March 9, 2020
Dear P.A.W.S. Families,
By now you have received communications from the Wellesley Public School District and know that we are all closely monitoring the Coronavirus and Covid-19. Please visit the WPS website for up to date and ongoing information.
For information on how to speak to your child about the virus please see the attached recommendations from The National Association of School Psychologists and the National Association of Nurses NASP/NASN. As with all topics, follow your child’s lead when answering questions. Our children are keen observers, but they cannot always understand what they see and hear. Please remain extra vigilant and guard what you say in front of your preschooler and protect what he/she sees on TV or online.
The safety, wellbeing, and health of our students is our top priority. It is our practice at P.A.W.S. to always have the children participate in good hand washing routines throughout the school day. Our custodial staff will continue to sanitize commonly touched surface areas on a regular basis and the teaching staff are wiping surfaces and cleaning toys on an ongoing basis. As always, Nurse Ann Farrell continues to track absences and monitor any trends of illnesses. This information is shared with the custodial staff to alert them to any rooms that need additional attention.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at P.A.W.S. and I will be happy to speak with you.
Wellesley Zero Waste Challenge
The Wellesley Public Schools is proud to be participating in the Zero Waste Wellesley Challenge. The goal is to reduce single use plastic usage in our community by 50% in 2020 for health, environmental and financial reasons. Each month one single-use plastic item will be featured as well as a suggested replacement. Items have been chosen in accordance with Wellesley’s Recycling and Disposal Facility as they are NOT recyclable and thus go to landfill and do NOT make money for the Town. Please consider taking this challenge. This complements the work happening in our school community both around environmental education, project based learning and in our cafeterias with Wellesley Green Schools.
We encourage you to look for ways to eliminate the use of the featured item in your schools, your homes and your everyday lives. It’s not always easy but it is possible!
This month’s Zero Waste Challenge featured item is plastic straws.
Consider this:
500 million plastic straws are thrown away every day in the US according to 5 Gyres, a global health non-profit. To understand it, that’s 46,400 school buses every year! It is an average of 1.6 straws per person per day. That’s 175 billion a year filtering into landfills and littering our waterways and oceans. Try not using a straw or using a reusable one.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Wellesley
It is exciting to share that Wellesley Public Schools has a new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion website under the Equity tab on the district website page. Please check it out at: https://wellesleyps.org/dei/
The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is launching the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge on March 30. The 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge (aka the Racial Equity Challenge) is simple: You (along with thousands of other people across the US) commit to deepening your understanding of and willingness to confront racism for 21 consecutive days. At the very least, the Challenge will raise your awareness. But for many participants it goes beyond that and changes the way they see and interact with the world. Commit to the challenge here, and return to the website on March 30 for Day 1!
Thank you!
Thank you to our guest readers who came to read for Read Across America Day! We loved hearing stories read to us by friends of P.A.W.S. and by people who love to read!
Above- From Left to Right Photos of Guest Readers:
Gayle McCracken, Wellesley HR Director; Sarah Orlov, Wellesley Director of Student Services; Kathy Poirier, SRO Wellesley PD, David Lussier, Wellesley Superintendent of Schools
. 
Above- From Left to Right Photos of Guest Readers:
Melissa Martin, School Committee Chair; Paul Delaney, Wellesley FD; Linda Corridan, Wellesley Head of Nursing; John Schuler, Wellesley Kiwanis Club.
Thank you to Ashley Delahunty and the Delahunty Family for surprising the P.A.W.S. staff with staff appreciation of EOS lip balms! Your kindness is greatly appreciated!
As always, we thank you all of our P.A.W.S. families, for your continued support of the preschool. The positive participation, partnership, and care from our families, helps to make P.A.W.S. a preschool of excellence!
Sincerely,
‘Becca Z.
Important Dates:
Tuesday, March 31 – Early Release Day for Parent/Teacher Conferences
April 10 – No School – Good Friday
April 20-24 – No School – April Vacation