Acushnet Public Schools

You Matter! It's Not Acushnet Without You!

February 5, 2024

Message from the Superintendent

zoom_out_map

I

#WildcatPride #YouMatter #BetterTogether #TwoSchoolsONEDistrict

Warm regards,

Dr. Paula J. Bailey

Superintendent of Schools

zoom_out_map

Adalynn puts Oreo in the take-home literacy bag

zoom_out_map

Blake measures himself

zoom_out_map

Meet Oreo

zoom_out_map

Student Services

Hello families,

Kindergarten registration will be opening in March so watch our website for more information. Students must be 5 by August 31, 2024 in order to enroll. There are no exceptions. Parents of students currently enrolled in Acushnet Elementary Preschool will not need to register for kindergarten.

There will also be a parent information night scheduled in March as well with all of the information needed. We look forward to working with you on this exciting next step in your child's education!

Be well!

Kim Bettencourt

Director of Student Services

Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

Ignite Reading

We are pleased to announce that our district was awarded 75 Ignite! Reading tutoring seats for grades K-3 as part of a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Education, funded by the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Foundation.

Ignite! Reading is an innovative tutoring program that works with children on the foundational skills of reading. The tutoring program will be delivered during the school day in a one-on-one setting for 15 minutes a day, five days a week. Tutoring will take place as part of student ELA activities in the tiered model when all students are delivered differentiated activities and will not detract from core instruction or result in students missing other activities.

Students have been selected based on reading assessment data and families were contacted via email if their child(ren) was identified for Ignite! tutoring services.

Middle of Year (MOY) Family Assessment Reports

AES sent home the MOY family assessment reports with progress reports on Friday, January 26.

FMS sent home the MOY family assessment reports on Wednesday, January 31. FMS teachers spent a considerable amount of time working with students on self-reflection based on the reports sent home, including teacher conferencing, allowing for constructive feedback and goal setting for the second half of the school year. Please take a moment at home to discuss with your child their academic goals for the remainder of the school year.

Families do not need to sign and return the reports. If you have any questions regarding the assessment reports, please contact your child’s teacher.

1st and 2nd Grade Students - Scientific Study through Harvard

The Computational Cognitive Developmental Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education is interested in how children learn about the world around them. To answer the question of whether young children can learn from a limiting case analysis about the principles of water displacement, they are conducting an online study over Zoom.

Your child will play a game with the experimenter over a video call and will answer questions about what will happen to the water level after an object is submerged in it.

If you are interested in having your child participate in the study (the study is open to 6-, 7- and 8-year-olds), please fill out the following short survey to provide your contact information.

https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1zXmkcSVYw9IeTs

If you do so, Harvard will be in touch to schedule an online 30-min appointment outside school hours that works for you and will offer a $10 Amazon gift card as a token of appreciation for your participation.

If you have any questions, contact Igor Bascandziev at: igor.bascandziev@gse.harvard.edu

Angela Ruggeri

Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

Technology

Happy February Everyone!

Parent Portal

Most of our parents have signed into their Aspen Portal account, however if you have not done so. Please go to our website www.acushnetschools.us and click on Aspen on the top of your screen. You will want to sign in with your login id (usually your email address) and the password that you used to sign up with. If you have forgotten your password. Click on the I forgot my password link. This portal will allow you to see your child's information and allow you to make changes to your personal information (phone numbers, email addresses / etc) more easily.

Technology Tip of the Month

Chromebook Accessibility Menu

If you see unexpected things happening on your child's Chromebook, such as a magnified screen, reversed image, boxes appearing around text or input fields and so forth, it is likely that they have activated certain Accessibility Functions. We receive questions about this sort of thing with some regularity. It can be unintentional (as some can be activated by certain key combinations), or the child could be checking out what various options do on the Chromebook. In either case, it can potentially cause an interruption in the child's class work.

The first thing to do is to check that menu to see if any Accessibility functions have been activated and then turn them off (unless they are intentionally turned on for proper use). You might think that closing and opening the Chromebook will fix the issue, but these particular functions remain even after the device is turned off.

The Accessibility Menu is found in 2 places on Chromebooks. One is when you are logged in, click the lower right corner on or near the time clock. Then click on the gear icon and you will see Accessibility on the left hand side. Another is when you are not logged in, click the lower right corner on or near the time clock and the accessibility option will show up. Clicking on that opens up the full menu where you can find things like:

Chromevox (spoken feedback)
Select-to-Speak
Dictation
High-contrast Mode
Full Screen Magnifier
On-Screen Keyboard
Sticky Keys
Highlight Text or Object
Large Mouse Cursor

Following these guidelines helps us be a safer community and we are stronger together!

Acushnet Technology Department

Business Office

Business

We are heavily enthralled in the budget process at this time. Meetings with the Leadership Team up through the Budget Subcommittee have taken place to help us put together preliminary figures for our Superintendent's Recommended Budget. From there, we will present to School Committee, receive questions and feedback and meet multiple more times with Budget Subcommittee, Town Finance Committee, Board of Selectmen, etc. to get the budget to a place where it is finally adopted by our School Committee and ready to go on the warrant for Spring Annual Town Meeting. As we move through the process and dates are solidified we will notify you of the Budget Public Hearing where we encourage the community to attend our presentation and ask questions/provide feedback on the proposed budget.

Facilities

As a friendly reminder, to ensure the continued safety of our staff and students, school grounds are not to be utilized by the public during school hours. This includes our fields, courts, playgrounds and track/walking path.

Use of Facilities

Are you or someone you know looking to use our facilities? If so, please utilize our Facilty/Rental Use website page for further information. We look forward to working with you!

School Nutrition

SBP & NSLP

At APS we participate in the School Breakfast Program and the National School Lunch Program.

These programs are federally assisted meal programs that are administered at the federal level by the Food and Nutrition Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. For fact sheets on these programs please see below!

For more information regarding APS' specific School Nutrition Program such as our menus, pre-payment options, nutrition education and more, please visit our Acushnet Public Schools Food and Nutrition Services website.

MySchoolBucks

Curious as to what your children have been purchasing in our school cafeterias - visit MySchoolBucks! Under your student's name click "Meals" and then click "Purchase History". Here you will be able to see if your student purchased a meal, a hot or cold "grab and go", doubles, etc.

Transportation

SY2023-2024 Bus Routes

Questions on our current bus routes and stops? Please see below for our School Year 2023-2024 routes. In addition, if your student is registered for transportation and has been assigned a bus and a stop the information has been added to your student's Aspen profile!

If it becomes necessary to permanently change a student's bus stop before the end of the year due to relocation, change in caregiving, or other family emergency, please email requests directly to bonniegrace@acushnetschools.us or patrickmcintyre@acushnetschools.us.

Thank you for your investment in our schools!

Patrick McIntyre

Business Manager