Hello Florida Ruffin Ridley School Families and Friends,

We have had quite the busy opening here in our happy, healthy, hive! It was so wonderful to see many of you at our first PTO Coffee and Conversation on Friday morning in our cafeteria and even more of you and your children at the PTO Welcome Back picnic Friday afternoon.  We are thankful for the rain showers to have cleared out just in time for the event and for all the amazing volunteers staffing each of the stations around the back play fields and playgrounds.  

Below are some important reminders and updates including:

• Arrival/Dismissal reminders
• Girls on the Run and Heart and Sole
• Open House information
• School Council information

Arrival/Dismissal Reminders

Arrival

School begins promptly at 8:00am.  The three main entrances (Harvard, Stedman, Playground) will open at 7:55a to allow time for students to enter and make their way to their classrooms.  

• If you are driving to the school, please use Stedman Street live parking or park on Harvard Street or the Centre Street lot and walk your child(ren) to the building. 
•  There is no parking on Stedman Street during the drop off and pick up windows.  Drivers must stay in their vehicles, pull up on the left hand side of the street, and move once your child(ren) have exited the vehicle safely

Dismissal

School ends at 2:30pm on Mondays-Thursdays and at 1:40pm on Fridays.  

• Students in K-2 will be walked out to their designated pick up areas to connect with their adults
• Students in K-2 who are not picked up by 2:35pm can be found in the main office
• If you plan to pick up your child(ren) at the school building, please plan a designated meeting spot

Girls on the Run and Heart and Sole

We are so excited to offer another season of Girls on the Run for our girls in grades 4-5 and are thrilled to announce our first ever Heart and Sole season for girls in grades 6-8.  Separate information was emailed to families with girls in grades 4-8 about registering for the program.  

Open House

This year we are adjusting slightly our approach to Open House so that we can balance the health and safety of the community while also providing access and windows into day to day life inside our building.  

The following guidelines are in place for all Open House events:

• Masks are required and must be worn at all times inside the building
• Only 1 adult per child  is allowed to attend Open House, no children are allowed to attend Open House
• All adults attending must fill out this Health Attestation Form prior to attending any Open House event
• All adults attending an Open House event must fill out the attendance sheet at your child’s classroom
• All adults must exit the building promptly at the conclusion of the Open House event.  There is no milling and socializing indoors.  Families are welcome to connect with each other socially outside of the school building following each event.  

Below are the Open House dates and times for each grade level band.  Please arrive promptly to the Harvard Street entrance for all Open House events as our exterior doors will remain locked and only have monitors allowing access from Harvard Street directly before each event.  

K-2: Monday, September 27th

• 3:00 - 4:30 (schedule TBD)

Grades 3-5: Tuesday, September 28th

• 3:00 - 4:30 (schedule TBD)

Grades 6-8: Wednesday, September 29th

• Times TBD

School Council Dates

The Florida Ruffin Ridley School Council will be meeting this year to review and monitor progress of our School Improvement Plan.  I want to extend my gratitude to this year’s members: Jennifer Forry, Lori and Sean Preston (sharing one seat), Wadner Oge, Tom Goldberg, Michael Maresca, Cecile Budlemann, Sarah Smith, and Amanda Donahue.  This team will be working collaboratively with each other and the community at large to help move us forward on our benchmarks and goals as we continue to strengthen all aspects of our school community.  We will also have some primary areas of focus for this year as it relates to our School Improvement Plan.  Meetings are open to all members of the public and families in the Florida Ruffin Ridley School community are encouraged to attend.  Below is a list of dates/times of each meeting along with the link and credentials for the meetings.   The meetings and link can also be found on our Florida Ruffin Ridley School Calendar located on our website. 

Meeting Dates

Wednesday, September 22nd 7:00 - 8:00p

Wednesday, October 27th 7:00 - 8:00p

Wednesday, January 19th 7:00 - 8:00p

Wednesday, March 16th 7:00 - 8:00p

Wednesday, May 18th 7:00 - 8:00p

Meeting Link

School Council Meeting Link

Meeting ID: 987 2544 5666

Passcode: FRRCouncil

Minor Collective Family Circles

At the end of this month, Kass Minor will be here on site to kick off our year long partnership with the Minor Collective.  Again, I want to share my gratitude to the FRR PTO, the Brookline Education Foundation, and the Office of Teaching and Learning here in the Public Schools of Brookline for helping fund this important and critical work.  

This partnership will help us maintain our focus on centering the student experience,  building meaningful and trusting relationships with our students that empower them to have agency over their learning experiences and journeys, and sustaining a healthy, inclusive, and thriving community here at FRR.  

As part of the first visits and introduction to our school community, Kass will be conducting listening sessions with staff, students, and families to help us surface our collective needs, strengths, and focal points.  We will be reaching out with a separate email to share invitations to the community to participate in these listening circles.  Keep an eye on your email for ways to participate and get involved! 

As we continue to build our stamina for being back in school we head into this four day week with enthusiasm and a hunger for building deeper connections and strengthening our routines here at school.  The start to any school year comes with tired children heading home each day as they readjust to demands of a full school day.  This year is no exception and perhaps a little more demanding as we re-engage with familiar practices, such as larger class sizes (especially in our kindergarten) in comparison to last school year, full school days in person, and increased time on learning, all while balancing and adhering to the many health and safety measures we have in place to help us stay open as a school.  I know as a community we desperately want to return to some of the pre pandemic structures and routines and shed many of the restrictions and guidelines that are currently in place.  But we are not out of the woods yet and must continue to remain vigilant and work together to keep all our community members, children and adults, healthy and safe while in school.  We appreciate how each of you all are doing your part, keeping your children home when they aren’t feeling well, reporting illnesses to the nurses, and offering our staff your support.  We will continue to do our part, adhering to our health and safety protocols and procedures, evaluating new information and guidance for the health department, and making any adjustments that we are able to in an effort to mitigate risk as much as possible.  

I hope this past weekend offered you all time and space outdoors and opportunities to read and reflect.  I look forward to meeting and seeing many of you at our Open House events later this month and at drop off and pick up each afternoon. 

Jen