5th Graders were happy to receive their new laptops!
Patrick Hanssen was recognized at the September Board of Education Meeting as the 2019-2020 Teacher of the Year.
WESTBROOK MIDDLE SCHOOL
154 MCVEAGH ROAD • WESTBROOK, CT 06498 • 860-399-6214
Taylor P. Wrye, Principal
September 17, 2019
Dear Westbrook Middle School,
One of the goals of the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years is to define the WMS core values. Our staff brainstormed on what makes WMS unique and what defines us as a middle school. We began this journey by asking our students to design “the most exceptional middle school in the whole world.” What would this school look like to them? As a staff, we identified the purpose of public middle schools and the values of the Westbrook community.
Below are words that we have identified throughout this process that best represent Westbrook Middle School. Please take a moment and click on each word to view a document created collaboratively by WMS staff members. Each document is broken down into WHY, HOW, and WHAT. The WHY is our core value, the HOW identifies how we achieve the WHY, and the WHAT outlines what students can expect and experience in our school relating to that core value.
We want all stakeholders to have a voice during this process, and are asking for your contributions as WMS parents. Use the following link to submit your vote on which values best represent WMS, or on which values you would like the middle school to focus. We will continue to focus on more than just the listed values but will start with your four top choices. These core values are meant to be fluid and that we will revisit them when we feel the need.
SURVEY LINK; https://forms.gle/9XPu1FsKtDwcVbXv9
Thank you for the time you have taken to complete this survey.
Sincerely,
Taylor P. Wrye, Principal
The Connecticut Department of Public Health today is urging residents to continue personal preventive measures to avoid mosquito bites and reduce the chance of contracting eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus. Residents are advised to protect themselves and their children by minimizing outdoor activity from dusk to dawn, when mosquitoes are most active. The mosquitoes that carry the virus are active until the first heavy frost.
The EEE virus has been identified in mosquitoes in 12 towns and in horses in two other towns. Westbrook has not been identified and no cases have been reported in Westbrook. Information shared herein comes as a result of talking with the First Selectman and the Executive Director of the Public Health Dept. in Westbrook. All are working diligently and preventively to limit town-wide exposure to mosquitoes. Please see the attached flyer from the CT State Dept. of Public Health. These are precautionary best practices that the schools follow for any outdoor activities including athletic competitions. Further, we monitor the condition of our outdoor facilities to spot and eradicate puddles or other standing water sources.
Thank you.
Patricia A. Ciccone
Superintendent
860-399-6432
Dear Parents/Guardians:
On Wednesday, August 28th, your students will be welcomed back to their new school year by their administrators, teachers and staff. While we all lament the winding down of summer, the first day of school is an exciting day for students to reconnect with one another and with their principal, teachers, counselors and other support professionals. This year, major programming and facilities improvement projects that have been completed over the summer will also add to the excitement of returning to school. Thanks to the efforts of our Board of Education, our elected town officials/boards & committees as well as our school district professionals; this is truly a grand opening. Here are just a few of the changes and improvements that our students and staff will enjoy.
Our expansion of Pre-K opportunities has led to our Westbrook becoming a Universal Pre-K district. All four-year-old children now have access to full-day Pre – K.
Our EL population continues to rise and with it our diversity percentages are providing positive impacts on our culture and climate. To more effectively serve our EL students, we have added to our bilingual support professionals and now have two full time certified faculty and several teachers with added credentials to meet the needs of our EL population.
High School students will have access to greater career exploration opportunities and placements as part of their programming through the auspices of our new Career/College Readiness Center and the efforts of our new Coordinator who has joined the Guidance Dept.
Last year’s growth in athletic programming for students has resulted in the outcome for which we had hoped. We are seeing an impressive rise in the number of students coming out for sports teams and showing interest in becoming multi-sport athletes.
Our school buildings are in great shape, with specific upgrades including, fire and chemical safety inspection adjustments & repairs, new high school safety/security doors, tennis courts resurfacing, improvements to field turf conditions and, final improvements to the high school auditorium. Daisy Ingraham and the high school now have new generators with back-up alternative fuel sources.
The aforementioned improvements aside, we understand always that student success and mastery is a journey. We are committed to giving students the individual support they need on their personal journey to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to realize their hopes and aspirations; always measuring our own performance relative to theirs.
Again, it is exciting to plan for and welcome our students every school year and we welcome your involvement as well. Please plan to join us often for individually planned visits, conferences and events, festivities and celebrations, and as always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.
Welcome to school year 2019 - 20! You have my sincere best wishes for a wonderful year.
Patricia A. Ciccone
We look forward to welcoming our students to the first day of school on Wednesday, August 28th!
Parents/Guardians please read about an important change in Pick-Up Procedures, plus everything you need to know about Morning Drop-Off and Afternoon Dismissal at Daisy.
Thank you!
Ruth W. Rose, Principal
Please read this important letter from Principal Rose with all the details about the start of school, Kindergarten and Pre-School Orientation and more!
School starts on Wednesday, August 28, 2019, with a full day from 8:30 am - 3:00 pm.
Orientation for Kindergarten and Pre-School will take place on the morning of Tuesday, August 27. Please read the letter for all the details.
We look forward to welcoming our students, families and staff back to school for a fabulous new school year!
Warmly,
Ruth W. Rose, Principal
Bus routes have been made available within the parent and student portal of PowerSchool. To view this information, please login to the PowerSchool portal and and look for the section labeled "Bus Information" on the main screen. For bus route questions, please contact the main office of the school where your child is enrolled.
July 1 presents us with many new laws. Of those that are effective on July 1, the laws briefly described below, referencing sunscreen and access to HIV prevention drugs, impact the health and well-being of our school-aged children.
Sunscreen for school children
Students who are 6 and older will now be allowed to carry and apply sunscreen before outdoor activities at school — provided they have a written note from a parent or guardian. Prior law treated sunscreen the same as other over-the-counter medications, meaning it required a doctor’s note and had to be administered by the school nurse. “Use of sunscreen at a young age is a critical and necessary component of skin cancer prevention,” the SUNucate Coalition, which advocated in favor of the bill, wrote to legislators. Connecticut joins 22 other states that have similar laws, according to the group.
Youth access to HIV prevention drugs
Minors will no longer need parental consent to obtain HIV prevention medication, commonly referred to as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, and sold under the brand name Truvada. State law already allowed minors to be treated for HIV or AIDS without their parents being notified. Youth ages 13-24 account for 22 percent of all new HIV infections in the U.S., according to Rep. Raghib Allie-Brennan, one of the bill’s chief sponsors. If youth are required to receive parental consent to obtain PrEP “we are effectively requiring that they choose between their right to privacy and their right to medical treatment,” Rep. Jeff Currey, an East Hartford Democrat and another co-sponsor of the bill, wrote in testimony submitted to state legislators.
Daisy Families,
We are extremely proud of how much our students have accomplished this school year, with incredible growth academically, socially, emotionally and physically!
We wish you a wonderful, safe summer and hope that you will take time to read with your children and to play math games with them. Please check out the Governor's Summer Reading Challenge and the Commissioner's Summer Math Challenge at:
https://portal.ct.gov/SDE/CTRead/Connecticut-Reads
https://portal.ct.gov/SDE/Math/Summer-Math-Challenge
Our school office is open throughout the summer and we look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, please enjoy a most fabulous summer and we look forward to seeing you in the 2019-2020 school year!
Warmly,
Ruth W. Rose, Principal
Daisy Parents/Guardians and Staff,
Please save the following dates and join us for:
---Tuesday, June 11, 3:15-4:45 pm: Third & Fourth Grade Talent Show
---Wednesday, June 12, 8:30-9:30 am: Volunteer Breakfast & Parade
---Friday, June 14, 9:15-10:15 am: Fourth-Grade Promotion
Please remember that school dismisses at 1 pm on June 13, 14 and 17.
The last day of school for students is June 17.
Wishing all a safe and wonderful summer!
Ruth W. Rose, Principal, Daisy Ingraham School
Family Night is from 5:00 - 8:00
WMS PTO PASTA DINNER & TALENT SHOW
WASHINGTON, D.C. –Westbrook Public Schools and its work to support the whole student is included as an exemplary approach to supporting students’ social, emotional, and academic development in a report released today by a prestigious national commission.
The Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development’s “From a Nation at Risk to a Nation at Hope” asserts that our nation is at a turning point, understanding that social, emotional, and cognitive development underpins children’s academic learning. This breakthrough understanding about how people learn is fueling a growing movement to educate children as whole people, with social and emotional as well as academic needs, the report says.
Westbrook has espoused the integration of multidimensional skill development to optimize learning. We believe that social, emotional and cognitive skills can be taught, that learning happens in the cultivation of positive relationships and that social, emotional and cognitive development offsets the effects of stress and trauma; adverse childhood experiences. In that work, we have seen the increase in academic proficiency and less disciplinary exclusions. See the work noted in the Aspen Institute feature entitled Caring Communities: Linking School Culture and Student Development p. 9-10 and in the Practice and in the National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development Practice Agenda in Support of How Learning Happens, p. 39.
Westbrook thanks the commission for recognizing our school district and the students who are emerging as our strongest resource. In pledging to continue this work, we have made a commitment to work with our students as resources, true partners in setting the climate of our schools and district, so that students can emerge as leaders on the importance of empathy and kindness. From her unprecedented step of asking high school students to collect and analyze school and community climate survey data, the superintendent commented that “our students are transforming their school and the district (Pre-K – 12) and inspiring others across the state to do the same.”
“A Nation at Hope” emphasizes that translating knowledge about how people learn into practice and helping students develop skills like collaboration, empathy, and perseverance requires systemic change. It offers specific actions in research, practice, and policy to fundamentally shift how we teach children, with the understanding that the social, emotional, and cognitive dimensions of learning are mutually reinforcing rather than distinct.
The report recommends taking these key steps:
Nearly 100 organizations that have signed on in support of the report’s conclusions and recommendations as part of an ever-widening coalition committed to advancing the work. This groundswell of support that has surged over the course of the Commission’s work, and now supports action across communities following its release, sets the report apart and offers promise for the movement to grow nationwide.
As Chet Bialicki, Teen Leadership teacher/mentor, has noted that his, “priority to give Westbrook students increasing opportunities to respond to invitations from organizations such as CEA, the Community Coalition on Children, National School Climate Center, FaceBook and the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence to present their leadership in setting a climate conducive to social, emotional and academic development.”
Drawing on input from more than 200 scientists, youth and parent groups, educators and policymakers, the report seeks to accelerate and strengthen efforts in local communities. These recommendations are especially pertinent as states and communities continue to leverage their increased authority on education policy under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. The report includes specific strategies that schools, districts, and communities can pursue related to each recommendation and examples of places that are engaged in these efforts.
The report also outlines evidence that confirms that supporting students’ social, emotional and academic development has a positive impact on their attendance, test scores, success in college and careers, and overall well-being. This approach also improves students’ feelings about school and makes schools safer.
More information is available at NationatHope.org.
For your convenience, the State of CT has developed a resource toolkit for individuals and families with immigration concerns. Please read CT's description of the resource tools and go directly to the state website by clicking on the Plan version of your choice or the hyperlink below.
"To assist families who have concerns about immigration enforcement, particularly in regards to to the possibility of the deportation or detainment of guardians and the impact that it could have on their children, the State of Connecticut has developed a useful toolkit that people can utilize. There is no cost to utilize any of the documents contained in the toolkit, and neither attorneys nor court action are needed. If you are worried about what will happen to your children if you are detained or deported, you should make a family preparedness plan. We hope that you never have to use your plan, but having one may help reduce the stress of the unexpected."
State of CT link to the Resource Toolkit
For additional information on preparing your family, knowing your rights and finding legal representation, visit http://ctheretostay.org
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