Copy
A message from the
Massachusetts Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education

December 7, 2018
View this email in your browser
Commissioner's Weekly Update banner/logo.
News from Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Contents:

  1. Comprehensive School Health Service Affiliated Program
  2. Picture of the Week: Paton Elementary School, Shrewsbury
  3. Safe Routes to School Grants Available
  4. For Your Info:
    • Webinar on evidence-based decision making
    • Poetry Out Loud

1. Comprehensive School Health Service Affiliated Program:


The state Department of Public Health’s School Health Services Unit is seeking applications from public school districts; educational collaboratives; boards of health that provide school health services; and non-profit, non-public schools, including approved special education schools, for the Comprehensive School Health Service (CSHS) Affiliated  Program. The proposed CSHS programs (formerly Essential School Health Services) are intended to provide additional support to the baseline of quality, comprehensive health services in all public and non-profit, non-public schools. The deadline to apply is January 14, and DPS intends to award up to 200 contracts of between $3,000 and $5,000 annually. For more information, visit RFR 191929 Comprehensive School Health Services (CSHS) on Commbuys.

Picture of the Week:

Senior Associate Commissioner Russell Johnston (above) and Holly-Anne Neal of DESE’s Office of Special Education Planning and Policy visited Paton Elementary School in Shrewsbury on Nov. 30. The classrooms they visited included the co-teaching room pictured here. (Photo courtesy of Shrewsbury Public Schools)
An elementary school girl shares a smile with Russell Johnston, who is sqautting by her desk. A boy with his back to the camera stands at the desk opposite hers getting some materials.

3. Safe Routes to School Grants Available:
 

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is accepting applications until January 11 for a new round of infrastructure project funding for the Safe Routes to School Program. The grants will go to proposed projects that seek to provide safe travel routes between schools and other destinations in order to promote the use of healthy transportation options. Funding is available to schools that have been working with the Safe Routes to School Program for at least six months. All proposed projects must be within 2 miles of a school, and the school must serve at least one grade that falls between kindergarten and eighth grade. 

For your info:

  • Webinar on evidence-based decision making: From 2:00-3:00 p.m. on December 12, the What Works Clearinghouse, part of the U.S. Department of Education, will hold a free webinar, “How Administrators Can Communicate the Need for Evidence-Based Decision Making.” The webinar will include an overview of What Works Clearinghouse resources, strategies administrators can use to select relevant sources, and recommendations for sharing research and resources with teachers and staff in easily understandable ways. Registration is open online.
  • Poetry Out Loud: The deadline for high schools to sign up for this year’s Poetry Out Loud contest is December 21. Poetry Out Loud is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. The Mass Cultural Council and the Huntington Theatre Company’s Education Department run the program in Massachusetts. The state champion wins $200 cash and an all-expense paid trip to compete in Washington, D.C., plus $500 for their school to purchase poetry materials. For more information, visit www.huntingtontheatre.org/pol or email poetryoutloud@huntingtontheatre.org.
aMAzing Educators logo
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education logo
Copyright © 2018 Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, All rights reserved.


Superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, and charter school leaders will receive the update automatically. For others wishing to receive this update, please subscribe

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list


Twitter Facebook You Tube Website