Dear Bedford Public Schools Community,
Teacher Appreciation Week is May 5–9, 2025 and I continue to be grateful for and impressed with the experience, expertise, and dedication of our educators and staff. We invite our community to join in recognizing the unwavering commitment and hard work of our educators and staff. A simple note of thanks to a staff member you appreciate can be very meaningful. I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to our parent association partners who help us celebrate our educators in tangible ways throughout the week (image credit above to Anna Lee Rose and the BEST PTO). Next week, we will also be releasing the school start time survey---your feedback in valued. Finally, I want to draw you attention to new mental health resources that are available to families. We are appreciative of the many partners that work together to support our students.
Best,
Cliff Chuang (he/him) 莊 宏 毅
Superintendent, Bedford Public Schools
- May: Asian-American & Pacific Islander Month, Jewish American Month, Mental Health Awareness Month, National Speech-Language-Hearing Month
- May 2-4: BPS K-12 Art Show
- May 5-9: Teacher Appreciation Week
- May 5: SEPAC College Fair for Students on IEPs/504s
- May 6: School Committee Meeting
- May 7: School Nurse Day, Walk or Bike to School Day
- May 17: Armed Forces Day
- May 18: Speech-Language Pathologists Day
- May 26: No School - Memorial Day
- May 27: Bedford Dollars for Scholars Awards Ceremony
- May 28: School Committee Meeting
- June 5: Graduation & All Night Graduation Pary
- June 11: School Committee Meeting
- June 18: Last Day of School - Early Release
- June 19: District Closed - Juneteenth
The next school committee meeting is on Tuesday, May 6th. At this meeting the committee will review shifts to the 6th grade math course structure and consider the safe workplace memorandum of understanding (MOU) developed in conjunction with the Bedford Education Association. The final two meetings before the summer will be Wednesday, May 28th and Wednesday, June 11th. As always, meeting agendas, schedules, and supporting documents are available on the School Committee - Meeting Schedule & Supporting Documents.
We are excited to announce that Dennis Kohut has been selected as the new Assistant Principal at BHS. He will be working with students and families whose last names begin with A–K. Dennis brings with him 18 years of experience from Swampscott High School, where he has served as an English teacher, English Department Head, Assistant Principal, and most recently, Principal (since 2019). His extensive background in both classroom instruction and instructional leadership makes him a strong addition to our administrative team. A resident of Concord, Massachusetts, Dennis is thrilled to join the BHS community — and is especially excited about the much shorter commute! We look forward to the leadership and energy he will bring to BHS. Dennis will share his own letter of introduction and entry plan this summer.
We are pleased to announce that Nicole Shadeed has been hired as our new Director of Counseling, serving both BHS and JGMS. Nicole brings a wealth of experience to this role, having served as a counselor at Methuen Public Schools, program director at Philips Academy Andover, and most recently, as Principal of the Phoenix Charter Academy in Lawrence, Massachusetts. She has a strong background in supporting students through the post-secondary process and a deep understanding of the complex needs of adolescents. Her leadership experience, student-centered approach and collaborative approach make her an outstanding fit for our administrative team. Nicole will begin transitioning into the role this summer and will soon be sharing her vision and entry plan with our school communities.
Throughout this school year, in alignment with Strategic Objective 2.1 regarding student wellbeing, the School Committee has considered whether a change in school hours is in the best interest of students. As outlined in the Bedford Healthy School Hours Communication Plan, stakeholders had multiple opportunities to learn more about the research on healthy school hours over the past few weeks, and will now have the chance to take a survey which launches on May 5th and closes on May 16 and can be found here. Links for staff and students are being sent directly to those communities. Families who wish to opt their child out of the survey should submit a written request to their school principal by Friday, May 2, 2025. For more information, please contact your school principal.