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Community Notes

Heath School ~ May 5, 2023

Community Notes Heath School ~ May 5, 2023

Our North Star

“When children and teachers feel engaged, safe, and supported we have room to grow and learn through collaboration and risk-taking with our peers.”


Previous "Community Notes" can be found here: https://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/domain/718

Dear Heath Community

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May is Asian American Heritage Month AND Jewish American Heritage Month – we celebrate the joy and beauty inherent in these communities and appreciate the many, many, many contributions our families have made to our school, making it a radically better place.


Liz Sohyeon Kleinrock (insta: @teachandtransform) writes beautifully about the AAPI experience in America AND the American Jewish experience (she sits in both worlds). I encourage you to check out her ideas by scanning the QR code here. As a K-5 staff, we are reading Kleinrock's Start Here, Start Now book this year and have found her work to be impactful and so helpful in our efforts to improve our own practices here in our classrooms.

Family Game Night: This Wednesday!

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Be sure to join us this Wednesday night here at school for Family Game Night! 6-8pm! See you there!

Teacher Appreciation Luncheon: Thank you!!!

To begin, we thank Katie and Robin and all the families that organized, offered helped, contributed food, and donated money to help produce this spring's amazing Teacher Appreciation Luncheon! We all felt nourished, respected, and cared for – 10,000 thanks!


Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week! Be sure to keep spreading the love!

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Such a fun pick-me-up!

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Teachers filling their plates

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This hit the sweet spot

Brookline's Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Day: May 20th

This awesome event is the same day as our Mayfair: perhaps plan your day so you'll have time for both?


The AAPI Heritage Day event will start around the Town Hall building and end at the Coolidge Corner Theater on Saturday, May 20th, 10AM - 3:30PM, rain or shine. There will be food trucks, free tasty snacks, puppet performances, performances by Brookline community members, arts & crafts, games, prizes, and more!


IMPORTANT: Reservations are required for the Coolidge Corner Theatre event from 2PM - 3:30PM. Free tickets are available here: The Coolidge AAPI Day Ticketing


We can't wait to celebrate with YOU!

School Renaming Efforts: Ramping Up for What is Next

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VOTING!


The Student Naming Committee is busy making a video to share with you all soon and planning assemblies for all the students in late May, messaging all we can about the amazing candidates for our new school name.


In June we will hold TWO votes using ranked choice voting:


  • the first will be a PRACTICE vote, to make sure our voting system is work. We will be voting on our favorite type of ice cream flavor. The practice vote will happen June 1 and 2.
  • The second vote will be to decide our new school name! The school name vote will take place June 8 and 9.



Who can vote? Students, staff, and families. Students will vote at school during the school day. We sincerely hope that you will have these conversations at home and talk about the merits of each candidate before casting your votes!


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Repeating this BIG Announcement! Our Four Finalists!

After careful deliberation, significant time doing research, and lots of introspection, the Student School Naming Committee is excited to announce our four finalists for our new school name! The finalists are (in alphabetical order):


  • Ruth Batson
  • Ellen & William Craft
  • Roland Hayes
  • John Woodrow Wilson


✨✨✨ Resources on each candidate are here:


Ruth Batson


Ellen & William Craft


Roland Hayes


John Wilson



All of these links live on this document

(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1437-iyXEnXpflu66e2Kj_NA_5lnrLdNcF_P8Cw0q8yw/edit?usp=sharing) and on our website (https://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/renameheath) ✨✨✨

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This May we will have our big push as we move towards making our final choice for new school name. In mid-June we hope to cast the community-wide vote and will be using ranked choice voting to decide. I hope you'''ll take time to watch these videos so you will understand ranked choice voting when the time comes to activate!


Each week, we report updates on the renaming process here. Past "Community Notes" newsletters can be found here:

https://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/domain/718


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The "School Name: History & Resources" website page is also updated regularly:

https://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/renameheath


PowerPoint from Feb 9 School Committee Meeting

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18xY-JTcM5vrkOM0lZWPBqJDBfvIRUcXpCD6_Rci_56o/edit?usp=sharing

Our Growing Community Garden: New Beds!

We hope you come to see our growing garden. Not only are the seeds beginning to sprout, but the size of our garden is expanding thanks to Heath alumniTom Pogorelec and his Eagle Scout troop who designed and built the new accessible garden beds. Tome says: "The two garden beds and composter are now installed in the garden, and should be ready for use! Thank you all very much for your help and guidance during this process - I am really happy that we were able to benefit Heath and its great gardening program."

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Our new accessible standing garden beds!

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Homemade signs protecting our crops

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Please be mindful! Plants growing!

Support Still Appreciated: Diverse Books Project

Throughout the year, Heath families generously donated around 70 books to our teachers' classroom libraries as part of the Diverse Books Project. The books we received have been distributed to very happy teachers! If you didn't get a chance to donate, don't worry — it's not too late! We still have 42 books left on our wish list. Please consider donating some titles to the school to increase the students' access to diverse works. Find the wish list here. Books will ship directly to the school.


Thank you so much!

~ Lindsay Anderson

Librarian

@lindsayteaches

Heath PTO 2023 Spring Grant Cycle Now Open

The Heath PTO is now accepting grant proposals for the 2023 Spring Grant Cycle. We invite members of the community to submit proposals that benefit our school community. The proposal submission link is available at:


https://heathpto.org/grants

Proposal submissions are due by Wednesday, May 17, 2023.

Any questions about the process? Feedback? Or would you like to volunteer to be a part of the grants committee? Please email the Heath PTO (contact@heathpto.org) to let us know.

Mayfair: Coming Up!

Mayfair - May 20 11am-3pm rain or shine!

Mayfair is less than one month away and the students are getting excited. Signs are up throughout the school. The rides, activities and food are all booked. And the Heath community has generously donated over 30 fantastic items for the silent auction. Here are some things you can do now if you haven't already:

  • Volunteer to help out (click here)
  • Purchase armbands in advance so your kids get unlimited rides and games (please send $35 to @Heath-PTO on Venmo with your child's name)
  • Sign up to bring a cake (click here)

TOMORROW! Hidden Brookline Walking Tour

Register here: https://www.campusce.net/brookline/Course/Course.aspx?c=2250


Hidden Brookline Walking Tour

Discover the hidden history of freedom and slavery in Brookline.

When: May 6 th . Cost: $30.

PreRegistration Required at:https://www.campusce.net/brookline/Course/Course.aspx?c=2250

Infamous slave traders, courageous men who escaped slavery, the famous Florida Ridley and more!

Questions? Contact Chair Dr. Barbara Brown at bbbrown@bu.edu

Climate Action Group: Sustainability Corner!

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We are proud to launch our Sustainability Corner, an initiative of our 6-8 Student Climate Action Group.

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We'd like to gauge interest in a school-wide Sustainability Food Fest. Will you take this quick google poll?

https://forms.gle/SW1gypGzcQ4nRmAb9

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Composting

On Monday, Heath started composting in the cafeteria. Composting is important for the environment and helps lower the amount of CO2 going into the atmosphere. The more carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere from landfills and trash burning, the warmer the earth gets, causing more natural disasters, flooding, and other life changing disasters. One way to help is by Composting. After being put in the compost bin, compost is put in soil to decompose properly, while food in landfills doesn’t decompose, and instead just sits there. Composting creates healthy coil, and stores CO2 in the soil, keeping it from the atmosphere and keeping the temperatures down. Furthermore, the soil made from composting is used in organic farms to grow crops that we can find in our stores. In the cafeteria, there are 4 bins, the liquid bin, the trash bin, the compost bin and the compostable tray bin. In the liquid bin, any milk or sauces are put in there. In the trash bin, many plastic utensils and containers are put in there, but the utensils that are given from the cafeteria are compostable and can be put in the compost bin. Along with the cafeteria’s utensils, any food waste is put in there, along with napkins from the cafeteria. In the tray bin, any trays from the cafeteria are put in there so as to not fill up the normal bin as much.


Please remind your kids of the rules for the bins, as this makes the composting much easier and helps the students that are monitoring.

Upcoming Events

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Find the MCAS testing calendar, here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19K4vDorJ6oKkEwgR0Z9uCvEcB021k_9u7n7kuR0N11I/edit?usp=sharing


Upcoming Events:

  • Monday, May 8th: MCAS: STE Makeups

  • Monday, May 8th: Grade 4 AND 5 Rainbow Club!, 11:20-11:50am

  • Tuesday, May 9th: MCAS - Grade 5 Math Part 1

  • Tuesday, May 9th: Grades 6-8 GSA, 10:35-11:15am

  • Tuesday, May 9th: BEF Celebrating Teacher's Event, 3:30-5:00pm

  • Wednesday, May 10th: K-6 Early Dismissal at 12:40pm

  • Wednesday, May 10th: Grades 6-8 Student Climate Action Group, 10:35-11:05am

  • Wednesday, May 10th: Heath Family Game Night, 6:00-8:00pm

  • Thursday, May 11th: MCAS - Grade 3 Math Part 1

  • Thursday, May 11th: MCAS - Grade 4 Math Part 1

  • Thursday, May 11th: AAPI Student Affinity Group, 10:35-11:15am

  • Thursday, May 11th: Young Scholars, Room 209, 2:30-3:30pm

  • Friday, May 12th: MCAS: Makeups

  • Friday, May 12th: PEP, 8:05-8:30am

  • Friday, May 12th: METCO Connections: After School Workshop - Viking Sports, 1:40-3:00pm

  • Monday, May 15th: MCAS - Grade 3 Math Part 2

  • Monday, May 15th: MCAS - Grade 4 Math Part 2

  • Tuesday, May 16th: MCAS - Grade 5 Math Part 2

  • Tuesday, May 16th: Grades 6-8 GSA, 10:35-11:15am

  • Wednesday, May 17th: MCAS - Grades 6-8 Math Part 1

  • Wednesday, May 17th: Grades 6-8 Student Climate Action Group, 10:35-11:05am

  • Thursday, May 18th: MCAS: Makeups

  • Thursday, May 18th: Young Scholars, Room 209, 2:30-3:30pm

  • Friday, May 19th: MCAS: Makeups

  • Friday, May 19th: Model UN Conference at NorthEastern University, 8:00am-4:00pm

  • Saturday, May 20th: Heath May Fair, 11:00am-3:00pm

In Closing

I leave you this week with words Emily Dickinson wrote to a friend in 1853 on a May Saturday: "Today is very beautiful — just as bright, just as blue, just as green and as white, and as crimson, as the cherry trees full in bloom, and the half opening peach blossoms, and the grass just waving, and sky and hill and cloud, can make it, if they try… You thought last Saturday beautiful — yet to this golden day, ’twas but one single gem, to whole handfuls of jewels."


May it be so for you, too.


~ Asa

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Contact

Dr. Asa Sevelius, Ed.D. | Heath School Principal

Pronouns: he/him


Previous "Community Notes" can be found here: https://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/domain/718


Email: asa_sevelius@psbma.org

Website: https://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/Page/17
Location: 100 Eliot Street, Chestnut Hill, MA, 02467
Phone: 617-879-4570

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Heath School

The Public Schools Of Brookline | A METCO Partnership School

Dr. Asa Sevelius, Principal & Mr. Kirtan Patel, Vice Principal

Asa Sevelius
Asa is using Smore to create beautiful newsletters