Teachers of Excellence to be Recognized

Each year, the Belchertown Public Schools recognize teachers of excellence. These individuals are nominated by colleagues and selected by their School Councils to receive this recognition. The 2014 Belchertown Teachers of Excellence are: Ryan Butler, SRE Music Teacher; Rachel Goldenberg, BHS Science Teacher; Melissa Gramuglia, JBMS Physical Education Teacher; and Louise Levy, BHS Science Teacher. These teachers will be formally recognized at the March 18^th School Committee meeting.

The Pioneer Valley Excellence in Teaching Awards program allows us to move three of our candidates forward to be recognized. This is always a very difficult decision to make, but I am pleased to announce that Rachel Goldenberg, Melissa Gramuglia, and Louise Levy have been named as the recipients of this award. They will be recognized at an awards dinner at the Log Cabin on Tuesday, May 6^th. These awards are sponsored by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and other generous corporate donors, to whom we are grateful for their support of educators across the Pioneer Valley.

Congratulations to these teachers on your achievements!

Professional Development Day on Friday

This is a reminder that there will be no school for students on Friday, March 14th, as our staff will be attending professional development workshops for the day.

Budget for the 2014-2015 School Year

The Senior Leadership Team and program directors have been working on a first draft of the budget for the next school year. The budget will be presented to the School Committee on Tuesday, March 18th (please note that this meeting has been changed from the originally scheduled date of March 11th). The meeting will take place in the SRE library at 7:00 pm. Following the initial presentation of the budget, but prior to a final vote, parents/guardians and community members will have three opportunities to give input into the process. There will be two Coffee & Conversation with the Superintendent gatherings (TBA) and a public budget hearing prior to a School Committee vote on April 29th. Watch this blog and our web site: www.belchertownps.org for more information.

End-of-the-Year Calendar

What a winter! At this moment in time, we have used six snow days, making the last day of school Monday, June 23rd. The forecast for the middle of this week does not look promising, so let's hope that maybe the snow will pass us by! I had the opportunity to get a breath of spring at the Mount Holyoke flower show over the weekend. It was nice to see and smell all the beautiful flowers and have hope that spring will be coming soon.

A preview of Spring at the MHC flower show!

Graduation for the Class of 2014 has been set for Sunday, June 8, 2014 at 2:00 pm in the BHS gymnasium. I know our seniors are excited about this upcoming event and milestone achievement in their lives!

A rumor seems to have started...

A rumor seems to have started via a student Twitter account that a $20,000.00 piano was purchased with district funds. I would like to set the record straight on this matter. No such instrument has been purchased, nor are there any plans to do so in this budget or next year's budget. Thank you for doing your part in helping to set the record straight.

As always, feel free to contact me regarding this blog post: 413.323.0423 or superintendent@belchertown.org.

Best regards, Dr. Judith Houle, Superintendent of Schools