Sunday, August 25, 2019

August 25 Update

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope everyone is squeezing the fun out of the last few days of summer vacation.  I know many of you are very generous and are planning to provide classrooms with supplies such as tissue papers and disinfecting wipes.  Quite a few of you asked your students to bring those supplies to school on the first day of school last year.  However, your generosity created an unintended problem because the additional luggage the students were carrying created crowded conditions on the buses.  Bus drivers also reported that some students – particularly our younger ones – had trouble boarding and disembarking the buses due to the amounts of stuff they were carrying.  I also observed many of students felt additional pressure of navigating the hallways of a new school while carrying large amounts of things.  Therefore, I ask everyone to do the following in order to alleviate these problems.  If you are able to do so, please bring supplies you plan to give to the classrooms (e.g., tissue boxes and disinfecting wipes) to the school before the start of school.  Different areas of the gym will be labeled with the twelve team names, World Language, and Exploratory starting tomorrow.  I ask you to label your supplies with the teacher’s names and place them in the appropriate areas in the gym.  The gym and the building will be open between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm for this purpose.

Please do not fret if you are unable to drop off the supplies this coming week.  If that is the case, please ask your students to bring in those supplies after the week of school.  This way we can prevent the crowded conditions on the buses.  By not asking students to carry large amount of things on the first day of school, it will make the challenge of navigating the buses and McCall hallways more manageable for them.  I thank you for your cooperation with this matter.

I would also like to encourage everyone to sign up for the McCall Principal’s Blog by clicking here.  I update it weekly during the school year to inform the parent community of McCall happenings.  After the first week of school, I will limit direct emails to the parent community to “need to know” information in order to avoid clogging up your inboxes.

Lastly, please mark your calendars with the following events.  All of these events are also posted on the school calendar on the school website.  You can access it by clicking here.

September 25 – McCall Picture Day
October 8, 7:00-9:00 pm – Sarah Ward Parent Presentation
October 10, 7:00-9:00 pm – McCall Back to School Night for Parents and Guardians

Sarah Ward is a nationally renowned executive functioning coach and educator.  I feel very fortunate that we are able to bring her to McCall on October 8 to speak to my faculty about best practices related to teaching students important executive functioning skills.  She will also be in the McCall auditorium to present to all of you that evening so you can reinforce the practices we have learned at home.  I thank the MPA and Parent to Parent who have generously funded this event.   Ms. Ward’s parent presentation is free of charge to the parent community, so I hope all of you will find the time to attend in order to better support our effort to teach students critical executive functioning skills. 

I will be sending out more information related to the aforementioned three events as we get close to those dates.  I will also reach out again next weekend to give you more logistics regarding the first day of school.  Meanwhile, please continue to enjoy the last few days of summer.


Sincerely,


James Lin
Principal
McCall Middle School

Sunday, August 18, 2019

August 18 Update

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope this message finds you well.  As you may have heard by now, student schedules will be disseminated through the Aspen Family Portal during the day tomorrow, August 19, 2019.  Since Aspen cannot open the portal for just one school in the district, you will receive an email message from the district central office during the day tomorrow alerting you that the Portal has been opened for all Winchester schools.  I ask all of you to keep the following information in mind once you have reviewed your students’ schedules.

  • We have little to no flexibility to accommodate family requests pertaining to changing students’ schedules or teams so they can be with their friends or be with or away from certain teachers.  Although we were fortunate to add world language to grade 6 course offerings, we do not have the capacity to schedule every incoming 6th and 7th grade student in his or her first choice language courses.  Please keep this information in mind prior to contacting the school with a change request.

  • Once the schedules are released tomorrow, we are not planning to change your students’ team placements, homeroom assignments, or team teacher assignments.  With that being said, please keep in mind that since enrollment, staffing, and student needs are ever changing, my staff may continue to adjust elements of your students’ schedules (such as during which semester a semester-long course is scheduled or the order of your students’ classes) after Monday in order to create classes that are as balanced as possible.

  • If you wish to communicate with us regarding your students’ schedules, we ask you to use the channel listed below after the Family Portal is opened in order to facilitate the communication process.

    • 8th Grade Schedules  - Please direct your questions or requests to Assistant Principal Jeannine Lavoie (jlavoie@winchesterps.org).
    • 6th and 7th Grade Schedules  – Please direct your questions or requests to Assistant Principal Terry Sheehan (tsheehan@winchesterps.org).
    • Aspen Access – Please direct your questions or requests to Ms. Karen Vita at the central office (kvita@winchesterps.org).

  • I am also asking all parents and guardians to please review your contact information when you access the Aspen Family Portal.  If the information included in Aspen is not accurate, please contact Ms. Laurel Anthony (lanthony@winchesterps.org) in the McCall main office, and the administrative assistants will update your information for you.


BYOD – I would like to ask all families to take a moment and review the school’s Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program information included here.  This webpage can also be located in the Resources section of the school website.  The district is committed to ensuring all students have access to a device in order to help them meet their academic responsibilities.  Therefore, if you choose to have your student use a district device for the 19-20 school year, please sign up by using this ChromeBook Needs Request Form.  We are scheduling Chromebook pick up for August 28 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm in the McCall Library.  If you are not available to pick up a Chromebook at that time, we will reach out to you or your student to ensure he or she receives a device once the school year has started.

Student Handbook – I would like to ask everyone to review the McCall Student Handbook included in the Resource page of the school website before the start of the school year.  We have made some important changes to the following areas, so I highly advise all families to review the information with their students in order to ensure everyone is on the same page regarding our practices and policies.

  • Attendance (Pg. 19)
  • Student Conduct (Pg. 31)
  • Disciplinary Actions (Pg. 32)
  • Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Gender (Pg. 49)
  • Inclusive Sports and Extracuccicular Activity Participation Policy (Pg. 53)
  • Parents Bringing Student Items to School (Pg. 16)

Labeling Emotions Activity - I would like to invite you and your students to help us promote Social Emotional Learning (SEL) by participating in the following voluntary activity and practice recognizing and labeling your emotions if you have not done so yet.

  • Invite your student to find a picture of him or herself engaging in a summer activity that made them feel very pleasant which involved a high level of energy.  Ask your student to name the emotion that was captured in the photograph.  Please name that picture file by using this format: StudentFirstInitialLastName_Emotion.jpg.  Please use this link to submit your picture.  Attached here is an exemplar.  This picture is of my son “dancing” shortly after last school year concluded.  The emotion he said he felt was “elated”.  The file name is JLin_Elated.jpg.

  • Next, invite your student to find a picture of himself or herself engaging in a summer activity that made them feel very pleasant which involved a low level of energy.  Ask your student to name the emotion they were feeling at that moment in time.  Please name that picture file by using this format: StudentFirstInitialLastName_Emotion.jpg.  Please use the link included above to submit your picture.  Attached here is an exemplar.  This picture is of my son and daughter at the summit of Mt. Monadnock.  The emotion my daughter said she felt was “proud”.  The file name is JLin_Proud.jpg.


The summer is not over yet, so I hope everyone continues to enjoy your time off from school.  I will be reaching out again next week with more information pertaining to the start of school.


Sincerely,


James Lin
Principal
McCall Middle School