Dear Upham Community,
Can you believe it? We only have two weeks of school remaining! I am a little sad. I’ve never been one to count down the days, but I know the students are ready for a break and summer is just around the corner. Although the teachers are ready for the summer break, I know they are feeling a little sad as well. It’s hard to send your students on because of all the friendships that have been made. Nonetheless, we still have some time to continue with building positive memories and experiences. Thank you for the unbelievable privilege and opportunity to interact and influence your precious children.
Staffing Changes for 2019-2020
I wanted to share with you some staffing changes for the upcoming year. Unfortunately, we will be losing our Art teacher, Ms. Vene, our Music teacher, Mrs. Iannuzzi, and our Spanish/FLES teacher, Mrs. Contreras. Ms. Vene is moving into the private sector to work in a corporate setting. We have been wonderfully blessed by her presence and her outstanding projects. She has built some very strong and meaningful relationships with our Upham friends, Thank you, Ms. Vene, for all your efforts and positive influences on the children you have served. Mrs. Iannuzzi has decided to take a teaching position in Lexington to be closer to her family. She has provided all of the students at Upham with deeply rich and positive experiences. I will never forget one of Mrs. Ianuzzi’s first lessons. One of the first-grade students came up to me immediately after the class and said, “Mr. Dees! Mrs. “I” sounds just like an angel!” I would agree. Mrs. Ianuzzi has been a wonderful addition to our learning and teaching community. Mrs. Iannuzzi, we wish you all the best. Thank you for your service at Upham. Mrs. Contreras has decided to move on to another position as well. Mrs. Contreras has helped us become more proficient at Spanish and she has developed some meaningful relationships as well. Thank you, Mrs. Contreras, for your wonderful service at Upham. We wish you all the best. We will keep you informed as to when we find qualified teachers for these important positions.
Please welcome Lisa Humphrey to our Upham community. We completed our search and interviews for our new first-grade opening last Friday and Mrs. Humphrey came out on top. Mrs. Humphrey is a graduate of Lesley University with an M.Ed in Elementary Education. She has taught first, second, third grade and more recently she has been a Math Specialist at Fiske Elementary in Wellesley. Mrs. Humphrey brings twenty plus years of teaching experience, a deep knowledge of the Wellesley Elementary curriculum and a close working relationship with our Upham teachers. We are very fortunate to be able to bring Mrs. Humphrey into our teaching ranks. Congratulations Mrs. Humphrey!
I wrote in the last missive that Mrs. Livingstone will transition to kindergarten and her teaching assistant will be Elicia Warden. Mrs. Warden has been at Upham for the last two years as a paraprofessional in our SKILLS program. We are very excited to have Mrs. Livingstone and Mrs. Warden working as one of our K teams for our 2019-2020 school year. Just a reminder, Mrs. Eagan and Mrs. Bergeron will remain as a job-share team and Ms. Cardinal will remain as the teaching assistant.
So, the teaching line-up for the 2019-2020 school year looks like this:
Kindergarten
Bergeron/Eagan and Livingstone
First Grade
Leung and Humphrey
Second Grade
Maggipinto and Chartier
Third Grade
Grosso/Harrington and Whitehouse
Fourth Grade
Garry and O’Reilly
Fifth Grade
Duncan and Eccher
Upcoming Dates
June 6- Field Day
June 12- Wednesday Full Day***
June 13- 5th Grade Moving On Ceremony (8:45 AM Gym)
June 14- LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
11:30- School Sing-a-Long
11:50- 5th Grade Clap out!
Noon Dismissal- popsicles provided by the PTO on the upper field
Thank you for your continued support.
Dare to Dream,
Mr. Dees