Dear Families,

What a busy start of the month we have had! The Burr community is vibrating with activity. So many of you are volunteering your time to plan and organize events and activities for the end of our school year, and to help us meet our playground fundraising goal. In the last few weeks, we have had an extremely successful Online Auction and May Fair. There is great energy making things happen at Burr. I'd like to thank our wonderful teachers for offering so many teacher treats for the
auction and Ms. Robinson, Mr. Glode, Ms. O'Donnell, and Mr. Gaita for volunteering to be dunked in the dunk tank. Thank you to the May Fair and Online Auction organizers for their tireless efforts. It is nice to see the regular volunteers begin to slowly diversify as new parents to Burr are taking on some of the work.

Earlier this month several parents baked and cooked breakfast goodies for the Teacher Appreciation Breakfast. It was quite a feast! Thank you to all of you for showing your appreciation for our teachers in this way. The Burr School staff is indeed superb.

Burr School Move-A-Thon: The Burr children are so excited about the new playground. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that we will be able to install the new structure in the fall. Because our children are so excited, we thought it would be nice to include them in the fundraising. To that end, we are have decided to have a Burr School Move-A-Thon on June 9th. Students will get pledges for walking, dancing, and skipping around a ¼ mile track around the school. Mr. Glode and Ms. Bracy's students introduced the Move-A-
Thon with a creative skit at our All School Meeting last week and children were given their pledge sheets and information last Friday. The Move-A-Thon will last most of the school day:

Kindergarten: 9:00 - 9:30 AM       Grade One: 9:30 -10:15 AM
Grade Two: 10:15 - 11:00 AM      Grade Three: 12:45 - 1:45 PM
Grade Four: 11:00 - 12:00 PM      Grade Five: 1:45 to 2:45 PM

We would love to have parent volunteers and supporters to cheer us on. Melissa Chatfield, kindergarten parent, is helping to organize parent volunteers, and Mr. Glode and Ms. Michna are helping to plan the event at school. Please be sure to check your child's
backpack and the Burr Bulletin for more information.

Staffing information: We have some staff members retiring this year after many excellent years of service in the Newton Public Schools. I'd like to wish Laura Mayer, Betsy Champagne, and Laura Perkins much luck as they move on to the next exciting chapter in their lives. Laura Mayer has spent her 23 years in Newton as the Burr School librarian. In times of budget cuts we have shared her with other Newton schools. Laura has touched the reading lives
of thousands of children and shared her passion with them. Betsy Champagne has been on staff at Burr for 16 years, but a member of the Burr community for longer because her children went through Burr. Betsy started as the building aide and 4 years ago began her
work with our English Language Learners. And last, but by no means least, Laura Perkins our social worker, has worked in several Newton Schools and came to Burr two years ago. In this short time, Laura has supported the Burr community and become a valued member of our staff. These ladies will truly be missed. Their contributions to our school have truly had positive impacts. I hope the pace of life in retirement will be relaxed and rewarding.

Due to these retirements and some other staffing considerations we are busy interviewing candidates and making adjustments for next year. Here are a few exciting decisions that have already been made:  

* I am pleased to announce that Lynette Lawton will be the Burr School librarian next year. Lynette has taught 3rd grade at Burr for the past 8 years and recently completed her Library Media certification and is thrilled to be able to make take on this new challenge. We had several highly qualified candidates for this
position and the interview committee was very impressed with Lynette's passion and vision for developing the program.

* Helen Oh, currently teaching grade four, will replace Ms. Lawton on the 3rd grade team. Helen has done an excellent job in 4th grade this year and is looking forward to joining the 3rd grade team.

* Melyssa Taylor, 4th grade teacher, has been granted another year of childcare leave. She plans to return for the 2015-16 school year. We have started to interview candidates to join our grade four team for next year.

* Next year, we will only have one co-taught classroom at Burr. It will be in 4th grade. Mr. Glode will partner with special educator, Carrie O'Donnell. Carrie has been the co-teaching 5th grade for the past two years. With the reduction of one co-taught classroom, we will reconfigure our special education staffing and I will share information with you all as soon as this is determined. Each year
we look at our student population and consider the best way to meet their needs. Next year's 5th graders who have IEPs will have their services provided by a learning center teacher who will push into the classrooms and also provide pull out instruction as needed.

* Nancy Fitch will be moving to teach 1st grade next year. Nancy and the students in her current class are very excited because they will move to 1st grade together. All the parents in Nancy's current class have elected to have their children loop with Nancy. This will make the transition for Nancy easier because she will not have to spend the first weeks of school getting to know a whole new group
of students and parents. She can devote her energy towards learning the new curriculum.

* Burr math coach, Jen Ortega will be moving to the Countryside School. Jen currently splits her time between Burr and Pierce School. The Countryside position allows her to work in one school and also take on some administrative responsibilities. I thank Jen for her work with the Burr students and teachers and wish her luck.

* Kristen Beaupre is the Burr Team Specialist this year. This position was new this year and like Jen, Kristen was at Pierce and Burr. Next year Kristen will be at Pierce School only. They will pair the Team Specialist position with another special education position to allow Kristen to be in one school. We plan to do the same at Burr by combining the part-time team specialist position with another
position. Kristen has done a great job leading our special education department and chairing IEP meetings this year.

This time of year is extremely busy and I am hopeful that most of our staffing decision will be made by the end of the year. Usually new aides and part-time support staff are hired during the summer months.   

And lastly, I'd like to share some baby news. Congratulations to Burr teachers, Katie Prococcini and Samantha Bracy, on the births of their babies. Katie's son, Cameron John was born on her birthday, May 7th and Samantha's daughter, Leila Elizabeth, was born on May 14th. Both babies and mommies are doing well.  

I look forward to seeing many of you at upcoming our end-of-year events. Meanwhile, please do not hesitate to call me or stop by if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions for next year.

Mindy  

• Purchase a personalized brick to be incorporated in the new playground
• Give a tax-deductible donation to the playground (Click "Donate" for details)
• Sponsor a current Burr student in the June 9th Move-a-thon  
• Participate in other playground fundraising programs (Burr magnet sales, "Popsicles for the Playground" on Fridays later this month after school, Artitudes shopping program from 5/27-5/31) 

We are pleased to announce a new Burr Playground fundraising program at Artitudes in West Newton. If you make a purchase at Artitudes between Tuesday, May 27 and Saturday, May 31 and mention "I'm shopping for Burr", then 20% of that purchase amount will be donated to the Burr Playground fund. 

Mark your calendars now!  Parent volunteer forms were sent home in folders.  Please note: All volunteers should have a completed CORI form before Color Day.  

The sun is shining, flowers are blooming and birds are singing. But noses are running, eyes are puffy and the bugs are on the move! Not only is it Spring, but it is allergy and tick season as well.

Click here for the full May School Health Newsletter.