Dear Farmington River School District Community,
Good news! Here you will find our school reopening plan document approved by the School Committee on Monday night and submitted to DESE this evening.
The back to school document was developed based upon survey results recently collected and analyzed from your submissions. The written plan is a collective effort of several Farmington River RSD staff members, across many of our program areas. I would like to formally thank Laurie Flower, Eric Jesner, Teresa Dellaguistina, Amy Maxton, Kendra Rybacki, Terry Ferrara, Jeff Gray, and Denise Zuidema for their collective efforts during July to get this document prepared for you.
Our plan essentially provides parents with a choice between face-to-face school-based instruction or home-based remote instruction. This choice may be made initially or after a three-week hybrid program beginning on September 10th and continuing through October 1st. The purpose of the three-week hybrid program will allow for maximum social distancing, students to learn new routines in smaller groups, and for the district to work out with families any issues with instructional delivery of lessons, including technology needs.
Again, we are guided by the Department of Education and state public health officials. Our decisions were based on our highest priorities: the health and safety of our students and employees and the consistent delivery of high-quality educational experiences.
Sincerely,
Michael Saporito
Director of Student Services
Fall Reopening Plan Administrator
Updated 2020-2021 School Year Calendar
Fall Reopening Family Survey – July 14, 2020
Dear Farmington River School District Community,
We hope this email finds you well during this challenging time. Looking ahead to the upcoming school year, we must make some critical decisions about what school will look like and how our students will experience learning. We are approaching this work, thoughtfully, collaboratively, and with an enormous sense of responsibility.
We are guided by the Department of Education and state public health officials. All decisions will be based on our highest priorities: the health and safety of our students and employees and the consistent delivery of high-quality educational experiences. Your input is essential. We look forward to your feedback on our surveys to help inform a final plan that keeps the safety and shared interests of our whole community in mind.
We are doing all of this in the context of a future that is highly uncertain. That means we must be nimble in our ability to plan for and adapt to those changing circumstances. We will be keeping you informed about our planning progression, and you will receive a final copy of our plan as soon as the state approves it.
Although the Department of Education expects a full time in school model, our planning includes hybrid and remote learning models, so that we prepare for each of these three scenarios. A team of staff members is currently working on the many complexities of daily operations, including academic instruction, student transportation, food service, and other safety protocols to provide the highest degree of safety.
Please click the link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GNNCDRT to complete this critical survey to help the planning team prepare for reopening this fall by Monday, July 20th.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Michael Saporito
Director of Student Services
Fall Reopening Plan Administrator
Remote Learning Parent Survey – June 28, 2020
Dear Farmington River Regional School District Families,
Thank you so much for your patience and understanding as we adjusted to working and learning from home during the spring. We also want to eliminate as much stress as possible for students, parents, and teachers moving forward, if remote teaching and learning is necessary in the future. Therefore, we are asking parents to complete a short survey to help us determine what changes, if any, need to be made to our remote teaching and learning plan. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey below. Again, thank you and please stay safe.
Remote Learning Parent Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TRMPWSG
Sincerely,
Thomas Nadolny
Superintendent
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM PRINCIPAL NADOLNY: April 21, 2020
Governor Baker just announced that all schools in Massachusetts will remain closed for the rest of this current school year. This is disheartening news, as we all wish we could have returned before June. That said, we will continue with the current arrangement for learning until June 10th. June 11th will be the last day all completed assignments can be submitted online or packets returned in person. Students are required to complete assignments to be elevated to the next grade. As for our graduating class of 6th graders. My hope is that we can have some type of gathering possibly this summer to celebrate your accomplishments. I will continue to keep everyone updated as news becomes available.
The Joint Budget Hearing is Scheduled for WEDNESDAY, April 22, 2020 – 6:00 PM Click here for information on how to attend the Zoom meeting. Additional Documentation: FY21 Budget Summary Passed and the FY21 Budget Passed 3-2-20.
Farmington River Distance Learning at it’s Best!
A Day in the Life of Mr. Keller Video Series
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM PRINCIPAL NADOLNY: April 10, 2020
Dear Parent/Guardian(s),
I wanted to touch base on a few important items. The teachers have been preparing lessons either online or hard copy depending upon grade level and parent/guardian request. Teachers report to me weekly student progress. We have some students, either meeting or exceeding expectations. On the other hand, some have done little to no work on their assignments. All student work will be graded on a Credit/No Credit basis. For a student to be promoted to the next grade level, we have to have something to show that students have made progress even in these difficult times. Please ensure your children are completing assignments. If you are having difficulty, please contact your child’s teacher as soon as possible. During our scheduled April vacation week, your child’s teacher will be emailing you a home-based project for your child to complete. This project will also be a big part of your child’s grade. My request to teachers is to make this project simple and enjoyable.
As always, if you have any questions, please email your child’s teacher, and I thank you in advance for your assistance during this difficult time.
Sincerely,
Tom Nadolny
Principal/Superintendent
DISTRICT NOTICES:
Letter from the Massachusetts Commissioner of Education, Jeffrey C. Riley, to parents and guardians. Please Click Here to Read.
The Joint Budget Hearing online meeting for March 25, 2020 at 6PM through Zoom has been cancelled. Eric Jesner – Business Manager.
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM PRINCIPAL NADOLNY: March 25, 2020
Dear Parent/Guardian(s),
As we try to establish some level of normalcy during these difficult times, the staff and I have been busy planning future steps to keep students engaged in their academics. During the first week of closure, students should have completed the Blizzard Bag that was sent home. During week two, students should have worked on the links that were emailed home. As we move into week three, we will be using the Google Classroom platform for grades 1-6. All of the grades 1-6 student’s assignments will be posted online in Google Classroom. All of our students in grades 1-6 have had some instruction in Google Classroom at school and teachers will be providing instructions on how to login at home. PreK and K will be continuing their work in the same format they used during week 2. The staff and I recommend that students continue to work to prevent regression and hopefully to advance their learning. Students will be asked to do 5 minutes of work time, per grade and per content area. For example, grade one should work a minimum of 10 minutes per subject area per day, while grade 6 works 35 minutes in each subject area per day. Teachers will develop lessons for students to complete each week.
I have attached a copy of a sample daily schedule that you may find helpful and was provided by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with some minor modifications. I have also included a document with instructions that will help you and your student login to Google Classroom. Grades 1-6 students should be checking their Google Classroom assignments every day and the expectation is that all students will complete their assignments. If your student is having trouble logging into Google Classroom, please contact your teacher directly. Teachers will monitor student progress and report directly to me any issues. Teachers will be available via email between 12:00-1:00PM each day for questions. There may be some circumstances where a teacher is unable to respond during that time, and if this is the case, the teacher will respond as soon as possible.
I have been in contact with the Department of Education every Friday by teleconference. I will continue to keep everyone updated during this unprecedented disruption to the school year.
Sincerely,
Tom Nadolny
March 17, 2020 – Learning Experience:
Week 1: Blizzard Bags were sent home for completion.
Week 2: We are planning for non-graded, educational opportunities for students during the closure at home. A list of educational links is provided on the right of this page to keep students busy and learning. This list includes websites that Farmington River Regional School Districts has subscriptions for and students have passwords for these websites in their agendas. There are also a few websites listed that are offering free subscriptions during the Coronavirus outbreak. Passwords can be found by downloading the attached document. This list will be periodically updated. In addition, there is a list of great free educational websites and applications. and some more fabulous links from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Week 3: More information to come.
The district is currently working on obtaining and distributing Chromebooks (laptops) to families that do not currently have a computer at home and/or internet access. Please fill out this online survey, by Wednesday, March 18th at 6:00PM if you are in this position and are interested in borrowing a school Chromebook and/or learning about internet options during the closure.
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM PRINCIPAL NADOLNY: March 15, 2020
Letter from the Superintendent: March 15, 2020
Good Afternoon,
We recognize that many of our families may be challenged to provide nutritious meals and snacks for their children during this unexpected time away from school. Similar to what we have done during the holidays, we would like to offer some assistance to help ease your mind during this difficult and unknown period.
School Messenger Notice: March 13, 2020
Superintendent Nadolny met with the county wide superintendents and they collectively voted to close schools for two weeks due to the Coronavirus. We will resume March 30th. A cleaning crew will be in to thoroughly clean the school. Once completed, no one will be allowed back into the building until March 30th. We will update everyone as we get more information about any subject matter concerning the situation. We have no confirmed cases. At this point we are just taking precautions. Please have your children complete the Blizzard bags that were sent home. Thank you.
Letter from the Superintendent: March 12, 2020
Please click here to read the attached letter.
Message from the Superintendent: March 10, 2020
Good evening Parent/Guardian(s),
As you may be aware Otis has a presumptive case of COVD-19. This resident and immediate care givers have no direct connection to Farmington River Elementary School. That said, we will continue to be vigilant on sanitizing the building and have staff and student(s) institute more frequent hand washing regiments. We are keeping close watch on the CDC recommendations. We will keep everyone posted as more information becomes available.
We encourage families to increase their focus on preventative steps such as hand washing especially before and after public events. Other preventative measures such as avoiding touching your eyes, mouth, and nose, and washing and disinfecting door handles and other commonly touched areas are found on the website provided by the CDC at https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/actions-prevent-flu.htm. Guidance provided in a recent CDC newsletter said that sick people should stay at home until they are fever-free for 24 hours and until other disease-spreading behaviors such as coughing, sneezing, runny nose, etc. are under control. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/index.html
24-hour emergency hotline at 617-983-6800
https://www.mass.gov/orgs/department-of-public-health
Updating Resources on COVID-19 for Massachusetts K-12 Education (MA DESE)
https://www.mass.gov/resource/information-on-the-outbreak-of-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19
https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-climate-safety-and-crisis/health-crisis-resources/talking-to-children-about-covid-19-(coronavirus)-a-parent-resource