Calendar for 2010-2011 School Year

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School Calendar 2010.11FINAL3.2.10.pdf (118 KB)

The Boxford School Committee recently approved this calendar for the 2010-2011 School Year.

Posted via email from Principal's Page attachments

The Gift of Public School

I read a great article by Albemarle, MD Superintendent Pam Moran entitled, "11 Reasons I am Thankful for Public Education in the United States." While the statistics and facts are powerful, it was Mrs. Moran's ending that grabbed me.

11. America’s dreamers created the reality that all young people, regardless of class, gender, race, ethnicity or religion are afforded the right to a free, public education. This gift, I do not take for granted.

http://k12albemarle.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/11-reasons-i-am-thankful-for-public-education-in-the-united-states/

Public School is a wonderful gift to the American people. Nationally and locally, we do fantastic things for so many. I am proud to be a principal of an American public school.

Positive Behavior and the Code of Conduct

Since the roll out of the Code of Conduct last fall, there has been lots of feedback. Parents and teachers were surveyed, many parents emailed or called with questions, and the Behavior Team met repeatedly. A few weeks ago, we finished our revision, presented it to the faculty and reported out to the community.

While there were several tweaks to the Three-Tiered Discipline system (red slips), I am most proud of the work we did on the Positive Behavior Program (blue slips).

The first big change is that the Blue Slips themselves will not be displayed. We decided this when we realized that displaying the blue slip itself left students and parents studying the slips to look at the different kinds of reasons listed. Some were wondering why certain behaviors were worth a blue slip for one child but not another. Some realized that the standards for earning a blue slip were, in part, based on who was receiving the slip. Posting the blue slips had the opposite effect than we'd hoped. From this point on, instead of posting the blue slip, we will post a yellow Bee medallion, like the image here, with the student's name written on it.

We have also expanded the reasons 

Dragons. Aaaghhh!

Dragons at Spofford Pond School!

Ms. Dalton's sixth grade art class is in the middle of creating these wonderful dragon masks. The two examples here show masks in progress. The first photo shows the frame that has to be created. The second photo shows the layers of plaster sheets used to form the facial details.

Without the plaster covering, by Maddie Taylor

Dragon with plaster covering, by Michael Lavoie

I will try to post photos of some finished masks in the future.

- Larry Fliegelman

Coins for Cures

We raised $603.36 in our first week of our student council sponsored Coins for Cures fund raiser!

Way to go Spofford Pond School. Your generosity is fantastic.