For the Week of December 11th through December 17th, 2016.
This last week was a busy week at the Bates, for families, staff, and students alike! The Book Fair was a tremendous success; we raised nearly $4000! Our School Site Council members also got a training about Extended Learning Time and their role in approving our schedule design. Lastly, on Friday we were happy to host Family Movie Night! With over 200 people in attendance, it was a tremendous success! It was the first time for an event like this in a while and we look forward to making it even better the next time now that we know there is such tremendous interest!
We wish the best to the Muslim members of our school community celebrating Mawlid this week.
School Site and Parent Council: December 21st – BUDGET OVERVIEW
At this very important School Site and Parent Council meeting, members of our school community will hear a presentation about our budget outlook for the 2017-2018 school year. You will be able to offer feedback and ask questions as we work to build and sustain a school model that benefits all of our students.
The School Site Council will formally vote on the budget at a special meeting on Wednesday, January 4th, from 6pm-7pm. This is an open meeting and all members of the Bates Community are invited to attend. Only elected members of the School Site Council, however, will vote.
Extended Learning Time – 2017-2018
This week, Superintendent Chang informed Boston Public Schools staff that the City of Boston and Mayor Walsh will support Extended Learning Time next year with an investment of $14 million. Extended Learning Time will happen for all Schedule A schools, which includes the Bates. At this time, there are no immediate plans to change start times, which means for the 2017-2018 school year the Bates’s school day will be 9:30am-4:10pm. I know there are many concerns about this change and I encourage all parents to reach out to me and I am happy to connect you with district-level staff who will hear your concerns.
We hope to present a proposed draft schedule at the regular School Site Council meeting on January 12th.
Fundraising Projects
We currently multiple online fundraising campaigns going:
The Bates School Garden has another crowdsourcing fundraiser about to begin. Instead of votes, Seed Money operates much like Donors Choose. People can donate any amount $5 or more towards our goal. If we do not reach our goal, we still get to keep what we raise. We can also continue to raise money over our goal. There are 3 days left left in this month-long fundraiser you can donate here. This fundraiser ends December 15th!
The first 75 projects that reach $600 will get a $400 grant from Seed Money. Another 50 will receive a $400 merit grant. Please reach out to your networks to help us reach our goal.
The 2nd grade team is fundraising for technology on DonorsChoose. You can donate here.
The K2 team is fundraising for a new kitchen set on DonorsChoose. You can donate here.
Please donor or share these pages with our networks to support Bates students!
Weather and Outdoor Play
As the weather begins to become cold, parents have questions about when we make the decision to go outside. You can refer to this graph that we use to inform the decision. That being said, please make sure your child comes to school with warm clothing and outerwear. There is no need to call the office to remind us about individual students; teachers are very diligent in making sure all students are dressed appropriately.
Phineas Bates Elementary School 