Biddeford Primary School Newsletter

Dear Families,

We are settling down into our classroom and school routines nicely. I am happy to share we have started Tiger Pride assemblies, which take place on the last Friday of each month. Students are acknowledged for being safe, respectful, and responsible. We have also launched our tiger tickets allowing all students to receive acknowledgment for their citizenship here at BPS.

We are currently putting together a Parent Council group. This group meets monthly during the day to discuss upcoming events and offer suggestions to make our school the best it can be. If you are interested in being part of the Parent Council, please contact Wendy LeBlanc at wleblanc@biddefordschools.me by October 6th.

Pooled Testing will begin in our school next week. As Superintendent Ray referenced in his update last week, Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah noted the Delta variant seems to be infecting children at a higher rate than adults with overall cases at their highest rate since January. Our district is encouraging parents to enroll their child in pooled testing as those participants would be exempt from quarantine in the classroom, bus, and school-related sports and activities should they be identified as a close contact. If you have not yet completed the consent form and would like your child to participate, please see the information below and utilize our school-specific code.

Students will be participating in NWEA testing on October 5th and 13th. The NWEA test is a computer-based adaptive test that helps teachers understand a student’s areas of strength and areas for growth. This means that the test adapts as each student answers questions correctly or incorrectly to try to identify their current achievement level. Making sure students eat breakfast and are well-rested on test day can help them to do their very best. In addition, we do not want to put forth stress or pressure on our students. We want them to do their best and be able to sustain the assessment.

Please reach out if there are any additional questions regarding NWEA testing.

Best,

Margaret Pitts, Principal

• September 30th: In-School Flue Vaccine Clinic
• October 5th: NWEA Testing
• October 6th: Early Release @ 12:00 PM
• October 7th: Picture Day
• October 8th & 11: NO SCHOOL
• October 13th: NWEA Testing
• November 3rd: Early Release @ 12:00 PM
• November 3rd: Parent-Teacher Conferences
• November 11th: NO School

Consent is required in advance (see links below). Provided through Northern Light Health.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ijUmpnT3icLInuNuUY-JAQ7TfQeIZoay/view

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17IrcEdSxRMA9jcKOZjEV7YUrusIhK_3m/view

Consents are required to be enrolled in pooled testing (One Form Per Child).

• Click Here to Complete the Online Consent Form

• Enter this Access Code specific to Biddeford Primary: ANE1H2

• Finally, enter your child’s information, and you’re done!

PLEASE NOTE: Pooled Testing consent is SEPARATE from the BinaxNOW Consent parents completed when registering. Parents may also contact the school directly if they require a printed form be sent home.

Congratulations to our Tiger Cub recipients for the month of September! Students are acknowledged for being safe, respectful, and responsible all month long. We have many ways to celebrate student's efforts towards being the best learners they can be. Great job to all our tiger cubs!

As with many other school districts and businesses throughout Maine, we are experiencing a labor shortage among certain positions (specific to our district: bus drivers, substitutes, Ed Techs, and custodians). This shortage has been magnified by the rising competitive wages to attract employees, a lack of available child care options, and concerns around COVID-exposure. Yet, according to a recent New York Times article written by M.I.T. Economics Professor David Autor, many Americans are simply “deciding instead that more time on family, education, and leisure makes for a higher standard of living.”

Here is the good news! The open positions that schools offer not only fulfill the fundamental human need of significance (feel our lives have meaning and we are important) but also allow for a schedule that prioritizes more time for the areas noted above that improve your standard of living. For example, imagine a child’s face light up when an Ed Tech patiently guides a student through a task which ultimately enables them to read on their own or the impact a bus driver has on a child who struggles connecting with others as they consistently provide that smile for the first encounter of the child’s school day. This is what schools bring to the table in addition to school-year schedules and part-time or split schedules. We hope parents will consider applying for, or sharing with friends, the open positions we are trying to fill. Simply click below to apply or call the Superintendent’s Office and ask for Human Resources.