April 2021

Dear Burr Families and Caregivers,

I hope you had a great vacation, and I thank you in advance for your diligence with regards to Covid protocols, testing, and monitoring symptoms. Thus far, we have done a great job as a school - since April break - of keeping quarantining to a minimum. It's made for a much more seamless transition and better learning for students. Some quick reminders:

Dismissal

Please make sure to do the following: 1) Have your default dismissal established. If you change your plan before school, please send in a note to your child's teacher. If your plan changes during the day, please call / email the office and let us know. Please do not rely on telling your child their plan without directly notifying us through writing. HERE is a link to the default survey we shared with Burr parents back in March if you still need to fill it out. 2) Also, please display your car number on the passenger door. For now, cars should line up on Burr Street (and not Wood House Road) - which is a residential street. If that changes, I will let you know.

Kindergarten

Kindergarten registration for 2021-2022 is well underway. If you know of anyone who lives in the Burr district - who has not yet registered their child - please encourage them to do so. HERE is a link to information about kindergarten registration and orientation. HERE is a link to the district's guide to kindergarten.

Kindergarten Orientation will be held virtually on Wednesday, May 26th. We are also planning a short (and fun) tour for incoming kindergarten students. More information to follow next week.

Teacher Appreciation Week

Teacher Appreciation Week is next week (May 3-7.) I would highly, highly encourage you to do acknowledge the hard work of your child's teacher. The PTA and classrooms are coordinating a variety of things to mark the week. Individually, however, I would highly, highly encourage you to:

• Have your child write something - from the heart - to your child's teacher.

• Write something yourself - from the heart - to your child's teacher.

• Give a small gift card for books (Amazon, Barnes and Noble.) Teachers always need books - either to fuel a love of reading for students or to feed their own learning and thinking.

• Personalize a gift for your child's teacher. Find out what they love and give them something related to that. It doesn't have to be costly to be meaningful.

Technology

This past year, technology has become an important support and accelerator of learning - both at school and at home. However, there is another side of technology - something we have discussed as a school in the past - that has resurfaced recently. That is, student exposure to apps, websites, social media, and web content that is confusing to them and often not age appropriate. I would ask that you consider and reflect (as parents and as a family) about the following questions as they relate to your elementary aged children (although I suspect that some of these questions are applicable to older students as well.)

• Do elementary aged students need phones? I would argue "No" and question whether the benefits of instant communication outweigh the risks of exposure to inappropriate content and the heightened risks of cyberbullying. Please note too that students should not have phones at school or on the bus.

• Should elementary students play first person video shooting games? While there is varying research as to whether playing these types of video games leads directly to real violence or aggression, many of these games are extremely graphic, and I question why we would want young children exposed to them.

• Should elementary students have unchecked access to social media? I would argue that nothing that students post should be private or inaccessible to their parents. You own the technology that your children use, and you have the right to monitor these devices (and the accounts on them) at any time and suspend your child's privilege of using them at any time. Less about privacy, I think it's more about safety and digital responsibility.

• Do elementary students need Snapchat or Instagram accounts? Snapchat and Instagram's minimum age of use is 13. For most students, that means seventh grade.

• Should elementary students have technology permanently housed in their rooms? This is a recipe for late night gaming and social media access and a loss of well needed sleep. It seems more prudent to keep technology in public areas of your house - where you can monitor its use.

• How much should the parents of elementary students monitor the chat rooms, instant messaging, and Face Timing of their children? I would argue often. We have dealt with a number of issues this year (and in previous years) where inappropriate or mean spirited comments that start outside of school find there way into school, and our school gets involved - sometimes pursuing bullying investigations and meting out consequences as needed.

As we move into spring and (hopefully) away from Covid, elementary students should be spending more time engaged in non-virtual play - especially outdoors and (hopefully) with their siblings and peers.

Have a great weekend! Next week is May!

Jason

Upcoming Dates

Wednesday, May 5,12,19,26, June 2,9,16: Late arrival - school doors open at 10:15

Kindergarten Orientation - Wednesday, May 26 (More information to follow.)

Memorial Day (No School) - Monday, May 31st