In order to keep you better informed about your school, we are sending home a monthly newsletter. If there is an issue you would like to have us address in the future, then please call us at (508) 821-1240. We only ask that you try to stay positive, and worse case offer constructive criticism of our many efforts.
Blue Ribbon: Congratulations to the entire Hopewell community! We were notified last Friday by state and federal officials that Hopewell will be nationally recognized tomorrow as an exemplary school. Congratulations must go out to all of our present and former students, parents, guardians and the incredible staff here at Hopewell. There is not a better staff of educators in the country than the remarkable staff here at Hopewell. We also want to recognize all the fantastic work done by our PTT, and our invaluable and very supportive corporate partner Bristol County Savings Bank (BCSB).
Annual Yearly Progress (AYP): As required by the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law, all schools are expected to meet or exceed each year specific student performance standards in English language arts/reading (ELA) and mathematics. In Hopewell’s case, AYP determinations are issued yearly based on the performance of all our 3rd and 4th grade students in the ELA and math MCAS tests given each spring.
Based on existing MCAS scores, Hopewell made AYP for the fourth year in a row. Overall, our MCAS ELA scores have increased to an average of 93%, while our Math scores have increased in four years to an average of 92%. Overall, Hopewell has shown appreciable to dramatic increases in all of our Kindergarten to 4th grade learning programs. Once again, Hopewell’s incredibly successful “game plan” included the following items:
• A phenomenal staff who treat your child as though they were their own.
• Attendance increased from 94.6% in 2005 to 95.6% in 2006 to 96.3% in 2007 to 96.6% in 2008 and 97.0% in 2009. Our goal in 2010 is 98%.
• Before, after and Saturday School classes and tutorials by many teachers and high school students. Many families hired private tutors.
• Teacher Assistants truly being used as classroom teachers and tutors.
• Professional development by Hopewell staff assisting other colleagues.
• Staff utilizing teaching and assessment tools such as DIBELS.
• Grade level meetings to identify “at risk” students for interventions.
• Title I reading specialists who are typically the first to intervene.
• Free/Reduced Lunch participation increases over the last three years allowed Hopewell to keep staff members and fund tutorial programs.
• PTT sponsored academic and cultural programs for all students.
• Bristol County Savings Bank funding academic and social programs.
• School Council establishing a workable School Improvement Plan.
• Parents and guardians taking ownership of their child’s education.
• Students who really want to come to school each day in order to learn.
Well-Rounded Students: Hopewell is not all about getting an award, taking MCAS and making AYP. Listed below are more than 20 programs Hopewell has conducted on a yearly basis to promote the academic, social, emotional and physical well-being of all our students. We educate the whole child!
• Teach all five subjects every day, even just before testing
• Title I Reading Specialists utilized for interventions
• Art, Music and Physical Education (Wellness) classes
• Proficient readers/writers before the end of the 2nd grade
• Recognition of all races, creeds, colors and nationalities
• Saturday Specials of Chess, Art, Music and Spanish
• College, high school, staff and retiree tutoring programs
• “Open Circle” for socialization and behavior modification
• Fire prevention/safety and Police awareness programs
• Organized Recess with a variety of rotating activities
• Title I and PTT Bookfairs with low cost or free books
• A variety of students and family members involved in our PTT
• After school reading programs involving community leaders
• Cultural, social, historical, academic and musical assemblies
• Grade level field trips to theater performances and museums
• Community Service Projects for the needy and the veterans
• Joint-ventures with a very supportive corporate partner BCSB
• BCSB finances Saturday programs, Literacy Closet & Summer Reading
• BCSB finances Reader’s Theater for presentations by K and 4th graders
• Fundraisers involving students, parents, staff and the community
• “Saving Makes Cents” financial program for 4th graders
• “Nature & Me” outdoor education program for 4th graders
• Student recognition assemblies for work ethic and attendance
Attendance: Once again, our No. 1 academic priority is attendance. If they are not here, then they cannot learn. One problem area is a few families taking vacations during school days. No one denies the fact that hard working parents deserve a well earned vacation. The problem arises in taking a vacation during school days. By law, no one can keep a child out of school.
The law states that unless a student has a doctor’s note for a specific illness, a death in the immediate family, a family religious holiday, or the child’s participates in a court case, then a student must be in this school from 9:00am to 3:15pm. The law also states that with 14 or more unexcused absences, a student can be retained in the same grade. Please do not take these vacations.
Safety and Security Concerns: The No. 1 job for the staff at Hopewell is the safety of your child. We are very sensitive to several parents’ wishes to drop their child off a certain way and/or to escort them into the building. Unfortunately, this would create a very serious safety and security problem.
We have had parents and other family members get out of their car and unknowingly drop their children off into oncoming traffic. You must drop your child off at the crosswalk or at the sidewalk alongside the school without getting out of your car. If you need help, then either signal myself at the sidewalk or in front of the school or the crossing guard at the crosswalk.
As the signs say at the front door, “…Stop! Check in at the Front Office upon entering building for Visitor Pass. At dismissal time, please wait for students outside the building.” We cannot allow parents and other family members to walk into the school without signing in and out at the front office desk and wearing a visitor’s pass while in the building. We would appreciate it if you could just say good bye to your child in the car or at the front door.
Communication Folders: All school correspondences will be sent home in a communication folder on the first day of the school week, which is typically Monday. Some of these correspondences must be signed, along with a signature on the outside of the communication folder each week. All signed papers, and the communication folder, must be returned on the next school day. If a student loses three folders, or fails to have a folder signed and returned on three occasions, then the student will get a detention.
Expectation Night: It is this Tuesday, September 15th from 6:00 to 7:00pm. We expect every family to attend and sign-off on all grade level expectations.
Footwear: For the safety of all students, please have your child wear sneakers, boots or closed-toe shoes to school. As stated in the handbook, sandals, flip-flops, jelly shoes, high heel shoes, clogs, “heelys”, slippers and any type of open-toed shoes are not allowed in our school. This way your child stands a much better chance of not being injured while taking part in organized recess, and gym activities on blacktop, and walking up and down three flights of concrete and metal stairs. Should your child have improper footwear, a staff member will call you to have someone bring in the proper footwear. If you are unable to arrange for the change in footwear, then your child will unfortunately not be allowed to participate in recess and gym activities (refer to the “Dress Code” section of the Student/Parent Handbook).
PTT Activities: Our “Kindergarten Cookout” was a huge success due to the help of our present and former Hopewell students, PTT officers and families. The first, general PTT meeting is on Tuesday, September 22nd from 7:00 to 8:00 pm in Hopewell’s library. During that meeting, discussions will take place on fundraisers and over two dozen activities planned for this school year. Please come to our meetings and show your support for such a great organization. The PTT Playground Committee will meet on the same day from 6:00 to 7:00 pm in the library. Please feel free to contact your PTT officers by e-mail at HopewellPTT@hotmail.com.
• “Book Fair” Tuesday, September 21st to Friday, September 25th
• “Family Reading Night” is Friday, September 25th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm
• “2nd Annual Penny Race” will take place during the month of October
Tardiness - This is a very bad example to be setting for our students.
• Unless a student goes to daycare at 7:00 am or breakfast at 8:25 am, they must be dropped off between 8:45 and 9:00 am. Once the bell rings at 9:00 am, a student is tardy, and must report to the office.
• If a student is tardy a total of six days, then they will get a detention. Every additional day tardy, a student will get another detention.
• If a student has been tardy for ten days, we will request a meeting with the parent/guardian to find out how we can solve this problem.
Early Dismissal – For security reasons, no child will be released from 3:00 to 3:15pm. Hopewell will continue the “drive-thru” pick-up. Parents must enter Monroe Street from Broadway and park against the curb. After the gates are opened at the eastern sides of the building at 3:10pm, parents will drive around the back of the school and pick up their child. “The” best time to arrive is 3:20pm. For several safety reasons, do not get out of your vehicle.
Staff members and myself will coordinate this car activity, while other staff members will lead the bus and van students out the front of the building. Due to safety concerns, all walkers will not be released until 3:30pm. They will exit the eastern or Broadway side door. The parents/guardians of walkers must wait until all the buses and cars have left the school grounds before picking up their child at 3:30pm. Again, safety is our number one concern.
Students will not be released before 3:15 pm unless:
• A student has been determined by our full time nurse to be sick.
• We have a doctor’s or dentist’s note for a school time appointment you could not schedule for non-school hours. Please try to schedule appointments after school, on Saturdays or during school vacations.
• There truly is a family emergency that requires your child’s removal.
Birthday Parties: Ideally, birthday parties should take place at home so as not to interfere with the “time on learning”. Invitations to home birthday parties will not be distributed in school unless all students are invited or all students of either male or female gender. Due to the School District’s Wellness Policy, birthday parties, with healthy snacks, will only be allowed once a month. Summer birthdays will be recognized in either September or June.
School Council: The Massachusetts Reform Bill calls for the establishment of a School Council at each school in Massachusetts. The duties of the Council are to assist the principal in the following areas:
• Review the annual school budget (if funds are available)
• Formulate and revise annually a School Improvement Plan
• Formulate and revise annually a School Safety Plan
• Prepare and revise annually a Student/Parent Handbook
Parents who are to serve on this board in an advisory capacity must represent the diverse population of the school. School Council meetings will take place one night a month for one hour. If you are interested in serving on the Hopewell School Council, please contact us by Friday, September 25th. Our first general meeting is on Tuesday, October 13th from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. Please come and show your support for our great school.
Volunteering: Hopewell has more than 250 CORI-checked parents. Per capita, this is the highest percentage in the whole district. Could many of you please help us during the school day? We need another set of eyes and ears at all five recess activity stations. You will not have to meter out discipline. In order to keep students in the classroom, we need adult help cleaning up in the cafeteria. Recess and lunch aides would work from 12:00 to 1:00pm.
We could also use a few parents for photocopying and laminating duties. If you cannot come to school during the day, then please volunteer for one of the over two dozen PTT activities. Contact us at (508) 821-1240 or e-mail the PTT at HopewellPTT@hotmail.com. Please get involved in this great school.
Bristol County Savings Bank (BCSB): We could not have a more supportive corporate partner than the Bristol County Savings Bank. We will be submitting a grant proposal to BCSB this Friday, September 18th that would renew our many Reading programs and our Saturday Chess, Art, Music and Spanish (new) programs. Our Saturday programs are for 2nd to 4th graders, and they will start some time around mid-January.
Detention: We will return to our previous after school detention system. If an incident were to take place, then a parent or guardian would be called, and a detention slip would be sent home with the student for signature. Detentions will be served on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. All students will think about what they did wrong, and then they will write an apology to the appropriate staff member or student. The Kindergarten students would stay until 3:45 pm, while the other students would stay until 4:00 pm.
Forms: - Please return the following signed forms by Friday, Sept. 25th. The last four items are on the last page of the Student/Parent Handbook. Just remove the last page, fill in and sign all four sections, and return it to school.
• Free/Reduced Lunch and Breakfast application
• Information Card with emergency phone numbers
• Elementary Emergency Early Release Form
• News Media/Release of Information Form
• Internet and Network Access Agreement
• Student/Parent Handbook Sign-off Page
Free/Reduced Lunch: The Taunton School District gets reimbursed from the federal government a minimum of $2,500 for every student who qualifies for free/reduced lunch, and Hopewell gets to keep staff members and run very important academic and tutorial programs. Last year, 62% of Hopewell’s students qualified for either free or reduced lunch. We are kindly requesting that all families fill out a form. If you are positive your family does not qualify, then write those words on the form itself, sign it and send it back. This is very important to Hopewell. Our goal is to get a response from all of our families.
Parent/Guardian Mission: Many parent/guardians are frustrated when it comes to helping their child with homework. This is especially the case with 3rd and 4th grade parents/guardians trying to figure out how to do division and multiplication another way. All we are asking you to do is “work the basics”. Please make sure your child can easily add, subtract, multiply and divide. One great way to help your child is to either buy or make flash cards. Flash cards are another way for K kids to easily learn their letters and numbers.
Report Cards: Progress reports will go home the weeks of October 19th, February 8th and May 17th. Report cards will go home the weeks of December 14th, March 29th and the last day of school. We hope you find the new report card to be more user-friendly and less complicated. A cover letter to the report card will be going home to parents to explain the different report card features. These revised report cards continue to dovetail very nicely with the state frameworks and the district promotion policy.
Phone numbers: If you need our assistance, please contact us at the numbers listed below. Thank you for your continued support and cooperation.
• Main Office @ (508) 821-1240 Principal @ (508) 821-1241
• Nurse’s Office @ (508) 821-1383 Librarian @ (508) 821-1243
• Guidance and Attendance @ (508) 821-1209
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