IN THIS ISSUE:

Save the Dates

New Playground Games
Online Auction Volunteers Needed
Box Tops for Education
DIG Listening Session Results
Volunteer Spotlight: Art Squad
 

Save the Date:

 
  Clip BOX TOPS to Earn Money for Brackett! 

Box tops can be turned into your child's teacher or in the main school office. To make counting easier, please tape or glue in groups of 10 or 25 on a sheet of paper. Don't forget to check the expiration date! Grandparents can clip them, too.

Questions: Christina.mamlouk@gmail.com
www.boxtops4education.com
 

Results of Parents' Diversity & Inclusion Listening Sessions

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Brackett Parents' Diversity & Inclusion (DIG) listening sessions last week. We had about fifty parents participate in the listening sessions and/or survey, representing about 10% of our families.

The sessions provided a positive and productive space for parent's and some staff to share pieces of their identity, celebrate successes, and envision opportunities for how we can move the Brackett community forward to best meet the social and emotional needs of our student's and their families. DIG met with Mrs. Z this week to share community feedback and inform the drafting of our mission, which we will forward on when complete.

Here are some of the themes that emerged from the sessions. Most of the following items came up in some form, independently, in all three of the sessions. A sincere thank you to Mrs Z, for providing us this opportunity to have these conversations. If you would like to review a more expansive summary of the sessions, please email us at brackettdig@gmail.com.

A dozen themes over the three listening sessions

• Educating the community around various diversity issues such as bias

• Reinforcing diversity, equity & inclusion as a valued part of the culture at Brackett Elementary

• Communication and transparency from the administration

• Kids identifying as having a disability being treated poorly in the community

• How bullying is addressed at Brackett

• Providing an easy repository to track smaller things that don’t feel big enough to “report” in order to recognize patterns

• Diversity & inclusion weaved into more day-to-day activities rather than just one event

• Lower academic expectation and performance of children of color at Arlington Public Schools

• Gender bias

• A couple of parents expressed concern that these activities were divisive and should not be a focus of the school

• Looking at all of Brackett’s curriculum in collaboration with the administration with a lens towards diversity & inclusion

• Empowering & supporting families to do this work in their homes

Understanding Restorative Justice

On behalf of the Arlington Human Rights Commission's (AHRC), I would like to invite you to our upcoming community event: "Understanding Restorative Justice." In light of the recent incident at Arlington High School and to build greater awareness of what restorative justice is, the AHRC, Communities for Restorative Justice (C4RJ), and the Arlington Rainbow Commission are hosting this educational event. Speakers will include Arlington Police Chief Fred Ryan and C4RJ Executive Director Erin Freeborn.

Attached and below is all of the relevant event information:

What: Understanding Restorative Justice
When: 6:30PM-8:30PM, Saturday, October 13, 2018
Where: Arlington Senior Center, 27 Maple Street, Arlington, MA 02476

RESERVE your free ticket here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/understanding-restorative-justice-tickets-50189607467


Find the event on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/296326214528836/

Dave Swanson
Co-Chair, Arlington Human Rights Commission

Brackett Neighborhood Helpers Needed!

The Mothers Out Front group of Arlington is hosting a "Tag the Gas Leak" event October 27 & 28th. This event is organized by school district, and at the moment there is only one person signed up for the Brackett district.

The goal is to bring visibility to where the leaks are and add some pressure to the utility companies plan for fixing at least the Large Volume Leaks first (and quickly). These large leaks comprise 50% of the methane emissions.

For more info: https://ma.mothersoutfront.org/gas_leaks_info 

Please join us for Spooky Walk at Menotomy Rocks Park from 6:30-8:00 pm on Saturday October 27th. (rain date Oct. 28th at the same time). 

We're looking for 4th-7th graders and adult volunteers to create a "spooky station" at this year's event. Please email kelleydamoreferguson@gmail.com if you are interested or have any questions. 

For daily updated calendar and event information, please check the Brackett Website at http://brackettelementary.org/