CPS Superintendent's Update

Dear CPS Community,

The month of February is flying by with vacation week upon us. Starting at the end of school today, our schools will be closed for school vacation and will reopen again on Monday, February 28th. Before you know it, we will be turning the calendar to March. I hope you enjoy some much-needed time with your families and take time for yourself to relax and recharge.

Today, I sent an important message to our school community that addresses the change in mask policy in our district upon the return from vacation. Our district is moving to a mask optional policy that is in effect as of Monday, February 28th. Although we strongly recommend masks for unvaccinated individuals, CPS students (in consultation with their parent or guardian) and staff in all our schools and programs have the choice to wear a mask or not. Masks will still be required for all students and staff on all school buses, in health offices, and for anyone returning from a 5-day quarantine following a positive COVID-19 test on days 6-10 of the return to school if symptom-free. This is a significant change from our current practices that have been in place since August 2020 and have been part of our daily routines. Our school community needs to work collaboratively as we transition to this new policy upon our return from vacation and ensure everyone’s personal choice is respected.

Our district has done a tremendous job minimizing the spread of COVID-19 in our schools over the past two years by employing a tiered mitigation strategy; I am confident that we will continue to keep our students and staff healthy and safe with everyone’s help, adherence to, and respect of these new options. This new policy will not change participation in the biweekly option to receive an at-home rapid antigen COVID-19 test and/or participation in weekly pool testing. These two programs will remain in place until the end of the school year and will be available for anyone to join on a rolling basis. I encourage everyone to join these two programs as an added measure to identify and minimize the spread of COVID-19 in our schools. Please take some time to read my entire message at your convenience for complete details on the new mask optional policy in our schools.

The schools have been busy with fun activities leading up to vacation. Please ask your child(ren) about some of the exciting things they have been participating in this week. I wish everyone a very restful and fun-filled vacation week.

Yours truly,

Jay Lang, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

Next week:

• View complete athletics schedules here

• School Vacation Week, 2/21-2/25, All Day

• School Committee Meeting, 3/1, 6:00 p.m.

• Early Release, 3/3, All Schools

• MA Seal of Biliteracy Testing (CHS Seniors), 3/3, All Day

Paper Learning is here in Chelmsford for academic support. Three months into our partnership, here are the numbers:

• More than 1,000 students are active in nearly 2,400 sessions.
• The average student session rating is 4.4 out of 5!

Log on to Paper through your student CLEVER account.

February 15th was School Resource Officer (SRO) Appreciation Day! Thank you to SRO Becky Tyros at Chelmsford High School, SRO Dan Sullivan at Parker Middle School, and SRO Dan Goguen at McCarthy Middle School your dedication to the students and staff of the Chelmsford Public Schools.

Respect, responsibility, and safety were the themes of the South Row Elementary School Classroom Door Challenge, celebrated on Friday. The Challenge, which ran through the month of January, was the reward for South Row Elementary students for reaching their mid-year goal of compiling Pride Tickets, rewarded by teachers to students for acts of any of the PRIDE Core Values: Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Dedication, and Empathy. PRIDE tickets were placed in a plastic container. Once the amount of tickets reached a predetermined level, students chose from a number of reward options which spawned the Door Challenge. Judges included members of the Chelmsford Police Department, Chelmsford Public Schools Social Sciences Coordinator Stephanie Quinn, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Linda Hirsch, and Superintendent Dr. Jay Lang. To learn more about the South Row Challenge, please visit our website.

Six seniors were recently honored as Chelmsford High School named its Lions Pride/Rotary Student of the Month recipients for the month of January, announced CHS Principal Stephen Murray. Seniors Shoumik Kundu and Ashton Roxas were named from the Emerson House while Maddie Priestly and Theodor Farag were honored from the Hawthorne House, and Brianna Figueroa and Nosa Osaretin from the Whittier House. Sponsored by the Chelmsford Rotary Club for more than 30 years, the Student of the Month program recognizes outstanding students from each of CHS’s three academic houses – Emerson House, Hawthorne House, and Whittier House – for their achievements in and out of the classroom. To learn more about each student, please visit our website.

The Chelmsford High School Speech and Debate team of juniors Arjun Lingala and Prateek Motagi qualified for the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament in June after a stellar showing in the virtual NSDA New England District Finals last Friday through Sunday. Mr. Lingala and Mr. Motagi, who are ranked No. 12 in the state in the format of Public Forum Debate, placed among the top three in the District final, which drew 109 competitors and 25 teams representing 18 high schools from New England. Joining them at the nationals will be teams from Boston Latin H.S. and Lexington H.S. To read more about these students and the tournament, please visit our website.

Two CHS A Cappella Groups, "The Thursdays" and "The Crescendos", have secured 2nd and 3rd place at the ICHSA Varsity Vocals Competition and are moving on to the Semifinal round. Congratulations to both outstanding singing groups!

The Parker and McCarthy band, chorus, and orchestra students made visits to each elementary school to perform for our grade 4 students to help support their transition to middle school music and the choices available to them as incoming 5th graders.

Chelmsford Community Education is hiring! Come work in a fun, supportive, and exciting environment. For more information on this year-round, full-time position, go to: https://www.schoolspring.com/job.cfm?jid=3778952

The CHS Career Exploration Breakfast will be held on March 15, 2022, from 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. This breakfast offers CHS juniors the opportunity to select two careers of interest and spend time with a professional in that field. Speakers share their interests, educational background, and what skills are needed to perform their jobs to give juniors career awareness and support them in planning their futures. We are looking for professionals in the following careers to volunteer their time to share their experiences with our CHS juniors. If you are interested, please contact Alexandrea Cunningham at: cunninghamalex@chelmsford.k12.ma.us.

The Chelmsford Public Schools utilizes School Spring to advertise job postings and the online application process. To apply for any of our positions, please visit our website.

The mission of the Chelmsford Public Schools is to educate, engage, prepare, and empower well-rounded and knowledgeable learners who PERSEVERE through challenges, demonstrate RESPECT and INTEGRITY in their words and actions, are DEDICATED to their community, and display EMPATHY as global citizens while discovering and pursuing their full potential.

Email: information@chelmsford.k12.ma.us
Website: https://chelmsfordschools.org
Location: 230 North Road, Chelmsford, MA, USA
Phone: (978) 251-5100
Facebook: facebook.com/chelmsfordpublicschools
Twitter: @ChelmsfordPS