Bellows Falls Middle School
15 School Street, Bellows Falls, Vermont 05101
Telephone: (802) 463-4366 Fax: (802) 463-9738
Dear Parents,
It's hard to believe that another summer has flown by. As I enter into my fourth year here, I feel good about what we are doing as a staff, and good about this community. Since my arrival in the summer of 2007, we have revamped the student behavior system annually. The result has been a reduction in student discipline incidents, and an increase in recognition of students who are conducting themselves well everyday. This year, we will use PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Supports) as our student behavior program. We have been using components of this system for several years. Please see the PBIS link on the website for more information.
In the last three years, we have established two new systems for supporting our neediest students inside the building, instead of tuitioning them to other settings. Our PASS and Lifeskills settings provide specific supports for students with emotional, behavioral and severe learning difficulties. Our task is to meet the needs of these students and keep them in the least restrictive environment possible.
We have become a Title I School Wide program with funding from the Consolidated Federal Grant. Starting in 2008, we had an additional teacher in math and reading to help improve the outcomes for our students. This year, we have an additional math teacher. These teachers work with all students, benchmarking progress in math and reading three times a year, and working with students to increase their functioning in math and reading.
We have revamped our math program, by working with renowned math expert Mahesh Sharma. We as a district have aligned curriculum in the areas of math, literacy, science and social studies. Three of the four have been approved by the WNESU School Board, and social studies should be approved this fall. The approved curriculums will be implemented this year.
We have implemented new technology tools. We use ConnectEd to get information out to parents via phone messages; provide access to your student's grade via the PowerSchool Parent Portal; use AIMSweb to benchmark student progress in math and reading; and use web based instruction programs Lexia (reading) and Symphony (math) to support student learning. This year we will introduce a additional web based study program called Study Island.
Critical Friends Groups have been recognized as a system to help professionals improve their practice. BFMS has participated in these groups for a number of years, but last year we used a grant funded facilitator to improve these meetings. We will continue to use the grant funded facilitator this year, and have built in dedicated time at the beginning of the school day for teachers to use for data analysis, plan curriculum integration, coordinate implementation of the new curriculum and discuss their practice and student outcomes.
This year we have instituted a skills acquisition procedure, requiring students who are not successful with extra support during the school day to attend before or after school learning sessions; or to go to summer school. It is our obligation to extend learning time for those that are not making adequate progress. We will also use a grant funded home school liaison to keep in better contact with our families.
Funding for our 21st Century after school program is provided by a five year grant of almost half a million dollars. We wrote and were awarded this grant, and started the program two years ago. It is designed to provide high interest activities to extend learning. Check the 21C link for more information.
New initiatives annually are hard work, but the staff at BFMS feels passionately about their work and improving student outcomes. I call on you as a parent to support your child's education by participating in the monthly meetings of PTO and PIRC; and attend the monthly parent information nights. Encourage them to value education and give their best effort to their school work. By working together, we will get the best outcomes!
Should you have any questions or concerns, please call the school at 463-4366 and dial “0”.
Sincerely,
Cheryl McDaniel-Thomas
Principal
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