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TO: Secondary Students and Staff
DATE: October 20th 2014
FROM: Alexa Kontes and Pat McCall
Meetings for this week include:
Mon, Oct 20 8:30am IEP mtg for ZH led by S. Fox, by invite, 11W
10:10am CR for CH led by M. Engelbrecht, 11W
10:10am CR for HS led by S. Myers, Sherri’s room
4pm – 5pm Creative Writing Group, led by A. Kontes, library
AEC Chris Underwood
Tues, Oct 21 9:45am Teacher/RSP mtg led by P. McCall, 11W
1:20pm Advisory Committee mtg, 11W
4pm – 5pm Cello Club, led by A. Kontes, library
AEC Joe D’Ottavio
Wed, Oct 22 10:10am CR for JH led by D. Fitzgerald, Denise’s room
10:10am CR for SM led by M. Engelbrecht, 11W
11:30am – 4:30pm Health Fair, Dwight Hall
11:35am – ILC, 11W
1:20pm CM mtg, 11W
2:15pm Fisher Cottage Behavior mtg
2:15pm May Cottage mtg, Peters, Redmond
AEC Kelly Cote
Thurs, Oct 23 9:45am IEP mtg for KC led by D. Dvorak, 11W
9:45am CR/FBA for KN led by Fisher staff, IMC
10:40am post-eval for Ahmed Shareef, East Howe Conf Rm
1:20pm Brooks Cottage mtg
2:15pm Residential In-service, Perkins Evaluations and Admissions Process, led by J. Carlone-Rines and C. Underwood
AEC Dan Caterino
Fri, Oct 24 10:10am CR for LB led by M. Engelbrecht
11:30am Utilizing Classroom Resources, led by M. Engelbrecht, 11W, by invite
AEC Dorinda Rife
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.
The October 2014 Student of the Month is Anicia Topian! Anicia’s nominators stated “Anicia has been demonstrating great improvements at school in many ways. She has been getting all her homework assignments in on time and she is making great progress in English, math and chemistry. She did extra work in math when she had difficulty understanding a particular concept. She is doing exceptional work in chorus/chamber singers in all aspects: musicianship, leadership and attitude. All her music teachers report excellent progress. The cottage reports that she is very good at checking in with staff and letting them know her whereabouts.” Congratulations Anicia!
As you all know, the two administrative assistants we have in our program, Kendra and Jeannie, are extremely busy and work very hard to cover the daily responsibilities that are the key parts of their jobs. People have asked who they should go to if they have a particular request. We have assigned each administrative assistant to two separate groups. If teachers or related service providers have a question or need some help in completing a task (ie, schooldude, posts to AskHowe, scanning a document) they should go to Kendra. Residential staff with similar requests should go to Jeannie. All office supply requests should go to Kendra. All ink cartridge requests should go to Jeannie. If you are unclear, check with either Pat or Rachel. Let me know if you have any questions. - Pat
We will be having a teacher/related service provider meeting on Tuesday, Oct 21 in 11W.
Message from Kenny Cheung: Welcome to October; it is Dwarfism Awareness Month again.You can read more about it and take the pledge to not use the m word midget athttp://www.the-m-word.net/
There will be no writing group or 4:00 study hall on Monday, October 20th. Alexa will be at a meeting.
Cello Club will meet on Tuesday, October 21st at 4:00 in the Secondary Library. We will meet once a month. There will be no 4:00 study hall on the days that we have cello club.
Communications would like to thank the teachers and students who have agreed to participate in our campus-wide photo shoot, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 21 and 22. The shoot is part of our on-going effort to supply photos for our annual report, website and other projects that aim to share Perkins’ story with the community. Photographer Brian Smith will be accompanied by Communications staff at all times. As always, student privacy is our highest priority, and no images will be shared or reproduced without proper consent. Please feel free to direct any questions or concerns to Rebecca Fater, Publications Director, x7339, or Danielle Giguere Bangs, Marketing Coordinator, x7806.
The New Rep will be performing Macbeth on Wednesday November 5th in Dwight Hall at 9:00.Some English classes are already scheduled to attend. Students should check with their English teachers to see if they are on the list. If any students who don’t currently have English are interested in attending, they should submit their name to Jeff Migliozzi no later than Friday October 31.
We will be promoting a Secondary theme this year that highlights characteristics and actions of students and staff in the Secondary Program. There are five standards that we will address throughout the school year. More information will follow as we will be organizing formal and informal activities.
We RESPECT each other, and we respect ourselves.
We HELP each other to become better citizens and to achieve our goals.
We CREATE and SUPPORT an atmosphere promoting high achievement and independence.
We are EMPOWERED to grow and advocate for ourselves.
We HONOR our rights and responsibilities as members of the Perkins community.
The Word of the Week is: altruism: Unselfish interest in the welfare of others
Are you hungry ??
Then please plan to stop by the HPM annual bake sale. All proceeds go toward the HPM award given at graduation. Date…Wednesday October 29th
Time…all morning
Place …Howe Building lobby area
Also…If you ( Cottages, HPM classes and staff) would like to bake something for the sale we would greatly appreciate it !
Any questons??? Call x7402 Kathy ,Laura or Rachael
We are asking all staff to use Arial, size 12 print when sending emails and submitting reports to case managers. Please use a clear background and do not capitalize all letters. This will make information more accessible.
In Foodservice class, Michael Cote and Kenny Cheung make lunches 2nd-5th on Wednesdays. On Thursdays, Carolyn Harrington works 2nd period, Aiden Stott works 2nd-5th periods and Alex Berthiaume and Mikolai Friend work break-5th periods. We plan our menus in advance, and customers sign up in advance, so please do not schedule these students to participate in other activities during their foodservice class time without discussing it with Karen Keeler (at EXT. 7554) two weeks ahead of time. This includes participation in assemblies, rehearsals, meetings, sports activities, field trips, concerts, etc. Thank you for your cooperation. We are currently practicing skills, and plan on beginning to sell lunches sometime soon, when the students are ready.
Enclosed is a list of local audio-described theatres and performances for the 2014-2015 season: http://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=J0QFh_YeO182J6kYyFsiyw
October is White Cane Awareness Month. To celebrate this, we will be accepting essays on what your white cane means to you. The deadline to submit your essay is October 21st. Please submit your essays to Margie Carney. The winner will be presented with a gift certificate to the Snack Bar!
Margie will continue to collect redeemable soda cans and bottles. A plastic bag is attached to her classroom door room number West 114.
If you are interested in delivering produce with your students from the student garden to the Watertown Food Pantry, please contact Deborah Krause. Pantry hours are Tues. 10-12 and Thurs. 4-6. You can deliver before 10AM on Tues. and before 4PM on Thurs. You are also welcome to harvest, wash, bag, bunch and prepare the produce. This can be flexible – daily, weekly or whenever you can go.
Please stop by the Horticulture Center on Fridays at 11AM-12:15 PM for the Farmer's Market! Students in this class will be selling fresh organic produce and herbs each week grown and harvested in the student garden. The Farmer's Market will be in the garden weather permitting. If it rains, the sale will be in the Horticulture Center lobby. Produce will vary each week - including cherry tomatoes, sweet and jalapeno peppers, cucumbers, beans, chard, thyme, basil, mint, rosemary, sage, cilantro, parsley, hyssop, cut flowers. Please contact Deborah Krause for further information or if you would prefer a delivery.
The Scholastic print and braille magazines are now available in the library.
If you received any in-kind gifts this month, please notify Ryan Harris.
If you would like to assign your students to 4:00pm study hall, please contact Alexa. Until further notice, study hall will meet Monday through Thursday, but the schedule will be adjusted to accommodate student clubs.
Notes for Staff:
Residential Inservice: On Thursday, October 23th, at 2:15 pm, Justine Carlone Rines and Chris underwood will present information to residential staff about Perkins Admissions and Evaluations. If staff have any questions about what they should or should not do when possible admission candidates are visiting the cottage, this will be the perfect time to ask! The training will take place in room 11W.
Message from Mary Zatta: Help us to help YOU in understanding the Common Core State Standards. Please complete this brief survey (takes about 15 minutes to complete). After completing the survey we will enter your name into a drawing for a $100 Amazon gift card! Please be sure and enter your name and email address at the end in order to be eligible.
This survey is designed to learn from teachers about the types of supports that are helping them implement new state standards, which may be referred to as the Common Core, College and Career Readiness Standards, or something else specific to your state or district.
Learn more athttp://support.perkins.org/site/R?i=IOQg9NDbtSl8CKoBMXS9AA
Student schedules have been added to the old intranet near the Blackbook. They are in pdf format and unfortunately not accessible by screen readers at this time but who knows what the future holds! You can print them one at a time by choosing “print current page” in the print dialog box but I would advise that you always go to the intranet to view them since they change all of the time. Kendra will also be suggesting that you do so when you call the office to ask what a student has next. Here is the link
http://intranet/secondary/Blackbook/Forms/AllItems.aspx?RootFolder=%2fsecondary%2fBlackbook%2fStudent%20Schedules&FolderCTID=&View=%7bE3A8387B%2d73BD%2d4886%2d8974%2d111FF75E2E82%7d
Please complete your online Blood borne Pathogen training as soon as possible. This is an annual required online training. Here is a link to the training website:
http://www.gcntraining.com/user/login.cfm?c=1&rn=1145
Perkins organization number is: 32780
The staff book group will meet on December 2nd from 12:30-1:15 in 11w. We will discuss Colum McCann's TransAtlantic. Please contact if you would like to join our group.
Walgreens Pharmacy will be providing Flu Shots to Perkins staff this year at the Health Fair. You must bring your Health Insurance Information (company Name and ID number) with you to receive the vaccine. You can fill out the registration form in advance and put your info on the form, or you can bring your info with you and fill out the form at the Fair. If you do not have health Insurance coverage, you must contact Mary Salvucci prior to the event if you are interested in receiving the vaccine.
For more information about the Health Fair go to Ask Howe: https://askhowe.perkins.org/announcements/health-fair
Stevie Wonder raffle The R & R Committee has purchased 4 tickets for Perkins staff to see Stevie Wonder perform at the TD Garden on Tuesday, November 11 at 8 PM. To enter a FREE raffle to win a pair of free tickets to the concert, please contact Kevin at or x7628. Kevin will pick the two lucky winners at noon on Monday, November3.
Yoga with Deborah: Fall/Winter Session on Tuesdays; ongoing until Dec. 16
Where:Lower School Gym When: Tuesdays at 5:15 - 6:30 pm; Come at 5 to set up your blankets (provided) Cost: $120 for 8 weeks; Drop - in session $20 Questions or more information: Contact Or Call or email: Deborah Shapiro Phone: 617-529-7655 Email: Website:www.blissofyoga.net
Just a reminder that the training on Getting the Most Out of Psychiatric Consultation at Perkins with Dr. Julian, our Consulting Psychiatrist, is coming up. Two dates in October.10/16/14 2:00-3:00pm, Panel Room, Hilton Bldg
10/30/14 3:15-4:15, MPR1, GCST
Please RSVP by 10/10 by email to
The braille and embosser paper in 11w (w241) has been replenished. The boldline paper has been ordered. These papers are located on the 2 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 paper on the shelves. Dust on the paper results in brailler and embosser damage.
Advisory Committee information is posted on the intranet at:
http://intranet/secondary/Advisory%20Committee%20Notes/Forms/AllItems.aspx
There you will find the 2014-2015 meeting schedule, the current Active Proposal list, meeting notes, and an archive of meeting notes and proposals. If you would like to submit a proposal, please use the form that has also been posted.
Donna Bent will be holding a Low-Vision info drop in time on Thursdays from 9:30-10:30 in the museum area.