September 25 - Back to School Night for Grade 4 parents, 6 - 7 pm

September 26 - Back to School Night for Grade 5 parents, 6 - 7 pm

October 1 - School Pictures (see information below)
October 14 - NO SCHOOL - Indigenous People's Day

November 5 - NO SCHOOL - Teacher Professional Development

November 11 - NO SCHOOL - Veterans' Day

Lane School Picture Day is Tuesday, October 1, 2024.

Please see the attached flyer from Hayward Photography Studios for ONLINE ordering instructions. ONLINE orders are strongly recommended.
The pre-order option will be available up until 2 days after picture day. All print orders will be mailed directly to the home address provided at checkout. If you do not order by the pre-order deadline, your child will receive a NO BUY proof card (it will be sent home with your child a few weeks after picture day) with instructions on how you can order at that point.

IMPORTANT**Please be advised that orders placed after the deadline of October 3rd are subject to higher package pricing and shipping/handling fees. The package options are different and some items may not be available.

If you have questions about the ordering process or the photo packages, please contact Hayward Photography at info@haywardphotography.com or 617-698-1840.

Dear 5th Grade Students and Caretakers,

Welcome back to a new school year! My name is Annie Pumphrey, and I am the elementary math curriculum coordinator and coach for Bedford Public Schools. I’m thrilled to invite you, 5th graders, to participate in the Lane School 5th Grade Math Olympiad Team for the 2024-2025 school year. The Math Olympiad program is an international mathematics competition. The program consists of five monthly contests, each with five very challenging problems where students must apply math and reasoning skills in different ways. The students are all “Mathletes in Training” who practice different problem sets during sessions from the middle of October through March.

This once-a-week team practice will be offered before school at 7:40am in the Lane School library on Monday & Tuesday each week from mid-October through March. The curriculum is the same for Monday and Tuesday classes each week. I’d like to ask that students only come on their selected day, to help keep size and group members mostly consistent, with an exception for students who have before school instrument rehearsals that may sometimes conflict with your normal day, they may switch days that week. The linked form asks for your preferred day.

If your child is interested in participating, but coming before school is not possible, please indicate that on the form and I will reach out and we’ll make a plan along with your student’s classroom teacher. Please only select this option if coming before school is a true hardship/impossibility for your family.

Caretakers: If your 5th grader is interested in joining us this year, please follow the link below to a Google Form to fill out with your student.

Best,

Annie Pumphrey

Please complete this Google Form for any interested 5th grader by Wednesday, October 2nd

Please reach out if you have any questions Anne_Pumphrey@bedfordps.org

CLASSES WILL START THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 21st

Lane Families:

As we begin the new school year please remember to keep your children home if they are sick and symptomatic. If they have a fever, they need to remain home until they are fever free for 24 hours without the use of medication per BPS policy. A mask is advised for the first 5 days post Covid.

We are asking for your help to be extra diligent in following our illness guidelines throughout the school year. You can help out by alerting the absence line and the school nurse directly if your child is ever diagnosed with any specific communicable diseases during the school year to include Strep, Flu, RSV, Covid etc.

Please review our illness policy and CDC guidance at the links below. COVID kits are available from your school nurses and the board of health office.

Lorene Simoneau, BSN, RN, NCSN

lorene_simoneau@bedfordps.org

https://www.bedfordps.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif2786/f/uploads/illness_guidelines.pdf

Lane School keeps a supply of snacks for students whose families may be experiencing financial hardship or other extenuating circumstances, and the occasional student that forgets a snack. BEST/PTO assists us with this effort and we also appreciate donations from families. Donations need to be store bought snacks, that are individually wrapped, nut-free, and be able to be stored without refrigeration. Please drop off any donations in the main office. Thank you.

We appreciate your flexibility and understanding as we work with the Department of Public Works (DPW) and the Bedford Police to manage traffic flow in and out of Lane School. As construction progresses along Sweetwater Ave over the next month, adjustments may be necessary. For now, parents should continue to line up on Hayden Lane unless directed otherwise by the police.

All adults (over 18 years of age) that are volunteering and/or visiting the school for programming must now fill out a CORI, SORI, and sign a confidentiality agreement. To be in full compliance with our HR Department and the State, all CORI/SORI forms MUST BE SUBMITTED in person, with a valid picture ID, ONLY by the person whose name appears on the form. Forms will not be accepted via kid mail, email, or spouse, etc. The district requires parent volunteers (chaperones on field trips, room parents, helpers in the classroom, etc.) to complete this paperwork each school year.
Please come to the office and complete these forms well ahead of needing them, so that you don’t get stuck and then are prohibited from volunteering. Forms are applicable for all 4 schools in the district, so you only need to fill out forms at one school (i.e. if you fill out forms at Davis, you do not need to fill out forms at Lane).

Update your Membership Toolkit Information

BEST PTO uses Membership Toolkit (MTK) for our organization's communication and directory access. Please update your student(s) details with the Current Teacher's Name, so that your student(s) name appears in the class roster in the directory. We'd greatly appreciate it if this is done before Friday, October 4th. so that the directory team has the correct class rosters for the directory.

BEST Spirit Wear Store (Spirit Wear Image)

BEST PTO Spirit Wear store is open! Order your spirit wear today and show off your school and Bedford pride! The BEST PTO will be selling some merchandise at Bedford Day, but not everything listed on the website will be available to purchase in-person.
Please follow this link to submit your order by Sunday, September 29th. All orders will be mailed directly to your address.

School Directory Cover Contest

Davis & Lane students are invited to design a cover drawing for this year’s school directory. Artwork should be in color. The theme for this year's cover contest is "Imagine, Believe, Achieve." Elements of this theme should be included in all submissions. Deadline for submission is Friday, October 11th. To submit artwork or for more information, click here.

Room Parent Volunteers for Davis and Lane

BEST PTO currently needs additional room parents. Please email best.pto.bedford@gmail.com

Room parents are needed for the following classrooms:

• PreK: Ms. Cincotta, Ms. Provost
• Kindergarten: Ms. Dowling
• Grade 1: Ms. Petrocelli
• Grade 5: Ms. Love

We also have classrooms with one room parent where additional help would be wonderful:

• Kindergarten: Ms. Moore
• Grade 1: Ms. Cormie, Ms. Heslop, Ms. Meuse
• Grade 2: Ms. Flaherty-Dawson, Ms. Evans
• Grade 3: Ms. Nolan
• Grade 4: Ms. Elien
• Grade 5: Ms. Lerra, Ms. Hunt, Ms. Hickox

BEST Volunteer Opportunities are available! Immediate needs below:

• Room Parent Volunteers (see announcement above for specific classes)
  
• Lane School Advisory Council Volunteers - Email best.pto.bedford@gmail.com for more information or to apply.
• Lane Picture Day Volunteers for October 1st

Bedford Education Foundation (BEF)

Happy Fall, Y'all! We hope everyone has been enjoying the start of the school year. The BEF has already started discussing plans for SY24-25, but we REALLY NEED YOUR HELP!! We have been fundraising and grant making very successfully, but our numbers have been declining. We all know how important our work is, but we need more hands to make lighter work and keep things going! Check out the info below and spread the word - there are many ways to lend a hand, and we'd love to hear from you! If you are interested or want to learn more, reach out to Jen Kelly, BEF President at president@bedfordeducation.org.

BEDFORD SEPAC (Special Education Parent Advisory Council)
SEPAC is a group of parents & caregivers of children receiving special education support and/or children with disabilities. All parents & caregivers welcome! We meet for support, education, networking and resource sharing.
Email: bedfordmasepac@gmail.com
Web: bedfordmasepac.org
Facebook group: https://www.facebook. com/groups/BEDFORDMASEPAC/

Absences and Late Arrivals and Early Dismissals
Please note that ALL absences and late arrivals must be reported to the office, by 9 am on the day of. If it is a planned absence/late arrival, you can let us know ahead of time so you don’t have to remember the day of. You may call the main number, 781-275-7606, and leave a message on the Absence Line at any time of day or night (if your child will be arriving late, the message can be left on the Absence line as well). Your message should include your name and a call back number, your child’s name & teacher, and the reason for the absence or late arrival. Alternatively, you may email the information to Becky Ricci rebecca_ricci@bedfordps.org and Karen Lua karen_lua@bedfordps.org
If we do not have notification from you regarding an absence, you may receive an automated call, email, and text message from School Messenger, asking you to call the office as soon as possible.
Early Dismissals
Please also let the office and your child's teacher know about early dismissals the morning of (or earlier). You may send in a note with your child (which the teacher will send to the office) or you may email or call first thing in the morning. This way the teacher and your child can be prepared for the dismissal time, and not rush to get homework assignments and get their belongings packed up. When you arrive at the office, we will call your child's classroom and have them come to the office to meet you.

Exempt Absences
When a student is absent for medical reasons (doctor’s note required), religious observance (parent call required), court appearance (court documentation required), funeral, or suspensions from school, then that student’s absence is classified as exempt. An exempt absence does NOT count toward the allotted absences of Chapter 76, section 1 of the Massachusetts General Laws. (Please see the Lane Family Handbook for more information)

Bus Policy
Please note that it is district policy to bus Lane students to their home address or to that of a regularly scheduled caregiver. Bus transportation is not to be used for play dates or extra-curricular activities.

Dismissal Changes
At the start of the school year, all students were given a yellow Lane Transportation Plan form for caregivers to fill out and return to the school. If, on a given day, your child’s dismissal is different from what you have indicated on the yellow Lane Transportation Plan sheet you turned in, please notify the main office via:
- a note sent in with your child
- email Becky Ricci rebecca_ricci@bedfordps.org and Karen Lua karen_lua@bedfordps.org (you can also copy your child’s teacher)
OR
a phone call 781-275-7606.

If your child is attending an after school program, a music lesson, etc. after school, in addition to notifying the office, please remind your child in the morning of their dismissal plan in the afternoon. Thank you!