As we communicated in a previous blog post, there will be several trainings and drills with students on our new enhanced lockdown procedure called ALICE over the next few weeks. As part of this training, the Reading Public Schools will be using developmentally appropriate social stories and presentations. Attached below are the materials that teachers and administrators may use in Grades K-8. Feel free to use these with your child at home.

RPS Middle School ALICE Student Presentation

Lockdown-3 social story Pre-K

lockdown-1 social story K-2

ALiCE_v1 Social Story

If you have any questions, please contact your child’s principal.

There will be a meeting of the Reading School Committee on Monday, January 27, 2014, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the School Committee Room of the Reading Public Schools Administration Offices.  The meeting will begin with a Public Hearing on the FY15 Budget. There will also be continuing discussions on the FY15 budget.

A copy of the Superintendent’s FY15 Recommended Budget can be found here.  A copy of the agenda for Monday’s meeting can be found here.

The Reading Coalition Against Substance Abuse (RCASA) is proud to present, Who Cares About Kelsey, on Tuesday February 4, 2014 from 7-9 p.m. at Jordan’s Furniture IMAX Theatre on 50 Walkers Brook Drive in Reading.  Following the film, there will be a Q & A with Kelsey, the subject of the documentary. There is no charge to attend this event.

This movie is a true story of a young woman’s life through the ups and downs of her senior year. As the film delves into Kelsey’s life, we watch her navigate the halls and classrooms of her school and the fraught terrain of family and romantic relationships. Kelsey interacts with a military father who questions her account of the past and dismisses her plans for the future. She manages her relationship with a mother trying to atone for past failures that set in motion some of Kelsey’s most destructive behaviors. She spends much of her time with a boyfriend she cherishes but whose loyalty and support for Kelsey’s newly forming independence are uncertain.

To sign up to attend the movie, please go to the link below:

SIGN UP HERE TO ATTEND THE MOVIE

A trailer to the movie is located below.

Dear Reading Elementary School Community:

Over the last several months, the Reading Public Schools has been working with the Reading Police Department to implement an enhanced lockdown procedure called A.L.I.C.E., which is an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate.  The philosophy of A.L.I.C.E. is to use technology and information in a way that staff and students can make informed decisions in a crisis, remove as many people as possible from a dangerous situation, and provide realistic training so that those involved in a crisis have a better chance of surviving. A copy of the presentation that was given to the parent community in October and January is located at:

http://www.edline.net/pages/ReadingPublicSchools/News/ALICE_Presentation_to_the_Comm .

As part of this implementation process, we will be conducting drills at our elementary schools over the next few weeks.  Both the Wood End and Killam Elementary Schools will have their initial drill on Wednesday, January 29^th and Joshua Eaton, Barrows, and Birch Meadow Elementary Schools will have their initial drill on Wednesday, February 5th.   These drills will be developmentally appropriate and help prepare students in a way that is similar to drills that we currently conduct in our schools for fire evacuation, lockdown, and shelter in place.  At the elementary level, each classroom teacher will speak with students about the new protocol.  Elementary teachers have been provided with a script and a social story that is appropriate for their grade level.  Drills at the elementary school will resemble the more traditional lockdown and fire evacuation drills and will not include the use of a person simulating an intruder.  The “counter” strategies will not be presented as part of the elementary student drills.

Please feel free to communicate directly with your principal regarding any concerns that you have around how the drill may impact your child.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Reading Public Schools Administrative Offices or your child’s building principal.

Sincerely,

John F. Doherty, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

Dear Reading Public School Families,

We wanted to let you know in advance that our sixth annual Arts Fest has been rescheduled to April 9 and 10 at the William Endslow Performing Arts Center and Main Street at Reading Memorial High School.  The change in the schedule allows our families to celebrate the first evening of Passover and to reduce scheduling conflicts caused by the Blue Ribbon Conference on April 16 and 17 .

Further details on the performance schedule will be forthcoming.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Reading Public School Administrative Offices at 781-944-5800.

The next meeting of the Reading School Committee will be on Tuesday, January 21st at 7:00 p.m. in the School Committee Meeting Room at the Reading Public School Administration Offices.  The main agenda item will be to review the Regular Day and Special Education Cost Centers of the Superintendent’s Recommended FY15 Budget.

A complete copy of the budget can be found here.

Dear Reading Public School Families,

Timely and effective communication is important in keeping parents informed about important school and district issues.  To that end, the Reading Public Schools has recently introduced some additional communication tools for families and staff.  These tools are as follows:

1. Facebook-To join our Facebook page, go to https://www.facebook.com/Readingpublicschools.
2. Twitter-To follow us on Twitter, go to https://twitter.com/ReadingSchools.  You can follow us @ReadingSchools.

In addition, we have reintroduced the Pathways Blog.  To access the Blog and receive notifications when a new post has been added, go to https://retiredsuperintendent.wordpress.com/.  Either way, we will send out an email notification when a new post has been added.

The above tools will complement our traditional Edline and Blackboard Connect Ed tools, which will notify you about emergencies and school events through phone messages, email, and text.  If you have recently changed your email address, phone number, or SMS contact, please call your child’s school to update your contact information.

We hope that these additional tools and the information that we communicate to you will enhance and improve our communication with the Reading Public School community.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s school or the Reading Public School Administrative Offices at 781-944-5800.

The Human Relations Advisory Committee, the Town of Reading, the Reading Public Schools, and the Reading Community Singers are pleased to sponsor the annual Martin Luther King Day Celebration on Monday, January 20, at the William Endslow Performing Arts Center at Reading Memorial High School.  There will be a light breakfast available at 9:30 a.m. and the program will begin at 10:00 a.m.  A copy of the program is attached.

All are welcome to attend.

Town of Reading Martin Luther King Day January 202014 for 11×17 Revised

Good Evening,

Please note that the information below was sent out earlier via Connect Ed.  We are posting it in multiple places in case some did not receive it.

Good Evening, Barrows Parents,

First and foremost, I want to thank you for your patience during the two evacuations this week and to assure you that your child was never in a dangerous or unsafe situation.  As soon as the carbon monoxide (CO) monitors indicated an elevated level both on Tuesday and today, we immediately worked with the Reading Police and Fire Departments to assess the situation and evacuate the building.  On Tuesday, the elevated CO levels were addressed by making air flow adjustments in our boiler room.   As a precautionary measure, we installed three additional detectors and had the Reading Fire Department come in several times since Tuesday to take additional CO readings.  Each time the Fire Department took a CO reading, including this morning, the monitor registered a zero, indicating that there were not elevated levels of Carbon Monoxide in the building.

After today’s elevated readings, we have been able to identify the likely cause to be a malfunctioning piece of gas operated cooking equipment in the kitchen.  This was most likely the cause of Tuesday’s elevated levels as well because both elevated readings occurred at approximately 11:00 a.m., which is the time that the kitchen staff is preparing the food for lunch.  In addition, the piece of equipment was not used to prepare yesterday’s lunch, but was used to prepare today’s and Tuesday’s lunch.  All other kitchen equipment has been tested and is functioning properly.  We have taken the malfunctioning piece of kitchen equipment offline and will not be using it until it is replaced or repaired.

As a precautionary measure, we will continue to monitor the situation; however, we feel that we have identified the source of the elevated readings.  Therefore, we will be having a regular day of school tomorrow.

Thank you again for your patience and cooperation over the last few days.  I again also want to commend Principal Leonard and the entire Barrows staff for their outstanding job as we worked to address this situation.

If you have any questions, please contact the Reading Public School Administration Offices at 781-944-5800.

                                                                                                                        January 13, 2014

Dear Reading School Community:

Over the last several months, the Reading Public Schools has been working with the Reading Police Department to implement an enhanced lockdown procedure called A.L.I.C.E., which is an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate.  The philosophy of A.L.I.C.E. is to use technology and information in a way that staff and students can make informed decisions in a crisis, remove as many people as possible from a dangerous situation, and provide realistic training so that those involved in a crisis have a better chance of surviving. A copy of the presentation that was given to the parent community in October is located at:

http://www.edline.net/pages/ReadingPublicSchools/News/ALICE_Presentation_to_the_Comm .

As part of this implementation process, we will be conducting drills at both middle schools in the next few weeks.  Coolidge Middle School will have its initial drill on Thursday, January 30^th and Parker Middle School will have its initial drill on Monday, February 3^rd.   These drills will be developmentally appropriate and help prepare students in a way that is similar to drills that we currently conduct in our schools for fire evacuation, lockdown, and shelter in place.  At the middle school level, the drills will consist of student presentations done in grade level assemblies in the morning followed by a school-wide simulated drill in the afternoon.  Students will then debrief the experience with staff in their homerooms.  The training and drills will include the participation of Reading Police and Fire personnel.

Please feel free to communicate directly with your principal regarding any concerns that you have around how the drill may impact your child.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Reading Public Schools Administrative Offices or your child’s building principal.

Sincerely,

John F. Doherty, Ed.D.               Doug Lyons                             Sarah Marchant  

Superintendent of School            Principal, Parker                     Principal, Coolidge