Prescott School: Principal's Update

August 18, 2023

From Principal Riley:

Dear Prescott Families,

We've officially reached the countdown to Back to School! As I've shared before, Principals work year round, but I was fortunate to take time throughout the summer to visit family and relax in Maine. Additionally, I spent almost two full weeks in professional learning including attending the Massachusetts School Administrators conference in Plymouth. The summer is a great time to both relax and recharge but also refocus on how to continue to move our community forward.

We are in the process of enrolling over 25 new students to Prescott School! I know that our current Prescott families and kids will welcome our new community members with open arms! This email is a comprehensive compilation of important information to start the year. I know some families are in the midst of vacations still while other families are craving a few pieces of information! Below you'll find information on new student class placement, school day logistics as well as our calendar of events for the first month or so.

You can expect to receive another logistics focused email the week of August 28th. In the meantime, please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Best,

Bryan W. Riley

Prescott School, Principal

About Mr. Riley (For New Families)

I joined the Norwood Public Schools in 2018 and I'm excited to start my 6th year as the Principal at Prescott. After graduating the Norwood Public Schools, I moved to Washington, DC where I attended American University for both my Bachelor's and Master's degrees.

Professionally, I served as a teacher and Assistant Principal in the District of Columbia Public Schools for over 10 years as well as a clinical adjunct faculty member in the School of Education at American University where I'm still an active member of SOE's Advisory Board. This past year, I started a Doctorate in Leadership (Ed.D) program at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.

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Basil Plant

Our Grade 1 and PACS students started many vegetables from seed last Spring.

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Summer Squash

Kids planted vegetables, made predictions about what would grow and watered them before school let out in June.

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Cucumber

We've had a number of neighbors take advantage of our basil plant and gave away a few cucumbers last week too!

New Updates

Parent Communication

I sent out a weekly Principal's email at the end of each week through Parent Square. I strongly suggest that families download the ParentSquare application for their mobile device if possible. Whether you have the ParentSquare app or not, you will receive all emails that I send. If you choose "daily digest" any emails sent via ParentSquare will be sent to you in one digest email around 6:45pm. You do have the ability to change this and receive messages immediately rather than digest. The best way to reach the school is to directly email staff. All staff will provide their contact information and preferred method of contact at the start of the school year.

New Staff Updates

Last year we announced a few new staff members joining our team. As of today, we only have a part time English Language (EL) teacher position open. As previously communicated to Grade 1 families, Ms. Jill Rathier will be transitioning to the role of Intervention Specialist at Prescott supporting students and teachers in all grades. Ms. Michaela Webb will be joining the Grade 1 team replacing Ms. Rathier. Ms. Webb worked on our inclusion team at Prescott for over two years and will be a great addition to our classroom teacher team!

Class Assignments

Returning NPS Grade 1 Students: Letters were mailed out July 27th with new teacher assignments and Grade 1 Orientation information. If you were at the Willett last year in Kindergarten, and did not receive a letter, please reach out to me directly at briley@norwood.k12.ma.us.
Returning NPS Grades 2-5 Students: An email was sent early in August about availability of teacher assignments in Aspen. More on how to access the Aspen portal here.
New to NPS families: Class assignments will be available by calling our main office the week of August 28th.

Grade 1 Orientation

As shared in our class assignment letter to families, our Grade 1 Orientation is Tuesday September 5, 2023 at 2:45pm in the Prescott Cafeteria. This will be the chance for parents to hear from myself and a few other key staff and students to get to see their classrooms. New families are welcome to attend this session as well- but note that Grade 2-5 teachers/classrooms will not be available for visits during that time.

Popsicles with the Principal

Our annual Popsicles with the Principal will be Tuesday September 5, 2023 at 3:15pm on the front playground. This is weather permitting and open to all grades!

Bus Registration (2023-2024)

Transportation registration is now open. Click here to enroll your child. The deadline for returning NPS families was June 30. A reminder, students are not able to ride the bus if they have not enrolled. Physical bus passes will be delivered to students the first week of school. Staff will have a list of students on buses, so the physical pass is not needed. The Prescott main office does not issue bus passes or take enrollments, families must visit the Transportation Office as listed on the above link.

School Day Logistics

Morning Drop Off: Students are not permitted to be dropped off prior to 7:35am unless they are enrolled in the Before School Care program. In the morning, all students gather on the back blacktop and have unstructured play time from 7:35am-7:45am. Prescott staff do supervise this time. Parents can either park in the lot or utilize the drop and go line. More information on the drop and go line can be found here. Students who ride the bus will be transitioned by staff to the arrival area.

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch are available each day to all students and will be free of charge to students. Menus can be found here. If your child has a food allergy, or dietary restrictions, please reach out to Nurse Donna Twohig at dtwohig@norwood.k12.ma.us.

What to Bring? The only item we request families provide is a set of headphones. These cannot be bluetooth and must be wired. All other supplies (glue, crayons etc.) are provided to all students from the school. Your child should bring a water bottle and snack each day. Students should not bring toys (like Pokemon cards, legos etc.) to school.

PM Dismissal: For students enrolled in the bus or who attend Extended Day, Prescott Staff help to transition your child to those dismissal locations at the end of the school day. For families who are picking their child up at 2:05pm, Grades 3-5 are dismissed to the back blacktop. Grades 1-2 are dismissed outside the library (Doors 16-17).

School Year 2023-2024 Calendar

The 2023-2024 school year calendar has been approved by the School Committee. You can find it here, as well as below. Note the first day for students (Grades 1-12) will be on Wednesday September 6, 2023. This year, all dismissal times will be at 11:40am on half days (no mix of 11:10am or 11:40am).