Principal's Weekly
Dr. Beth N. Choquette
Bridge Street School
2 Parsons Street
Northampton, Massachusetts 01060
413-587-1460 (phone) 413-587-1474 (fax)
Dr. Beth N. Choquette, Principal bchoquette@northamtpon-k12.us
Elizabeth Peterson, Administrative Assistant epeterson@northampton-k12.us
Jordan Celino, Secretary jcelino@northampton-k12.us
Nora DeJasu, Head Teacher ndejasu@northampton-k12.us
Translation of the Principal's Weekly
At the top of the weekly email, there's a link that reads "View it in your browser," click that and it takes you to the post on a webpage.
Scroll to the bottom where there's a black menu bar and pick the option that says "Translate."
Select the language you would like it translated in and it will then translate it on the webpage.
Traducción del semanario del director
Le gustaría traducir esta carta de noticias? Aquí están los pasos para traducirlo:
En la parte superior del correo electrónico semanal, hay un enlace que dice "Verlo en su navegador", haga clic en eso y lo llevará a la publicación en una página web.
Desplázate hacia la parte inferior donde hay una barra de menú negra y elige la opción que dice "Traducir".
Seleccione el idioma en el que desea traducirlo y luego lo traducirá en la página web.
A Message from Principal Choquette
Good evening. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. We were able to go visit Jackson in Boston on Saturday for the day. It was so nice to see him and to see him happy. His first semester was all remote, which as you can imagine, was extremely difficult as a freshman in college. He is loving it at Emmanuel and loving being in the city.
If you did not receive the robocall from Dr. Provost. We are fully remote tomorrow due to the pending snow storm. We are expecting 7-15 inches of snow, so please be safe.
I'd like to give a huge shout out to Mistelle Hannah and our amazing food services personnel. Please take a moment to read the article from the Gazette. Thank you to Mistelle and her team for taking care of so many of our families. We appreciate you and all that you do. https://www.gazettenet.com/Francie-Lin-column-38519979
Open Enrollment Program Applications (for resident students) will be available Feb 1 from our website under the ABOUT link. This program allows resident students the ability to attend a school outside of the assigned zone. Seats are limited and not all grades or schools will availability. Seats are filled through a lottery process. If applying for an incoming kindergarten child, please submit the application along with your registration paperwork (or if your child is already registered and attending our preschool program, please send the application in before the deadline). More information is on our website. Questions: (413) 587-1328 or jtowler@northampton-k12.us
I hope you all have a good week. I'm looking forward to seeing the kids on Tuesday.
Have a good night.
Ms. Lilly's Art Corner
I would like to offer time for families to meet with me during the half days of
conferences. If you would like to meet with me please email me your request with your
available times, child’s name and teacher’s name to: blilly@northampton-k12.us
I look forward to meeting with you.
Respectfully,
Ms. Lilly
Important Information from Nurse Jessica
Social Justice Corner
Black History Month
When we think about diversity, inclusion, and equity in schools. We are often times celebrating very important aspects of our history and its people during "special" months or on "special" days honoring that person, that day, or a group of people. That is all fine and good, but if we truly want to teach our students about history and the people and events that shaped it, it should be part of our curriculum and our everyday conversations. February is black history month, and although the month is designated to honor black history, to truly celebrate, honor, and teach about black history, we should be doing it all year long. It is important for our children to understand history, the good and the bad. All perspectives, not just the perspective of the victors.
Below are a couple of resources from Teaching Tolerance to help teachers and caregivers teach black history to their students and children.
https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/black-history-month-teaching-beyond-slavery
From REAL (Racial Equity & Learning)
REAL (Racial Equity & Learning) has been working with the JFK Students of Color Alliance (SOCA) and Joseph Krupczynski, an architect/designer with expertise in public exhibition/installations that inspire community conversations around identity, to build an interactive digital exhibition in spring 2021 drawing from stories shared by people about their experiences with race, racism, and whiteness in NPS. Why? Because REAL wants to support conversations about what people are experiencing in our district with regard to these essential topics, as an important step toward creating an anti-racist school district.
Wondering what we mean by story? We mean experiences, observations, thoughts, and visions; tellings of resistance, racism, whiteness, and solidarity... We continue to receive stories--some a single sentence, others much longer--from students, teachers, staff, parents/caregivers, and others with a connection to the district. If you’d like, check out some examples.
We invite you to share your own story using our secure form. We treat everything submitted to us with respect and care, and we will never share a person’s story unless they give us permission to do so.
Reach out to Deborah Keisch with any questions.
REAL Resource Directory
Resource for Caregivers-Hand Hold
Please take a moment to watch this wonderful video as a resource to help you in caring for the mental health and emotional well-being of your children.
Tutoring Resource
I'm hoping that you can help spread the word that Homework House is offering FREE virtual tutoring for children in grades 1-6 by appointment after school. This program is open to all children regardless of school district or household income. Tutoring is provided by trained HH volunteers and sessions are 45 minutes long. Our volunteer tutors are primarily UMASS, Smith and Mt. Holyoke students. For those of you who might have contacts, we are also interested in partnering with schools outside of Holyoke to place our volunteer tutors in classrooms during the remote/hybrid school day. I've attached a flyer about the after school program that has the contact infor mation for my Program Director. I am happy to answer any questions about our virtual programs. Thanks, Virginia
67 So. Mt. Holyoke