the effects of creating phone-free educational environments. These schools achieved notable progress in multiple areas:

• 65% of schools saw an improvement in academic performance
• 74% of schools saw an improvement in student behavior
• 83% of schools saw an improvement in student engagement in the classroom

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school directly at 617-635-8176.

If there is an emergency and you would like to get in contact with your child, please reach out to the main office at 617-635-8176 or in the event of an emergency Adrian Ward-Jackson at 857-206-4043. In an effort to best serve your child, we appreciate your full support in the adoption of the Yondr Program at our school.

Free at Home Covid Tests: The government is offering free at-home COVID-19 tests shipped directly to your residence. If interested, please take two minutes to provide your contact information and shipping address at this link to receive a household allotment of four tests. 

COVID-19 PROTOCOL COMMUNITY MEETINGS:Please join us for an upcoming COVID-19 Protocol Community Meeting – open to the BPS community – where we will share the latest information on COVID-19 protocols and will provide an opportunity for attendees to ask questions. Interpretation will be provided.
COVID-19 Protocol Community Meetings

• Thursday, Jan 27  |  6pm … Join us on Zoom

COVID Close Contact Protocol Updates: Updates have been made to the protocol for students who are fully vaccinated. 

• If your child is fully vaccinated (at least 2 weeks past the 2nd vaccine) and is a close contact to someone at school who tested positive for COVID 19 they will not participate in the Test & Stay program (DESE Guidance pg. 3). You will be notified that your child is a close contact and your child can continue to come to school unless they develop symptoms. 
• Fully vaccinated students will continue to participate in weekly pool testing and symptomatic testing.

Test & Stay Reminder: Please remember that Test & Stay is only if your child is a close contact to someone within our school during school hours. Test & Stay cannot be used for students who are close contacts to anyone outside of the school day.

ACCESS Testing: All English Learners (EL) will be participating in DESE mandated ACCESS testing from now through February vacation. This assessment is used across the state to help determine a student’s English Language Development (ELD) Level. Families will receive results of this assessment in June.

Celebrating 100 Days of Student Learning through the Arts: EVENT ALERT!!! Please join the Curley School community as we celebrate 100 days of learning!  Our students continue to learn and create, despite the challenges of the pandemic. To mark this achievement the students, art, music and dance teachers are creating a large outdoor art installation along both the Centre Street and Pershing Road entrances.  The students will be working on this in art class/electives this January. We are so excited to share their work with our school and local communities! The grand opening will be held virtually in early February – more details to follow soon.  A flier with additional information will go home with students.  

THE KIDS NEED YOUR SUPPORT! The Arts Committee is helping each grade to raise $300 to support this project and the school. So far we have raised $280 with contributions from grades K2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 – 4th grade is the top contributor with $70 raised.

Any donation amount is helpful!! Please consider donating today through our Paypal link and in the comments section put your student’s grade level. Feel free to pass this link along to friends and family! https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/curleyk8 

If you have questions or would like to get involved email Katrina katrina.brink@gmail.com.

February Vacation: February vacation will take place starting Monday, February 21th -Friday, February, 25th. Staff and students will return to school on Monday, February 28th.

BPS Department of Behavioral Health Services:  Are you seeking additional ways to support your child’s social, emotional, and behavioral development? Check this new resource for all families “Wellbeing Digests!” https://mailchi.mp/335927fe1429/bps-weekly-wellbeing-digest-5691474?e=9533f83113

Free COVID-19 Testing Sites in Boston:

https://www.boston.gov/departments/public-health-commission/covid-19-testing-sites

COVID-19 emails or calls: If you get an email from bpscontacttracing@healthcareitleaders.com or a phone call from them, it is legit. Some parents have been confused about these emails from the way it is sent. Please follow the instructions on that email and if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us. 

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.