Her commitment to innovation, resilience and storytelling make her a perfect fit for our small but mighty team!

Thank you to those of you who wrote to me last week with encouragement for our staff as we get through this surge time period. The notes and consideration mean more than you know. If you have it in you to write to our staff and let them know of their impact on your child(ren), it is gold to us all.

I wanted to let you know that the district will be hiring two grant funded positions in the near future: Director of Social Emotional Learning and Equity, and Coordinator of Safety and Security. Both positions are aligned with our strategic plan and we have been seeking grant funding for both for some time. Both grants have come to fruition this year. We are looking to diversify our staff and in the coming weeks as the job postings come out, I ask you to send the opportunities to your networks--you, the Natick community--know what is needed for our community and might find us that just right match. The Director of Safety and Security position will work on our safety technology (cameras, etc.) work on safety drills and planning and conduct security audits for all of our facilities. The position will be shared with our town partners; Police Chief Hicks and I will be working on this together. In current times, someone to coordinate our safety work across town and with state and federal agencies is a vital part of our town planning and collaboration efforts. I am excited to welcome these roles to our team.

On Monday, I will also present my DRAFT early recommendations for our FY 23 budget in addition to the detailed presentation of the technology and transportation budget.

At our School Committee meeting Monday, I will be sharing the new COVID testing program from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

At Home: The new testing program allows families and staff to receive weekly antigen testing distributed at school for your use with your child(ren) and for staff to use on themselves. The expectation is for weekly testing.

At School: Our nurses will continue to provide symptomatic testing should your child or staff become ill at school. Staff will come to antigen drive through if they feel they may have to miss work.

Please fill out this OPT in sign up form if you would like your child to receive the tests, which will be distributed through school every two weeks. You should fill this form out for each child you have in the school system. Any student, vaccinated or unvaccinated is eligible for this type of testing. Unvaccinated students who are required to test in order to participate in extracurricular activities will need to continue to test in the manner arranged for them already but may add this antigen testing as well.

The test kit you will receive is this kit:  DESE Provided Antigen Kits. Information on the test, how to test, etc. are included in the link above.

Please join us for our Monday School Committee meeting to hear the complete overview of the COVID safety program revisions and updates. The meeting is taped and can be found on Pegaus TV should you miss it live.

Re-enrollment for the 2022-23 school year will take place Monday, February 7 through Sunday, February 13 at ezchildtrack.com/natickasap/parent

Please read the Re-enrollment Information Letter and FAQ  (link) carefully for all of the information you need to re-enroll, request schedule changes, add a new sibling, or make the transition to middle school next year!

Questions? Email me anytime!

Between March 14 and April 8, 2022, new families may register online for ASAP and Early Risers 2022-23.

For more information about our programs, go to www.natickps.org/programs/asap

For details about the registration process, see the Registration tab on our web page or click here. If applications exceed space available, placement will be determined by lottery. All registrations received between March 14 and midnight on April 8 will be entered into the lottery. 

Questions? Check out our general information, frequently asked questions, family handbook, and activity calendars on our web page.

Still no luck? Email us at asap@natickps.org. Thanks!

Please monitor for symptoms each morning before school by reviewing the COVID Symptom Checklist (link).

Changes to COVID Response Protocols in Schools (DESE/MA DPH)

 To the best of our ability, we will notify parents of close contacts, in keeping with DESE expectations. As of November 30th, the state contact tracing unit CTC closed and no support from the state has been given to municipalities or schools. In the surge, both boards of health and schools are now overwhelmed by cases and cannot definitively track close contacts. You will see that for some schools, the sheer number of cases means that close contacts cannot be determined. Many students contracted COVID over the break and have been tested at school and been found positive. We tested over 500 students this past week. We expect a similar surge week this week.

Included in this link are all the updated DPH and DESE COVID Response Protocols (link) --updated this week. However, due to the surge of cases across the Commonwealth, DESE and our Department of Public Health has been informed that we cannot contact trace. To this end, any student in a class with an infected student or pool has been notified of being a possible close contact. We do feel, at this time, however, that everyone should act as if they

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Our most current School Cancellation and Delay procedures that will be used in the event of inclement weather is accessible on our website at https://www.NatickPS.Org/About/Cancellations_Delays.

We are so glad to continue offering our virtual Young Adult Support Group for individuals 18-25 years old who have experienced the death of an immediate family member. 

If you or someone you know is interested in joining, click Apply here with this link.

Requests for Individual Counseling services have been increasing throughout the pandemic. They are pleased to announce that they are accepting new clients. Apply here with this link.

For more information about yoga at Jeff’s Place, learn more by clicking this link.

The District is in partnership with William James College and shares these resources for your family if you need support.

Or visit the Care Connection Referral website.

Natick 180 is committed to assisting community members who are addicted to opioids, which include commonly prescribed painkillers such as OxyContin, Percocet, and Vicodin, as well as street drugs like heroin. In order to save the lives of friends and neighbors who experience opioid use disorder, and shares tips to reduce the risk of a fatal overdose in this PDF.

For more information, contact Natick 180 at natick180@natickma.org or (508) 647-6623.