New School Year Excitement!

I found this video a high school made last year and I loved it. So funny and awkward – these teachers and administrators had a ton of fun doing this video – do you think BES should make one too? Let me know and we’ll see what we can do.

Greetings Parents, Grandparents, Students, Teachers, Paraprofessionals, Staff, Community Members,and others who are reading this blog. I have have been a little slow in posting news and information on this blog – my goal is to do 2-4 posts a month for the coming ’16-’17 school year.

The 1st day of school for teachers, staff, and other educators is Monday, August 29th.

Open House is Tuesday, August 30th from 5-6:30pm; Please come and meet your child’s teachers (and while you are here sign-up for Parent-Teacher Conferences in October), take a walk around and visit, and get yourself signed up to be a part of the Barnstead PTO.

The 1st day of school for students is Wednesday, August 31st (arrival or drop-off between 7:25-7:40am). Students will be greeted by teachers and directed to playgrounds. If you drive your child to school, please follow the signs and flow through the inner car drop-off route; stay in your car and keep moving forward as directed. Students in grades 4-8 are directed to the Larger Playground area by the modular classrooms, students in grades K-3 will go to the Primary Playground (the one closest to the old Village Store).

What Changes have we made to BES for the coming school year? Well, for one we have many new teachers and administrators. Join me in Welcoming the following:
Dr. Brian Cochrane – Superintendent for SAU #86 Barnstead
Jeni Laliberte – Assistant Principal for BES
Dorothy O’Rourke – Primary Guidance Counselor (Grades K-4)
Lindsay Rowley – Grade 1 Teacher
Stephanie Hurley – Grade 2 Teacher
Bethany Franz – Grade 3 Teacher
Karen McGee – Grade 6 Teacher
Kristen Brooks – Grade 7 Language Arts/Social Studies Teacher
Kerry Grella – Grade 7 Science Teacher
Tanner Van Nest – Grade 8 Language Arts/Social Studies Teacher
Joanne Rautio – Grade 7 Special Education Teacher
Andrew LaFlame – Tech Integration Teacher
Kristyn Piortowski – Speech Pathologist
Phillip Guinta – Title I/Math Intervention Teacher

We have done work on classroom bathrooms in the Primary wing to make them more accessible to handicapped students; we put in a new Security window in the Main School Entrance; new carpeting in the Library/Media Center; new paint in the Middle School classrooms and hallways; more upgrades to the infrastructure for technology and more wifi access points.

There is a lot of excitement for the coming year and a lot of work we will be doing to upgrade curriculum in Reading, Writing, Math, and Science. We are focused on improving our instruction and use of data to guide those improvements. Teachers are also focused on collaborative teaching, working together to differentiate instruction, and to meet the diverse student needs in our classrooms.

Welcome Back!