Superintendent’s Corner

Bradford Nolan, a 5^th grade student at the Howard School published his first book in March of this year. “The Mouse Who Lived in Fenway Park” was created during an annual 4^th grade writing project at the Howard School. Brad’s teacher Mrs. Sally Romano loved the story so much that she strongly encouraged his mom Colleen to pursue publication.

The book describes the adventures of Ace, a mischievous mouse, and his friend Stitch, a baseball, as they explore and live in Fenway Park. The book has another West Bridgewater connection, as it is illustrated by Jim Connelly a 1982 graduate of West Bridgewater High School. Jim is currently an artist living in Boston.

I was fortunate to meet with Brad last week as he signed my personal copy of the book. Brad told me that the idea for the book came from his pet hamsters and a tour that he took of Fenway Park. When asked, what is next for a 9 year old author? he replied, “Maybe the Mouse will go to the Garden!!”

You can purchase “The Mouse Who Lived in Fenway Park” on Amazon.com. If you would like to meet Brad, he will be at the West Bridgewater Public Library on June 16^th at 5:30 for his first official book signing.

Brad, Congratulations on this impressive accomplishment.

In his 24th season at the helm of wildcat baseball, Cully Ohlson achieved a milestone 300 wins defeating Blue Hills 6-4 on  May 7th. Cully started coaching baseball in West Bridgewater in 1986 and has led his teams to 17 post season appearances and 5 league titles.

Chuckie and Christine Tartaglia whose son Ryan is a senior on the team this year said of the coach, “It’s an honor to be associated with a man with such passion for the game of baseball. We are proud to be able to celebrate his 300th win this year”.  Another senior player Tommy Reed’s parents Tom and Christine remarked, “Cully is one of those coaches that no matter what the player’s capability is, he always seems somehow to get each player some playing time. Congratulations go out to Cully and his family on this milestone”.

Cully and the wildcats finished the 2009 regular season at 14-6 and will be playing Nantucket in the first round of the state tournament on Saturday May 30th at 2:00pm in West Bridgewater.

On behalf of the West Bridgewater school community, congratulations Cully!

Under the direction of Mrs. Sandra Walsh, the half day kindergarten students took part in an embryology project which culminated in the hatching of 14 chicks.  During the 21 day project, students learned various skills and concepts in math, science, and literacy while awaiting the chicks’ arrival.

In math, students sharpened their backwards counting skills during the daily “countdown to hatch”, and tallying skills were used in describing the various eggs and chicks.  Prior to the hatching, students learned the embronic stages of development by observing pictures and sketches on a daily chart. In addition, students read books about chicks and eggs.

Exactly 21 days after the start of the project the chicks began to hatch and 14 chicks arrived after only a few days. The project was quite an adventure and a great example of integrated learning.

Under the direction of Social Studies Chair John Nenopolous and Contemporary American Issues teacher Elaine Peckham, high school students engaged in the schools second annual “Save Darfur Night”. It was a successful event where students increased awareness and resolved to be proactive in terms of the human suffering occurring in Africa, particularly related to displaced persons.

Student Matt Sylva organized the evening and presented a passionate poem that he wrote for the event. Other student contributors included Sam Asker, Nancy Kwan, Meagan McNally, Kayla Tuohy, Chris Perkins, and Rachael Cobb.

In addition to various student performances, students sold T-shirts and wrote a letter which included a challenge to political leaders to take greater action in resolving these issues. The letter will be enlarged to poster size allowing the entire school community to sign it and it will be sent to legislators to show the students’ commitment to this cause.

A special thank you goes to Jake McCabe who filmed the event, and to John Collins who helped with the sound and played the piano during the student performances.

At an awards banquet held on Tuesday, April 28^th , West Bridgewater’s own 8^th grade science teacher Laura Black was presented with an “Excellence in Teaching Award”. The award was given through a new program sponsored by the Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School, in which freshmen students wrote an essay nominating a teacher who had an impact on their educational life.

Ms. Black was nominated by freshmen Shawn Erickson who had attended the West Bridgewater Public Schools through grade 8. In an excerpt from his letter he wrote,

“Most teachers only care about teaching the subject; she wanted to make it fun so that we wanted to learn. Her class was the one that I looked forward to everyday; it was a fun place to learn. She was there to help anyone who was having a hard time. She would stay late after school, if you needed help. She would also make extra credit work to help kids get a better grade.”

Freshmen guidance counselor Sue Phillips initially contacted the MSHS regarding the award and stated that, “It was hard to choose because there were so many good letters but Ms. Black definitely stood out.”

The West Bridgewater Public Schools are very pleased to have such an extraordinary teacher as Ms. Black in our district. Congratulations!

Each year the West Bridgewater RIF program distributes high quality books to all students’ grades 1-5, three times a year. The 2008-2009 school year was no exception, as over 1500 books were distributed to West Bridgewater students.

Local businesses, town employees, parents, and school personnel contribute to make this program a success year after year. This year Shaw’s Supermarkets, Harvard/Pilgrim Health Care, Trucchi’s Supermarkets, the Snelgrove Foundation, the Howard Trustees, and the Friends of the West Bridgewater Public Library donated to the program.  Without their continued support, the RIF Program would not be the success it has come to be.

At the Rose L. MacDonald School this year parents dressed up as characters from their child’s favorite literature, including Debbie Polcari as Pippi Longstocking, Collette Braga as Princess Leah, Marie Kelguard as Ms. Frizzle and Christy Berkowitz as Belle from Beauty and the Beast.  Also, local town’s people lent a hand by reading books to the students, including Janice Fox from Harvard/Pilgrim Health Care; Nancy Morrison, West Bridgewater’s Town Clerk; Mark Bodwell, West Bridgewater’s Howard School Principal; Anne Iannitelli, West Bridgewater School Committee Member; Amy Diman of The Snelgrove Foundation; Officer Ken Thaxter, West Bridgewater DARE Officer and Diane and Rick Snelgrove of The Snelgrove Foundation.

At the Howard School, activities were planned and administered by Nannette Ryan and Michelle Sheehan, West Bridgewater Children’s Librarians and Sandra Churchill, Local Book Author.  Also, Nancy Varros, RIF Volunteer and Evelyn Bandlow, Former Teacher presented a funny Mad Lib entitled A Crazy Night at the Library.  A good time was had by all.

On behalf of the West Bridgewater Public Schools I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the coordinators, volunteers, and contributors of the RIF Program.

Under the direction of Elementary Physical Education teacher, Courtney Bumpus, students at the Rose L. MacDonald and Howard Schools recently participated in a fundraiser for the American Heart Association (AHA), called Jump Rope for Heart.  During their physical education classes, students jump roped (single rope, long rope, double dutch, and Chinese jump rope), as well as, learned many facts about the heart and heart health. Topics included types of heart diseases and how they can be prevented, through adding water to your diet, eating right, and exercising.  The students jump roped for 80 – 90 minutes and were given the option to try to collect money for the AHA. What a GREAT job they did!!!  Between the two schools, the children raised over $8,300.  Thank you to MS. Bumpus and all of the students who participated, It was an amazing turnout for an extremely important cause.

PK Students had a visit from the School DARE Officer, Ken Thaxter last week to discuss a number of safety issues. Officer Thaxter’s safety discussion included how to use 911 in emergencies, bike safety, the job of a police officer, and not to be fearful of the siren and lights on a police cruiser. During the lesson, the pre-schoolers were allowed to climb through the back seat of the police cruiser and listen to the police radio in the car. At the end of the lesson, each student received a DARE coloring book.

Officer Thaxter encourages families to reinforce the importance of using the 911 system for emergencies. This is another example of a school and community partnership that shows that educating the children of West Bridgewater is truly a community effort. Thank you to the West Bridgewater Police Department for helping to foster this relationship.