To the families of Tamarac Elementary School,
Greetings from the nicest day of the school year so far (I'm writing this on Thursday). We are getting close to the homestretch here - things are looking better for an end of the year that may allow us to hold some of the ceremonies and events that we have often had at the end of the school year. We will keep you updated on these events as we get closer to the dates.
Before we get there, though, we have a few other important events coming up. First is our attempt to collect all school-owned Chromebook (except those being used by remote instruction students) by April 2 for cleaning and updating. Send the Chromebook and charger into school and classroom teachers will collect them. After April recess, the Chromebook will remain in the classrooms for student use. Speaking of April recess, it will be the week of April 5th through 9th, with classes resuming on April 12th.
After April recess, we will have two days of New York State testing for grades 3 through 5 in ELA and math, with a Grade 4 Science written test also. This year, NYS is giving us the option of doing only one day of testing for these tests, and we will be taking that option, as will the Middle School with their grade 6-8 ELA, Math and Science tests. These assessments will be taken by in-person instruction students only. Many details need to be sorted out, but I can share the test dates now: all the ELA tests will be on Tuesday, April 20th in the morning; math tests will be on Tuesday, May 4th in the morning and the science test will be on Tuesday, June 8th.
Finally, I'd like to repost information about kindergarten registration from last week's letter. Having a good sense of our new enrollment definitely helps with our planning for next year.
One key item for next school year, despite what school may look like, is getting our incoming kindergarten students registered. If you have a child who will be 5 years by December 1st, 2021 and you want them to begin kindergarten, please contact Carol Petersen, our registrar, at (518) 279-4600 Ext. 2403 or cpetersen@brunswickcsd.org for information or a registration packet. More information for parents will be forthcoming, including a date for a kindergarten Open House later this spring. Hopefully, this will be a presentation that we can have in person.
In case I haven't said this enough this year, your kids are doing a fantastic job with everything that we are asking them to do. They are happy, cheerful, smiling through masks kids who have adjusted to these changes better than any of us could have imagined. Remote students are doing their jobs in meets and Google Classroom, and the in-person students run to their classrooms each morning (well, at least the kindergartners and 1st graders do). They deserve a big hand; so do you. Here's a start
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Sincerely, Rich Pogue
Principal, Tamarac Elementary School