Editor’s Note for April 14, 2022: Superintendent Conrad’s newsletter touches on Commissioner’s visit to Davis School, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, Passover, The Month of the Military Child, Citizens Scholarship of Bedford Dollars for Scholars, Spring Athletics, Bedford High School Poetry Slam, Sign up for the BEST/PTO Color Run, Bedford Board of Health, Covid Testing and Protocols, BPS Substitute Rate Increase, April Vacation, and Springshine by Alice Monks Mears (1954)
Commissioner’s visit to Davis School
On Thursday, April 11, 2022, Commissioner Jeff Riley came and visited the Lt. Eleazer Davis Elementary School. The Commissioner toured the school and spent time in Ms. Mansfield’s first-grade class, Ms. Lua’s second-grade class, and Ms. Alcott’s pre-school classroom. Thank you to the Commissioner and his staff for making this visit possible and thank you to Ms. Benoit, Ms. Mansfield, Ms. Lua, Ms. ALcott, and the entire Davis School for interrupting their day to host the Commissioner.
Good Friday and Easter Sunday
Today marks Good Friday and Sunday is Easter. Both of these are important holidays in the Christian faith. Easter celebrates the belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the New Testament of the Bible, this event is said to have occurred three days after Jesus was crucified by the Romans. For more information about Good Friday and Easter please visit https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/history-of-easter
Passover
Passover begins this evening and to all of our families observing Passover Chag Same’ach or Happy Festival. Passover or Pesach in Hebrew is one of Judaism’s most sacred holidays. Passover commemorates the story of the Israelites’ departure from ancient Egypt. For more information about Passover please navigate to https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/passover
The Month of the Military Child
On Monday, April 11, 2022, there was a motorized parade on Hanscom Air Force Base as part of the local Month of the Military Child events. The event was headlined by Colonel Stephens and her staff. On Wednesday, April 13, 2022, BHS held a breakfast for our Hanscom-based students during Flex Block. Thank you to Mr. DeChellis for organizing this event. Today, Friday, April 15, 2022, was Purple Up Day at BHS where faculty, staff, and students wore purple in support of our military students and their families.
Citizens Scholarship of Bedford Dollars for Scholars
CSF of Bedford Dollars for Scholars is at the halfway point of raising funds for their BHS Class of 2022 Scholarships. CSF of Bedford will be awarding scholarships at their 57th Annual Scholarship Awards Ceremony on May 31, 2022. They are grateful to the Bedford community for the donations already received. If you have not donated yet, please help them reach their goal of $60,000.
Donations may be made online by clicking CSF of Bedford Dollars for Scholars or by mail by sending a check payable to CSF of Bedford Dollars for Scholars at PO Box 585,
Bedford, MA 01730-0585. All donations of $50 or more and received by May 5, 2022, will be acknowledged in the Awards Program for scholarship recipients. CSF of Bedford has helped students attend local colleges or technical or vocational schools. For additional information about the Bedford community’s longtime support for Dollars for Scholars, please see their website at bedfordma.dollarsforscholars.org
Spring Athletics
The Spring athletics season is off and running as we patiently await some warmer weather. We are hosting sixteen Varsity and Subvarsity teams, a club team, and three middle school teams. We also have five new coaches this spring: Alan Chang (Varsity Boys Lacrosse), Gabe Granberry (JV Boys Lacrosse), Cindy Vitling (JV Girls Tennis), Anders Helgason (JGMS Track), and Geoff Chase (JGMS Baseball). Our teams will not be practicing today, Friday 4/15 through Monday 4/18. Up-to-date practice schedules can be found on our website or by clicking on the following link BHS Dual County Schedule. If you have any questions please reach out to our Athletic Director Keith Mangan at [email protected]
Bedford High School Poetry Slam
On Thursday, April 14, 2022, Bedford High School held its annual Poetry Slam and Open Mic Night. The event was hosted by special guest Jamele Adams.
Sign up for the BEST/PTO Color Run
BEST/PTO is excited to announce the in-person return of their Spring fundraiser, the 6th Annual Color Run on Saturday, June 11, 2022, from 4 pm to 6 pm at the JGMS fields. The event features a racecourse with color powder sprayed by teachers and administrators, raffles, music, food, bounce houses, face painting, and more. Families are invited to Walk, Run, Roll, or Stroll as little or as much as they want. This event has raised over $85,000 for the Davis and Lane Elementary Schools since 2016. Please sign up today to help BEST reach $100,000 this year! Early Bird Registration is $25 per individual or $75 per household until TODAY and includes a bag, t-shirts, and food tickets. More details and sign up at BEST Color Run
Bedford Board of Health
The Board of Health has come out with a recommendation that we should test for COVID-19 if we are planning to gather with older or medically vulnerable individuals.
The statement reads, “Given recent indications of waning COVID-19 immunity in the U.S. population, a surge in new Omicron BA.2 variant cases and case counts overall in Bedford, an increase in SARS CoV-2 viral load in MWRA wastewater and impending indoor gatherings (religious holidays, proms, graduations, weddings, etc.), the Bedford Board of Health reminds residents that it remains important to implement COVID-19 mitigation strategies. In particular, the Board of Health recommends taking a COVID-19 test before gathering with older adults, those who are immunocompromised and other individuals who are most vulnerable to serious illness and death from COVID-19 infection.”
For the full Board of Health announcement and resources for obtaining free at-home COVID-19 test kits, please navigate to Bedford Board of Health Recommendations.
COVID-19 Testing [and Protocols]
We continue to offer free COVID-19 testing via pooled testing (PCR tests) at each school every week, and free home test kits are distributed every other week.
Home kits were distributed to students and staff this week for all those who have opted in. CIC Health and DESE are recommending that the at-home test day be used for all individual staff and students Sunday 4/24/22 prior to returning to school on Monday 4/25/22 instead of the normal home testing day preset each week normally.
If you would like your child to resume weekly pooled testing after they have been off the roster for 90 days after testing positive for COVID-19, please notify your child’s school nurse. You do not need to sign up again.
Want to be part of our FREE at-home testing program or our pooled testing program?
- Click Here to opt-in to the At-Home Antigen Test Opt-In Google Form
- Click here to view a video on How to use the iHealth COVID 19 Test
- Click here for instructions on how to use the iHealth COVID 19 Test in multiple languages
- Click here to consent to the ongoing Pooled Testing Pooled-Testing Consent Form
FDA Extension of iHealth (Home Antigen Test Kits) Expiration Dates:
On Tuesday 3/29/22, the FDA granted a three-month shelf-life extension for the iHealth COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test. As an example, if the expiration date on a test is April 1st, 2022, the new expiration date would be July 1st, 2022. To confirm the expiration date of an iHealth test kit, you can enter the lot number on the iHealth website here (this feature is case sensitive!) Please note that this extension is only in regard to the iHealth test kits and does not have any association with the timelines of the DESE testing program.
COVID-19 Email Addresses
All cases of COVID-19 (both home tests and tests from a medical provider) should be reported to your child’s school nurse using the following email addresses:
- For the Davis School please email: [email protected]
- For the Lane School please email [email protected]
- For JGMS please email [email protected]
- For BHS please email [email protected]
Masks for those who test positive for COVID-19
Please keep in mind that for infected individuals the current guidelines require masks to be worn within the ten-day infection period.
- Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 will need to wear a mask after a 5-day isolation and/or quarantine period when around others for an additional five days, except when eating, drinking, or outdoors.
- Individuals who experience COVID-19 symptoms should stay home and obtain testing. If they receive a negative result and their symptoms improve (including remaining fever-free for a 24-hour period without fever-reducing medication), they can return to school but should continue to wear a mask until their symptoms fully resolve.
- Unvaccinated individuals should continue to wear a mask in school settings.
COVID-19 Case Updates
The dashboard is up-to-date and can be accessed here:
Link to COVID-19 Cases in the Bedford Public Schools This Week
Pooled Testing Results Week of April 11, 2022,
- BHS 84 students, 40 staff, 1 positive case
- JGMS 181 students, 33 staff, 1 positive case
- Lane 315 students, 42 staff 1 positive case
- Davis 267 students, 35 staff, 0 positive cases
For weekly pooled testing we are using the single swab collection, placing 2 – 3 swabs in a “pool” to be processed by the lab, and if the pool detects a positive result, the school nurses will retest those individuals with rapid antigen tests, and if positive families will be notified and instructed on isolation procedures. If the rapid test is negative and the individual is symptom-free, they can resume weekly COVID-19 testing the following week.
Cases Reported This Week Since April 7, 2022:
- BHS 10
- JGMS 10
- Lane 9
- Davis 3
BPS Substitute Rate Increase
As of April 1, 2022, the daily substitute rate for Bedford Public Schools will increase to $100.00 per day. If you are interested in becoming a substitute, please apply at BPS Substitutes.
April Vacation
As we leave for April School Vacation I wanted to share this poem Springshine with you. I was struck by the picture of discovery and excitement of the early spring that Ms. Mears created. I was sad that I could find very little information about the poet Alice Monks Mears. To see the poetry of Ms. Mears please navigate to Poetry Foundation Alice Monks Mears
Springshine
Everything giddy and sharp: children
Shrieking at the brook’s bite on their
Winter heels, at frogs streaking
From quartz, at sparkle of snakes.
Burst light: spins wheels like glass:
Hums haloes: strikes birds and spiky
Beginnings of flowers at fence rows.
Squares of field tilt and slide emerald.
The big barn flashes like a turned kite.
And some of the heynonny lambs put to pasture
Are going to eat themselves into angels
On the shiny grass
Alice Monks Mears (1954)
As always, thank you for your patience, your participation, and your continued commitment to our schools.
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