Pine Glen School doors open for students at 8:20 AM. For safety reasons, it is important that children are never dropped off before 8:15 A.M. unless they are enrolled in a before school program or school related activity. If children travel to school by bus, they enter through the front door. If transported by car, children enter through the door at the end of the academic wing. Upon arrival, all students should report to their classrooms where they are greeted by their teachers. Our school day officially begins at 8:35 A.M., when students should be in their classrooms and ready for morning announcements. To assure optimum learning and maximum teaching time, students need to be present and on time every day.
Student safety is priority number one at the Pine Glen School. Burlington Police Safety Officer Bernie Schipelliti is has been instrumental in the development of our dismissal policy.
From Safety Officer Schipilletti:
• DO NOT PASS VEHICLES IN FRONT OF YOU
• DO NOT PASS SCHOOL BUSES WHILE THEY ARE DISCHARGING STUDENTS
• BY STATE LAW, BUSES MAY NEVER BE PASSED IF THEIR LIGHTS ARE FLASHING
When dropping children off in the morning or picking them up at dismissal time, all vehicles must enter the first entryway into the parking lot and drive in a clockwise path through the parking lot to the horse shoe path in front of the side academic wing of the building. Cars must stay in a single file line as they wait their turn to pull up for student exit or entry from the vehicle.
No one is to drive a car in the driveway in front of the building during pick up and dismissal.
Parents leaving their vehicles and walking into the building to take students at pick-up time or escort them to by-pass this procedure will kindly be asked to return to their vehicles and proceed to the pick-up/drop-off line.
If you need to enter the school with your child in the morning or afternoon during dismissal or pick up for a related educational reason (to carry in a special project, provide medicine to the nurse, etc.), you must park in the parking lot and enter the school through the FRONT door. Under no circumstances should children be crossing the traffic line between the lot and the school without an adult.
For the safety of everyone – children, parents, and staff members – please follow these very important guidelines
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
New Staff Members to the Pine Glen Community
Pictured above are three new staff members to our Pine Glen Community. We are very excited to welcome Maureen Skehan (special education teacher), Jessica May (guidance counselor) and Noreen Groom (special education teacher). Please make sure you give our new staff a warm Pine Glen welcome when you meet them.
Additional Information on Pick-Up/Drop-Off
We will have three teachers on duty for Pick-Up/Drop-Off. As cars pull-up, the driver will tell a teacher with a walkie-talkie to radio into the school the name of the students he/she is picking up. Another teacher will escort students to the car. If for some reason students are not ready, the teacher will ask the car to pull-over to the side in order that the flow of the Pick-Up/Drop-Off line will continue.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Superintendent's Blog Post
I would kindly invite the anonymous dad that wrote the post on the Superintendent's Blog to contact me via a phone call. I would be very happy to invite this individual into my office to discuss the powerful initiatives we have in place at Pine Glen School for the upcoming school year. The welcome back letter which is posted on this Blog outlines some of these exciting modifications we are making at Pine Glen.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
AGE REQUIREMENTS FOR ENTRANCE
A child entering kindergarten must be five years old by August 31st of the entering year. A child entering first grade that has not attended public kindergarten in Burlington must be six years old by August 31st of the entering year.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Public Safety Meeting
Student safety is priority number one at the Pine Glen School. This summer I had the opportunity to meet with public safety officials. At the public safety meeting Fire Chief Lee Callahan, Lieutenant Mark Saia, D.A.R.E. Officer Keith Sheppard, Police Chief Francis Hart and I reviewed the Pine Glen Safety Team Plan.
KINDERGARTEN MEET AND GREET - Tuesday August 25 2009
It was wonderful to meet the many kindergarten students, siblings and parents who attended the Kindergarten playdate today. The students had fun and enjoyed the popsicles. Thank you very much to Pam Moreira and the P.T.O. for organizing this terrific event!
Welcome Letter
August 21, 2009
Dear Members of the Pine Glen School Community,
I would like to welcome staff, parents, students, and all members of Pine Glen Elementary School Community to the start of our school year. It has been such a pleasure this summer to meet so many of you. Thank you for making my first summer at Pine Glen so enjoyable.
The staff at Pine Glen has been working hard all summer to prepare the building for the upcoming school year. Teachers have been in frequently during the summer putting up bulletin boards, preparing their classrooms, and collaborating. I would especially like to thank custodians Kenny Ramsdell, Barbara Nunes, Brian Hayes, and school secretary Julie Gosselin for their countless hours of hard work in both the never-ending rain and 90 degree heat. We are all looking forward to an exciting school year at Pine Glen filled with learning, community, and fun.
This summer I have had the opportunity to meet several parents, staff, public safety officials, town officials, and students. I have greatly valued and enjoyed the wonderful conversations and suggestions. In all my discussions it was very apparent that Pine Glen is an exemplary learning community.
Our community is fortunate to have amazing teachers with high levels of expertise. We as a community this year will see adjustments made to Pine Glen to capitalize upon teachers’ high level of aptitude and knowledge. These adjustments will allow teachers the flexibility to maximize instructional time, ensure student safety, increase student exposure to technology, institute data driven instruction, provide scientifically based interventions and continue to maintain caring inviting classroom communities that encourage students to take intellectual risks.
To maximize time on learning we as a community must value and understand the importance of uninterrupted instructional time. With regard to requests for changes in student departures, the Pine Glen office will only honor these requests until 10:30 A.M. unless it is an emergency. It can be disconcerting to a student to be uncertain where he or she is going after school while simultaneously learning new concepts. Likewise, classroom interruptions to inform the teacher and student of these changes result in the need to redirect the class and the loss of quality instructional time. In addition, it is of great benefit to all learners that students arrive at school with a definitive departure plan for their day.
Student safety is priority number one at the Pine Glen School. Burlington Police Safety Officer Bernie Schipelliti and I examined the student drop-off and pick-up procedure and realized the urgent need for modifications. This school year parents will take part in an improved and safer drop-off and pick-up process. Vehicles will enter the first entryway into the parking lot and drive in a clockwise path through the parking lot to the horse shoe path in front of the side academic wing of the building. I encourage parents to visit my Principal’s Blog which contains pictures and video to assist in navigating the new process. (To access the Blog go to the Burlington Home Page, http://www.burlington.mec.edu, click on the Pine Glen link under the School Sites heading and on the Pine Glen Home Page the chalk board will have as one of the choices Principal’s Blog.) Parents leaving their vehicles and walking into the building to take students at pick-up time will kindly be asked to return to their vehicles and proceed to the pick-up line. This new procedure will help provide a more extensive and secure monitoring of individuals entering and exiting the building at the end of the school day.
Our Pine Glen community must embrace and promote technology to prepare and provide students with technological skills necessitated by our society. We are very fortunate this year to welcome the purchase of five new Smart Boards. This technology offers many unique and engaging opportunities for students to learn and grasp new skills and concepts. We as a community can also serve as models for students in the use of available technology. As mentioned earlier, I am excited to inform community members of information this year via the Blog. (The Superintendent’s Blog is also a great source of information.) The blog, in lieu of a weekly newsletter, provides the ability to share video/pictures, an archive, and information in a timely manner. An email chain was considered this summer however, as I am sure people have experienced with their own email when doing mass emails, several are often “bounced back” and a potential computer virus to an address bank of 300 or more potential emails could be catastrophic. If there is an urgent need to communicate information to parents immediately, a Connect-Ed phone call will be issued and follow up information with be posted on the Principal’s Blog. If members of our community do not have access to a computer, a form will accompany your child home with the first day materials where a request can be made for printed information. An additional added benefit of the blog is, hopefully, a large reduction in paper consumption. A reduction in paper is not only of benefit to our environment but, also allows more flexibility for financial and human resources to be directed to students.
A further way we can strive to promote a caring and inviting learning community for students is to examine all portions of the school day. This year students will have recess before lunch. There has been much research recently showing the benefits of students having recess before lunch. Students who have lunch prior to recess typically eat their lunch too quickly or skip portions of the meal all together in a desire to seek play time. Also, those students who do eat lunch and then run immediately after often complain of an upset belly (indigestion). On the other hand, students having lunch after recess grants them the ability to eat a meal and give them the needed energy and down time to refocus and learn at optimal levels.
I am pleased to welcome new staff members to the Pine Glen Community this year. We have two new special education teachers joining us this year; Noreen Groom and Maureen Skehan. We will also have Jessica May joining us as our new guidance counselor. Jennifer Rzasa will be joining our music staff. In addition to the new teachers, I would like to welcome Michelle Gilbert who will be joining us in the role of instructional assistant and Melissa Hanafin who will be our permanent substitute teacher. Please make sure you give our new staff a warm Pine Glen welcome when you meet them.
One of the best ways to support and promote our Pine Glen Community is to join and participate in the Parent Teacher Organization (P.T.O.). I wish to thank P.T.O. president Maria Woods and all the members of the P.T.O. for their on going support and assistance! We are so fortunate to have such a caring and committed organization supporting our students, school, and community.
I am eager and excited to start our first day of school with students in grades 1-5 on September 2nd and kindergartners on September 8th. The Pine Glen staff is eagerly looking forward to the joy and creativity which the students bring us. We cannot wait to instruct and inspire student expression.
If you have any comments, concerns or questions throughout the year, please call me at (781) 270-1712 or email jlyons@burlington.mec.edu. On behalf of the entire staff, I would like to wish all of you a wonderful school year.
Sincerely,
John Lyons
Principal
Pine Glen School
Dear Members of the Pine Glen School Community,
I would like to welcome staff, parents, students, and all members of Pine Glen Elementary School Community to the start of our school year. It has been such a pleasure this summer to meet so many of you. Thank you for making my first summer at Pine Glen so enjoyable.
The staff at Pine Glen has been working hard all summer to prepare the building for the upcoming school year. Teachers have been in frequently during the summer putting up bulletin boards, preparing their classrooms, and collaborating. I would especially like to thank custodians Kenny Ramsdell, Barbara Nunes, Brian Hayes, and school secretary Julie Gosselin for their countless hours of hard work in both the never-ending rain and 90 degree heat. We are all looking forward to an exciting school year at Pine Glen filled with learning, community, and fun.
This summer I have had the opportunity to meet several parents, staff, public safety officials, town officials, and students. I have greatly valued and enjoyed the wonderful conversations and suggestions. In all my discussions it was very apparent that Pine Glen is an exemplary learning community.
Our community is fortunate to have amazing teachers with high levels of expertise. We as a community this year will see adjustments made to Pine Glen to capitalize upon teachers’ high level of aptitude and knowledge. These adjustments will allow teachers the flexibility to maximize instructional time, ensure student safety, increase student exposure to technology, institute data driven instruction, provide scientifically based interventions and continue to maintain caring inviting classroom communities that encourage students to take intellectual risks.
To maximize time on learning we as a community must value and understand the importance of uninterrupted instructional time. With regard to requests for changes in student departures, the Pine Glen office will only honor these requests until 10:30 A.M. unless it is an emergency. It can be disconcerting to a student to be uncertain where he or she is going after school while simultaneously learning new concepts. Likewise, classroom interruptions to inform the teacher and student of these changes result in the need to redirect the class and the loss of quality instructional time. In addition, it is of great benefit to all learners that students arrive at school with a definitive departure plan for their day.
Student safety is priority number one at the Pine Glen School. Burlington Police Safety Officer Bernie Schipelliti and I examined the student drop-off and pick-up procedure and realized the urgent need for modifications. This school year parents will take part in an improved and safer drop-off and pick-up process. Vehicles will enter the first entryway into the parking lot and drive in a clockwise path through the parking lot to the horse shoe path in front of the side academic wing of the building. I encourage parents to visit my Principal’s Blog which contains pictures and video to assist in navigating the new process. (To access the Blog go to the Burlington Home Page, http://www.burlington.mec.edu, click on the Pine Glen link under the School Sites heading and on the Pine Glen Home Page the chalk board will have as one of the choices Principal’s Blog.) Parents leaving their vehicles and walking into the building to take students at pick-up time will kindly be asked to return to their vehicles and proceed to the pick-up line. This new procedure will help provide a more extensive and secure monitoring of individuals entering and exiting the building at the end of the school day.
Our Pine Glen community must embrace and promote technology to prepare and provide students with technological skills necessitated by our society. We are very fortunate this year to welcome the purchase of five new Smart Boards. This technology offers many unique and engaging opportunities for students to learn and grasp new skills and concepts. We as a community can also serve as models for students in the use of available technology. As mentioned earlier, I am excited to inform community members of information this year via the Blog. (The Superintendent’s Blog is also a great source of information.) The blog, in lieu of a weekly newsletter, provides the ability to share video/pictures, an archive, and information in a timely manner. An email chain was considered this summer however, as I am sure people have experienced with their own email when doing mass emails, several are often “bounced back” and a potential computer virus to an address bank of 300 or more potential emails could be catastrophic. If there is an urgent need to communicate information to parents immediately, a Connect-Ed phone call will be issued and follow up information with be posted on the Principal’s Blog. If members of our community do not have access to a computer, a form will accompany your child home with the first day materials where a request can be made for printed information. An additional added benefit of the blog is, hopefully, a large reduction in paper consumption. A reduction in paper is not only of benefit to our environment but, also allows more flexibility for financial and human resources to be directed to students.
A further way we can strive to promote a caring and inviting learning community for students is to examine all portions of the school day. This year students will have recess before lunch. There has been much research recently showing the benefits of students having recess before lunch. Students who have lunch prior to recess typically eat their lunch too quickly or skip portions of the meal all together in a desire to seek play time. Also, those students who do eat lunch and then run immediately after often complain of an upset belly (indigestion). On the other hand, students having lunch after recess grants them the ability to eat a meal and give them the needed energy and down time to refocus and learn at optimal levels.
I am pleased to welcome new staff members to the Pine Glen Community this year. We have two new special education teachers joining us this year; Noreen Groom and Maureen Skehan. We will also have Jessica May joining us as our new guidance counselor. Jennifer Rzasa will be joining our music staff. In addition to the new teachers, I would like to welcome Michelle Gilbert who will be joining us in the role of instructional assistant and Melissa Hanafin who will be our permanent substitute teacher. Please make sure you give our new staff a warm Pine Glen welcome when you meet them.
One of the best ways to support and promote our Pine Glen Community is to join and participate in the Parent Teacher Organization (P.T.O.). I wish to thank P.T.O. president Maria Woods and all the members of the P.T.O. for their on going support and assistance! We are so fortunate to have such a caring and committed organization supporting our students, school, and community.
I am eager and excited to start our first day of school with students in grades 1-5 on September 2nd and kindergartners on September 8th. The Pine Glen staff is eagerly looking forward to the joy and creativity which the students bring us. We cannot wait to instruct and inspire student expression.
If you have any comments, concerns or questions throughout the year, please call me at (781) 270-1712 or email jlyons@burlington.mec.edu. On behalf of the entire staff, I would like to wish all of you a wonderful school year.
Sincerely,
John Lyons
Principal
Pine Glen School
New Drop-Off/Pick-Up Procedure
Student safety is priority number one at the Pine Glen School. Burlington Police Safety Officer Bernard Schipelliti and I examined the student drop-off and pick-up procedure and realized the urgent need for modifications. This school year parents will take part in an improved and safer drop-off and pick-up process. Vehicles will enter the first entryway into the parking lot and drive in a clockwise path through the parking lot to the horse shoe path in front of the academic wing of the building. Parents leaving their vehicles and walking into the building to take students at pick-up time will kindly be asked to return to their vehicles and proceed to the pick-up line. This new procedure will help provide a more extensive and secure monitoring of individuals entering the building at the end of the school day.
Monday, August 24, 2009
New Drop-Off and Pick Up Procedure
Entering the Drop-Off/Pick Up line.
Continuing along the path.
Spot for students to exit vehicles.
Departing from the Drop-Off/Pick-Up area.
Bus
All requests to change a bus route or other related matters should be sent to the following email:
busrequest@burlington.mec.edu .
Each request will be looked at and examined.
busrequest@burlington.mec.edu .
Each request will be looked at and examined.
Fall 2009 Drop-Off and Pick-Up
This video shows a car driving through the new drop-off and pick-up line.
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