Burr News 

From Ms. Johal's Desk

Dear Families,
 
What a fabulous turnout for the May Fair yesterday! It was such glorious day to spend outdoors and a great way to kick off the end-of-year season. Thank you to all of you who volunteered to staff the booths, cook the food, supervise the games, and bring your families out for the afternoon. It was certainly an "all hands on deck" kind of event.  It is the involvement and hard work of many Burr families that makes these community events at Burr so successful. I would especially like to thank Valarie Wastcoat, Maren Oslund, Jenny Heinstein, Kelly Brown, and Sloane Goldhagen who have been working for months to plan and organize the May Fair.

Baby News! First grade teacher, Natalia Espinal, is pregnant and expecting her third child. Congratulations to Natalia and her family. The baby is due in late October and Natalia will be on maternity leave from late October until after February vacation. Careful consideration will be given to hiring a skilled substitute to take over during her absence and we will be sure to plan a smooth transition.

Staffing for Next Year

I am happy to report that all of this year's classroom teachers will be returning to Burr next year.

Kindergarten:       Ms. Fitch, Ms Frail, Ms. Mc Mahon

First Grade:         Ms. Espinal, Mr. Gaita, Ms. Golden

Second Grade:     Ms. Creedan, Ms. Field, Ms. Roberts

Third Grade:        Ms. Canning, Ms. Crowley, Ms. Lawton

Fourth Grade:      Mr. Glode, Ms. Robinson, Ms. Taylor

Fifth Grade:        Ms. Cooley*, Mr. McMahon, Ms. Moran

*We are excited about having one co-taught classroom in fifth grade. A co-taught classroom is one with a general education and special education teacher team teaching. Next year's fifth grade parents have been given information on this model and I will continue to keep them informed as we move forward.

Third grade teacher, Ms. Silva, has been granted another year of leave. She will be spending another year at home with her son, Hudson. I am pleased to announce that Katie Crowley will be staying on at Burr. She has done a great job in third grade this year.

We have several changes in our mental health staffing for next year. These changes were necessary due to an increase in time allocations and our efforts to ensure that each elementary school has no more that two mental health staff members. Next year, Burr will have an additional day of mental health coverage. I wish our current staff a fond farewell and thank them for their excellent work at Burr. Psychologists, Julie Gold and Ivonne Borreo, will be at Williams and Cabot respectively, and social worker, Mary Gartland, will be at Horace Mann and Underwood.

Next year at Burr we will welcome Dr. Betsy Juarez (psychologist) and Susan Kass (social worker) as our mental health team. Betsy has just completed a school psychology internship at Cabot and Countryside and is excited about staying in Newton. Betsy has experience working at the elementary and middle school levels, as well as in hospital and clinic settings. She is skilled in providing a wide array of assessments and supporting a diverse population of students and families. Susan has worked with Newton Public Schools for 15 years. She has worked at the high school level and at the elementary school level. Most recently, Susan has been responsible for delivering social thinking curriculum, Kid Connections, to students in five of our elementary schools. Next year her time will be evenly split between the Burr and Mason Rice. I feel confident that both women bring skills and talents that are a great match for Burr.

Student Class Placement

The teachers and I have started working on class placements for next year.  The process of placing students is a long and complex one. The time and effort we spend weighing all of the factors reflect the importance we place on creating an optimal learning environment for each student. We have received input from some parents which we will consider during this process. I thank you all for respecting the staff's professional judgment about the best possible learning environment for your child next year. Once balanced classes have been created, I will assign a teacher to each group.  All the teachers at Burr are highly qualified to educate and support all students, both socially and academically. The class lists are in draft form until late August because enrollment fluctuates throughout the summer and one student moving in or out of district can drastically affect the make up of a group.

We will let you know of your child's placement in late August. Class placements, once they are sent out to everyone, are final. Changes cannot be made since they seriously compromise the balance that we work so hard to achieve. The class lists will be emailed, unless you request that we mail a paper copy to you. Consequently, it is important for us to have your most current email address. Today, we will send out an email message to the primary contact address currently listed in our records. This will be the email address that we will use to send out class placements in August. If you do not receive the email, or want placement information sent to a different address, please let us know by emailing the correct address to Sue_Fernando@newton.k12.ma.us.

I look forward to seeing many of you at upcoming end-of-year events. A few key events are:

• The last PTO meeting of the year - Tuesday, May 22^nd at 6:30 PM (School Committee members will be in attendance)
• Spring Concert -  May 23 at 7:00 PM (Burr Cafetorium)
• Color Day - June 5 (rain date June 6) 

Be sure to check the Burr website and classroom newsletters for other events and activities. Much goes on during the next few weeks to celebrate the work the students have done all year.
 

Sincerely,

Mindy  Johal

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