Shutesbury

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DATES TO REMEMBER

Thursday, January 28

All School Assembly, 1:00pm

Monday, February 1

Grades 5/6 Return in Hybrid Learning Mode

Friday, February 12

Report Cards Sent Home

Monday, February 15 – Friday, February 19

NO SCHOOL.  Winter Recess

 January 22, 2021

 Dear Shutesbury Community,

It's been a historic week! Many students watched the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Several classes watched Amanda Gorman recite her incredibly moving and powerful poem. Students had great questions around the workings of the inauguration. We have included Ms. Gorman's poem in this Roadtown.

This week, I met with the 5th and 6th grade families to discuss our plans for our move to hybrid learning for the upper grades on February 1st. The School Committee met last night and approved the following start times for hybrid learning in grades 3-6.

5th and 6th Grade- Monday February 1, 2021

3rd and 4th Grade- Monday, February 22, 2021 

Exactly 50% of our 5th and 6th graders will be hybrid and 50% will remain remote. We have come up with a creative plan to meet the needs of all learners.

Third and fourth grade families should receive an invitation to an informational night regarding hybrid and remote learning and a survey to document your choice of remote or hybrid learning in the next 2 weeks. 

Thank you for your continued kindness and patience as we navigate our way through hybrid and remote learning. 

Jackie

by Amanda Gorman

When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade.
We've braved the belly of the beast,
We've learned that quiet isn't always peace,
and the norms and notions
of what just is
isn't always just-ice.
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it.
Somehow we do it.
Somehow we've weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn't broken,
but simply unfinished.
We the successors of a country and a time
where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one.
And yes we are far from polished.
Far from pristine.
But that doesn't mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect.
We are striving to forge a union with purpose,
to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man.
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us,
but what stands before us.
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another.
We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true,
that even as we grieved, we grew,
that even as we hurt, we hoped,
that even as we tired, we tried,
that we'll forever be tied together, victorious.
Not because we will never again know defeat,
but because we will never again sow division.
Scripture tells us to envision
that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
and no one shall make them afraid.
If we're to live up to our own time,
then victory won't lie in the blade.
But in all the bridges we've made,
that is the promise to glade,
the hill we climb.
If only we dare.
It's because being American is more than a pride we inherit,
it's the past we step into
and how we repair it.
We've seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it.
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.
And this effort very nearly succeeded.
But while democracy can be periodically delayed,
it can never be permanently defeated.
In this truth,
in this faith we trust.
For while we have our eyes on the future,
history has its eyes on us.
This is the era of just redemption
we feared at its inception.
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter.
To offer hope and laughter to ourselves.
So while once we asked,
how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert,
How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was,
but move to what shall be.
A country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce and free.
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation,
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation.
Our blunders become their burdens.
But one thing is certain,
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy,
and change our children's birthright.
So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with.
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west.
We will rise from the windswept northeast,
where our forefathers first realized revolution.
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states.
We will rise from the sunbaked south.
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover.
And every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful.
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid,
the new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light,
if only we're brave enough to see it.

If only we're brave enough to be it.

***SCHOOL NEWS***

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is removing the requirement for flu vaccination for attendance in childcare/preschool, primary, secondary and postsecondary education. Preliminary data show that this has been a mild flu season to date, presumably as people have received their seasonal flu vaccine and have been adhering to mask-wearing and social distancing due to COVID-19.  Given the intensive Commonwealth-wide efforts regarding COVID-19 vaccination, DPH wants to alleviate the burden to obtain flu vaccination and focus on continuing our COVID -19 vaccination efforts. 

DPH continues to strongly recommend that everyone age six months and older receive their seasonal flu vaccine each year.  

The updated schedule can be found here:

https://www.mass.gov/doc/immunization-requirements-for-school-entry-0/download

***COMMUNITY NEWS***

Local COVID-19 Testing Sites

Unlike “Stop the Spread” sites, these may have a fee for asymptomatic testing. If you are experiencing COVID symptoms, call your healthcare provider and they will provide you with a referral for testing.

COVID-19 Test Site Locator Map (link below)

https://memamaps.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=eba3f0395451430b9f631cb095febf13