Wachusett News
October 9, 2021
Dear Wachusett Families and Staff:
Beginning next week, the WRSD will begin offering routine COVID Safety Checks (formerly referred to as pooled testing) for all students and staff. This program is optional for students and staff. Routine COVID Safety Checks will assist the District by helping catch the potential spread of the virus before it starts. Each school administers the safety check once a week. Samples are collected at home and dropped off at school. The samples are grouped together in the lab. Once the samples get to the lab, all the samples in the group are tested for COVID-19 together. In almost all cases, it will take less than 24 hours to receive safety check results. Please follow the link below for more information.
During the past week, 10 state-provided testing staff have started to work in our schools to assist school administrators and nurses with providing on-site symptomatic, Test and Stay, and will soon begin routine COVID safety checks (formerly referred to as pooled testing) within our schools. The addition of these important staff members will help us to provide more accessible and convenient testing to promote health, safety, and regular attendance for both staff and students across the district.
Sincerely,
Darryll McCall, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Student and Family Support Offered through Interface
WRSD is pleased to continue to work with the Interface referral service. Wachusett has partnered with William James College to help facilitate outpatient counseling referrals. To obtain an outside therapist, families typically have to make multiple phone calls, sort through health insurance requirements, and are often placed on long waitlists.
With William James College's Interface service, families only have to make a phone call to start the referral process, and the wait is often significantly shorter than it would be through other referral services. Students in any district grade level are able to access this service, including family members who live in one of our five towns.
For more information about Interface, please go to the following link: Interface.
National Bullying Prevention Month
The following links may provide some useful information for you and your family concerning bullying prevention:
What Parents Should Know About Bullying (PACER)
Help Your Child Recognize the Signs of Bullying (PACER)
Speaking Up About Being Bullied Isn’t “Tattling” — and Our Kids Need to Know the Difference (PACER article)
Spring 2021 MCAS Parent/Guardian Reports
The district will be mailing Spring 2021 MCAS Parent/Guardian Reports home, starting next week. These reports provide results for last year’s Grades 3-8 and 10th grade students. The Parent/Guardian report presents your child’s scores, and includes additional information about important differences between the Spring 2021 tests, and tests given in previous years. One key difference is that students in Grades 3-8 took one half of a regular test in each subject. This can cause individual student performance to vary more than it has in past years. MCAS scores are one data point to provide information on your child’s learning. Your teacher reviews and considers multiple data to monitor your child’s understanding of state standards throughout the school year, and then works to target those important skills and concepts they need to know.
The bottom of each parent/guardian report has information specifically designed for families to help you support your child's learning in their current grade. Visit the links on the reports to view the Family Guides to review the grade-specific knowledge and skill expectations for your child in each subject for the 2021-2022 school year. If you have questions about your child’s results, consider meeting with your child's principal, counselor, or teacher to discuss areas where improvement may be needed and/or ways to keep your child challenged and performing at a high level.
Jane Daly
Deputy Superintendent
School food services and supply chain issues
Stay informed with the Wachusett App
As a means to further enhance communication within the WRSD, the Wachusett App compiles many of the important items related to the WRSD into one, convenient location. The app is available to download for free through the Apple App store or GooglePlay. The app has several components that will be helpful for students and families, including links to:
- the school calendar,
- athletic schedules for the high school,
- a staff directory by school with direct links to email,
- the mobile PowerSchool site,
- school lunch menus,
- school listings with phone numbers,
- maps and directions to any school in the district,
- the WRSD bus provider, AA Transportation and,
- the WRSD website
Wachusett Regional School District
Email: feedback@wrsd.net
Website: www.wrsd.net
Location: 1745 Main Street, Jefferson, MA, USA
Phone: 508-829-1670
Twitter: @WachusettReg