Dear Families,
Please see below for this week’s announcements.
COVID Testing
Upcoming Family Town Hall
Health and Safety Updates
Screenings
Boston Prep Events/Announcements
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.
Keep your child home if they are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 or have been in close contact with someone with COVID-19. If you believe your child is exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 or has been exposed to someone with COVID-19, please immediately contact our nurses, Ms. Golafaie and Ms. Etheart, at nurses@bostonprep.org. Our nurses will partner with you to determine whether your child must remain home from school and for how long. 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. Upcoming Family Town Hall
Join us TONIGHT, Wednesday, March 2, 6:00 PM at our Family Town Hall. Topic to be discussed will be: Planning for the next school year. 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.
III. Health and Safety Updates
Mask Policy Continues: You have likely heard that, effective 2/28, the state of Massachusetts will no longer require masking in schools. At Boston Prep, throughout the school year, we have chosen to have a masking policy in place, not because the state requires it, but because it is the safest approach for our community as we continue to navigate COVID. Our masking policy will remain in place beyond 2/28. Our decision to maintain our masking policy aligns with how BPS and our local charter peers are responding. Although we hope that community COVID numbers will decrease to a point at which we can once again safely go without masks, we are not there yet.
Additional Video Cameras: As you know, since we opened our new building at 885 River Street, Boston Prep has had video cameras in the parking lot, bus loop, and at the main entrances. These video cameras help us maintain the safety and security of our community. This week, to enhance our community’s safety and security, we added video cameras in our stairwells.
IV. Screenings
The following screenings will begin this week:
Body Mass Index (7th and 10th grade)
Vision (6th and 9th grade)
Hearing (6th and 9th grade)
Posture (6th – 9th grade)
SBIRT (7th and 9th grade)
The purpose of these screenings is to identify possible visual, hearing, weight, or posture issues as early as possible so that the need for intervention can be determined. The school nurses will be conducting the screenings. If further consultation is recommended, parents will be notified of the findings and will be asked to seek further evaluation from their primary care physician.
If you do not wish for your child to be screened in a specific screening or all of the screenings, please send a written note addressed to the school nurse, with your request for your student to not participate. Your child will also have the option to opt out by signing a form in the nurse’s office if they do not wish to be screened.
Questions? Feel free to contact the nurses at nurses@bostonprep.org
V. Boston Prep Events/Announcements
SAT for Juniors: Boston Prep will be offering the SAT for all 11 graders. Similar to the PSAT in the fall, this will be the first official SAT for the Class of 2023. The SAT is an opportunity for our juniors to take a college-level entrance exam and potentially increase their chances of acceptance to a variety of colleges and universities next year. The exam will begin promptly at 8am on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2022. Juniors will not need to bring their school bag or textbooks with them on test day. Any junior that is late will be marked as unexcused. We will provide pencils, calculators, and water/snacks. Juniors will also be dismissed at the conclusion of the exam. For students in general testing, the exam should be completed around 12:30pm, while those that receive extended time could test until later in the afternoon or utilize two-day testing.
If you have any questions about the SAT or your students testing accommodations please reach out to Aaron Canto (acanto@bostonprep.org) or Danielle Buskey (dbuskey@bostonprep.org).
March Madness (Middle School Spirit Week): Welcome to March!
We are kicking off our annual March Madness in the Middle School. March Madness is a moment for us to really come together as a team with faculty and students. It is a moment to lean into the commitments we made at the start of the year to one another. The events that will take place this month will help us keep focused on the important work of March, while also keeping focused on joy in learning and joy with the team. We will be doing some dress down days for this month at the Middle School to build on togetherness, along with some friendly classroom competitions. Check out the March calendar below and stay tuned for more March Madness details!
The Hispanic Scholarship Fund: is hosting a virtual College 101 webinar on Saturday, March 5, 2022, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM. This event is a free, bilingual webinar (space is limited – registration will close once capacity is reached) for high school students and their families, where you will receive valuable information about how to prepare, plan, and pay for a college education. Students and parents of all ethnicities and backgrounds are encouraged to attend.
The presentation will cover the following topics: understanding and applying for financial aid, researching scholarship opportunities, preparing for and applying to college, maximizing the college experience, and preparing for a career after college. The webinar will also feature a panel with Admissions and Financial Aid representatives from various colleges.
For more details and to register to attend, visit the registration page here:
https://hsf.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-cBRrrz3Ra6Ji1bjFV4lew
VI. Community Events/Announcements
No announcements at this time
APPENDIX: FAMILY QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
Upcoming Dates
Wednesday, March 2 – Family Town Hall - Register
Tuesday, March 9 - Enrollment Lottery
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.
For questions about yellow school buses, MBTA passes, and transportation: transportation@bostonprep.org
To report an absence or tardiness: attendance@bostonprep.org
To submit a physical exam record or to discuss health-related topics: nurses@bostonprep.org
For information about resources, please familiarize yourselves with our boston prep resource page: https://www.bostonprep.org/resources
For other questions: info@bostonprep.org