Principal's Weekly
Dr. Beth N. Choquette
Bridge Street School
2 Parsons Street
Northampton, Massachusetts 01060
413-587-1460 (phone) 413-587-1474 (fax)
Dr. Beth N. Choquette, Principal bchoquette@northamtpon-k12.us
Elizabeth Peterson, Administrative Assistant epeterson@northampton-k12.us
Jordan Celino, Secretary jcelino@northampton-k12.us
Nora DeJasu, Head Teacher ndejasu@northampton-k12.us
Translation of the Principal's Weekly
At the top of the weekly email, there's a link that reads "View it in your browser," click that and it takes you to the post on a webpage.
Scroll to the bottom where there's a black menu bar and pick the option that says "Translate."
Select the language you would like it translated in and it will then translate it on the webpage.
Traducción del semanario del director
Le gustaría traducir esta carta de noticias? Aquí están los pasos para traducirlo:
En la parte superior del correo electrónico semanal, hay un enlace que dice "Verlo en su navegador", haga clic en eso y lo llevará a la publicación en una página web.
Desplázate hacia la parte inferior donde hay una barra de menú negra y elige la opción que dice "Traducir".
Seleccione el idioma en el que desea traducirlo y luego lo traducirá en la página web.
Bridge Street School Vision and Mission Statements
Bridge Street School’s faculty and staff, caregivers, and community are committed to providing educational excellence and equity to its students by challenging the injustices that create barriers to high academic achievement, to access and opportunities to learn, to high-quality teaching and learning, and to a climate of belonging. This commitment to educational equity, where all children are successful regardless of their personal, social, or cultural contexts, is at the core of our practices, structures, and policies.
A Message from Principal Choquette
I'd like to remind families that if your children are sent home or are absent because they are sick with Covid symptoms, they must show documentation of a negative test before returning to school. We've had students come back to school without the documentation and have had to send them back home. I understand how incredibly challenging this is and we all appreciate your cooperation and helping to keep our school community safe and healthy. Please see the attached letters from Dr. Provost regarding updated information on Covid testing.
I know how excited some students get for Halloween. For those students who want to wear their costumes to school on Friday the 29th, we do have certain guidelines around costume wearing at school. First, I highly recommend a change of clothes as many students get very warm in their costumes and so they don't get torn or dirty at recess. Students may not wear any kind of face covering or use face paint that resembles blood. Additionally, students may not bring toy weapons or props to their costumes at school. I would also ask that we consider that there are some families who don't celebrate Halloween and that we are respectful of that as well.
October 21st is picture day this year. You will be receiving order forms for school pictures if you haven't already.
I'd like to welcome Peter Gordon to the Bridge Street School family. He has been hired as the special education teacher replacing Jill Tellier. Welcome to Bridge Street School Peter! For those families who have children working with Mr. Gordon, I'm sure he will be reaching out soon. Thank you for your patience as he transitions to our school.
I'd also like to welcome Page Brody to our school council. Page was the only nomination from our school community. We are excited to have Page join us and look forward to working with her. Our next school council meeting is October 13th from 6:30-8:00 p.m. via zoom. The link is below under the important dates section.
We are excited to have BASE up and running starting again on Tuesday. Thank you to our coordinator, Shevaun Keogh Walker, we can't wait for the programs to start. I've attached the BASE packet below if you have not signed up and would like to.
Finally, we are coming together to create a safe space for students across the gender spectrum at Bridge Street School. Our goal is to help students identify supportive school staff and peers and to create a more positive school experience. In this group we hope to provide a social opportunity for students to spend time together and experience a sense of belonging with those who might share experiences based on gender identity. In this group students can expect to come in, have a group circle check-in, and then choose from activities based on emergent student interest (outdoor play, arts & crafts, group games, etc.). We welcome any students who are interested in this kind of social opportunity and the chance to support their peers in making a safe and inclusive school climate. If you have any questions please reach out to our facilitators:
Eva Rocheleau erochelau@northampton-k12.us
Laura Mangones lmangones@northampton-k12.us
Gender Alliance Club meeting October 25th after school from 2:15-3:15.
The club will then meet on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month at the same time.
To learn more about this kind of group and the important ways they support students' experience and learning at school please see the following links.
https://www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/Gay-Straight%20Alliances_0.pdf
https://www.jcmh.org/how-adult-allies-can-support-lgbtq-youth/
www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/summer-2015/making-space
If you are interested in your child being part of the Gender Alliance Club please use the links below to sign up.
https://forms.gle/KHGgzAepeaZSLsmr8
https://forms.gle/ezobV9LWhibjqpuk9
I hope you all have a wonderful long weekend and can take a moment and talk to your children about celebrating the history and culture of Indigenous People.
Important Dates
October 11: No School-Indigenous Peoples Day
October 13: School Council 6:30-8:00 PM via zoom
ID: 84459389503
Passcode: TFu8UTF7
Passcode: 74029963
October 21: School Picture Day
From Nurse Jessica
Virtual Art Show
K-5 BSS Virtual Art Show 2020-21
Hello Bridge Street School Families,
Throughout this school year students at BSS have been working hard on their art
projects. The fifth, fourth and third graders began the year by creating a google slide
and added some of their original art work to it. If your child does not have their own slide
I have photographed some of their art work and added it to the grades sections.
Next year I plan to photograph all of the students’ artwork throughout the school year
and create another Virtual Art Show, as having an art show in person can be difficult
during these trying and uncertain times.
There are a lot of slides so be patient and let them download before opening it. If a slide
looks blank click on it to view the artwork.
Thanks! Enjoy!
Ms. Lilly
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1UFLsF9VyERsBQFKuh6u_tj2pD9siR9HWUOqvYGd6h
kM/edit?usp=sharing
