Bi-County Times
February & March 2023
From Our Executive Director: Jeanne Sullivan
I can’t believe how quickly February and March have flown by!!! We were so lucky to have a mild Winter but I am really looking forward to Spring!!!
During the month of February the entire collaborative focused on spreading kindness. You will see in the program updates below that our classrooms had various activities that encouraged students to spread kindness to their peers, across programs and at home. During the week of February 13-17 we held a Kindness Spirit Week where staff shared notes about why they enjoy working with each other, staff received kindness care packages, staff and students were encouraged to wear blue on Friday of that week to reflect the color of Kindness.
The focus for March was Mindfulness. Each classroom teacher was provided with a calendar that suggested daily activities to help our staff and students increase their awareness, adjust their mindset and connect to what is going on around them. I am hopeful that by participating in at least 1-2 of these activities we all start to increase our appreciation of ourselves and those around us.
I want to say a special thank you to our staff and students who are running the school store at Summit. These staff and students presented to our member district special education administrators during their February Meeting. Everyone was very impressed to hear about the school store being reopened and the various roles that you hold.
I have really enjoyed time spent in classrooms over the past two months. Each time I have been reminded of the talent of our educators and how wonderful our students are. I have loved my time reading The Boy In The Striped Pajamas with the high school students in the Learning Center Program. I was a mystery reader for students at TEAP Blackstone where I shared Beekle the Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat. I have spent recess and instructional time with students in both SEAP Bellingham Programs, and participated in Morning Meeting with students and staff at the TEAP Jackson, Plainville Program. I look forward to continuing to focus on being present in classrooms as we move into the final quarter of the school year.
We are continuing to look for qualified people to fill several positions within the Collaborative. If you know of anyone who may be a good fit for our programs they can view our open positions at https://bicounty.org/about/employment-opportunities/. Thank you for any referrals.
We are considering offering a series of training for families. If there is a topic you would like us to explore, please feel free to reach out to me via email - jsullivan@bicounty.org.
Happenings Around the Collaborative!
PDLP & EDLP: Mansfield
SEAP & TEAP: Plainville
TEAP: Blackstone
TEAP Blackstone students were excited to celebrate the 100th day of school! Students "raced to 100" during math, completed different STEM challenges with 100 different objects, and wrote about what they would do if they were given 100 dollars.
TEAP: Wrentham
Upper SEAP: Bellingham
TEAP: Plainville
SLBP: Bellingham
TEP: Foxboro
AMS: Franklin
LREP: Norton
Summit Elementary School: Walpole
Summit Middle School: Walpole
Program Highlights include, ice skating at the Rodman arena and students working at the school store. Students in Mrs.Sousa's 8th grade social studies class are working towards doing a mock trial in their classroom on a Supreme Court Case.
Summit High School: Walpole
Learning Center: Blackstone
STAP: Walpole
LRTC (9-12): Walpole
LRTC has been working on a fun Egg Drop science experiment! Our students designed their own vessels to keep their egg safe when dropped from increasing heights! They chose what container to use and what materials to pack in their containers to keep their egg from cracking! It was a lot of fun!
LRTC (18+): Walpole
Our students have been very busy. They have worked very hard creating and making very special Valentines cards for our local Seniors in our local community! Students were very excited to take a trip to Charwell House in Norwood to deliver a smile to all the residents!
Transition Events Calendar
Congratulations!
Congratulations to our BICO students who received the Student Achievement Award for Exceptional Performance on the 2022 MCAS-Alt from DESE. We would also like to recognize our dedicated teachers for their hard work in administering the MCAS-Alt and the perpetual support of their students.