March 2022
Dear Parent/Guardian/Caregiver,
I want to thank you for your partnership during these extraordinary times. With your help, we have been able to keep compensatory services to a minimum, and continue to focus on high quality specialized instruction. Here are just a few updates as we enter the spring of 2022:
Special Olympics:
The 2021-2022 Special Olympics season has been canceled by the Special Olympics of Massachusetts (SOMA). AS was the case last year, Medway has requested and received special permission from SOMA to conduct a special Olympics type of focused physical activity on an individual and small group basis. On May 24, 2022, the Medway Special Olympians will be honored with a bus and vehicle parade through town, and receive their medals by Superintendent Pires in the Middle School Presentation room. Our High school Best Buddies will support our athletes on this day. Coming Soon: Ashland Public Schools will once again host the 2022-2023 5 Towns Special Olympics events and we are excited to see our athletes compete with their peers from surrounding towns in the near future.
New Referrals/Initial Eligibility (gr 7-12):
Medway Public Schools continues to struggle with filling some high profile long term substitute positions. Christine Noonan, our gr. 7-12 Evaluation Team Supervisor (ETS) will be out for the rest of the year. In her place will be Darcey Angelo conducting grade 9-12 eligibility meetings, and myself, Kat Bernklow, conducting grade 7-8 eligibility meetings. IF you have any questions at all, please contact my secretary, Hannah Delekta at 508-533-3229, or [email protected].
Home/Hospital Tutoring:
Home and Hospital Tutoring occurs outside of the school buildings, and as such, parents/guardians/caregivers can decide whether or not they will allow tutoring staff into their homes. As a practice, Medway Public Schools does not provide tutoring when school is not in session. For students currently on approved home or hospital tutoring, the Evaluation Team Supervisor or Guidance Counselor will contact the family to ensure appropriate continuity of education, understanding that our ability to send staff or contracted service providers into homes is limited by our contract and parent approval.
Counseling
Given the ongoing student struggles of the pandemic, if your child is in crisis, where they are a threat to themselves or others, you should call 911. If your child is seeing a Family Continuity Clinician, as part of our in-school outpatient counseling service, please contact your child’s guidance counselor to provide necessary updates regarding home status. As always, if you feel that your child would benefit from outpatient mental health services we encourage you to utilize the INTERFACE Hotline Referral Service, which is free to all Medway residents.
Out of District/Specialized Transportation
At this time, our transportation companies have indicated they continue to struggle with hiring monitors and drivers and in general transporting the number of students required to be transported to out of district schools. We will do our very best to meet student and family needs, and ask that you provide as much lead time as possible for any changes that must be made.
We thank you for your support as we work diligently to meet the needs of all of our students.
Take good care,
Kathleen M. Bernklow, Ph.D.