West Bridgewater Students, Staff and Families,

Included in this newsletter is important information about the FY24 budget. I hope you have had a chance to review the budget information. If you have any questions about the FY24 Budget please do not hesitate to reach out to Mr. Bodwell mbodwell@wbridgewater.com or any of the School Committee members. This FY24 budget was designed to meet the needs of all students and staff in our district.

The next School Committee meeting is May 1st at 6 pm at the MSHS.

In planning for the upcoming Town Meeting on May 8th, the district has created a FY24 Budget Summary including possible cuts to programming and services if the full School Committee budget does not pass. All potential cuts will be determined after the taxpayers determine the final appropriation of money at Town Meeting. As a reminder, all other budget presentations are on the District website.

As we are preparing for the next school year, we wanted to share information about new technology that is being proposed for the Spring Street School, Rose L MacDonald School and the Howard Elementary School. Please take a moment to look over the Interactive Touchpanel overview and proposal.

If you have any technical questions about the devices, please contact jcollins@wbridgewater.com

Save the date of Thursday, May 4th for the next Superintendent Coffee Hour at the Spring Street School with Mr. Bodwell. More details to follow.

April 2023

The objective of the Policy Subcommittee is to regularly review policies of the West Bridgewater School Committee to determine if they are current, consider the interests of stakeholders, and are in line with guidance from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. At the most recent school committee meeting on April 10, 2023, the following policies were reviewed and revised as indicated:

• DDA - Funding Proposals and Applications (Rescinded)

• DID - Annual Inventory (Rescinded)

• KHA - Public Solicitations in the Schools

• GBA - Equal Employment Opportunity

• GBEB - Staff Conduct

• GBEG - Workplace Weapons (Rescinded)

• GBGE - Domestic Violence Leave Policy

• GBGF - Family and Medical Leave

• GBI - Staff Participation in Political Activities

• GBJ - Personnel Records

• GBK - Staff Complaints and Grievances

Additionally, the following policies were opened and are scheduled for review at the next school committee meeting on May 1, 2023:

• BDFA - School Councils

• BDFA-E-1 - School Improvement Plan

• BDFA-E-2 - Submission and Approval of the School Improvement Plan

• BDFA-E-3 - Conduct of School Council Business

• CHA - Development of Procedures

• CHC - Procedures Dissemination

• CHCA - Approval of Handbooks and Directives

• CLB - Administrative Reports

• KDB - Public’s Right to Know

• KHB - Advertising in Schools

• JJE - Students Fund-Raising Activities

For any questions or to provide feedback, please contact the policy subcommittee at kmilton@wbridgewater.com and rdragonetti@wbridgewater.com. A complete listing of policies can be found in the WB Policy Index at https://www.wbridgewaterschools.org/page/school-committee.

Sponsored by Inclusion Matters

8th graders Sarah Diedrichsen and Nala Mando have organized a Pledge Walk for Childhood Cancer Awareness on the track on May 7th from 4-7pm. All proceeds will be donated to the Jimmy Fund Clinic at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in loving memory of our classmate Bella Dubois.

There will be food trucks, music, outdoor games, and raffles happening at this fun event! If you’d like to walk and collect pledges, see the flyer below for more information. Everyone who joins will get a free t-shirt! Even if you don’t want to walk, invite friends and family to come on May 7th and enjoy some fun. We hope to see you on the track!

Here is the link to sign up: https://forms.gle/gyuqD5hPMKb5gg4H9

Check out the flyer!

SAVE THE DATE - Monday, June 19th at West Bridgewater Country Club

Check out the link below to see the School Committee-approved calendar for next year 2023-2024

Police Officer Dana Smith is offering more training for WB students and families. He recently did a free training for our MSHS students. Officer Smith owns his own dojo Budo Karate Academy for 30 years. and is a DARE officer in Plympton and has worked with WB students in the past. The target audience is students close to graduation (Juniors and Seniors) and parents. The tentative dates are June 9th and 16th (Fridays). These dates will be confirmed in the very near future.

• 6:30- -8:30 pm
• Training held at MSHS
• $60 per person for the 2 sessions
• Situational awareness and preparedness
• Hardening the target
• Expanding awareness through daily observation
• Understanding the approach and interview of the potential attacker
• Using the surroundings to one’s advantage
• Hands-on proven self-defense techniques
• Defensive posturing and body language
• Grabbing and restraint defenses
• Effective striking
• Explanation of less-than-lethal tools and the legal consequences of pepper spray/TASER/stun guns
• This is a basic overview and he will open the discussion to concerns and ideas

Please contact the MSHS office at 508-894-1220 if interested in signing up

Check out the link below for information on the Summer Surround Care Program

Summer Surround Care 2023

Registration is now open. Come join the fun!

Summer Surround Care will be available from June 26 through August 11 2023 at the Middle Senior High School. The program will run Monday through Thursday. Daily and weekly rates are available to best fit your schedule. Open to students who are entering grades 1-6.

Activities will include: Arts & Crafts, Indoor and Outdoor Free Play, Music, Games, Waterplay & Sports. We will take walking trips to local places such as Friendship Park and Town Park. Registration and more information at: 2023 Summer Surround Care Registration

This has also been sent in an email to the RLM parents.

Surround Care: May 5, 2023

Due to a staffing issue, we are canceling the RLM Surround Care afternoon session for Friday, May 5, 2023.

The junior prom is being held on this date and an extremely large portion of our staff are attending, leaving us understaffed.

This is only for the RLM program on May 5th.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

We will once again be having an Academic Showcase at the MSHS this spring. This annual event is much anticipated and we have students and staff from all 4 schools showing off the great things that are going on in the WB schools. Much more information to follow!

Check out this unique fundraiser for WB Athletics. This is open to anyone from anywhere so if you need a new mattress come to the MSHS on May 20th to check it out!

PCC is a program that is held over the summer at Stonehill College. Please click below to read information about this great opportunity for students. If you have any questions please contact the MSHS Guidance Office.

Check out the latest newsletters from each of the schools in the district by going to their website. They are also sent via email to all families. Every 2 weeks they are also sending out newsletters. These are filled with great information!!

If you are interested or know someone interested in being a substitute teacher please click on the link below. If you are not sure and have any questions please feel free to reach out to the building principal and ask them any questions you may have about the position. The pay is $100 for the day.

Mark Bodwell, Superintendent of Schools

Email: mbodwell@wbridgewater.com
Website: www.wbridgewaterschools.org
Location: 2 Spring Street, West Bridgewater, MA, USA
Phone: (508) 894-1230
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wbridgewaterschools
Twitter: @WBPSwildcats