Superintendent Willett's Bulletin
9-8-2025
9-8-2025
DIGITAL BACKPACKS
Birch Grove Primary School Tolland Intermediate School Tolland Middle School Tolland High School
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TPS CLUB HUB
Information on TPS Clubs and Activities
including the form for signing up, cost, and payment and donation information
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2025-2026 Bus Lists
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d8aOyJkMx1ok-UqlkUMVnT6Kqhr_VrEp/view?usp=sharing
Also available on the district website (circle link) at:
https://www.tolland.k12.ct.us/
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Use FIRSTVIEW the Bus Tracking App for Parent/Guardians
https://sites.google.com/tolland.k12.ct.us/tps-firstview/home
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Tolland Project Graduation Bottle & Can Drive
Click Here for more Information
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2025- 2026 Open House Dates – 6:30 pm
Tolland High School Open House
Semester 1 - Thursday, September 18, 2025
Semester 2 - Thursday, February 19, 2026 (Snow Date-Thursday, February 26, 2026)
Tolland Middle School Open House
Wednesday, September 17, 2025 - Grades 6-8
Tolland Intermediate School Open House
Thursday, September 11, 2025 - Grade 3
Tuesday, October 7, 2025-Grade 4
Thursday, October 9, 2025-Grade 5
Birch Grove Primary School Open House
Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - Kindergarten
Thursday, September 25, 2025 - Grade 1
Tuesday, September 30, 2025 - Grade 2
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Important Message from TEPTO
Please note a mistake in the TEPTO Calendar for the month of February. February 18 is a school day. TEPTO apologizes for this oversight. Additionally, please note that TEPTO recognizes that the clip of the BOE calendar included at the top of March does not accurately reflect April 2026. Thank you for being patient with these two issues, and thank you for supporting TEPTO!
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TPS Early Release Days
REGULAR - 2 HOUR DELAY - & Early Release Schedules
Tolland High School
Early Dismissal/Exam Days 7:15 am - 10:45 am
Tolland Middle School
Early Dismissal 8:00 am - 11:45 am
Tolland Intermediate School
Early Dismissal 8:45 am - 12:40 pm
Birch Grove Primary School
Early Dismissal 9:00 am - 12: 55 pm
September 17, 2025
October 8, 2025
October 29, 2025
November 6, 2025
November 12, 2025
November 26, 2025
December 10, 2025
February 4, 2026
March 5, 2026
March 6, 2026
March 11, 2026
March 25, 2026
April 29, 2026
May 13, 2026
June 3, 2026
June 12, 2026
Also see the school calendar
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h_9YyGr2Xtms0ySixx7B6lzqIZ5wDUQf/view
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PAVING NOTICE
There will be PAVING week of August 4 - 15th at Football Field Parking lot, TMS Parking Lot, Main entry (milling), and access road in the back, may want to plan accordingly
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Superintendent Community Forum (Zoom)–
Come share ideas & ask questions!
4:00 pm on the following dates:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87375511973?pwd=eTZGUEZzNDlaYkl6N3lxdnA3UlprZz09
Meeting ID: 873 7551 1973
Passcode: 5sC9ud
September 25, 2025
October 23, 2025
November 20, 2025
January 22, 2026
February 26, 2026
March 26, 2026
April 23, 2026
May 28, 2026
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FREE & REDUCE LUNCH ? MEAL APPLICATION 2025-2026
The free/reduced meal application for the 2025-26 school year has been added to the Tolland Schools website. To access the application and all related information please use this link:
Free & Reduced-Price Meal Application Information
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Tolland Public School Annual Notifications
https://www.tolland.k12.ct.us/cms/One.aspx?portalId=891651&pageId=48325998
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Job Openings
Special Education Paraeducators needed at Tolland High School.
If you know anyone, send them our way by directing them to the website
District Offices/Human Resources/Employment Opportunities
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Asbestos Notification Statement for Tolland Public Schools FY26
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Please see our community notices links at the bottom, and included here as well:
Recent community notices & information
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Connecting Schools to Care IV Students: School Mental Health Resource and Support Guide
Click link for more Information
Mental Health Support and Services
Click link for more Information
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We would love to have you volunteer in our Tolland Public Schools!
Please contact the Central Office with any questions. For those already volunteering, and those new to the game, the BOE will now do background checks every three school years. If you will be volunteering for the first time in the upcoming school year, please complete the volunteer form After you have submitted your application, please call 860-870-6850 extension 2 to provide your social security number. You can check with the school secretaries to verify your status.
Please note these procedures are required for safety and legal reasons. A person will not be permitted to join trips, work in classrooms, or do other work associated with the students in the schools without completing this process. Doing paperwork in advance and in a timely manner will prevent applicants from missing important events and avoids unnecessary disappointments and exclusions.
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Tolland's own Lincoln-the-Dog's
Guide to Paw-some Attendance
Click Here for More Information
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FMX system Building Use Reservation/Sign Up Information
Click Here for More Information
FMX Sign in and Use by Community Members
FMX is our new software platform for the Tolland Public School schedule requests and replaces our former Building Use request process. Community Members wanting to request a school space for functions (not already scheduled and approved) can access the platform via the link below:
https://tolland.gofmx.com/login
You will be asked to create an account on this screen that includes a log-in and passcode that will be exclusively your own when accessing this system. You will also be required to submit proof of liability insurance upon initial sign-up. If you are not required to have insurance an FMX Administrator will be able to approve the account without it when they approve the initial account creation request.
FMX is a cloud-based system so you can access from anywhere that has access to the web.
For all previously submitted schedule request (via the old method) to make any changes, cancellations or adjustments to that event requires you to contact the school directly via phone, email, etc. All new schedule requests starting December 2nd, 2024, should be submitted via the FMX method as listed above.
Any questions regarding account activation can be made to the School Administrative offices at whichever school you are requesting to use:
Birch Grove Primary School- phone, 860-870-6750
Tolland Intermediate School-phone, 860-870-6885
Tolland Middle School-phone, 860-870-6860
Tolland High School-phone, 860-870-6818
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SUBSTITUTES ARE NEEDED DISTRICT WIDE
We need teacher, paraeducator, custodial, nurse, and food service substitutes.
You can choose what position, where and how often. Paper applications are available at the BOE office or can be printed from our website:
https://www.tolland.k12.ct.us/DistrictOffices/human_resources
Do you know someone that might be interested such as a college student (there is plenty of work over the winter break and/or mid May through end of year) or retired family member?
Please send them our way.
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NOTE FROM THE SCHOOL NURSE(S)
Welcome Back Students and Families to the 2025-2026 School Year. My how far we have come!
I wanted to take this opportunity to give some quick reminders to families to more easily navigate the school year.
Medications- all students who take a scheduled medication at school, or have the need for an emergency medication must have a current medication order on file with the school nurse. These orders are good for one year only and must be kept up to date. Please speak with your student’s school nurse for any specific medication questions you may have. Students are not allowed to carry their own medications with them during the school day in MOST instances, with the exception of of epi pens and inhalers. Those medications DO require a medication order to be given to the school nurse.
Required Physicals- ANY student new to Tolland Public schools, EVERY 6th grader, and EVERY 9th grader must submit a new physical from a qualified medical provider. This must include the third page which is an oral health assessment. The oral health assessment may be completed by either their medical or dental provider. If you would like a blue form, please reach out to your school nurse. Otherwise you may submit the form your provider uses OR you may use this link https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/sde/school-nursing/forms/health_assessment_record.pdf
Illness and Attendance- please keep your student’s school nurse up to date if they are missing school due to an illness. Please do not send your student to school who has a fever that persists, who has vomited with the past 24 hours or is generally not well enough to be in school. General guidance for all respiratory illnesses (including COVID) is to stay home until you are fever free 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications, practice good hand hygiene, practice distancing as much as possible, use a mask for up to 5 days after symptoms begin. For any respiratory illness where a cough persists, consider using a mask to be mindful of others you will be around.
School attendance is important. Students need to attend to reap the benefits. Students missing school for reasons other than illness has a great impact on your student, as well as their classmates. Please reach out to your school administration, school counselor, and nurse if you are experiencing any difficulty with school attendance for your student. The school nurse will be able to direct you to needed resources that may improve your student’s attendance. Your student’s school nurse works closely with the attendance team at each school to help determine when an attendance letter needs to be sent. The letter sent home often does not reflect all school time missed. Encourage good attendance this school year.
We welcome your students back!
Tolland Public School Nurses
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Notice from Tolland Food & Nutrition Services - MEAL MAGIC!
Dear Tolland Families,
The Tolland Food & Nutrition Services Department is writing to inform you of this software. It requires a new biometrics scanning system for identification purposes at the point of sale. Therefore, we will need to rescan all students’ fingers for use with the new system. The rescan will occur at the beginning of the new school year. See additional information about biometrics below.
Meal Magic has a family portal where parents can create a free account to access the student meal information. On this portal, there are instructions and videos that walk you through your new account. Just click here to be directed to that portal system: https://tolland.familyportal.cloud/ The identifying piece of information that you will need to link your child to your parent account is their student identification number. If you do not have this number, it is the 5 digit number on the end of your student’s Tolland email address or you can contact us for the number.
The Meal Magic Family Portal will replace the My School Account system that is currently in use for online payments. You can use the Meal Magic Family Portal to view balances, see account and purchase histories, make deposits, transfer money among family members, and set parental controls.
You may still send in cash or a check made payable to “Tolland Food Services” to your child’s school if you choose not to make online payments to the account. Once you have created an account and accessed the system, you will see that your student’s balance has been transferred from the old system.
Tolland Public Schools have been using a finger scanning ID system for many years and have found it successful in allowing the students to optimize their time in the cafeteria. Here are some pieces of information for you about this system:
Nothing in the process of purchasing lunch will change for the students. However, each student will need to have their finger rescanned. This will be done in school with as little disruption to instruction as possible.
Being part of the system is voluntary and you may OPT OUT if you don’t want your child to participate. Also, if you have already OPTED OUT your child, you will not need to contact us again. Those students who have already opted out of participation will continue to be opted out in the new system.
There are no images of any fingerprints taken. The initial finger scan is converted to an encrypted string of numbers - the template. The template is only associated with the student’s name, student ID number, grade and school.
All templates are located behind the school district’s firewall with all the security protections currently in place for all our data. The vendor providing the software for the finger scanning does not host or have access to any of our data.
The templates are only being used to identify students who are enrolled in our system.
How does finger scanning ID work?
We will be using finger scanning ID similar to many smart phones. Using a finger scanner, the software scans certain unique points on the finger to create and store individual numerical templates that identify each student. When the student returns, the software again scans the finger and looks for a numerical template match in the database. When a match is found, the student is identified. This all happens in about a second.
What about the privacy of our students?
The software scans the finger for identification. It does not store a copy of the fingerprints. Instead, the software creates a template of the unique points on the finger. The template is converted to a unique number and is stored in the school district’s database with the same high level of security of all our records.
It is important to understand that we are NOT fingerprinting students. In addition, fingerprints cannot be recreated or delivered to any agency - governmental or otherwise.
It is important to us that your child’s experiences in school are educational and rewarding. This way of identifying our students is safe, easy, accurate, efficient and secure. If you have any questions or do not want your child to participate and opt out of the system, please contact me at the number or email below.
Sincerely,
Kim Mecteau
Food & Nutrition Services Director
860-870-6854, ext. 2
kmecteau@tolland.k12.ct.us
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Interested in Student Accident Insurance?
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Public Service Announcement - Firearm Safety in the Home
Information Message - Please click below
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Please check out our COMMUNITY NOTICES link below
Check out the many important activities!
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Please see this important information regarding Medication Administration on field trips:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tie3f5oIfl972l86NY1X2OaJy8Ir4ttbdxsRGyzOqc4/edit?usp=sharing
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VIDEOS OF INTEREST & GENERAL INFORMATION:
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Tolland PEP Band is NBC30's FEATURE OF THE WEEK!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14KX8xrYTh5c3GAf6_r1MGol1cpApCHrc/view?usp=drive_link
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Check out this video from our pottery workshop on Nov. 15th at Vicente Garcia Studio.
Thank you again to the TEF for sponsoring us this year!
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SUBMIT A BUDGET QUESTION
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Check out the Superintendent’s Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/tollandpublicschools
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Use FIRSTVIEW the Bus Tracking App for Parent/Guardians
https://sites.google.com/tolland.k12.ct.us/tps-firstview/home
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2024-2025 School Calendar
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HELPFUL #'s for Parent's and Guardians
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y7OeNUXheugoJzbVHKBIssekgACmqaIX/view?usp=drive_link
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School Lunch Menus
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Snow Procedures
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Fall Fertilizer Application letter
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SUBSTITUTES ARE NEEDED DISTRICT WIDE
We need teacher, paraeducator, custodial, nurse, and food service substitutes.
You can choose what position, where and how often. Paper applications are available at the BOE office or can be printed from our website:
https://www.tolland.k12.ct.us/DistrictOffices/human_resources
Do you know someone that might be interested such as a college student (there is plenty of work over the winter break and/or mid-May through end of year) or retired family member?
Please send them our way.
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Interested in the data?
Check out the Superintendent's new
TPS Data Portal
https://sites.google.com/tolland.k12.ct.us/sqr/home
The TPS Data Portal is a site that provides rolling data on academic subject areas and social and emotional programming (updated as data becomes available) for the TPS community. If you have any questions, please contact me!
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REGULAR - 2 HOUR DELAY - & Early Release Schedules
Tolland High School
Regular School Day 7:15 am - 1:43 pm
2-Hour Delay 9:15 am - 1:43 pm
Early Dismissal/Exam Days 7:15 am - 10:45 am
Tolland Middle School
Regular School Day 8:00 am - 2:30 pm
2-Hour Delay 10:00 am - 2:30 pm
Early Dismissal 8:00 am - 11:45 am
Tolland Intermediate School
Regular School Day 8:45 am - 3:15 pm
2-Hour Delay 10:45 am - 3: 15 pm
Early Dismissal 8:45 am - 12:40 pm
Birch Grove Primary School
Regular School Day 9:00 am - 3:30 pm
2-Hour Delay 11:00 am - 3:30 pm
Early Dismissal 9:00 am - 12: 55 pm
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Check out the Superintendent’s Page
You can find many resources there from the Capital Improvement Plan to Superintendent Community Forums – to Community Workshops
Check it out today:
http://www.tolland.k12.ct.us/DistrictOffices/superintendent/superintendent_willett_s_page
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Annual Notifications
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