Friday, September 7, 2018

First Week of School

We have almost finished week one and it has been a wonderful week!  Tomorrow is predicted to be a beautiful day with lower temperatures and humidity. A great way to end the first week.
A few items as we conclude our week:

· I want to personally thank all of the families who have been so supportive of our new drop off/pick up procedures. The first two days were a bit slower as we put the new procedure in place and by today, it was smooth sailing and all students were dropped off and picked up in a safe and timely manner.  Your cooperation is so appreciated.                                                                                                                              I want to remind families that walkers picked up in front of the school should be TRUE walkers who walk from home to school and/or school to home.  We cannot police the HYCC parking lot to ensure that families do not park there and walk over to the school, thereby not following the procedure that all our other families respect; I would ask and expect that families adhere to the school procedures. We expect that our children follow the rules, please remember the children look to you to set the example. This school is a community and we expect that our families join in the community protocols set up for the safety of all our children. A VERY big thank you to all who support and respect that!

  • ·       A reminder that tomorrow is our first All School Community meeting at 9:30 at the HYCC. All students need a permission slip to walk to the HYCC tomorrow. These permission slips were sent home on Tuesday. If you have not returned your child’s permission slip, please return it tomorrow morning our your child will not be able to attend the All School meeting.

·      School safety is a priority for BCHMCPS and the Barnstable District as a whole. As we open the 2018-19 school year, I write to update you on an important enhancement to our district’s emergency management cycle of Prevent, Prepare, Respond, and Recover. The district has placed a high priority on transitioning to the ALICE protocol (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) as an emergency response. ALICE emphasizes proactive, options-based strategies during a school-intruder emergency, and is a different response than our previous Run-Hide-Fight protocol from the U.S .Homeland Security. This summer the BCHMCPS Administrative Assistant Mrs. Erica Aceto and I participated in a two-day training in order to become an ALICE Certified Instructors. Additionally, every staff member at BCHMCPS has had the opportunity to complete the ALICE online course. As a result of our training, all nine schools in Barnstable Public Schools have transitioned to the ALICE protocol and will no longer use the previous lockdown protocol. Our school will continue to focus on ALICE protocols during our October 10th early release day, and in partnership with the Barnstable Police Department we will practice scenarios during our November staff meeting. When we begin to include students in our ALICE training and drills, I will notify parents/guardians in advance. To that end I am happy to inform you that the Barnstable School District is now an ALICE district.

Thank you again for all you do for our school every day.

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