Farewell to the 2012-2013 School Year

The end of the 2012-2013 school year has arrived. The last day for the children is Monday, June 24th, which is a half day for the students. It seems like this year flew by! We've accomplished a lot. Our teachers worked hard to complete curriculum writing projects under the direction of Mr. Brian Cameron, our Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning. All content areas, except for 2, now have standards-based, School Committee approved, coordinated K-12 curriculum guides that provide the framework for classroom instruction. The Physical Education curriculum is due to come before the School Committee at their July meeting. The last content area that needs work is science. We are waiting to see how the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will respond to the Next Generation Science Standards, which is a multi-state effort, recently completed, to strengthen science education across the United States.

Our Office of Information Technology has worked tirelessly to upgrade classroom technology across the district. A proliferation of digital projectors, laptops, document cameras, and the like have filtered into classrooms in every school. All of our schools now have wireless access, enabling staff and students to make use of the rich resources of the Internet to implement our curriculum.

We are also working on measures to enhance our security systems, making our schools as safe as possible for our students and staff. A School Safety Task Force will be convening this summer that will involve administration, law enforcement and emergency responders, and others in working together to ensure that our schools are safe places for students to learn and staff to work.

This past week has been a week of good-byes and looking forward to the future. Our students who will be transitioning from one building to the next engaged in a step-up day to visit their new schools. The culminating event of the week was the eighth grade celebration, held on Friday, June 21st, at Belchertown High School. Each eighth grader was recognized with a certificate of achievement for having completed their middle school studies, followed by their Aloha! Dance in the BHS cafeteria, an opportunity to say good-bye to JBMS and hello to BHS. There will be an orientation evening on August 20th for incoming freshmen and new students to BHS. More details will be forthcoming soon.

SRE Day

The students at Swift River Elementary School celebrated the end of the school year at SRE Day on Thursday, June 20th. The day was organized around a variety of cooperative games and activities with a PeaceBuilders theme. Thanks go to Mr. Baker and Mr. Quist, Physical Education Teachers at SRE, the rest of the SRE faculty and staff for organizing the day and to the CSSR PTO for all the volunteer work they provided to make it happen!

SRE students created a giant peace sign with the letters "SRE" in their PTO-donated t-shirts!

Children played cooperative parachute games during SRE Day.

Pennies for the Playground

On Friday, June 21st, the CHCS students celebrated a fundraiser for Jessica's Boundless Playground, which is a fully accessible playground we hope to build soon! The students raised over $750.00 for this endeavor, which was sponsored by Team Jessica in cooperation with the CHCS PTO. The fourth graders, who came in at 3rd place, had the opportunity to "silly string" members of the CHCS staff and "yours truly." Fifth graders (2nd place) got to throw pies in our faces, and sixth graders (1st place) got to slime us! It was a messy, but fun time!

Pies in the face for selected staff members!

CHCS Interim Principal, Dr. Irizarry, wears his slime with pride!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our administrators, faculty, and staff for your hard work during this past school year. You have taken on a lot of work, infused many state and federal mandates into an already packed work day, and have provided our students with the foundation to be productive thinkers and citizens in our society. I would also like to thank the many volunteers who have donated countless hours of time, money through fundraising activities, and support to the work we do. I am also grateful to our students' families who have supported their learning along the way. This truly is a group effort with the goal of ensuring that all of our students meet with success every day.

This will be the last weekly post of the 2012-2013 school year. Less frequent posts will be uploaded during the summer months. I would like to wish everyone a safe and relaxing summer! As always, please feel free to call me at 413.323.0423 or send me an email at superintendent@belchertown.org with any questions or comments.

Best regards, Dr. Judith Houle, Superintendent of Schools

Student Awards

This is a special time of the year when we recognize our students for the success they have achieved over the course of the school year. Last week began with students from JBMS receiving academic awards from their teachers on Monday, June 10th. Each department gave out awards for academic excellence and effort, and guidance counselors and Assistant Principal, Ms. Monette, gave out awards to students for their overall contributions to a respectful and caring environment at the middle school. Congratulations to one and all!

On Thursday, June 13th, 206 undergraduates received 356 awards at BHS! The awards included academic awards from each department, scholarship awards, and collegiate book awards. The students posed for a group photo for Mrs. Vigneux, BHS Principal and photographer extraordinaire, which took me three separate pictures to get so you could see them!

On Friday, June 14th our fifth graders celebrated the successful completion of the D.A.R.E. program. Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) is a program that we offer to our fifth graders in partnership with the Belchertown Police Department. Our School Resource Officer, Jason Krol, serves as the instructor. The program teaches our students to make healthy decisions and to resist making destructive choices as they enter into adolescence. In addition to receiving their graduation certificates, students also shared videos of skits they performed to emphasize the principles of the program and sang a D.A.R.E. song at the end. Congratulations to our fifth graders for successfully completing the program!

Officer Jay addresses the D.A.R.E. graduates

Fifth graders share the principles of the D.A.R.E. program in song!

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

Best regards, Dr. Judith Houle, Superintendent of Schools

Jabish Brook Concert and Upcoming End-of-the-Year Events

Jabish Brook Middle School Concert a Success!

On Thursday, June 6th, students in the music program at Jabish Brook Middle School gave their audience a special treat with a wonderful end-of-the-year concert featuring all the band and chorus groups! A variety of musical styles were performed to the delight of concert-goers and ended with all of the band and chorus students in grades 7 and 8 coming together on a joint rendition of "Let There Be Peace on Earth." Congratulations go to one and all; including Amanda Johnson, Choral Director, and Corrina Smith, Band Director!

Combined grades 7 & 8 chorus under the direction of Amanda Johnson

Grade 7 Band, under the direction of Corrina Smith

Other End-of-the-Year Events

There are many events marking the close of the school year in all of our schools. Here are some highlights:

• JBMS Awards Night, Monday, June 10th, 7:00 pm, BHS Auditorium
• BHS Undergraduate Awards Night, Thursday, June 13th, 6:00 pm, BHS Auditorium
• DARE Graduation for grade 5, Friday, June 14th, 1:30 pm, CHCS Auditorium
• Swift River Day, Tuesday, June 18th, all day, SRE grounds (rain date, 6/20)
• CSS Field Day, Wednesday, June 19th, CSS grounds (rain or shine)
• Preschool Step-up Day, Thursday, June 20th, 9:30 am, CSS
• JBMS 8th Grade Celebration and Aloha Dance, June 21st, 6:00 pm in the BHS Auditorium and Cafeteria.

For more information about events at our schools, check the District Calendar.

Congratulations to the BHS Girls' Softball Team on winning the Western Mass Division II Semi-Finals! Good luck on Tuesday, June 11th finals v. Wacohnah, 3 pm, UMass Softball Complex! Please note that this is a change of game date and time from the original schedule.

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

Enjoy what's turning out to be a beautiful weekend! Dr. Judith Houle, Superintendent of Schools

Congratulations to the Class of 2013!

This past week has centered around celebrating the accomplishments and graduation of the Class of 2013 of Belchertown High School. Senior week prior to graduation included rehearsals for the students, distribution of yearbooks and caps and gowns, a celebration of success and awarding of scholarships on Thursday night, and finally, the big day on Sunday, June 2nd at 2:00 pm!

Over $70,000.00 in scholarships were given to graduating seniors on Thursday, May 30th, along with awards for excellence in academics, athletics, and the arts. Sunday's graduation was held in the gymnasium with a standing-room only crowd fanning themselves in the heat of the day, while 191 students received their diplomas. Student speakers included Class President Caleb Bernard, Valedictorian Devyn Hebert, and Salutatorian Kimberly Drawec. Mr. Brennan Murray, Library-Media Specialist at BHS, was the graduation speaker, selected by the students.

Town Clerk, William Barnett, also addressed the students and presented each of the graduates with a Belchertown 250th Anniversary Watch. This is the second year that students have received this gift from the town. All in all, it was a great celebration with student smiles all around! Best wishes to one and all for continued success in the future!

Other upcoming events

As we wind down to the end of the year, there are many events and celebrations planned for our students: field day celebrations, culminating classroom activities, and step-up day visits to new schools are planned. Jabish Brook Middle School will present awards to their students on June 10th, BHS will host an undergarduate awards ceremony on June 13th, the eighth grade celebration and Aloha Dance will be held on Friday, June 21st, and the last day of school will be held on Monday, June 24th. The last day will be a half day for students. Dismissal will begin at 11:00 am for the secondary students and 12:00 pm for the elementary students. Lunches will not be served that day. Check out the district calendar for more details.

As always, if you have any questions, 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