Bloomingdale Schools
Community Newsletter - March
Superintendents Update
Its hard to believe that it is already March. I am hopeful that the weather we are seeing the second part of this week is here to stay! After a snow/icy last few months, I think we could all enjoy some nice warm weather. Keeping with that theme, we had six built in emergency closure days this year. As of today, we have used three days and have three remaining. Should we not require use of the three remaining days, we will look to give those days back in May and June. As we have all experienced, snow can come well into April so once we are confident it is behind us, we will announce changes to the schedule.
I hope you enjoy this month's newsletter. Included below are updates from our three schools, upcoming district programs, community/school events and what is hopefully are final set of COVID-19 exclusion guidelines for the year.
As always, thank you for your continued support.
-Dr. Nicosia
District News & Updates
Preschool & Kindergarten Registration - Still Open!
Bloomingdale Public Schools is excited to announce the opening of Preschool and Kindergarten registration for the 2022-2023 school year.
- To register for September entrance to Kindergarten, your child must be five years of age on or before October 1, 2022.
- To register for September entrance to Preschool, your child must be at least three years of age on or before October 1, 2022.
Preschool is free of charge to all Bloomingdale residents. Parents can register their children online at this link: Registration
The link can also be found by visiting www.bloomingdaleschools.org. From the main page, select the “Family Resources” tab, then “New Student Registration”.
After submitting the online registration, parents are encouraged to save/print the PDF version. In late March/early April the district will be reaching out with information on birth certificate checks and our PK/Kinder screening program.
For families already a part of our preschool program, it is not necessary for students to re-register. They are automatically promoted to the next year within Genesis.
March 15th is the deadline for a confirmed spot in the PK program. After March 15th, students will be taken on a first come, first served basis.
Upcoming Board of Education Meeting
Dr. Nicosia's report for this month will include a presentation on the tentative 2022-2023 school year fiscal budget. This presentation will include both programatic planning and financial planning for next school year,
Unity Through Community
The Bloomingdale Drug Alliance, Bloomingdale Public Schools, the Borough of Bloomingdale and the Bloomingdale Police Department are excited to announce the return of our annual "Unity Through Community" event!
Our event will be held on the evening of Thursday, April 7th at the WTB Gym for students in 5th to 8th grade. Back by popular demand, we are bringing back Dodgeball! Teams will consist of community leaders - teachers, police, fire and council members with students and against students!
Our goal is to focus on our community since the past two years have not been easy. We believe by building the ties within our community, we will continue to provide strong role models for our kids, beyond their family unit. With the necessary cancellation of many town events and programs over the past two years, our kids don't know our current community leaders like they have in the past. We would also like to take this opportunity to introduce our new council members, officers and firefighters to our WTB students and parents.
COVID-19 Updates
As shared earlier in the month, starting on Monday, March 7th, masks will become optional for all students, staff, and visitors. We are aware that, within this approach, some students and staff will choose to no longer wear a mask; other students and staff will choose to continue to wear a mask; and yet other students and staff will wear a mask on an occasional basis.
As a district, we accept and respect everyone’s personal preference and choice, and our schools/staff will continue to work with students so that all understand that “mask optional” means that everyone is free to make their own choice without feeling self-conscious or worried about how others might respond.
As of this update, the same guidelines will now apply to school buses - masks will become optional for all students that ride the bus.
With this latest progression, we have again updated our COVID-19 exclusion criteria. The latest information can be found on the district website. The guidelines will become effective starting Monday, March 7, 2022. Here is a summary of the changes:
A Student/Staff Member who was excluded from school due to a positive test for COVID-19 may return following a five day quarantine period from the date symptoms began or date of positive test if asymptomatic. Symptoms must be concluded for at least 24 hours prior to return at the end of the five days.
If a positive case were to occur in our schools, we will continue to inform close contacts so that families may watch for symptoms. If a student develops symptoms, we would then require them to follow the five (5) day quarantine outlined above.
Should there be a positive case in the household where the student cannot isolate from the positive individual, the student may return following a five day quarantine period with a negative test.
School News & Updates
Walter T. Bergen
The students and teachers at WTB are continuing to work hard in the classroom as Trimester 2 comes to an end on March 14. We will be recognizing students that make the Honor Roll and that are nominated by their teachers to be Trimester 2 Most Valuable Bobcats.
Peer tutoring continues to run after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays for students that need extra time and support on their schoolwork. Mrs. Harvey-Henderson and Ms. Stille are the advisors.
During the week of February 14 students competed in a Homeroom Door Decorating Contest put on by the Student Council. The theme for decorating was Winter/Valentine's Day. The students had a lot of fun working together, and with their teachers. There were many great entries, but the winner was Mrs. Okken's and Ms. Ciccone's 6th grade homeroom.
WTB will celebrate Read Across America the week of 2/28 with the culminating activity taking place on Friday, 3/4. On that day, students and staff can wear PJ's to school and bring a favorite book to read. The last 30 minutes of school will be DEAR - Drop Everything and Read - for the entire school. Mrs. Franke and Ms. King are running an after school STEAM club beginning in March. There is still room to sign up at this link.
Lastly, the WTB Theatre Arts program will be putting on their production, Fractured Fairy Tales, at 8 p.m. on March 31 at SRD.
Samuel R. Donald
SRD students have completed the mid-year iReady diagnostic and individual score reports have been sent home. This assessment provides important data on your child's progress in foundational Math and ELA skills from the first diagnostic in the fall.
Students and staff at SRD enjoyed many different 100th day activities including dressing like we were 100 years old! Thanks to the support from the community and the tenacity of our student council members, we collected well over the 100 items we were hoping to collect for the Bloomingdale Animal Shelter.
Full band rehearsals have started for our fourth-grade band students in anticipation of the end-of-year performance and the transition to the middle school band. In addition, our second-grade concert will take place on March 4th and 9:25 am in the gym. A virtual link will be sent out to parents prior to the concert via email and posted on our website.
Second grade has been working on coins and how to make change as well as learning about pronouns and reading informational text.
Third grade has been learning about Ellis Island and participated in a mock Ellis Island activity where students had to go through the different stages of gaining entrance to the US.
Fourth grade has been creating their own instruments and learning about the science of sound, including how different materials affect the volume and pitch of an instrument.
Our tuition-based after school enrichment activities started this week! Offerings included Cardboard Creations, Weaving, Coding/Robotics, and Storybook STEM!
Martha B. Day
MBD has been busy bees in February. We expanded our bucket-filling into the community and collected 463 items for the animals at the New Jersey Community Animal Shelter here in Bloomingdale. The head chef from Maschio's visited MBD this month during lunch and shared chef hats with our students. We also celebrated the 100th day of school by rotating between centers in our grade level and learning about different ways to count up to 100. On Valentine's Day, MBD spread the love by sharing a Valentine with each peer in their class. MBD also celebrated on 2/22/22 by skip counting, identifying pairs, and dressing up in pigtails, tutus, and ties to honor this historic date.
Bloomingdale Public Schools
Email: mnicosia@bloomingdaleschools.org
Website: www.bloomingdaleschools.org
Location: 225 Glenwild Avenue, Bloomingdale, NJ, USA
Phone: 973-838-0555
Twitter: @bloomschoolsnj