Taylor Made News
March 2015
Principal’s Message
My hope is that snow season is over and we can enter spring. Due to mountainous snow banks I needed to postpone Spring Fling. As you know parking is always a concern during Spring Fling, and I felt the snow banks just add too much of a risk to the children and families. I have worked with Karen Hollis, Spring Fling Coordinator, and the PTO Board to select a new date that would have minimal conflicts. Spring Fling will be Saturday, May 9th from 10-2.
In addition, due to the 6 snow days this year, Friday, April 3rd will now be a school day. Lunch will not be served and the students will be dismissed at 12:07. Aftercare will be closed on April 3rd. As the school term lost many days, report cards will also be delayed by one week. Report cards will be issued before April vacation.
Now for some non-snow related information…I am happy to introduce our new Spanish teacher, Senora Aurora Massouda. Senora is a native Spanish speaker but also a long time Foxborough resident that many of our Taylor families know. Please join me in welcoming Senora to the Taylor School!
Later this month our third and fourth graders will have an opportunity to try out a new state/national test, PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers). This test is a pilot test for the state that all Foxborough Public School students will participate in. Individual results will not be available to the school or the families, but school results will be shared. This is a great chance for the Taylor School to shine on a state and national level.
Many homes (mine included) struggle with keeping their child’s work in an organized manner. Our refrigerator quickly gets filled and then at some point it overflows and finds its way to bins in the basement to be somewhat organized and possibly unearthed at some point. We are now trying a new system. After the work is displayed for about 2 weeks on the refrigerator the picture/test/writing is then digitally photographed. The photo is then saved in a folder for that child. The document is named with the activity and date. This is proving to be a great way to stay organized, not feel guilty in purging our children’s work, and to monitor growth of skills.
…Pete Regan…
Notes from the Nurse
ALLERGY PROTOCOLS FOR THE TAYLOR SCHOOL
As I was conducting my semi-annual allergy in-service and EpiPen/Auvi Q demonstration with the staff at Taylor this past month, I realized it would be a good time to remind everyone how we keep students with allergies safe at school.
Parents talk with me to let me know their child has an allergy. There is a lot of paperwork, physician input, and educating that needs to be done. And it is the responsibility of everyone at Taylor School to maintain a safe environment.
An allergy is something that causes a person to have an immune response to it. The eight common food allergies are peanut, tree nut, egg, dairy, wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish. There are many other foods students can be allergic to. Stinging insects are another source of allergens for some children. Bees, hornets, and wasps are just three. Latex can also cause allergies. This can be the latex in band aids, arts supplies, or toys. But latex allergies can also include certain foods such as kiwi, avocado, banana, and chestnut. So you can see we need to be diligent in creating a safe environment for children with allergies to learn.
There is no cure for allergies. Avoidance of the allergen is the main way to protect your child against an allergic/anaphylactic reaction. Environmental procedures can also lessen the exposure to an allergen. If a student does come in contact with an allergen, the emergency response is started.
Environmental procedures start before the beginning of each school year. Mr. Regan and I write a letter to parents in all classrooms where there is a student with an allergen. We do this to inform the parents not to send in certain foods for snack. The process for sending in snacks includes: no home baked goods because while we have a “no food share” policy children sometimes do share and we do not know what ingredients are in the food and the cross-contamination potential; the food must be in the original package with the ingredients label so if there is a question the classroom teacher can read the ingredients and determine if the food is allowed or not; if the student does not have an allowed snack the child will be instructed to go to the nurse’s office and choose an apple to eat for snack. I understand some parents will purchase a multi-portion container of snacks and put some in a baggie; we ask you to send in a copy of the ingredients list, either by digital image or original label. Each year parents ask for a “safe snack list”; this is not possible to create as manufacturing processes change frequently and what is safe today might not be tomorrow.
In class, the environmental safety procedures continue. All students wash their hands when they come into the school in the morning. During lunch the students who have eaten foods with allergens are told to wash their hands in the bathrooms. Disinfectant wipes are available for the teachers to assist the students in wiping down computer keyboards and the mouse, and other items in the classroom. There is a peanut/tree nut safe table in the cafeteria where some students with allergies eat lunch. They choose one or two friends to sit with them, and those children’s lunches are checked to be sure they are safe. There are poster, with both words and pictures, of the foods that are not safe to bring into a specific classroom. No peanut product is served from our kitchen. The cafeteria tables are wiped at the start of the first lunch, in-between lunches, and at the end of the day. There is no food to be eaten on the school buses.
As mentioned earlier, if a student comes in contact with a known allergen, the emergency response is started. There is a specific process which all staff knows: there are twice a year in-services by the nurse, practice for staff with an EpiPen trainer and the Auvi Q trainer (a new device), and drills that are done, and availability to speak with the nurse as needed. When a child, or adult, has an EpiPen or Auvi Q administered, 911 is immediately called for transport to a local Emergency Room for continued treatment and observation. Parents are notified. A second allergic reaction can happen up to 24 hours after the initial one so follow up is important.
An allergic reaction is very serious. The staff, administration, and nurse at the Taylor School are committed to creating a safe environment so all students can learn and play to their fullest potential.
Edna Fuller, RN
News From The Reading Teachers
The Reading Teachers would like to thank the Kristenson family for their huge donation of books to the school. We were so happy to find a giant bag of books waiting for us. We love putting books into children's hands. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Danna Collins and Alicia Sham
Wacky Wednesday
March 18, 2015
Sports Day
Wear your gear from your favorite team.
A $1.00 donation is appreciated but not mandatory. All proceeds fund the 4th grade field trip.
Please make sure only one jersey/hat is worn.
Kindergarten
Q and U are Tying the Knot!
We are starting to make plans for Q and U’s wedding. We are thinking about the wedding attire and we will soon be making our famous paper hats.
It is time for spring cleaning and we can help you get started! We are looking for donated items such as legos, characters, MacDonald toys, army soldiers, ribbons, big and small silk flowers, lace, small shells, pom poms, or craft materials to hot glue onto our hats. Send in anything you can find to make our hats fun and interesting!
Thank you!
The annual Taylor Art Show will take place Thursday, May 7. Teresa Gorman and Sarah Hoyt will be helping Ms. Schuster to prepare for the show. We are looking for volunteers to help with laminating and hanging the artwork. Please e-mail Teresa: or Sarah: , for more details.
PTO News & Notes for March
President: Cindy Brown, Vice President: Dana Fossella,
Treasurer: Christine Lathrop,
Secretary: Jean Smolinsky O’Bryant
Tri-Board Meeting
The Taylor PTO Board had a wonderful meeting with the PTO Boards from both the Igo Elementary School and Burrell Elementary School at the beginning of this month. We agreed on a tri-chair committee concept for the 2015 BIT Auction. As you have seen in e-mails from room parents and also attached to this newsletter is some information on the Taylor point person for the auction. We cannot stress enough how important it is to get a Taylor parent immediately for this position. Please read the attached flyer and contact us if you are interested.
Also at the tri-board meeting, the PTO representatives agreed on a combined BIT student parade for Founder’s Day. In the past, we called this the “Founder’s Day Float”. Being in charge of designing a float was somewhat intimidating. So, instead, we will have representatives from each elementary school marching with the students. We will have a banner and coordinate a t-shirt theme. If you are interested in volunteering to be the Taylor coordinator (you can do it with a friend), the work is simple: students sign up by having their parent sign a permission form and you will work with the other elementary school volunteers to design a banner and t-shirt theme. The PTO budget has allocated money for this. It should be a fun effort for anyone interested!
Board Positions Open for Next Year
As was mentioned in the last newsletter supplement, the PTO Board has positions open next year. We will be sending home a flyer shortly with a description of each position. Also, the PTO Board will hold a “meet and greet” after school on March 27. Please stop by for refreshments, to meet the board and ask any questions about the positions.
For a list of upcoming PTO events and current activities for the year please refer to the website at the link below. Once on the web site, navigate the left-hand side index for various contents.
TAYLOR PARENT OR PARENTS NEEDED TO REPRESENT TAYLOR FOR THE 2015 BIT AUCTION
2015 is the BIT Auction’s 20th Birthday! Instead of rotating which school will “host” and do all the work, there will be one chairperson from each of the three elementary schools. Moving to a “tri-chair” approach will make communication between schools easier, will lighten the work load, and simply embodies the spirit of working together for a common goal…to raise money for our schools’ enrichment programs and school needs. Funds raised are distributed to each PTO to use as they see fit.
Next year, Taylor is still the main point school within this tri-chair framework which means the Taylor representative(s) will pick the venue, work on the Bidding for Good site (with help from Sarah and Carrie) and the financials. The other two schools will coordinate the fundraising, baskets, communications, business donations, and volunteers. The coordinators from all three schools will work together on picking the auction date, theme and entertainment. You can volunteer to be the Taylor coordinator with a friend.
We really need to get a parent for this IMMEDIATELY! Although we ask for an annul PTO donation of $50 per student, the majority of our funds (over $10,000 annually) come from the BIT auction. These funds are used to pay for field trips (part of the admission fee and all of the busing costs), teacher reimbursement of some classroom materials, and technological improvements to the classrooms, and the in-school enrichment programs (High Tech/High Touch, authors’ visits, Kaleidoscope Theater, Sheryl Faye and other theatrical production visits). WITHOUT THE BIT AUCTION, WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO CONTINUE MANY OF THESE ACTIVITIES!
Please contact Dana Fossella at for more information or for questions.
Spring Fling…. New Date… Saturday, May 9th!
FSEPAC - Foxborough Special Education Parent Advisory Council
invites you to an informative presentation
LETS GET ORGANIZED
Monday March 23
6:30– 8:30 PM
Igo Elementary School
70 Carpenter St Foxborough
ORGANIZATION WORKSHOP
Parents of children with special needsoften have lots of paperwork to manage.
How can you keep it all straight?
This workshop helps parents work with their own strengths and successes, providing concrete written materials to expand their organizational skills.
LET’S GET ORGANIZED participants take home a three-ring binder, organizational supplies, and lots of ideas on ways to bring order to the mountain of paperwork that relates to their child’s medical and educational needs.
Pre-registration is REQUIRED for this workshop
as we need a headcount to provide enough materials
RSVP TO BY March 16
This workshop is presented by FAMILY TIES of Massachusetts
A Network For Families & Professionals Supporting Children & Youth With Special Needs
1-800-905-TIES (8437)
All FSEPAC events are free and open to the public
Margaret Chaisson
Chair – FSEPAC
Foxborough Special Education parent Advisory Council