Weekly Update - Friday, November 5, 2021
Dear RSU 71 Students, Families, Staff, School Board, and Community Partners,
This week was another busy one for students, families, and staff. It was the tenth week of school in the 2021-2022 school year. The first quarter ended for grades 6 through 12 on October 29, while the first trimester for K through 5 students will be on November 24. Many of us have been overenjoying leftover Halloween candy, and the beautiful fall foliage is past its peak as we begin to gear up for Thanksgiving. Despite the continuing challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, we in RSU 71 have many reasons to be thankful. These include (but are not limited) to fabulous students who enjoy learning, working hard, and playing hard; great teachers who design instruction that is engaging and motivating; diligent parents who support their children and their schools; collaborative community partners who offer exciting enrichment activities; a terrific school board that is deliberative, caring, and respectful of all points of view; rock-star administrators with high energy, enthusiasm, and courage; and knowledgeable nurses who keep our students and staff safe.
Pandemic Update
This Week's Data - Here is the data from the past week, Friday, November 5th at 9:00 am until Friday, November 5 at 9:00 am.
Pooled Testing News - We have good numbers in our pooled testing programs, which grow bigger every day. This past week, the Pooled Testing Program went well at the high school and middle school, and K-5 schools are ready to launch next week.
Pooled Testing Video Demonstration: Enjoy this cute video of Nurse Robbins helping students prepare for pooled testing! Pooled Testing with Nurse Robbins
Vaccines for 5-11 Children
Pediatricians Share: What Parents Need to Know about the COVID-19 Vaccine for Children
The CDC has recently recommended 5 to 11-year-old children receive the COVID-19 vaccine, offering a way for parents to protect their children and families from COVID-19 infection. Join MECAP for a forum featuring Maine pediatricians as they share information about children and the COVID-19 vaccine and advise what to consider when deciding to vaccinate children against COVID-19. In addition, there will be time for questions from the audience.
Speakers:
Gretchen Pianka, MD, MPH, Pediatrician at Central Maine Pediatrics
Jillian Gregory, DO, Pediatric Critical Care Physician at Maine Medical Center
Sydney Sewall, MD, MPH, Pediatrician at Maine General Health
Michael Ross, MD, Pediatrician at Northern Light Pediatric Primary Care
Moderator: Claire Berkowitz, President, Midcoast Maine Community Action
WHEN: Tuesday, November 9, 2021, from 6 pm--7:15 pm EST
WHERE: Via Zoom, register at mecap.org/events to receive the webinar login information.
Here are more helpful resources for parents:
What Vaccinate Young Children?
Vaccinations for Young Children and Teens
Good News and Information
Belfast Area High School and BCOPE
BAHS first-year and second-year students may now enjoy hands-on, applied learning at Waldo County Technical Center!
https://waldo.villagesoup.com/2021/10/30/wctcs-new-go-kart-program-teaches-more-than-just-mechanics/
There will be a Winter Sports Meeting on Monday, November 8th, at 5:00 pm in the BAHS Gym. All Parents and Athletes are Invited!
Troy Howard Middle School
How do you tell kids that wear masks all day that they can't dress up for Halloween? A fantastically fun Halloween-themed dance party Friday started as the sun was coming up last week. Here are a few photos:
Sam Maheu (Art Teacher) shared an excellent summary of recent Advisory time activities. In the last few weeks, her 6th graders have:
Cleaned out backpacks to get a bit more organized.
Planted Daffodils for the Million Daffodils project.
Painted pumpkins. You could have heard a pin drop when students started to paint. There is just something about painting that helps students focus on being in the moment.
Leaders from Tanglewood came to help us with team building again. They were great! Our advisory group is making great strides with communication, focus, teamwork, resiliency, and letting others lead. We had some great big laughs and enjoyed success with the challenges that were presented to us.
During a community circle this week, one of our students ran the circle with great success. Allowing students to lead is essential for this process and helps with group participation! This week, a few of the questions were: If you could choose a superpower, what would it be? -and- What part of Elementary School do you wish was part of Middle School?
Gladys Weymouth Elementary
On Friday, October 29th, the students at Weymouth celebrated fall with a "pumpkin festival." Each student participated in a story walk around the field, weighed and measured their own pumpkin, created a paper bag puppet and popcorn-filled hand.
Ames Elementary
Last week, the Tri-Town Fire Departments joined us in celebration of Fire Safety. Three students were chosen, one from each town, to ride to school in their town's fire truck. Upon arrival, all other Ames students and staff stood outside excitedly to greet the firefighters and fellow students.
Afterward, each class learned about fire safety in their homes, such as what to do when the smoke alarm goes off, and all of the tools firefighters need to use when addressing a fire call. Our Paw Pride was shown throughout the presentation! Check out this video of the event!
The Ames Civil Rights Team created a welcoming and inspiring bulletin board.
Food Service
Would you like to save time and money? Would you like to ensure that your child is getting nutritious food for breakfast and lunch? Please give our RSU 71 Food Service a try! RSU #71 offers complimentary breakfast and lunch to ALL students; we don't want any students to go hungry. There are no income guidelines or paperwork. Consider giving it a try! Our goal is to increase our participation rates at all schools. Below, see our rates as of this week:
Special Services:
After a fun Halloween activity in TLC (The Learning Center) involving the entire class, a few students independently acted out the whole activity again—costumes and all! I guess they really like this holiday and activity!
That's it for this week's update. This morning, it will be emailed to staff and the school board, and then Robo-emailed to all families this afternoon. As always, please feel free to contact the staff and me with questions, good news, feedback, and concerns. (It's usually most efficient and time-effective to start with school staff rather than me, only because we have 1,400+ students, thousands of parents and caregivers, and hundreds of staff. That said, I enjoy hearing from everyone and will do my best to return emails and calls as promptly as is humanly possible.)
Enjoy the weekend!
Appreciatively and sincerely,
Mary Alice
