Update | January 25, 2022

Dear Families,  

Please see below for this week’s announcements.

  1. COVID Testing

  2. SFE: Semester Final Exams

  3. Access Testing

  4. MCAS Biology

  5. Upcoming Family Town Hall

  6. Boston Prep Events/Announcements

  7. Community Events/Announcements

Stay safe and be well!

Sincerely,

Sharon Liszanckie
Executive Director

I. COVID Testing

At Boston Prep, health and safety is our number one priority. We ask for your help, as families, in a few ways. Please read the following carefully for specific information regarding COVID scenarios, approach, testing and updates.

  • COVID Updates: We continue to prioritize the health and safety of our Boston Prep community. Starting next week, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will be providing us with an additional resource to keep our community safe: we will be receiving rapid antigen tests that we can send home with students whose families/caregivers opt in starting next week (the week of 1/31 – 2/4). To opt into (or to opt out of) receiving rapid antigen tests, please complete this brief form.

    Both DESE and DPH recommend that districts and schools participate in this program. This new program will NOT impact our weekly PCR testing program, which will continue as it has all year. However, under this new testing initiative, contact tracing will be reduced (school health professionals will continue to use their discretion if specific instances warrant contact tracing), and test-and-stay will be phased out. Please be on the lookout for additional communication and materials from Boston Prep, including guidance on how to conduct these rapid antigen tests at home.

    Boston Prep follows the guidance provided by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The most up-to-date guidance from the state is attached here, for your reference. If your student has tested positive for COVID and/or is identified as a close contact, please email our Nurses at nurses@bostonprep.org and they will provide you with guidance on what to do. We ask all families to continue to monitor their children for any COVID symptoms using the attached guidance above. Continue to commit to remaining diligent when ongoing the screening process. Keep your child home if they are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 or have been in close contact with someone with COVID-19.

  • Pool Testing

  To participate in student pooled testing, parents/caregivers must complete and sign a consent

form. If you have not yet done this (and would like to do so), please contact our Nursing Team at

nurses@bostonprep.org

        Students with consent forms in place, as well as all faculty members, are tested on Monday (or

Tuesday if there is no school on Monday). Students who are parts of positive or inconclusive pools

retest immediately upon arrival at school on Tuesdays (or the day after testing.)

You will be notified by Boston Prep’s Nursing Team if your student tests positive for COVID. If you

do not receive notification from our Nurses, you should assume that your child has not tested

positive .

If you have not yet registered your child for our FREE COVID testing program, please do so now!

Thank you for continuing to be our partners in ensuring the health and safety of the Boston Prep community.


II. Semester Final Exams: SFE for Grades 8-12 ONLY

High School students will be dismissed from school at 12:30pm on these dates. Middle School students will be dismissed at regular dismissal time.  

In preparation for semester final exams, teachers have provided students with a study guide and have included extra practice for students to complete in class independently.

Each student will receive an individual schedule with their testing times and rooms. These will be shared out with students next week.

Testing Environment

 Semester final exam rooms are a productive and silent space. The testing period is 2 hours long and students are expected to stay for the duration of the test regardless of whether they are finished early.

  • If a student disrupts the testing environment the student will be excused from the testing room and earn a 55 on the exam without the opportunity to make up the exam.

  • All personal belongings, including phones, must be stored in their lockers prior to students entering the testing room.

  • Phones are not allowed in the testing space. If needed, phones will be labeled and stored by the proctor and returned at the end of the testing block.

  • If a phone goes off during the testing block or is seen during the testing block, the student will receive a 55 without possibility of making up the exam (this includes visits to the bathroom, hallway, and/or student has finished a test but testing is still in progress).

  • Cheating of any form is strictly prohibited. If a student is found to have an incident of academic integrity a student will receive a 55 for the exam without possibility of making up the exam.

  • There will be no remote exams. Students must take the exam in person. Any student  

             who is in quarantine during these dates will be able to make up the exam upon return.


III. Access Testing

ACCESS stands for "Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for English Language Learners." It's a test that's given to students from kindergarten to grade 12, to assess their progress in learning English.

Access testing will be administered on the following dates:

Middle School Testing Dates

High School Testing Dates

IV. MCAS Biology

Students in grades 9 and 10 that missed or did not pass last Spring’s MCAS Biology test will need to retake it this year. Students who are required to take this test will be informed via student email. 

MCAS Biology will be administered on the following dates:

V. Upcoming Family Town Hall 

Join us Wednesday, February 2, 6:00 PM at our Family Town Hall. Topic to be discussed will be: Covid Health & Safety. If you haven’t registered yet, you still have time to click on this link and Register. Visit our website to view our other upcoming Town Halls.

 We are eager to have as many families as possible join us for this Town Hall so that we can continue to partner together to ensure Boston Prep is an excellent, equitable school for all.

VI. Boston Prep Events/Announcements

  • Enrollment is OPEN: If you have a child that is entering grades 6-10 next fall and would like them to enroll at Boston Prep or know someone who is interested in enrolling at Boston Prep for the 2022-2023 school year, enrollment is now open. Siblings of currently enrolled students receive preference on the waitlist, but families must submit an application. Deadline to enroll is February 28, 2022. 

Apply today and SPREAD the WORD! You can apply by heading to this link: application.

  • Friendship February: Middle School will be building community while celebrating friendship and our appreciation for one another with Candy Grams and Valentine’s themed Dress Down Day on Monday, February 14. Please see attached flyer for more details.


    VII. Community Events/Announcements

  • Interested in STEM?: The application for students for two FREE  programs at MIT is now open. You have the option of applying to the MITES or MOSTEC program

    Application Deadline: February 1, 2022

    MITES is a six-week in-person program where students engage with peers from across the country who are dedicated and motivated to pursue STEM. During the program, students take five courses, receive admissions and financial aid advice, meet with a small group of peers to receive mentorship from a current undergraduate student. The end of the program culminates in a Final Symposium where students present their hands-on projects to the broader MIT community.

    MOSTEC is a six-month online program where students engage with peers from across the country who are dedicated and motivated to pursue STEM. During the program, students discuss research, receive admissions and financial aid advice, attend webinars featuring STEM professionals, and meet weekly with a small group of peers to receive mentorship from a current undergraduate student. During the summer component, students complete two online STEM courses which culminate in a Final Symposium where they present their projects to the broader MIT community.

  • (CURE) program: If your child is a sophomore, junior, or senior with an interest in medical research, check out the flyer below. The Summer-Only Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (CURE) program is a highly competitive 8 - 12 WEEK summer program for high school students. Students conduct hands-on, mentored basic, nursing, clinical and/or population science research at Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.

    Application Deadline: February 4, 2022(see flyer here)

    If you have any questions about any of these programs or any programs on the Extracurricular & External Programs (google.com) site, please reach out to: 

    Fina Fontes@ffontes@bostonprep.org

APPENDIX: FAMILY QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Upcoming Dates

  • Wednesday, January 26 - SFE Exams start

  • Friday, January 28 - Q2 Ends

  • Tuesday, February 1 - Access Testing starts

  • Tuesday, February 1 - MCAS Biology starts

  • Wednesday, February 2 - Family Town Hall - Register Here

  • Monday, February 21-Friday, February 25 - February Break - No School

Have questions?

Please don’t ever hesitate to reach out with questions!  You can contact your child’s advisor or utilize any of the email addresses below.

Visit our Family Resource Center

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Instagram

Follow us on Twitter