Principal's Weekly
Principal Beth N. Choquette, Bridge Street School
Bridge Street School
2 Parsons Street
Northampton, Massachusetts 01060
413-587-1460 (phone) 413-587-1484 (fax)
Beth N. Choquette, Principal bchoquette@northamtpon-k12.us
Elizabeth Peterson, Administrative Assistant epeterson@northampton-k12.us
Nicole Soutra, Senior Clerk nsoutra@northampton-k12.us
Nora DeJasu, Head Teacher ndejasu@northampton-k12.us
A Message From Principal Choquette 10/5/18
Good afternoon, I hope you all had a nice week. It was wonderful to see so many of you at the open house on Tuesday night. I hope you all had a chance to fill out the survey and RSVP forms for our big event on November 7th. We are really excited about the Vision and Action Forum and hope that you can all be there. If you haven't done the survey, please check out the Vision and Action Forum section below.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who participated in the International Walk and Roll to School Day on Wednesday. We had a wonderful turnout and we hope that we can continue to have that many students walk everyday to stay healthy and to keep the environment clean by not using cars to get to school in the morning. Special thanks to Mayor Narkewicz, Superintendent Provost, the Northampton Police and Fire Departments, our City Counselors, the WSB drivers, volunteers, families, and of course our students. It was a beautiful walk. Let's keep it up every morning!
Congratulations to our raffle winners from the open house. The Harry Potter Charm Bracelet with Charms was won by ticket #170014 and the Books were won by ticket #170055. You can claim your prizes in the main office. Please bring your ticket numbers with you.
Individual student MCAS reports for 4th and 5th grade students were mailed home today. You should be getting your report in a couple of days. If anyone has any questions about the scoring or about the test, please stop in and see me. I'd be happy to sit down and discuss it with you. I will be sending home a detailed breakdown of the MCAS results soon once students have received their individual scores. However, I will say, that I am extremely proud to announce that BSS had its best MCAS year ever and we are no longer in the bottom 20% of schools in the state! Our students exceeded the targets in both ELA and Science for all subgroups. We saw a large increase in Science with an improvement of 17 points. Overall, in Math, there was no change. We saw a slight decline in some subgroups and in other subgroups students met the target. With the new accountability system we are in need of intervention with a targeted focus on participation. The reason for this is due to the four students who did not take the Science test. Participation is not only important, but it is about equity. MCAS is a state requirement for ALL students. The tests are used to help improve teacher instruction and to identify where we need to make changes in our curriculum. However, if the data is not valid due to not having full participation, we could be making changes to instruction and our curriculum that is not necessarily appropriate because it is based off of inaccurate data.
When I first came to BSS I stated that it would take us 5-7 years to see real change and to turn the school around. Well, we did it in six years and I couldn't be more proud of our faculty and staff and of course, our students. We've been waiting for this moment for a long time. Way to go BSS.....I am so very proud. This is a time to celebrate.
I hope you all have a wonderful long weekend!
Reminder
The week of October 22nd is half days every day for parent/teacher conferences.. Dismissal will be at 12:20 everyday. A bag lunch form will be going home. Please indicate on it what days your child will need bag lunches.
November 7th Vision and Action Forum
Volunteers in Northampton
What is VINS? VINS is a non-profit founded in 1981, and our mission is to provide volunteers in the Northampton public schools. VINS volunteers are community members, students, parents, and grandparents. We encourage people of all ages to volunteer! Volunteer participation enriches the offerings of our Northampton teachers and significantly increases the quality of education in our schools.
Candice Tauscher, Coordinator
Volunteers in Northampton Schools, Inc.
c/o RK Finn Ryan Road School
498 Ryan Road Florence, MA 01062
Office Hours are M-Th 8:30am-2:00pm
413.587.1332
Update on Library Renovation
5th Grade Trip to Nature's Classroom
Principal's Chats
No Celebration 10/8/18
Important Dates
Oct. 8 No School Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day
Oct. 10 Picture Day
Oct. 22-26 Half Days everyday for parent/teacher conferences. Dismissal is at 12:20 p.m.