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TO: Secondary Students and Staff
DATE: March 6, 2017
FROM: Alexa Kontes and Pat McCall
Meetings this week include:
Mon, March 6 8am MCAS Math retest Session 1 Cote, Hope Daniels, Pine, Gousie, Bennoui
10am IEP KC, Led by Mike in 11W - Invite Only (3-Year Eval on 3/20)
10am IEP ML, IMC, led by Michele
1:30pm CRL mtg, 11W, led by R. Dubuque
AEC Chris
Tues, March 7 8am MCAS Math retest Session 2 Cote, Hope Daniels,Pine, Gousie, Bennoui
9:45am Teacher/RSP Meeting, 11W, Transition and Portfolios, led by Denise F.
11:30am School Psychologists/Social Workers Meeting in 11W
12:30pm Planning mtg for PA in Jodi’s room
AEC Dan
Wed, March 8 Last Date for MCAS make-up testing ELA/Math retests
8am CR by invite with family and District for SK in 11w led by Steve Fox
Break: Student Council Meeting
10:10am CR for NK, 11W, led by Michele
10:10am CR for DW in 11W. Discussion of Behavior Plan with Andrea
11:30am ILC Mtg. 11W
1:20pm NEW Case Managers Meeting, McDonald, Brown, Fulton, Fraser, Ramos, 11W, led by Michele - Fall schedule planning, and TBD
2:20pm May mtg
AEC Joe
Thurs, March 9 9:45 Planning mtg, GD, 11W, led by Michele
10:10 Mutism Training on KC, IMC, led by Melanie/Mike
10:40am-11:30am/period 3, Pre-Evaluation mtg led by Justine and Chris,11W
1:30 KS mtg group 1
1:30pm Pep Rally, gym all students and staff invited
2:15pm EJM mtg / Training, Invite Only, Oliver Cottage
3:30pm MFA trip, depart lobby
7:00pm Monthly Concert: Vocal Revolution Barbershop Chorus Perkins Chorus participates, Dwight Hall
AEC Jessica
Fri, March 10 10am 3-Year Evaluation mtg JD, 11W, led by Dan
10:10 Planning mtg, AA, IMC, led by Michele
11am-12pm Opportunity Works to observe DH, Kate Brown/Andrea Caron
AEC Mike
If you would like to submit something for the newsletter, please email it to Alexa Kontes by Wednesday at 4:00. Any students interested in reporting for the newsletter should contact Alexa.
Monday, 3/6:
The Chamber Singers are going to perform at the State House at the State opening for Blind New World with Governor Baker. The Chamber Singers should report immediately to the lobby at the end of 6thperiod board the taxis for Boston at 3:05.Dress code: white shirt and black pants after lunch.
The Chamber Singers going are: Anicia Almeida, Patrick Bucci, Alex Figueroa, Mikolai Friend, Cullen Gallagher, Jonathan Gardner, Jamie Leduc, Jonah Leduc & Bella Scott
Staff going:Arnie Harris & Vera Dumova
Thursday evening, 3/9 at 7 PM in Dwight Hall
Monthly Concert of the Vocal Revolution Barbershop Chorus
The Secondary Chorus will sing with them.
All chorus members should report to Dwight Hall by 6:30 to rehearse with the other group.
Dress code: Nice School clothes
On Thursday March 9th the following students will be on an all-day field trip/job shadowing event at the Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysics Laboratory in Cambridge: Cullen Gallagher, Jonah LeDuc, and Jamie Leduc. They will be accompanied on the trip by Justin DePamphilis. The group will leave Perkins at 8:30 AM and return to campus at approximately 3:30 PM. If you have any questions please contact Kate Fraser at extension 7423 or at ”
Are you and your students interested in maintaining plants in the Student Store? This is a wonderful opportunity to learn valuable work and volunteer skills and to enjoy taking care of plants which are beautifying the Student Store. You will need approximately one class period every week to water and keep plants clean. You can also add festive decorations and rotate plants for holidays. Please contact Deborah Krause as soon as possible at if you are interested. Training and materials will be provided. You can also do this after school or on weekends.
Perkins School for the Blind Science Fair 2017
Students from all the Perkins Educational Programs are invited to participate in the 11th Annual Perkins Science Fair.
The date of the fair is Friday March 24th, 2017. We will set up our display tables on Thursday March 23rd.
The topic of the Science Fair this year is:
Energy
To prepare for the fair, students choose or design an experiment related to the theme of energy. Students can work as a group or independently.
The Science Department has a collection of science experiments related to energy that we can share with you!
Some examples of scientific questions and experiments to test out:
· What is alternative energy?
· What is a water wheel, and how does it generate power?
· What is the relationship between wind and waves?
Teachers: If you are interested in having some or all of your students participate in the fair this year, please contact Kate Fraser, Kate Katulak, or Justin DePamphilis ASAP.
We hope students from all programs at Perkins will participate.
We are available to answer any questions, provide more information, and assist you in planning a fantastic project.
See you at the Fair!!!!
Kate Fraser x 7423
Kate Katulak x7592
Justin DePamphilis x7657
The Perkins Senior Class will be hosting an exciting Raffle and Irish Tea on 3/16/17. The Seniors are hard at work acquiring raffle items such as gift certificates, Luxury items, Gift baskets, Special tickets etc. We could use help from all staff, parents, and students to help us achieve our goal of making enough money for our senior trip and Prom. How to help: Donate gift certificates, ask your favorite restaurants and stores in your home communities to donate certificates or special items, volunteer you or someone you know to perform music at the Tea, attend the Tea!
See Paige Nason or Denise Fitzgerald if you can help
Thursday 3/16/17 Senior Class Fundraiser-IRISH TEA 10-11:30
The Senior Class welcomes parents, staff and student assistance in presenting the annual Senior Class Irish Tea on March 16th, 10:00-11:30! We will need people to bake Irish Themed treats, the sign-up will be posted outside of Alex LaVoie’s OT room or you can let know. Cookies, breads, scones, whatever! (No nuts)
This year we will also be raffling off great themed baskets. If you would like to create a themed basket, go ahead! Sample themes are: “Coffee Break,” “Sports,” “Candles and Flowers,” and “March Madness.” The items inside the basket are all based on the theme, the baskets will be raffled off at the Irish Tea and will be displayed in the week leading up to the Tea.
Denise Fitzgerald
The Perk Café has NEW HOURS. In order to provide a better environment for our students who operate the café we will be opening at 12pm and remain open until 2pm for lunch service. This will allow our incredible students to have the café fully set up and ready for service before opening in order to serve our campus as independently as possible.
This message is from Aiden Stott:
I am doing a community service project for Survivor Tails Animal Rescue, also known as STAR. You need money in order to save all the dogs and cats. I need all of the students and teachers to help the animals survive so they can have their own loving homes. Please come to the museum area on Mondays during break to donate money. Thank you.
Margie Carney has a bag on her door Howe West 114 for redeemable cans or bottles the money raised will go to different causes throughout the year.
We will be compiling essays and poems written by Secondary students for the 2016-2017 Perkins Press spring edition. Teachers and students are encouraged to submit their edited writings to Jeanne Fleming by April 30 for review. Any questions about The Press please call Jeanne.
The word of the week is bobbery noun: Squabble; commotion; confusion.
We are a NUT safe school. No nuts at all, not even in private staff offices, where students may be present.
Students who are interested in writing group or cello club should contact Alexa.
On Wednesdays, Aiden Stott, Michael Cote and Izzy Primeau prepare lunches 2nd-5th. On Thursdays, Alex Figueroa, Mikolai Friend and Zach Gousie are block-scheduled to prepare lunches. This is an on campus paid work experience. We plan in advance for it, and order and buy food ahead of time for class. Please do not schedule these students to participate in other activities during their food service class time without contacting Karen Keeler and discussing it two weeks ahead of time. This includes participation in assemblies, rehearsals, plays, meetings, sports activities, field trips, concerts etc. Thank you for your cooperation. We look forward to a delicious year of serving you. Thank you, Karen Keeler.
Notes for Staff:
It is not too early to start thinking about textbooks for next year, particularly if you need hard copy braille. Remember that APH will not transcribe a textbook into UEB that has already been transcribed in the older code. Even if you don’t have your class schedule for next year yet, please let me know what you are thinking about so that I can make every attempt to get you what you need. Please email me your braille, LP, audio and print requests by Friday, March 31st. Thanks, Alexa
If you would like your Perkins iPad updated to iOS10, please email Betsey to arrange for a time for her to do it; iOS 10 has new features for switch control some of you may like to explore.
There are now Perkins Google accounts for students. Computer teachers (Kate C, Kate K, Linda, Alison) are setting it up with interested students. If you have a student who does not have a Computer teacher, you can email Betsey Sennott for the set up instructions, student’s email address, and temporary password. Features and settings can be toggled on or off for each student. Default features include email, contacts (Perkins), google drive and calendar.
Your Perkins Google Drive now has unlimited storage. This is a good place to save your iPad pictures and videos that you want to keep. Don’t forget all iPads have the Video Compression app you can use to decrease the storage size of videos.
Newsletter of special needs events throughout Massachusetts:
http://www.spedchildmass.com/?wysija-page=1&controller=email&action=view&email_id=157&wysijap=subscriptions-3&user_id=3286
2016 - 2017 Terms
Please note that the dates in yellow are when reports are due.
End of Term 3Reports from CM / 4/7/17
End of Term 4 / 5/26/17
Reports Due / 6/2/17
Reports from CM / 6/9/17
The Independent Living Committee is looking for cottage staff who may be interested in being part of the committee. The ILC is committed to creating as many opportunities as possible for our students to learn how to live independently. Over the years, we have found the input of residential staff invaluable in helping us to understand how these skills are being taught in real life settings. If you are interested in being part of this work, please talk to your supervisor or Rachel Dubuque.
Want students to use your computer, but not have access to your files, etc? You can have them log onto your computer with this log-in:
username: SecStudent
password: S3condary
The brailler, embosser paper, and boldline paper is kept in 11w (w241). These papers are located on the bookshelves at the back of the room. The shelves have been labeled. Please try to only take what you need as you need it. The boxes have been labeled. If you need to open a box, please close it when done and try not to leave loose brailler and embosser paper on the shelves. Dust on the paper results in brailler and embosser damage.
The Advisory Committee is putting out the call for anyone interested in becoming a member. Specifically there are vacancies for Classroom-Based Teacher and Academic Teacher, though not limited to those roles. Meetings are every-other Tuesday, 5th period. You do not need to currently have that period free, because schedule changes will likely need to be considered.
We review submitted proposals from other Secondary staff and assist in the follow-through of approved proposals. Interested in joining? Submit your name to any member of the Advisory Committee (Terie Geary, Maggie Emberlin, Steve Fox, Marie Vollemans, Kathy Croy) or Stephanie Redmond.
Have ideas for a proposal? Forms are in the Advisory Mailbox in the copy room, and on AskHowe.
App requests for Perkins iPads can be made by completing the app request form. Each request will be is reviewed by the program’s technology liaison or collectively by the school educational technology committee. Staff may be required to justify the purchase of an app request with additional details. Please submit only one app per request submission. Betsey will confirm your request with you. http://goo.gl/forms/87cM5T70YB
Reminder, please email the for any assistance with your phone, computer, ink printer, internet, server, wifi, or standard software issues such as Outlook, Word, Excel. Call the Helpdesk at 7669 if it is an urgent/work stoppage issue. IT Dept would like you to utilize the Helpdesk lines rather than contacting individuals unless requested otherwise by them. Please contact Betsey Sennott, Secondary’s technology liaison for any issues you may have with any assistive technology, iPads, and for the installation of Assistive Technology/specialized softwares. She will help you determine if it’s an issue she can address and provide support for, or if it should be addressed by the Helpdesk/IT Dept.