Benjamin Franklin BOLT News
September 2021 Edition
Principal's Corner
Dear Parents/Guardians and Students:
I hope all of you have had a wonderful fun filled relaxing summer and are looking forward to the upcoming school year. The staff and I have been busy making all of the necessary preparations for you to ensure we have a fantastic and smooth opening. We take our responsibility seriously and are committed to each and everyone of you to provide a positive educational experience.
The beginning of a new school year always brings excitement, new goals and allows for a fresh beginning. Benjamin Franklin School will continue to provide itś students with an outstanding academic program while meeting the needs of all students socially and emotionally. The staff and I will provide the students with an appropriate learning environment while ensuring the safety and well being to all those who enter our school.
In our classrooms, we will continue to implement our curriculums that will create successful life long learners. Collaborative Classroom/Making Meaning will be at the center of our Language Arts Curriculum and Investigations will be used for Math. We are excited to introduce our new Science program which will align to our philosophy of providing hands-on and engaging experiences. We are excited to have brand new Interactive New Line boards in our classrooms and will continue to provide chromebooks, touch screen chromebooks and Ipads for all students.
At Benjamin Franklin Elementary School we value our tradition of excellence. Our goal is to develop and shape our students into passionate, confident, life long learners who have competence and strength of character. We expect our students to realize their aspirations and be prepared to contribute to an equitable, diverse, technological global changing world.
Ben Franklin School meets the needs of our diverse community by creating many opportunities for students to excel academically and socially. Our curriculum is an integrated approach which allows students to make connections amongst all subject areas. We believe that all children can learn, and it is our mission to find their individual interests to ensure they are able to apply their knowledge and skills to their daily life. Our mission is to ensure that our students are ready for today, tomorrow and their future.
While I know many of you have concerns about the Corona-Virus/Delta Variant, I can assure you, the staff and I will follow the guidelines provided by the CDC and the Government as we are updated daily by our Central Administration. As the school year begins this fall, students in New Jersey will be fully returning to in-person learning. To ensure that your child and all New Jersey students are protected against COVID-19 once schools open, here are a few steps you and your family can take in the weeks ahead.
.NJ Department of Health Letter to Provide Information to Parents on Vaccinations
On behalf of our Staff and I, we welcome you to the 2021-2022 school year where we will continue to teach your children, to "BE A BOLT,” LETTING THEIR LIGHTNING SHINE." We look forward to
seeing everyone on September 1, our first day of school.
Mr. Preville
Principal
School Counselor's Corner
Welcome back to school, Ben Franklin Family! As always, I will be here to help you in any way I can as we begin the 2021-2022 school year!
Transitioning back to school is an event filled with emotions for child and parent. Your child may be excited about the new year, including all its challenges, or apprehensive, or any emotion in between.
The impact of Covid-19 has meant that teachers, parents and students have experienced a large number of significant changes in a short period of time. The next big change will be the return to school and face to face interactions with other students and teachers. The thought of this may be a little nerve wracking for some students and their parents. Below are some resources to help you and your child prepare for the transition!
Additional Back to School Resources: https://childmind.org/backtoschool/
-Miss Kole
School Nurse's Corner
Dear Ben BOLT Community,
Welcome back to Ben Franklin 2021-22!
This is an important reminder that many new students in the school need to have their immunization records updated and physical exams completed and submitted. New students have 30 days after enrollment to have their documents completed. There are a few who owe these documents since last year and they will NOT be allowed to start school without submitting them.
Any child who has had any physical exams or immunizations done during the summer, even if not required, can have the records emailed to me and I will add them to your file. The health records are updated annually and this data will be helpful.
At this time a plan is being created for our back to school routine. We all want this to be a successful in person experience and your help will be needed. Please continue to communicate with the teachers and front office if anyone is sick in the home or if there are hardships. Please, also, keep your child home if they are sick. We need to remain a team as we continue to get through this difficult time.
Let our Lightning Bolt Shine!
Stay well!
Respectfully, Karen Julian, APN
Ben Franklin School Nurse
Assistant Principal's Corner
I hope that you have had a wonderful summer and are well-rested for our launch of the 2021-2022 school year.
I wanted to provide everyone with a few important reminders:
1. our monthly parent newsletter contains important resources, announcements, event details, upcoming dates and other news from around the building. I send it out via Twitter, the school website, and blackboard. Please remember that the newsletter can be translated into many languages at the top right hand corner.
2. if you have had an email address change (from the one we have on file) please be sure to contact the Main Office with your correct email information as a lot of our communication go out through blackboard and are sent directly to your email address,
3. in order to facilitate dismissal procedures and ensure that our students are on the correct bus, we will be utilizing a colored-coded bus tag procedure, and we ask that you not remove the colored tag from your student's backpack.
Thank you and please continue to check our website frequently as there are many updates and important announcements posted there.
Dr. Nieves (formerly Mrs. Nieves)
Maschio's Food Service (New Food Services Program)
Technology
Edison Public School Parent Helpdesk & Support
Welcome to the Parent Helpdesk,
As you may know, Edison Public Schools has invested in the creation of a new Parent Helpdesk and Support Solution. This decision is explicitly designed to improve our responsiveness to issues you report and continuously improve our service levels and our customers satisfaction.
Benefits of the Parent Helpdesk
The helpdesk now enables us, and you, to track every incident you report to us.
We will now have both a holistic and granular understanding of the volume of your inquiries, suggestions and complaints, as well as the appropriate content and classification of each. This data helps us prioritize our efforts to better meet the needs of our parents.
Every call, email or web contact is ticketed and your reported issue is either handled on the spot by our support personnel or escalated, as needed to the appropriate department. When your issue needs to be escalated, we make every effort to ensure it is properly vetted, prioritized and sent to the right member of our team who can help you.
Our Parent Helpdesk is designed for quality. We want to make sure that none of your issues get lost in the shuffle, that you receive timely updates on our progress either via our helpdesk solution, email or phone and that your issues are addressed and resolved as quickly and accurately as possible.
Measuring Our Quality Improvement
We are committed to continuously improving your satisfaction with our customer service and support.
We want to make it as easy as possible for you to use our application and get help when you need it. We will continually:
- Make sure you have a good understanding of the parent helpdesk and support solution by posting instructions and ‘how to’ videos so you better understand how to use the application and what to expect the from us.
- Take advantage of our website and online support site to easily get answers yourself for many of your commonly asked questions.
- Evaluate the access our customers need and expand our helpdesk support to cover additional departments.
- Continually monitor and review analytics in an effort to provide more efficient support.
- Continually expand the Parent Helpdesk to better support our Edison Public School community
As of July 2021, our Parent Helpdesk and Support Solution has following modules to support your needs: (click on the department name to access the respective helpdesk)
- Technology Department
- Enrollment Department
- Transportation Department
- Special Education Department
- Food Service /Maschio’s Support
In addition, you can also access the Parent Helpdesk via the district’s website: www.edison.k12.nj.us
Parent Helpdesk and Support Solution Instructions and ‘How To’ Videos
The following are frequently asked questions & instructional videos for your reference
What is the Parent Helpdesk?
- The Parent Helpdesk and Support Solution is a single point of contact where parents can submit a request for support
- Please see below a short overview video of the Parent Helpdesk Portal
How do I access the portal?
- There are multiple ways to access the Parent Helpdesk
- Via the district, www.edison.k12.nj.us or your child’s school homepage
- Via a mobile app
Can I call a phone number for support?
- Yes
- For the Enrollment Department Helpdesk, please call 732-452-4570
- For the Technology Department Helpdesk, please call 732-452-4998
- For the Transportation Department helpdesk, please call 732-452-4560
If I call, will a ticket be submitted within the helpdesk portal so I can track its progress
- Yes, our customer support personal will enter a helpdesk ticket on your behalf, once this is done, you can track the ticket from within the portal or via email updates
If I am having problems with the helpdesk portal, can I email my request to start my inquiry
- Yes,
- To email the Enrollment Helpdesk: genesis.help@edison.k12.nj.us
- To email the technology Helpdesk: helpdesk@edison.k12.nj.us
- To email the Transportation helpdesk: transportation.help@edison.k12.nj.us
- To email the Food Service helpdesk: food.service@edison.k12.nj.us
- How long before my ticket gets addressed
Edison Public Schools is committed to acknowledge your support request within 24-hours or the next business day (if your request is received during a weekend or holiday)
Edison Public Schools is committed to resolve your inquiry as quickly as possible, but unfortunately given the dynamic nature of inquiries we cannot commit to a resolution timeframe
Edison Public Schools Parent Helpdesk and Support Solution’s Introduction & ‘How To’ Videos – click the link below
- Enrollment, Transportation, Special Education, & Food Service Helpdesk Support Videos
Dr. Nieves
Please purchase insurance for your school device
Thank you!
Available Device Coverage
Genesis Parent Portal
The Genesis Parent Portal holds a lot of important information for your student(s) in the District. Your student's teacher for the 2021-2022 school year, grades, absences, etc. are all stored within the portal.
Please follow these instructions to make sure you have a Parent Portal log in:
Below are a series of Frequently Asked Questions and answers. If you require additional assistance, please email: Genesis.parent@edison.k12.nj.us or call 732-452-4574 between the hours of 8:00AM-4:00PM.
Question 1. How do I register for the Parent Portal?
Answer 1. Contact the Enrollment Center at genesis.parent@edison.k12.nj.us or call 732-452-4574 between the hours of 8:00AM - 4:00PM.
Question 3. I tried logging in but the login screen goes back to blank. Why?
Answer 3. If a user attempts to login 5 or more times using the wrong password the system will disable the account. If this occurs, a user should either email genesis.parent@edison.k12.nj.us or call 732-452-4574 between the hours of 8:00AM - 4:00PM.
Question 4. I have more than one child in the district, do I have to submit a registration form for each child?
Answer 4. Yes. We ask that parent/legal guardian submit a registration form for each child. This is done to ensure the information we receive is correct and allows us to connect all of the children under the same account.
Important details in regards to change of address/phone number/etc.:
1. If you need to change/update your phone number or email address please contact your child's school.
2. If you need to change/update your address, please contact the Enrollment Center at 732-452-4570.
3. Parent Portal Helpdesk: genesis.help@edison.k12.nj.us
2021-2022 District Calendar
School Hours (Regular, Delayed Opening and Early Dismissal)
Kindergarten Orientation August 31, 2021
Back to School Night 2021 September 21, 2021
Annual Title 1 Parent Meeting September 21, 2021
Important Dates
September 6- Schools Closed, Labor Day
September 7 and 8- Schools Closed, Rosh Hashanah
September 16, Schools Closed, Yom Kippur
September 20-24, Exact Path Reading, Grades 1-5
September 21, Back to School Night, Grades 1-5, 6:00-8:00 pm
September 21, Annual Title 1 Parent Meeting, Kindergarten-5th grade, 5:30 pm
September 27-October 1, Exact Path Math, Grades 1-5