Greetings Beverly Public School Families,
Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year! It is my great pleasure to welcome both new and returning families to the district! We cannot wait to greet your children on opening day to start the new school year. All students in grades 1-9 will return to school for a full day on Tuesday, September 3, 2019, while students in Grades 10-12 will participate in a Virtual School Day on Tuesday and report to classes on Wednesday, September 4th. Our Kindergarten students will attend an Orientation at their respective schools on Tuesday, and return for their first official day on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, our youngest students in PreK will start on Monday, September 9th. Whether your child is entering our schools for the first time or embarking on their Senior year, we are looking forward to their smiling faces as they explore their new classrooms and discover the exciting learning adventures their teachers have in store for them. The start of the new school year is truly one of the most exhilarating times of the year!
Summer is always a busy time for our schools as our incredible team from Buildings and Grounds work to ready our facilities for the coming year. Throughout the summer, our team has been hard at work cleaning our schools and preparing them for the start of a new school year! When you see our school custodians, please take a moment to thank them for the work they have done and their efforts throughout the year to keep our schools clean!
This year, in addition to our summer cleaning and maintenance at each of our schools, we have taken measures to further enhance the safety and security of all our students and staff. We are grateful to the City of Beverly and the commitment of the community to partner with us to create safe and optimal learning environments for our students. Though many of these upgrades were completed over the summer months, you may see some ongoing work through the end of the calendar year. Any work that would be disruptive to the learning environment will be scheduled outside of the school day. The work will include strengthening our facilities and the flow of traffic at our main entrances, which will allow us to better manage visitors to our schools during the school day. In all schools, in key locations upgrades provides an additional layer of protection for our classrooms. We appreciate your patience for our staff at each school as we continue to refine our procedures to accommodate these changes.
Throughout the summer, teachers and administrators were also busy planning for the coming year. Summer is a time for our faculty to focus on their own learning, concentrating on professional growth that leads to improvements in our work with students. This summer, over 200 staff members engaged in a variety of workshops, courses and other sources of professional development. This dedication and commitment leads to enriching learning experiences for our students!
During the 2019-2020 school year, we will maintain a focus on our four priority areas in our Strategy for District Improvement. The goal areas include Inclusive Practices, which expands our work on Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Research continues to show that social and emotional learning not only creates a healthy environment in which to learn, but also enhances the skills needed to fully engage in learning. In addition to SEL, our Inclusive Practices work this year will target instructional strategies designed to meet the diverse learning needs of all our students. Along with these two areas, we will continue our work in Instructional Design. Innovative Practices such as Design Thinking and Project Based Learning enhance the 21st Century competencies that our students need to be successful in college, careers, and life. Finally, we will continue our work on the alignment of our curriculum to ensure that all our students experience a Rigorous and Consistent Curriculum throughout their experience in the Beverly Public Schools.
With many announcements and information forthcoming from our district and schools, I encourage you to stay connected by visiting our website, following your child's official school pages on Facebook and Twitter, and joining us throughout the year at the many events and presentations designed to keep you informed. Finally, if you have not already done so, please update your contact information on Aspen through our Contact Verification Process. This is where you will find all the forms and information that has historically come home in your child's first day packet.
On behalf of the incredible team of administrators, staff and support staff of the Beverly Public Schools, thank you for placing your trust in us each day to provide your child with a world-class education! We are all looking forward to partnering with you in the coming year!
Sincerely,
Suzanne M. Charochak, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Dr. Suzanne M. Charochak
Superintendent of Schools
scharochak@beverlyschools.org
978-921-6100