2021-22 Respect, Responsibility, and Regard

5.19.22

Dates for the Calendar

Monday May 23rd - 5th Grade MCAS (Science)
Monday, May 30th - Memorial Day (Schools Closed)
Thursday, June 2nd - Field Day
Friday, June 3rd – Bishop Spirit Day
Thursday, June 9th - Teacher’s Tea (Bishop staff only - not a community event)
Thursday, June 16th @ 10:00 am - Bishop’s 5th Grade Recognition Ceremony

Hello Bishop Families!

Bishop Bear Fair & Used Goods Sale Thank you

Thank you to everyone who came to Bishop for the return of the Bear Fair!! It was a fun day
and so great to see this amazing community tradition back.
Thank you to everyone who pitched in to lend their hands and time to help with the Bear
Fair. Thank you to the Bishop staff that sold tickets & Bishop alumni that helped with set up
and games. The PTO and Bishop community can't host a large event like this without the
hard work and contributions of many parents, especially those who took on a lead role.
Thank you Shelly Fichera, Ramin Haghgooie, Tricia See, Susan Perkins, Kristen Mucci,
Valerie Geary, Megan Bloch, and Courtney Zwirn.

And a HUGE thank you to Heather Breslau for leading the Bear Fair!!

Bishop Field Day - Thursday, June 2nd (Rain Date - Thursday, June 9th)
Let’s hear it for field day! The students are gearing up and are super excited for this fun day!
Mr. Scopa and Mr. VanGordon, our physical education teachers, have a lot of fun games and
activities planned. We need parent volunteers to make this a great event for all. So if you
enjoy watching kids have fun and getting exercise, you'll want to sign up for this event here.
 Bishop Garden Volunteer Opportunity
Our new Garden Educator, Amanda Munsie, will be hosting "open garden" hours on
Wednesdays from 11am - 1:30 pm during school lunch and recess. If you are interested in
lending a hand, please sign up here.

A Message from the APS Superintendent, Dr. Homan

Dear Arlington Public Schools Elementary School Families,

I am writing with a request for feedback from the community on potential before-school
care options for APS Elementary School Families. I am also writing to provide some
follow-up information to last week’s update regarding elementary school start times.

Your Feedback Wanted Regarding Elementary Before-School Care: The Arlington Public
Schools are examining the feasibility of launching before-school care options for families. If
before-school care is something you would like us to consider implementing, please take a
few minutes to indicate your interest on this short survey.

Elementary Start Time Adjustment: In this message last week, I indicated that APS intends
to move the start of the day for K-5 elementary schools this fall to 8:00 a.m., pending
contract ratification by the Arlington Education Association and approval of the Arlington
School Committee. The 2022-23 School Calendar is available here and on our website. We
have received the following questions about the adjustment:

Why add time before school, and not after school?

We considered adding time at the end of the school day; however, this approach
would have impacted programming at all schools and levels in the district due to
transportation and the start and end times of other schools. Furthermore, adding time
at the start of the school day added an additional 6 hours/year of instructional time
compared to a comparable later release time, due to weekly elementary early release.

Don’t studies show that young people benefit from a later school day?

Yes, studies indicate that this is the case for adolescent brain development, which is
why many schools in the Commonwealth and across the country have shifted
secondary start times to be later in the day and adjusted elementary start times to be
earlier in the day; in fact, Arlington made this adjustment in 2020.

Will bus transportation times be impacted?

Bus transportation times for our Boston-resident students should not be significantly
impacted by this adjustment. Bus transportation times for Arlington-resident students
may be moved up by a few minutes to accommodate this change. Furthermore, this
change will improve the ability of our transportation department to transport 6th
grade students from their elementary schools to Gibbs for an on-time start.
It is our intention to have elementary students in their classrooms, ready to learn at 8am
each day in the 2022-23 school year. We recognize that this adjustment may create
challenges for some families, and are committed to supporting families through this
transition. Please do not hesitate to reach out to school or district administration with any
questions. Thank you for your continued partnership, and have a wonderful week.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth C. Homan, Ph.D.

Superintendent, Arlington Public Schools

Arlington Public Schools Annual Textile Recycling Competition (May

5-June 5, 2022)
Announcing our APS annual textile recycling competition! Please support your school and
help reduce waste by bringing your old, worn, torn textiles (clothing, shoes, towels, bedding,
stuffed animals) to your school's collection bin from May 5-June 5. The bin at Bishop is
located off the staff parking lot. All donations must be bagged. The volume of donated
textiles at each school will be tracked by Bay State Textiles and this year your school will
receive weekly updates on the weights collected across the district in order to see
where the competition stands so you can push for the top spot!

For a list of acceptable donations click here. For questions about the competition or to
report bin overflow, please contact Arlington School Sustainability Coordinator Rachel
Oliveri at roliveri@arlington.k12.ma.us.

Want to learn more about Textile Recycling? Here are some resources:
"The Secret Double Life of Donated Textiles"
MassDEP Textile Recovery
"Donate, Recycle, Don't Throw Away"

Grades 3, 4, and 5 MCAS administration has begun and will run through
May. Families with students in the identified grades can access this year’s MCAS
schedule HERE
 BISHOP PTO NEWS AND UPDATES

Bishop Spirit Day

Friday, June 3rd, is our last Spirit Day of the school year! On Spirit Day students are
encouraged to showcase their Bishop spirit by wearing Bishop Spirit Wear or Bishop school
colors (yellow/gold and blue). If you need to purchase new Spirit Wear, check out our sale!

PTO Board Member Nominations and Election

Vote by end of the day on Friday, 5/27

Several PTO board positions will be vacated at the end of the AY2021-22 school year, as
the current officers will have completed their two-year term commitments. Anna Pisania
(Co-President), Lindsay Pacheco (Co-Treasurer), and Jessica Nordgren (Recording
Secretary) will return in AY2022-23 to serve the second year in their respective offices.

We have received the following nominations for the positions listed below. If elected, these
individuals will serve a two-year term, beginning in AY2022-23:

Board Position Nominee

Co-President Mary Perry

Co-Treasurer Leonie Lennon

Fundraising Coordinator Lori Hennelly

Communications Coordinator Valerie Geary

Class Parent Coordinator Julie Moscatel

Please vote online to approve the nominees, or to write in a candidate using the link below:
https://forms.gle/SSZ6NttLEvmjvPDm8

Each of the nominees has provided a bio so you can get to know them better.

Mary Perry (nominee for Co-President)

Mary and her husband, Wes, have lived in Arlington since 2008 and are the parents of
Isabella (6th grade), Ava (2nd grade) and Reese and Adilyn (Kindergarten). Originally from
Connecticut, Mary moved to the Boston area in 2005 after completing her graduate degree
at the University of Connecticut. She is a Registered Dietitian and Clinical Trials Director at
Zone Labs. In her downtime you can find her cheering on Wes and the girls at various
sporting events, working out, gardening, traveling, and spending time with family, friends,
and their dog Bailey. Mary has been an active volunteer over the past 7 years, a room parent,
and is co-chair of the Bishop Ambassador Program. She looks forward to her first year as
Co-President of the PTO.
Leonie Lennon (nominee for Co-Treasurer)
Leonie (and her husband Niall), are parents to Saoirse (4th grade), Lucas (2nd grade) and
Sophie (Pre-Kindergarten). Leonie grew up in Dublin, Ireland, where she earned an
undergraduate degree in Pharmacology at University College Dublin and a Diploma in
Business and IT from Smurfit Business School. Leonie moved to Boston 17 years ago, after
spending 2 years working in Bermuda. Leonie and Niall moved to Arlington in 2011. She
currently works part time at JPMorgan Chase in the Alternative Investments team, in a
business management role but previously worked full time in an accounting role in the
Hedge Fund team. In her free time Leonie enjoys traveling, running, hiking, reading, and
spending time with her kids. She is looking forward to serving the community through the
PTO board.

Lori Hennelly (nominee for Fundraising Coordinator)

Lori and her husband Bob (Sheehy) are parents to Eve (5th grade), Sayer (3rd grade) and
Annalise (preschool). Both Lori and Bob are originally from New York state but met in Boston
post college. Before having kids Lori worked for Dana Farber Cancer Institute in research
administration. She enjoys reading, hiking and spending time with family and friends. This is
Lori’s second year as a room parent and she looks forward to joining the PTO board.

Valerie Geary (nominee for Communications Coordinator)

Valerie Geary and her husband Ted Lombardi are parents to Josie, a rising 5th grader, and
one of Bishop's newest Bears, Clancy, who will start Kindergarten in September 2022. Valerie
and Ted met at College of the Holy Cross and were married there in 2005. They moved to
Arlington in 2014 and love their community! Valerie completed her MA in Literature at
Simmons University, where she is now a professor and co-runs the Honors Program. She is
also a freelance writer and editor. Valerie has volunteered at Bishop as a Room Parent and
as the coordinator of the Holiday Helping Hands program. In her spare time, she enjoys
reading, writing, traveling, attending shows and concerts, photography, and playing with the
family pets, Clover, Donut, and Ginger.

Julie Moscatel (nominee for Room Parent Coordinator)

Julie and her husband, Adam, are parents to Ella (3rd grade), Ace (2nd grade), James
(Kindergarten), and 1 year old, Shane. For 12 years Julie worked in various communications
roles at Harvard University, most recently in External Relations at the Harvard Business
School. She enjoys photography, coaching softball, and spending the summer months with
family and friends down the Cape. Julie has served as room parent for a few years and, as a
Bishop alum, she looks forward to supporting the Bishop community as part of the PTO.

Community News:
Interested in getting information to the Bishop community? Information that you’d like to share
with the Bishop community can be included in the weekly Principal’s Update. Please email the
relevant information to Amanda Maltais (Communications Coordinator, Bishop PTO) at
aemaltais@gmail.com

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Varallo Orthodontics Partners in Education Program
At Varallo Orthodontics, we love giving back to our community in any way we can!  Varallo
Orthodontics has started the Partners in Education Program, or P.I.E.  For every patient in
grades K-8 who starts orthodontic treatment with us, we will donate $25 to the patient’s
school PTO. To schedule a free consultation or find out more, visit us at varalloortho.com.

Stay Up to Date
Bishop PTO Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BishopPTO/
Websites:
Bishop School (general info, links to the school system):
http://www.arlington.k12.ma.us/bishop/
Bishop School (news and events): https://bishopschool.net/
Bishop PTO: http://www.bishopschoolpto.com/
DIG website: https://bishopdig.weebly.com/. To join our mailing list, please email
bishopdig@gmail.com