BETHEL PUBLIC SCHOOLS E-NEWS “Our Primary Purpose Is to Improve Student Achievement”

BETHEL PUBLIC SCHOOLS E-NEWS “Our Primary Purpose is to Improve Student Achievement” Contents Superintendent’s News Superintendent’s News Christine Carver, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools Kindergarten Registration BOE Policy Updates In This Section: Elementary School Lunch News - Welcome to a New School Year! All Sports Booster Club - Reminder – August 30th – First Day of School - FULL DAY - ***IMPORTANT - STUDENT DEMOGRAPHIC UPDATES*** Berry School News School Closing & Delay Information Rockwell School News SchoolMessenger Call-In Message Retrieval Johnson School News - 2017-2018 Open House Dates Middle School News - Breakfast! High School News - Bus Routes -2017-2018 School Calendar BEtv Schedule - Sales Tax Free Week, August 20 - August 27, 2017 BEtv Schedule - Summer’s BEST Update Family-School Partnership Bethel Education Foundation Dear Parents, Care Givers, and Community Members: BPS Flickr Community News & Events It is my great pleasure to welcome you back to school for what promises to be another great year in Bethel! We welcome back all of our returning families and welcome our FAQs many new families to the Bethel Educational Community. On behalf of our Board of 2017-2018 School Calendar Education and our entire staff, we wish you the very best as we embark on this new school year. As aligned to our district mission, we pride ourselves in educational School Closing /Delay Info. excellence and know that this year will continue to ensure that the children of Bethel have the highest quality instruction as reflected in our outstanding student outcomes. @BethelCTSuper Reminder – August 30th– First Day of School is a FULL DAY Click here for the 2017-2018 School Times Schedule. Upcoming Parents should have received an email for returning students (PK-12), for new Events students the form has already been updated, regarding updating your demographic information for your child(ren) in the Parent Portal. This information is critical to providing us the most accurate information and phone numbers if there was an August 30 emergency. To update your child(ren) demographic information in the Parent Portal, First Day – FULL DAY click on the School Forms link in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Please make sure you click the link for 17-18 returning students. In this form, you will also be September 4 asked to sign off on our district forms, which are now all housed electronically. Labor Day Schools Closed st The Parent Portal will open on August 21 . We are requesting that you update the demographic information prior to the start of school (August 30th). In addition, the September 21 Rosh Hashanah Parent Portal will now house the sign off for the Chrome Book Protection Plan for Schools Closed grades 6-12. You can purchase the Protection Plan now on “My School Bucks” for your October 6 convenience. Prof. Learning Day Schools Closed If during the school year any of your demographic information were to change, you can update it at any point by contacting your child(ren) school directly October 9 Columbus Day Schools Closed Parent Portal Access Instructions BETHEL PUBLIC SCHOOLS E-NEWS “Our Primary Purpose is to Improve Student Achievement” School Closing/Delay Information In the morning when it is necessary to close school due to inclement weather or have an unscheduled early dismissal due to forecasted inclement weather for the afternoon, the “Schools Closed” or “Early Dismissal” announcement will be made over the following radio, television stations, websites, Twitter, and text message via our SchoolMessenger communication system. (You must opt-in for text messaging. *See Below.) WLAD AM Danbury 800 on the dial WINE AM Brookfield 940 on the dial WICC AM Bridgeport 600 on the dial WEBE FM Bridgeport 108 on the dial WEZN FM Bridgeport 100 on the dial TV Channel 3, TV Channel 8, & TV Channel 6. Bethel Public Schools Website – www.bethel.k12.ct.us Connecticut Weather Website – www.ctweather.com Twitter - @BethelCTSuper When school is in session for the day and it is necessary to have an unscheduled early dismissal (click for times) due to weather or other emergency an “Early Dismissal” announcement will be made. You will be notified by our automated message system, SchoolMessenger, via voice, text message, email, and appropriate announcements will be made over the above radio, television stations, websites, and Twitter. *Therefore, it is important your contact information is accurate and you update your contact information promptly if this information changes. The SchoolMessenger caller ID for all phone notifications is: (855) 326-1797. Please add this number as a contact in your phone so you can easily identify the call is coming from the Bethel Publics Schools. You must update your child(s) demographic information directly in the PowerSchool Parent Portal by clicking on the School Forms link in the upper right hand corner of the screen when you have changes to your information (phone numbers, email addresses, etc.) so that our PowerSchool database can be updated. Please Note: There will be no school activities, including athletics, on days when school is closed due to inclement weather. *Parents/Guardians who would like to receive text messages from our SchoolMessenger communication system, as per federal law, must opt-in. Please text "Yes" or "OPTIN" or "SUBSCRIBE" to 68453 and contact your child’s school directly to update your wireless number(s) in our student information database. For emergency announcements, SchoolMessenger notifications are sent out as soon as decisions are reached. Being on the notification list is not a substitute for monitoring your local media (radio, TV and so on) in situations where a delay in opening or school closing is an obvious possibility (such as when the weather forecast calls for snow). The BPS website, is updated as media calls are made. To opt out of all text messages from SchoolMessenger, reply with STOP to the message or visit www.schoolmessenger.com/tm. Please note, although the district does not charge you for this service, it does not pay for text message charges that may be incurred by you for sending or receiving text messages. Check with your wireless carrier for possible charges. BETHEL PUBLIC SCHOOLS E-NEWS “Our Primary Purpose is to Improve Student Achievement” SchoolMessenger Call-In Message Retrieval As you know, our automated message system, SchoolMessenger, allows us to communicate important information to parents, guardians, and staff via voice, text message, and email. Our SchoolMessgenger account now has a Call-in Message Retrieval feature. The Call-In Message Retrieval feature is a powerful option that allows SchoolMessgenger phone call recipients to dial a toll-free number where they can replay previous phone notifications that they may have missed, or someone else answered the call, in cases where a cell phone call was dropped before the message could be completed, the reception was poor and/or the recipient was unable to understand the message. This feature allows phone call recipients to dial a toll-free number and replay phone notifications. The SchoolMessenger caller ID for all phone notifications is: (855) 326-1797. Please add this number as a contact in your phone so you can easily identify the call is coming from the Bethel Publics Schools. Please Note: When a recipient wants to call into the system to listen to a message they might have missed, they simply hit re-dial on their phone, and, if their caller ID is not blocked, the system will identify them and play back the most recent 10 calls to that number from the past 30 days - including the time/date that the message was sent. If the recipient has their caller ID blocked, the system will prompt them to enter the number that received the original call, after which the system will replay the recent messages to that number. Breakfast! Parade magazine listed important things to do to make your child have a successful year in school and #1 was for your child to have a good breakfast! Bethel Public Schools serves breakfast daily at all schools for $2.25. Students who qualify for reduced lunch will also qualify for FREE breakfast. Research suggests that students who eat a good breakfast in the morning: are able to attend better, have increased cognitive performance, and have increased perceptual and spatial memory have more positive social interactions have higher academic achievement have better attendance and fewer complaints of headaches and other illnesses Nationally, nearly 1 in 5 students come to school daily without breakfast. Our goal with this program is to ensure that ALL of our students have the opportunity to eat a nutritious breakfast each day. Bus Routes The 2017-2018 Bus Routes will be posted on the district website a few days before school starts under “For Parents” on the menu bar and then Transportation Information or click here 2017-2018 Bus Routes BETHEL PUBLIC SCHOOLS E-NEWS “Our Primary Purpose is to Improve Student Achievement” Connecticut’s Tax Free Week 2017 CT Tax Free Week - Sunday, August 20 through Saturday, August 27, 2017, During CT Tax Free Week, there will be no sales tax charged on any item of clothing or footwear sold for $100 or less in the State of Connecticut. Summer’s Best 2017 The Bethel Public Schools completed another successful summer of enrichment, remedial, pre- kindergarten and high school credit recovery summer programs. Over 500 students attended programs this summer. Students received targeted instruction in reading, writing, math and enjoyed

Load more