The Bedford Citizen (https://www.thebedfordcitizen.org/tag/school-news/)
Information shared by the Bedford School Department
As Bedford High School coaches and student-athletes prepare for the abbreviated spring interscholastic season, they are discovering that the rules of the contests are almost unchanged from the last time they competed two years ago.
Almost all of the adjustments to the continuing threat of Covid-19 are in the protocols and routines.
Displaying two-way talent and physical and mental toughness in horrendous football conditions, the Bedford High School Buccaneers defeated Waltham High late Friday afternoon, 27-7.
Coach Tom Tone’s team finishes the first Fall II season next Friday at Weston, and a win would mean a record of 5-2.
The weather was the biggest factor for both teams Friday, with windswept rain raking across Sabourin Field for all 48 minutes.
April 16, 2021
* One (1) new COVID-19 positive case at JGMS School (JGMS case #22). No close contacts.
* There are currently (2) active COVID-19 cases in the JGMS community at this time.
* This case does not appear to be connected or related to previous cases identified in the schools.
* Please consider signing up your child for pooled testing so we can identify asymptomatic cases: Bedford Pooled Testing Sign Up.
The Superintendent of Schools’ newsletter update for Friday, April 16, 2021, includes a wide variety of information.
In honor of the Month of the Military Child, Bedford High School Principal Heather Galante announced that on April 15, students are encouraged to wear purple to show solidarity with the Hanscom Air Force Base population. Students that reside on Hanscom AFB make up roughly 15% of the student body at Bedford High School.
The origins of the Month of the Military Child can be traced to former Department of Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who established and initially commemorated the month in 1986. Similarly, the significance of the color purple derives from the fact that no service’s official color is purple, and it signifies unity within the branches.
Bedford High School Senior Zach Fernandez, a resident of Hanscom AFB and the base’s Youth of the Year in 2019 and 2020, said that celebrating the Month of the Military Child signifies support from his Bedford peers.
“At Hanscom, we believe without Bedford being by our side, and in our community, we would not be able to make relationships with friends that are not constantly moving,” Fernandez said.
Freshman Emily Doucette, who was awarded the same honor as Fernandez in 2021, noted the similar importance of the support from her Bedford peers.
“Although I entered the high school during the Covid-19 pandemic, I have been embraced by many who are from Bedford,” Doucette said. “That has made this year easier, and I am so appreciative for their friendship.”
Fernandez noted that moving has helped make him the person he is. “Meeting new people, traveling to different places in the world, starting a new life and journey, getting the ability to go help your parents and go to their promotions,” Fernandez rattled off, highlighting his favorite aspects of being a military child.
Doucette similarly stressed that moving around has made it possible for her to share her experiences. “Whether it is as simple as what living in other parts of the country is like, or something far harder to understand like the struggles of being the ‘new kid,’ it has been my goal to help those not in my shoes have a greater understanding,” Doucette said.
Students are encouraged to “Purple Up” on April 15, whether in-person or virtual, to show unity with the Hanscom AFB student population.
Bedford Patrons for Music Students (POMS), the music booster for the Bedford public schools, is delighted to introduce a fundraising opportunity for this year’s BHS musical, Les Misérables, to support the students, POMS, and Action Against Hunger.
Tickets for the streaming performances of Les Mis will be available soon. The filmed production will be shown Friday, May 21, and Saturday, May 22, on a screen near you!
In normal years, POMS sells well wishes in the lobby during the musical, so audience members can give a small token of appreciation to their favorite cast, crew, or pit member. This year, POMS is coordinating gift bag deliveries for each of the 71 student participants — and your donation makes it possible!
April 13, 2021
* One (1) new COVID-19 positive case at Davis School (DS case #20). Close contacts identified.
* One (1) new COVID-19 positive case at JGMS School (JGMS case #21). Close contacts identified.
* Two (2) new COVID-19 positive cases at BHS (BHS Case #57 and #58). No close contacts.
* There is currently one (1) active COVID-19 case in the Davis School community at this time.
* There are currently two (2) active COVID-19 cases in the Lane School community at this time.
* There are currently four (4) active COVID-19 cases in the JGMS community at this time.
* There are currently four (4) active COVID-19 cases in the BHS community at this time.
* The cases at DS and BHS do not appear to be connected or related to previous cases identified in the schools. The new JGMS case is not indicative of in-school * transmission, however, the impacted individual has had out of school connection with a previous JGMS case.
* Please consider signing up your child for pooled testing so we can identify asymptomatic cases: Bedford Pooled Testing Sign Up.
A 2014 Bedford High School graduate told participants in Saturday’s 10th annual Tenacity Challenge that “you have been embodying the meaning of tenacity long before today, and you are transcending every limit placed on you with a lot of grace.”
Cydni Burton said when she was invited to be the guest speaker, she planned to recount some of her personal experiences. But after witnessing students’ responses to the competition, she opted to laud the participants, “to tell you all how overwhelmingly impressive you are.”
The Tenacity Challenge is described as “an annual academic scholarship competition for teams of Latino and African-American students from urban and suburban high schools across Massachusetts.” (It is formally the Jon Sills L&A2 Tenacity Challenge, honoring the retired former BHS principal and school superintendent who launched the event in 2011.)
April 9, 2021
* One (1) new COVID-19 positive case at Lane School (LS case #15). No close contacts.
* Two (2) new COVID-19 positive cases at BHS (BHS Case #55 and #56). Close contacts have been identified.
* There are currently two (2) active COVID-19 cases in the Lane School community at this time.
* There are currently two (2) active COVID-19 cases in the BHS community at this time.
* These cases do not appear to be connected or related to previous cases identified in the schools.
* Please consider signing up your child for pooled testing so we can identify asymptomatic cases: Bedford Pooled Testing Sign Up.
Welcome to April! Next Monday, April 5, 2021 we will welcome back the students of Davis and Lane to their five (5) day a week all-in-person schedule. As you know it has been a long process to return to in-person learning and I want to acknowledge the work of the educators and administrators of each building for their hard work to make this a reality. The educators of JGMS and BHS are working diligently to prepare for Monday, April 26, 2021, when they welcome their students back to five (5) days a week all in-person learning. Please continue to be vigilant against the COVID-19 virus so as to keep one another safe.
The Wayland Warriors blasted to a 23-0 first-quarter lead and coasted to a 38-7 football win over the Bedford Buccaneers Friday evening.
March 22, 2021
* One (1) new COVID-19 positive case at Bedford High School (BHS case #53), no close contacts.
* There are currently three (3) active COVID-19 positive cases in the BHS Community at this time.
* These cases do not appear to be connected or related to previous cases identified in school.
March 19, 2021
* One (1) new COVID-19 positive case at John Glenn Middle School (JGMS case #15). Close contacts have been identified.
* Two (2) new COVID-19 positive cases at Bedford High School (BHS cases #51 & 52). No close contacts.
* There are currently three (3) active COVID-19 positive cases in the JGMS community and two (2) active COVID-19 positive cases in the Bedford High School community.
* For the new BHS cases, they do not appear to be connected to or related to previous cases identified in the schools.
* For the new JGMS case, while this case is not indicative of in-school transmission, the impacted individual has had out-of-school connection with a previous JGMS case.
Editor’s Note: In his weekly message, Superintendent Conrad shares a variety of news.
March 16, 2021
* One (1) new COVID-19 positive case at John Glenn Middle School (JGMS case #13). Close contacts have been identified.
* There is currently one (1) active COVID-19 positive case in the JGMS community.
* This case does not appear to be connected or related to previous cases identified in the schools.
For the first time in a little more than a year, almost all students in first through fifth grades returned to their classrooms together at Davis and Lane Schools on Monday.
The long-planned return featured all of the safety protocols that have served as a foundation for part-time, in-school learning this academic year, including masks and physical distancing.
Thanks to classroom conversions and expansions and additional teachers, the two former hybrid cohorts have been consolidated full-time, four days a week. Kindergarteners returned to the four-days-a-week schedule last month.
There is still a cohort of students who are fully remote.
“I visited both schools today and was thrilled to see all of the children in classes with their teachers,” Superintendent of Schools Philip Conrad said. “Everyone was excited to be back and both schools treated it like the first day of school.”
Conrad has said that John Glenn Middle School and Bedford High School will also be reopening sometime in April.
Eleazer Davis School Principal Beth Benoit was delighted with the outcome. “We are feeling good about where we are,” she stated. “We had a wonderful day as everyone was getting used to being with each other.”
“It was a busy day but a good day,” said Rob Ackerman, Job Lane School principal. “The kids adjusted great, the teachers were terrific, and it was very smooth inside the building.”
“The number one issue that everyone will have to get accustomed to is the increased traffic in the school neighborhood,” he reported. There are more cars, he said, not only because of distancing that reduces bus capacity but also since many parents are reluctant to send their children to and from school on buses.
The school, off Sweetwater Avenue, is “not that great for easy access. We are working with the police trying to see what we can do,” Ackerman said.
Today I was informed of one (1) new case of COVID-19 within the Davis School Community and one (1) new case within the Bedford High School community. Both of these cases are in isolation at home. Davis School Case #19 was NOT present in school during their infectious period and investigations determined no close contacts in the Davis School Community. BHS case #50 was present in school during their infectious period and investigations determined that there were no close contacts identified in the BHS community. Information on close contact identification, contacting tracing and where and when to get tested, can be found in our FAQ.
Nudged by concerns about Covid-19, the pendulum is swinging toward Armand Sabourin Field as the venue for Bedford High School commencement exercises on June 3.
Initially, the first choice was the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell. School Superintendent Philip Conrad told the School Committee Tuesday that many area schools have used Tsongas, which has a capacity of more than 6,000.
Juneteenth is now an official state holiday in Massachusetts.
But it won’t be a day off from school in Bedford—at least not this year.
The Bedford schools’ facilities director left no doubt at the Bedford School Committee’s meeting Tuesday that Lane School classrooms are a safe place to breathe.
Facilities Director Taissir Alani delivered a detailed presentation on classroom ventilation, featuring how the equipment works and how it is maintained.
At least six weeks of weekly “pooled testing” for the Covid-19 coronavirus begins Monday in all Bedford schools for registered students and staff members.
The process, funded by state agencies for six weeks, accelerates identifying and isolating the presence of the virus.
Superintendent of Schools Philip Conrad’s office wrote to parents Wednesday soliciting permission. The communication explained, “Pooled testing involves mixing several individuals’ test samples together into one ‘pool’ and then testing the pooled sample for Covid-19.”
Editor’s Note: In his weekly summary for Friday, March 12, 2021, Superintendent Conrad marked the end of the year since the pandemic closed the schools; included the announcement and guidance about reopening schools; and shared multiple announcements.
March 8, 2021
* One (1) new COVID-19 positive case at Davis School (DS case #18).
* There is currently one (1) active COVID-19 positive case in the Davis School Community at this time.
* Close contacts were identified and instructed to quarantine.
* This case does not appear to be connected or related to previous cases identified in school
A collection of the week’s news from the Bedford School Department
Bedford High School has released its Honors Lists for the second term of the 2020-2021 school year.