October 2, 2023
Dear Alcott Families,
I hope you are all doing well and have settled into the routine of the new(ish) school year. After weeks of what felt like never ending rain, the sunshine forecasted for this week feels like a delightful treat! Here’s hoping for more blue sky as we move further into the fall!
In October’s Newsletter, you will find updates on Alcott’s playground, Care Solace, MCAS reports, and more!
Bike, Walk, Roll to School Day: Thanks to a partnership with our PTG and Safe Routes to School, students are invited to participate in the annual Bike, Walk and Roll to School Day on Tuesday, October 3, 2023. Students who are biking are invited to meet at Keyes Road at 8:30 for a police-escorted ride to Alcott. Students who are walking are invited to start their stroll at Emerson field. We look forward to this fun annual event that raises awareness around safe biking and walking to school.
Update on Playground Structure: By now you may have noticed that, thanks to the unprecedented amounts of rain over the last two months, parts of our recess area have turned into a swampy mess! Our building supervisors and the district maintenance team are working hard to figure out what, exactly, is preventing water from draining once it has accumulated and, in the meantime, are using pumps to help dry water from that area. Once they have determined the cause of the poor drainage, they will be replacing the wood chips and the entire playground area will be accessible once again!
Care Solace: The Concord Public Schools have partnered with Care Solace to help connect students, staff, and families with mental health providers. Our school counselor, Rene Kashmiri, is available to help get the process started or, if you prefer, you can access the service yourself. For more information, you can find an overview of the service here with a Concord specific link here.
Alcott on Social Media: Last year, Alcott created its very own Twitter (X) account! You can follow us here: https://twitter.com/
MCAS Parent Reports: MCAS reports will be mailed home in mid October. We will send more information about this when we actually have the reports in hand. Once they are released, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or Assistant Principal Moon if you have any questions!
Dismissal Change Reminder: If you need to change your child’s dismissal plan, please try to do so as early as possible. Ideally, you would email your child’s teacher, Kristin Corliss (kcorliss@concordps.org) and Theresa Bertolami (tbertolami@concordps.org) before the start of the day. However, we do understand that unexpected changes do occasionally arise. For these unexpected changes, we still ask that you communicate with the main office as early in the day as possible. If you absolutely must make a change after 11:30 on a half day or 2:30 on a full day, please call the main office to ensure that someone gets your message in time for dismissal.
Reporting Absences: When you report that your child is out sick using the Online Attendance Reporting Form, it is very helpful for the main office and Nurse Colleen if you include details of the illness in the “additional information” line. Nurse Colleen follows up on all absences that involve illness so this is helpful information for her to have. Including details of the illness in your absence report helps streamline the process. Thank you!