Notes from Eddy

Hello Eddy Families,

Fingers crossed that Punxsutawney Phil was wrong and Spring is coming! Don't forget to spring your clocks ahead one hour today. Kids may be tired tomorrow because clocks have changed this weekend, so you may want to consider an early bedtime tonight! March marks Women's History Month, and we have shared an important female leader each morning this past week during announcements, post these on the wall outside the cafeteria, and will continue to do so throughout the month. Today, March 8, marks International Women's Day.

This week is Read Across America Spirit Week, and students are invited to join in with the fun!

• Monday, March 9: Pajama Day
• Tuesday, March 10: Silly Hat/Silly Hair Day
• Wednesday, March 11: Favorite Color and Favorite Book Day
• Thursday, March 12: Dress As A Favorite Book Character
• Friday, March 13: Read My Shirt Day

If you have not yet, please register your student for the Boosterthon Fun Run by going to https://mybooster.com/v3 and clicking the blue "I'm a parent/guardian" button. The PTO's Fun Run will be on Friday, March 20. Our next PTO meeting this this Wednesday, 3/11 @ 7pm at Eddy.

The fifth grade is hosting a Family Bingo Night on Wednesday, March 25 from 6-7pm at Eddy, and all are welcome to attend! We invite you to attend, and consider a donation at the door to help us raise funds for our fifth grade class trip.

Report cards go home on Wednesday, 3/18, with conferences scheduled on 3/19 and 3/20.

Our Scholastic Book Fair is scheduled for the week of 3/16-3/20, and directions to create an eWallet account so students may purchase items (or you may donate to "Share The Fair" for students needing assistance) are listed below. We encourage you to do so this week.

Finally, please make note of the FY27 budget update below. There are two important Brewster School Committee meetings coming up on Thursday, 3/12 @ 6:30pm and Monday, 3/16 @ 6:30pm.

Here's to a great week of learning at Eddy Elementary School!

Best,

Steve Guditus

Eddy Elementary Principal and Lead Learner

On Tuesday this week, as part of Read Across America Week, we will welcome mystery readers into classrooms! Be sure to ask your student who their mystery reader is when they come home from school on Tuesday!

The fifth grade is hosting a Family Bingo Night on Wednesday, March 25 from 6-7pm! All are welcome to attend! At the door, we kindly invite you to consider a donation towards our Fifth Grade Class Trip to Boston. All are welcome - please share with others!

Start here: Eddy Elementary Book Fair homepage—available three weeks before your Fair begins—to set up an eWallet for each child for every Fair, then:

1. Sign in or create a new Scholastic account
2. Select “Create an eWallet”
3. Choose “I’m a parent…”
4. Add funds and/or invite family and friends to add money to your child’s eWallet

eWallet funds are available immediately and you can add additional money, create an eWallet for another child, and more, in the eWallet section of your Scholastic account.

Principal Kasper and Principal Guditus have been working closely with Superintendent Brand to develop the next fiscal year's budget (FY27), starting in December. Our initial budget proposal in January captured what we anticipate our schools' needs will be for next school year. Shortly after that initial budget proposal in January, we were informed by the town manager that the town is only able to support a 3% increase in our budget over the current fiscal year. This directive was given to all town departments as well (Police, Fire, DPW, Natural Resources, etc.). The Brewster School Committee (BSC) requested that Principal Kasper and Principal Guditus make cuts to the proposed budget in order to meet this 3% guideline. Unfortunately, this has resulted in most new asks being eliminated (such as the proposal for an Eddy world language teacher), as well as deeper additional budget cuts, such as the existing Stony Brook world language teacher, among other budget cuts. You can view the most current FY27 Brewster budget update here, which was presented at the last Brewster School Committee meeting on 3/5/26. There are two upcoming budget meetings that the Brewster School Committee would like you to be aware of:

• Thursday, March 12, 2026 @ 6:30pm - BSC will deliberate the current budget proposal and proposed cuts, and will "vote out" their agreed-upon FY27 budget to be officially presented at the next meeting.
• Monday, March 16, 2026 @ 6:30pm - Public Hearing for the FY27 Brewster Elementary Schools Budget. During this meeting, the public is invited to provide feedback and input to the Brewster School Committee about their official budget proposal.

If you would like to attend these meetings in person, they take place at Brewster Town Hall, or remotely via Zoom here.

Report cards will be coming home on Wednesday, March 18, 2026 in your student's backpack. Please reach out directly to your student's teacher if you have questions or concerns. Conferences are scheduled for the next two days, the afternoon/evening of Thursday, March 19, 2026 and afternoon of Friday, March 20, 2026. Your student's teacher will contact you directly regarding the conference schedule.

For those parents/caregivers whose students have an IEP: Given the missed week due to snow, we are going to use the following timeline for Term 2 special education progress notes for all students on an IEP:

• Staff will be collecting data through March 13 and then complete progress notes by March 20.
• Special Education progress notes will be mailed home by March 27. This timeline will allow for data collection beyond just the week after 2 weeks away from school (vacation and the blizzard).

The Nauset Regional School District's Farm to School Program is always exploring innovative and creative ways to support student access to fresh, local foods, hands-on nutrition education, outdoor learning spaces like school gardens, field trip opportunities, and more. We’re excited to share that Nauset Farm to School has been selected as a partner in the Stop & Shop Community Bag Program for March 2026!

Throughout the month of March, the NPSD Farm to School Program will receive a $1 donation for every reusable Community Bag purchased at the Stop & Shop located at 24 Route 6A in Orleans, MA. Community participation helps support Farm to School initiatives across the district.

To learn more about the Nauset Regional School District's Farm to School Program, please visit the NRSD Farm to School webpage. Thank you for your continued support!

Here is the agenda for this month's PTO meeting on Wednesday 3/11 at 7:00pm at Eddy. Here is the Zoom link for those who would like to join us virtually: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/8247619735

We hope you can join us!

Eddy Elementary MCAS dates for this spring (April and May) can be found here: 2026 MCAS Dates. All students take two ELA sessions and two math sessions, and fifth graders also take two STE (science, technology, and engineering) sessions. Sessions are untimed and students have until the end of the day to complete the MCAS session if needed. Students who miss a session of MCAS will make it up on the designated makeup days. Typically, most students finish in about a 2.5 hour time span, during which we break for a stretch break, bathroom break, and snack.

MCAS gives our teachers and school one additional way to understand how students are developing important academic skills. They are just one part of the many ways we learn about student progress, alongside classroom work, projects, and teacher observations. Our goal is for testing to feel like a typical day of school, where students are encouraged to take their time, think carefully, and show what they know. Families can help by keeping routines consistent during testing days, ensuring children get a good night’s sleep, eat breakfast, and arrive at school feeling calm and ready for the day. As always, our focus is on supporting every student's growth and love of learning.

Please save the date! Eddy Elementary School will hold its Scholastic Book Fair Monday, 3/16/26 through Friday, 3/20/26. Students can purchase during the school day, before school, and families may make purchases the evening and afternoon of family conferences on 3/19 and 3/20.

• Eddy Elementary Scholastic Book Fair E-Wallet & Share The Fair Page
• If you are willing to help by volunteering some time at the book fair, please sign up here!

You can load funds onto your student's e-wallet (so they are not carrying cash to school) and also donate to the "Share The Fair" fund, which helps students who cannot purchase a book to do so (and any remaining funds will be used to purchase books for the Eddy Elementary Library). Purchases made by adults may be made by card, cash, or e-wallet.

A portion of all sales comes back to Eddy Elementary School to help fund field trips, enrichment opportunities, and buy books for the Eddy Library.

We are looking for volunteers to help supervise the book fair during the following times, and no experience is needed, just a smile and a willingness to help!

• Thursday, 3/12/26: 1:00-3:00pm (help setup)
• Monday, 3/16/26: 7:30-8:00am
• Tuesday, 3/17/26: 7:30-8:00am
• Wednesday, 3/18/26: 7:30-8:00am
• Thursday, 3/19/26: 7:30-8:00am and 2:00-6:30pm (during evening conferences)
• Friday, 3/20/26: 7:30-8:00am and 11:30am--3:00pm (during afternoon conferences)

Congratulations to our three Eddy R.E.A.D.Y. award winners this past week! Congratulations to Ruth, Rachel, and Laureline for demonstrating our school's core values of Respect, Empathy, Accountability, Determination, and Your Best! We are proud of all our students who earned green cards this past week!

If you were not able to attend the Digital Mindfulness and Safety evening parent/caregiver meeting with Richard Guerry last month, his presentations and resources can be found below. All fifth graders in the district met with Richard last month about this very topic as well.

• Visit: https://www.iroc2.org/733.html

• Username: NPS

• Password: Community

We are asking that you help us ensure that students keep toys at home. We are seeing an uptick in students bringing in toys, which has become more distracting to learning, and unfortunately, is also causing unnecessary drama between students, further distracting from learning. Unless there is a special celebration, day, or sharing of something from home invited by the teacher, please help us by telling your student "no" to bringing in toys into school.

Some students have also requested to use fidgets in the classroom. While these are often helpful for some students, they can often be a distraction for other students. If you would like to send your student in with a fidget for use in class, I am respectfully asking for you to speak with your student about what a fidget is, when it is appropriate to use, and to contact your student's teacher to let them know your concern that to request that your student use a fidget as a means to focus during classroom instruction.

If you have any questions about this or any specific scenarios you are wondering about, don't hesitate to reach out to Principal Steve Guditus at gudituss@nausetschools.org.

See below. If you know any Brewster resident whose child will be 5 by August 31, 2026, please pass this flyer along to them and let them know they can register their child for Kindergarten using the directions below. Families may call Stony Brook at 508-896-4545 x0 with any questions about Kindergarten registration. Thank you for your help!

Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod is building two new homes in Brewster- 1 two-bedroom home, and 1 three-bedroom home. Applications are due March 31, 2026, and are available at Town Hall in the Planning Department or at Brewster Ladies Library. The creation of these homes is supported by Brewster Community Preservation Act and Affordable Housing Trust funding.

Online fillable applications can be found here: Habitat for Humanity’s Homeownership Application.

There will also be two local in person workshops on:

• Tuesday, February 24th, 4:45 – 6:30 PM: Brewster Ladies Library, 1882 Main Street
• Saturday, March 14th, 10:30 AM – 12 PM: Brewster Ladies Library, 1882 Main Street

For more information on income eligibility, pricing, and the application process, please see the attached flyers and go to: https://habitatcapecod.org/to-apply-for-a-home/ or contact Habitat for Humanity at 508-362-3559 x121.

If you have any questions about Brewster community housing, feel free to contact me.

Warm regards,

Jenny

Jennifer Shaw

Housing Program Assistant

Town of Brewster

2198 Main Street, Brewster, MA 02631

508-896-3701 ext. 1172

• Wednesday, March 11: PTO Meeting @ 7:00pm at Eddy (Zoom link here)
• Thursday, March 12: Brewster School Committee @ 6:30pm (Zoom link here)
• Monday, March 16: Brewster School Committee Budget Public Hearing @ 6:30pm (Zoom link here)
• Monday-Friday, March 16-March 20: Scholastic Book Fair
• Thursday, March 19: Afternoon/Evening Conferences
• Friday, March 20: Boosterthon Fun Run
• Friday, March 20: Early Release @ 11am with Conferences in Afternoon
• Wednesday, March 25: Eddy Family BINGO Night @ 6-7pm