On Wednesday September 7th Edison School will be welcoming approximately 775 students to a new school year. I hope that you have enjoyed a relaxing summer and were able to find safe ways to enjoy time with friends and family. Returning to school after a long summer break always equates to some predictable experiences for students: earlier wake ups, a bit of nervous excitement to meet a new batch of teachers, and the return to some more structured daily routines. I am thrilled to be opening a new school year where students will be able to experience a typical school day and engage in all of the amazing opportunities that middle school presents such as developing new friendships, before and after school clubs, lunch in the cafeteria, and taking part in engaging daily learning experiences.
While students were away for the summer, the custodians, secretaries, Mrs. Schall, and I have been hard at work preparing the school to open on September 7th. When students enter the hallways of Edison School in September they will see an immaculately cleaned building. All seventh and eighth graders will receive a brand new Chromebook during their first few days of school (sixth graders will continue to use the Chromebooks they received last year). Students will also notice that we have significantly upgraded the internet speed within the building this summer.
While our teacher teams focus on the academic development of their students, as a middle school, a primary responsibility is to develop our students’ core skills. This year we will focus on the development of student citizenship, character, and social emotional learning through regular lessons with our school counselors, school-wide assemblies, and our Advisory program where students will experience lessons from the Character Strong character education program. It is our goal that through these ongoing lessons our students will continue to develop empathy, kindness, and the abilities to work collaboratively, communicate effectively, and persevere through difficult circumstances.
I hope that you are as excited as I am to begin another great year at Edison School. I will see you at 8:07am on Wednesday, September 7th.
All the best,
Dr. Bolton
As we prepare ourselves for the reopening of school, please refer to the following practical information.
Health & Safety Considerations
Masks
Students and staff are no longer required to wear a face covering to school. Students and staff are welcome to wear masks to school. Each family should be comfortable to make the decision to mask or not depending on their individual and family circumstances (e.g. - If the student or a family member is immunocompromised).
Checking for Symptoms and Keeping Sick Students Home
Clear lines of communication between home and school continue to be critical to prevent spread of all illnesses. If your child is not feeling well, we ask that you contact the main office so that we can put you in touch with our school nurses. Our school nurses will guide you through the necessary next steps.
Returning to School
Student Schedules
Student schedules will be made available through the Genesis Parent Portal on Monday, August 29th at approximately 3pm. Student schedules will have been reviewed multiple times by multiple people by that time and should be structurally accurate. Should you find a mistake, please contact your child’s counselor. Please note that scheduling more than 775 students is a daunting task that takes many variables into account. For this reason, we do not honor requests for schedule changes.
Open School Hours
Edison School will be open for interested students to tour the building with their schedules at the following dates and times:
Tuesday, August 30th - 9am - 11am & 12pm - 2pm
Wednesday, August 31st - 9am - 11am & 12pm - 2pm
Open School Hours are not staffed by school faculty, please feel free to accompany your children and remember to bring a copy of your class schedule.
Materials
Upon returning to school, each teacher will provide students with a list of materials requested for their particular course. In order to be prepared for the first day of school, students should bring a backpack, combination lock, their school issued Chromebook, a notebook, and a few pens and pencils. All students will be provided with a school agenda on their first day which should be used to record homework assignments.
Lunch
Students will be eating lunch at school and meals will be available for purchase in the school cafeteria.The lunch menu can be found on the Westfield Public Schools website under the Food Services tab. It does typically take the cafeteria staff and students a few days to get into the groove a learning new pin numbers and processing food orders. Please consider sending your child with a lunch from home during the first few days of the school year.
First Day of School - Drop Off & Pick Up:
The first day of school for students is Wednesday, September 7th. The opening bell will sound at 8:07am. Students typically arrive to school at 8:00am. All students must be in
homeroom prior to 8:15am. Students who are not in homeroom by that time will be marked tardy and will need to report to the office upon arrival. Arriving at school on time is critically important for middle school students. It allows them to build new relationships with peers, get properly organized for upcoming classes, and generally creates a more positive start to the day.
Students may be dropped off at two different locations around the school. Students may be dropped off by the sidewalk next to the gymnasium or at the sidewalk cutout in the front of the school. We ask that parents adhere closely to all traffic patterns during student drop off and pickup. Please do not drop students off in the driveway or the rear parking lot by the cafeteria. This parking lot is for faculty and staff.
Please only allow your children to exit your car on the sidewalk side and only cross the street at crossing guard locations. Rahway Avenue is an extremely busy street during both morning drop off and afternoon pick up. It is critical that all drivers move slowly and pay close attention to the many pedestrians around the school. Parents may not park in the parking lot during drop off or pickup times. Parking in the lot during these times causes students to dart into the lot through moving traffic to access your vehicle, which creates a very unsafe condition.
For students who are new to the school it is always helpful to have a plan for how your child will get home during the first few dismissal days. Whether your child is walking, meeting a parent for pickup, or riding a bike home, please establish clear expectations on how your child will get home from school.
Riding to School
Many students choose to ride their bikes to school. Bike racks are located behind the school by the cafeteria and by the varsity baseball field. If students choose to ride a bike or scooter to school, they must do the following:
1. Wear a helmet!!!
2. Make sure that you lock up your bike or scooter.
3. If you ride something to school, you must keep it locked outside. The main office will not hold scooters or skateboards because you do not have a lock.
4. Ride on sidewalks and obey all traffic laws. DO NOT ride bikes through the middle of the parking lots.
Student Line Up Positions
As we did last year, each grade level will line up before school and enter the building at a specific location. The lineup and entrance locations are as follows:
6th Grade – Far right side of school / Overhang Doors
7th Grade – Rear of school / Cafeteria Doors & Chorus Room Doors
8th Grade – Front of School / Main Entrance Doors
Back to School Night
Back to School Night will be held on Thursday, September 8th at 7pm. Please arrive to school and head to your child’s assigned homeroom. In homeroom, you will receive a copy of your child’s daily schedule to follow from class to class.
Staying Hydrated
This summer we were fortunate to add multiple new water bottle filling stations around the school. Please encourage your child to bring a refilled water bottle with them to school each day.
School / Home Communication
This year we are excited to be enhancing the process used to communicate between school and home. As you may have noticed this summer, the district transitioned to a new district website platform and mass messaging system. This new website allows us to post live feed information about the school and send alerts directly to parents. Weekly community updates from the principal's office will be sent via this alert system.
Each week you will receive a copy of the Edison School Flash, which is the Edison School newsletter. If you would not like to receive this weekly newsletter, please contact Mr. Cusumano acusumano@westfieldnjk12.org to have your email removed from the list of recipients.
Communications and school information will also be available on the Edison School Information Hub which can be accessed on the Edison School website under the School Information tab.
Looking forward to seeing you for another great year at Edison School on September 7th.
All the best,
Matt Bolton, Ed.D.