September 15 2020
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DISTRICT NEWS
Urgent Message for
Bus Students
All students must have their bus pass attached to their backpacks or on their person in order to board the bus. Seats are assigned due to health and safety guidelines. Any student without a bus pass will NOT be allowed to board the bus. If you have registered for transportation and have not received a bus pass, please click here to contact Patty Paine, Transportation Coordinator.

Some bus passes that reflected changes from Friday were processed and sent out Friday afternoon but may not have reached your homes by Monday. If you have any doubts about the bus pass, do not have one, or have one for the wrong cohort, please drive your child to school as assigned seating is required and students cannot just jump on buses for the ride to school as they have in the past.

As in any year, please be patient in the first week of buses and routes.


TECHNOLOGY PICK UP ROUND 1
Technology Device Contactless Pickup Day
Natick High School
And Tuesday, September 15, 2020 ---TOMORROW!
6-8pm
The first round of technology pick up for those who requested devices finishes on Tuesday. We ask all parents to approach the High School from route 27. Please take the first left into the Natick High by the Prek School parking lot and follow the loop around the back of the building. 

Please stay in your car so we all practice appropriate social distancing and keep this process as safe as possible for everyone. Please fill out a pickup form for each student needing a device. Filling this out in advance and bringing it with you will make this process go much faster for everyone.

We will only have a limited quantity of Chromebooks to lend out (limit is 2 per family so we can accommodate as many families as possible).

This day is for pickup of Chromebooks only and only for those on this list. This is not the time to troubleshoot or repair a device. If you had devices dropped off for repairs and have not received them, we recommend you come and get a Chromebook loaner as all repairs are on hold so our team can assist with the opening of school.

We will schedule additional Parent Technology Pickup Days when more devices become available. SOME PARENTS HAVE BEEN EMAILED TODAY ABOUT TECHNOLOGY PICK UP. PLEASE PLAN TO VISIT ON TUESDAY FOR PICK UP AT NHS.

Please plug the Chromebook in and give it a good charge overnight before attempting to use.

LIST OF STUDENT NAMES/TECH PICK UP ROUND 1--do not arrive if you are not on this list. Thanks to all for patience as equipment arrives. If you have devices at home, please do not request additional devices.

SPECIAL EDUCATION UPDATES
We would like to offer this overview of special education services for the various types of schooling offered this year. By nature, special education services have a personalized nature to them, but we want to reassure you of the base program. We hope this clears up some misunderstandings that have surfaced, mostly due to the nature of the fast-paced change of state expectations and our own need to revise schedules due to family preferences for service delivery. We ask your patience in the first two weeks of school as all services and schedules are solidified and final caseloads revised.


REMINDER: STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO RECEIVE FLU SHOT BY DECEMBER 31,2020. FLU CLINICS WILL OCCUR IN COMING MONTHS.




A test of the COVID checklist erroneously occurred today (due to superintendent exuberance). On Tuesday, a formal test of the whole district will occur. Here is a training overview for parents/guardians, staff and administrators. Please do not call schools or central office with issues, email the help desk listed in the document. Here is a video of how to do the attestation as well. On Tuesday, if you did not receive an email (same email you put into powerschool) please check SPAM folders before you email helpdesk. Specific info is in the above document.


Snack Updates
Our district is guided by a set of policies regarding food and allergies which are upheld at all times. Students can bring whatever snack they like to school, but if a chlid is housed all day in a class with a child having a severe allergy, they will not be able to eat that snack in that classroom. We send notices to this effect to any affected classes. Other than that, families may pack and eat whatever snacks they wish. We hope this clear up conflicting info shared this week. Elementary blasts recently indicated that the entire school system will be peanut free; that is not the case and is not in keeping with the district policy on allergies. However, classes or buddy classes with students with allergies will be peanut free as they have been in live school of the past.
Have a nice weekend,
Anna Nolin
WEEKLY SCHOOL UPDATES
CLICK BELOW TO VIEW THE WEEKLY E-BLAST—LINK IS ALSO LOCATED ON YOUR SCHOOL WEBSITE!
NATICK HIGH WEEKLY UPDATE
KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST ON WHAT'S HAPPENING AT NHS
Read the weekly Redhawk eblast by clicking on the button below!
FEATURED UPDATES
Want Advice On purchasing a Laptop? Email the Tech Help Desk.

Please know that personal laptops or other devices cannot be used at school on the school network, but you can certainly use them at home!

We are deploying additional devices for families that do not have access to devices at home but are happy to advise others on laptop types.

ACTION REQUIRED
Annual Laptop/Chromebook Fees and Damaged Device Collection


If you have any questions or concerns please let email parentsupport@natickps.org.


Technology Device Request or Repair Procedure

Effective immediately, all Technology Device Requests must be submitted to the Parent Support email: parentsupport@natickps.org.

Requests should no longer be submitted through Speak Up, Natick!

In addition, Parents/Guardians are discouraged from emailing Dr. Nolin, principals or school committee directly for technology device requests, as it severely delays submission time to the Technology Services Department. Thank you for your cooperation!
POWERSCHOOL UPDATE! URGENT!! NOT COMPLETE? NO STUDENT SCHEDULE WILL BE GIVEN!
For Guardians and Students:
Keep up the great work! To date we have received over 3300 Required Yearly Forms for incoming students from parents and guardians who have completed the 3-Step process to create their PowerSchool Unified Classroom account, link their student’s and fill out the student’s Required Yearly Form for FY21.

For those guardians who have reached out to pssupport@natickps.org with issues, understand that we are working to get all issues resolved for the start of school on September 16th. We are extremely short handed on the support email this summer. We thank you for your patience as we staff up for the start of school.

Classlink (http://classlink.natickps.org) Those of you who have been using Classlink this summer to access online applications (Ex: Brainpop, Myon, Freckle, and Edgenuity), These applications have been disable as of September 15th to begin the conversion to PowerSchool and the FY21 school year class rosters. We expect all applications to be back live for the start of school on September 16th. Each week we will notify parents, students and staff as applications become available prior to the start of school.
Instrumental Music Lessons










Now, more than ever, we need the fine arts! The Natick Public Schools is happy to announce that we have opened registration for instrumental music lessons for grades 4-12. For information and to register, Head over to 

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