West Woods Elementary School
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All School News & Events
HPS Director of Mathematics Linda Morbidelli has been visiting schools to share information about Hamden Middle School’s math course offerings and placement process. If you were unable to attend the February 12 WWS PTA meeting, please see the informational handout here: HMSCourseOfferingsHandout-PTAMeetings.pdf
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West Woods Family Fun Night! Wednesday March 18, 2020 from 6:00-7:30 PM.
Come hop, skip, and jump with us while learning and practicing math and reading skills. Families will move through over 30 stations engaging in kinesthetic math and literacy activities.
The morning of Thursday, January 30, a meeting was held at West Woods School to discuss the incident that occurred in a 5th grade classroom. This meeting included members of my administration, the parents who brought the issue to our attention, representatives of the NAACP, a representative of the Board of Education, and a handful of supporters of the family. The purpose of the meeting was to review major points that would be discussed with the 5th grade students later in the morning.
The meeting with the students was attended by myself, the Assistant Superintendent, Director of Social Studies, the school principal and a representative of the Board of Education.
Prior to my arrival to the school, I became aware through social media sites that a group of individuals would assemble outside the school and that media outlets could be present as well.
As is our practice whenever larger than normal and/or an undetermined number of people are expected at one of our schools, I contacted the Chief of Police and asked for one or two officers to assist with extra traffic and the flow of student arrival. As the meeting was about to begin, it was pointed out to me that five or six police cars were on site. I immediately called the Chief of Police to request that the additional officers leave the grounds, and they did so immediately. The Chief of Police explained to me that the presence of additional officers had been the result of a miscommunication between his staff and him.
It was never my intent for so many officers to be on the premises. I apologize for the larger-than-necessary police presence.
!["FirstView" Bus Tracking App is Coming... Sorry for the Delay!]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1580919907/hamden/ydmoy1stf6uvtnt5rpjj/FirstViewApp.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1580919907/hamden/ydmoy1stf6uvtnt5rpjj/FirstViewApp.jpg","width":280}])
Many of you have been waiting patiently for Hamden to deploy the FirstView Tracking app, which allows parents to virtually see where their children's bus is in real-time.
Unfortunately, the malware attack to the district's technology has delayed our launch of the FirstView app. We will notify parents when we are ready to operationalize this valuable tool.
Dear West Woods School Families:
Late last week district administration was made aware of an incident where a fifth grade teacher used non-Hamden Public Schools’ approved instructional resources that had students portraying characters from history, including slaves. The teacher’s introduction of this play about slavery raised serious concerns that are currently being investigated by the district’s Human Resources department and appropriate legal counsel.
The teacher has been placed on administrative leave while the investigation is being completed.
I would like to reiterate that the play is not part of the Hamden Public Schools curriculum and administration did not support its use in our school.
Teaching and learning continues in 5th grade and throughout our school. The Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, the district Director of Social Studies, a Board of Education member and I spoke with all 5th grade students together today, to help them understand the nature of this incident, the inappropriateness of the play, and the importance of caring for one another.
The education and well-being of the students entrusted to our care is of great importance to us all. It should be noted that Hamden Public Schools has placed significant emphasis on increasing the diversity of our curricular materials. We remain engaged in a major initiative to help staff and students develop a greater understanding of issues related to cultural sensitivity and equity. The Board of Education has created an Equity Committee to supervise these efforts and keep the community involved and informed. Our commitment to these efforts will help to ensure that our school is a welcoming, safe, and enriching environment for all of our students.
Respectfully,
Daniel M. Levy
Principal
Upcoming Dates
February
A Day
B Day
6th Grade Field Trip (6M & 6V)
C Day
D Day
E Day
PACK Assembly
6th Grade Field Trip (6D & 6V)
A Day
March
B Day