Grade 8 visit to our Nation's Capital and the FY 2014 Proposed Budget

Our eighth graders left for Washington, DC on Thursday, April 25th and returned safely home on Saturday, April 27th. While they were there, they visited many of the sites that are a part of our nation's history, from museums to national landmarks, to Mount Vernon - the home of our first president. While there, they had a chance to meet U.S. Congressman, Jim McGovern, who took time out of his schedule to visit with them on the steps of the Capital building.

JBMS 8th graders with Congressman Jim McGovern

The students learned a lot while they were away and have some wonderful memories of their trip! Thanks to Mr. Ruscio, Ms. Monette, Officer Krol, and the staff and parents who chaperoned the trip and made it such a success.

FY 2014 Proposed Budget

On Tuesday, April 30th, the School Committee will hold its annual public budget hearing as part of a regular meeting at 7:00 pm in the auditorium at Belchertown High School. After starting with a level service budget and looking at the overall revenues from the town in deliberations with the Finance Committee and Board of Selectmen, the proposed budget is $243,421 less than level service in order to stay within available town revenues. In order to meet the gap between the originally proposed budget and the available resources, this version of the budget includes some cuts and increases to fees. A formal presentation on the budget will be made at the meeting and an opportunity will be provided to the public to ask questions and make comments prior to the School Committee taking a final vote on it. Click here to see a copy of the proposed FY 2014 budget.

If you have any questions or comments about this blog post, feel free to call me at 413.323.0423 or send an email to superintendent@belchertown.org.

Best regards, Dr. Judith Houle, Superintendent of Schools

An extraordinary week

In tragedy, we find strength

A tragedy in Boston on Monday, April 15th, sparked a week of extraordinary events. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims who lost their lives and to the injured and their families.

Events such as these remind us of how fragile life is and raise questions about why and about our safety in general. Children, particularly younger children, often have difficulty processing events of this magnitude. The U.S. Department of Education's web site on Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools has a technical assistance site with helpful links for families in how to help children deal with traumatic events. Click here to see the resource links.

Good does come from tragedy - we saw extraordinary strength in those who responded to the injured at the marathon, the law enforcement officials who put in extraordinary time and effort into the investigation and its conclusion on Friday night, and the citizens of Boston, Watertown, and surrounding communities who came together in support of the killed and injured, and to allow law enforcement to do what they needed to do. The heroism and goodness of the human spirit demonstrated last week lives within all of us.

We have been working together in the district to ensure that we do everything in our power to ensure that our schools are safe places in which to work and learn. In the coming weeks, we will be reaching out to the community to help us with this work. This is work we cannot do alone, but we know that this same sense of goodness and coming together is part of our community, and we look forward to engaging with you in this process.

Celebrating literacy - reading and writing

On Friday, April 5th, we tallied the latest numbers in our Million Minutes of Reading challenge and discovered that we exceeded our goal: 1,091,768 minutes read by students and their families, along with patrons of the Clapp Memorial Library! Congratulations to one and all and a big thank-you to everyone who provided support along the way! In celebration of reaching this milestone, Friday, April 12th, was "Dress Like a Millionaire Day" in our elementary schools. Staff and students alike dressed like royalty, in formal attire, like sports stars, and in their finest "bling" for the occasion!

Cold Spring School Principal, Sandra Bremer, Kindergarten Teacher , Brendan McCarthy, and Dr. Houle pose with our "millionaires" in celebration for Reading for a Million Minutes!

On Tuesday, April 9th, the School Committee celebrated students who participated in the New England Outdoor Writers Association initial Youth Writers' Contest. Two Belchertown students won top awards: - Katelyn Clark, BHS student, for First Place in Belchertown in the Senior Division, and Matthew Davidsohn, JBMS student, for First Place in Massachusetts in the Junior Division. Tom Fuller, of the NEOWA, presented awards to the students at the meeting.

NEOWA Youth Context winners pose with Tom Fuller and their teachers in celebration of their work.

Katelyn's work is going to be turned into a children's book with illustrations and the assistance of Clapp Memorial Library's Children's Librarian, Jennifer Whitehead. We are looking forward to seeing the finished product! 

If you have any questions about this post, please feel free to contact me by phone, 413.323.0423, or by email: superintendent@belchertown.org.

Best regards, Dr. Judith Houle, Superintendent of Schools

CSSR PTO Fun Run a Huge Success!

On Saturday, April 6th, hundreds of runners and dozens of walkers gathered in the cold wind to help raise money for the Cold Spring Swift River PTO through their Family Fun Run/Walk. Runners ran through the streets in the center of town for a 5K loop, including members of the Jabish Brook Middle School Running Club. After the runners took off, participants in the one-mile Family Walk around the track  beside Chestnut Hill Community School started off to do our part! Vendors showed their wares and demonstrated their services at a Health and Safety Fair, as part of a festive atmosphere.

The result - approximately $7,000 were raised through runner participation and other donations! These dollars are used to support the teachers and provide a variety of activities for the children at Cold Spring and Swift River Elementary Schools. We are very grateful to the CSSR PTO for their hard work on this event and for all that they do for our students! Enjoy some photos from the day and see the results of the run below!

Runners lined up for the start of the CSSR PTO 5K Family Run

The Oriole Mascot leads the track team in cheering on the day's participants.

One-mile walkers get off to a rousing start!

Runners coming down to the finish line!

As always, if you have any questions about this post, feel free to call me at 413.323.0423 or email me: superintendent@belchertown.org. Enjoy the spring break!

Best regards, Dr. Judith Houle, Superintendent of Schools

We did it - a Million Minutes of Reading!

A Million Minutes of Reading Goal Reached!

Back in November, we challenged our students and the entire town to join us in a quest to read for a million minutes and we have reached our goal! As Friday, April 5th, the total number of minutes logged in our schools and at the Clapp Memorial Library totaled 1,091,768! Congratulations to one and all for your participation in this project!

Friday, April 12th had been declared "Dress Like a Millionaire Day" in our elementary schools. Students are encouraged to dress as they think a millionaire would dress or bring their millionaire smiles with them to school! Participants will receive a certificate for their accomplishments!

School Committee to meet on Tuesday, April 9, 2013

The Belchertown School Committee will be meeting on Tuesday, April 9th, starting at 6:30 pm. Please note that the start time is a bit earlier than normal, but the meeting will begin with an Executive Session. The Open Session of the meeting is due to begin at approximately 7:00 pm. Click here to see a copy of the agenda.

Check back toward the end of the week...

I will be posting news of this past weekend's CSSR PTO Family Fun Run/Walk held last Saturday. It was a great event!

If you have any questions or comments about this blog post or any other posts, please feel free to call me at 413.323.0423 or email me at superintendent@belchertown.org.

Best regards, Dr. Judith Houle, Superintendent of Schools

CSSR PTO Family Fun 5K Run/Walk

Looking for something to do on what promises to be a beautiful, sunny Saturday this weekend? Join the Cold Spring Swift River PTO for their annual Family Fun 5K Run/Walk! This event drew 1,000 people last year and the PTO is working hard to ensure another successful event.

This is a major fundraising activity for the PTO, which does a tremendous amount of work to support our students at the Pre-K, Kindergarten, and primary grades. They support our teachers both financially and with volunteer power. We are very fortunate to have such a dedicated group of individuals willing to support the education of our students.

There is a 5K run through town for the ambitious and able, and a 1 mile walk around the BHS stadium track for those who would care to take that route. The fee for the run is $20 per runner and the fee for the walk for participants ages 3 and older is $7 per person (strollers free of charge).

The morning will begin with a health and safety vendor fair at 8:30 am. Registration for the walk will begin at 8:30 am at Chestnut Hill Community School. The run will begin at 10:00 am and the walk shortly thereafter. Even if you don't participate in the run or walk, come on out and support our runners - including the JBMS running club - and visit the vendors at the health and safety fair!

If you would like, you can download a registration form from the CSSR PTO web site, print it out and complete it, and bring it with you that morning. Registration forms will also be available at CHCS that morning. More information can be found on the CSSR PTO web site, including a map of the run route. Please note that online registration for this event is closed.

As always, if you have any questions or comments about this blog, please feel free to call me at 413.323.0423 or email me at superintendent@belchertown.org.

Best regards, Dr. Judith Houle, Superintendent of Schools

Feeling Like a Million...Almost!

We are almost there!

As of Saturday, March 30th, Belchertown Public Schools students and Clapp Library patrons have logged a total of 952,106 minutes of reading. This week is the final push to reach our goal of 1,000,000 minutes. Help us by reading books, magazines, newspapers, web sites, etc. We believe we can reach this goal by April vacation and we hope to celebrate by having a Millionaires Dress-up Day in our schools! Check our web site for progress toward our goal by the end of this week! You can turn in your minutes to any one of the five schools, the Superintendent's Office, or Clapp Memorial Library to add to our tally.

Belchertown Teachers of Excellence Recognized

On March 4th, I wrote about our Belchertown Teachers of Excellence in this blog. At the March 25th School Committee meeting, they were invited with their families to celebrate their accomplishments! Each teacher of excellence received a certificate and a small bouquet of flowers. After the presentation ceremony, the awardees and their families enjoyed a celebratory moment with some cake while the School Committee took a brief recess. Congratulations to all our teachers of excellence!

Belchertown Teachers of Excellence
Back row, L-R: Karl Quist, Ryan Butler, Brendan McCarthy
Front row, L-R: Louise Levy, Christine Holesovsky, Stephanie Davies

Christine Holesovsky, Stephanie Davies, and Brendan McCarthy are the Pioneer Valley Teachers of Excellence Awardees and will be honored at a ceremony hosted by the Grinspoon Foundation and other partners at the Log Cabin on April 25th. Congratulations these teachers for being honored regionally with their colleagues from Hampshire County!

As always, if you have any questions or comments about this blog, feel free to contact me at 413.323.0423 or email me at superintendent@belchertown.org.

Best regards, Dr. Judith Houle, Superintendent of Schools