November 21

The Buzzness 

Calendar November 22          Muffins / Juice for breakfast and Soup for lunch in the teacher’s lounge provided by the PTO! Yea!              Kindergarten Friendship Celebration 11:30-12:30 pm (Campbell, McCartney) 23-25    Schools and offices will be closed in observance of the Thanksgiving Holiday December    1            4th and 5th RTI/SpEd Grade Level Team Meetings 2:45pm 3            Holiday Party at the Crescimanno's  7-11pm 5            Winter BEE Program registration begins 6              5th Grade Music Performance at 1:20 (James, Crickenberger, Morris)3rd and other 5th view and 6:00 pm 7            Team Leaders Meeting 2:45 pm 8              5th Grade Music Performance at 1:20 (Humphrey, Greenwood) K and other 5th view and 6:00 pm              Faculty Meeting 2:45pm 9              3rd Grade Toga Day

Team Purchase Request to Ms. Barbour by Dec. 2nd Last day for purchase requests  will be December 2nd. We will resume placing orders when we get back from Winter Break.

A few Tech reminders: All concerns need both a online ticket submitted AND a paper BES Laptop Repair Form. (Online tickets are quick and easy! Just email servicedesk@k12albemarle.org with your concerns and contact info.) The drop off location is in the BES Library (by the sink, in a labeled crate). Repaired machines will be returned to you/students by library staff. Loaner computers are only available for 1-1 student machines in grades 4 and 5 at this time (and for emergency student or teacher needs such as testing, etc). We have a limited quantity available. For more detailed directions and explanations, please read our Technology Troubleshooting Guidelines. Please let me know if you have any questions after reviewing these directions and guidelines! :) Thanks again for your support, Anne

Toy Lift It is almost time for ToyLift again, and we are in need of some volunteers who would like to join David C. and me at the ToyLift Boxing Day for Brownsville’s families on Saturday, December 3rd at 4:15 pm. Boxing this year will be at the same warehouse as last year at 395 Reas Ford Road in Earlysville. It truly was a heartwarming and inspiring experience helping with Toy Lift last year, and amazing that this organization can impact so many families in the Charlottesville area. If you would like to donate your time on this day, we would really appreciate it :)  Please email me by Friday, November 18th if you would like to participate, so I can respond to the ToyLift coordinator about how many volunteers who will be coming.  Alyson

Van De Graph available at Brownsville If you are interested in having a Van De Graph demo for your class or team, let Lead Instructional Coach, Robbie Muncey know : rmuncey@k12albemarle.org

New Internet Search Filters in Place This school year we have made a transition to a new content filter.  Please know that we are required by the federal government to filter certain types of Internet sites: most notably sites considered to be obscene, sites that contain pornography, and any sites deemed harmful to minors.  Each of the terms mentioned are legal items and are defined via case law.  Our new content filter, as do all filtering solutions, places web sites into categories and the school division determines which categories to block or not to block.  We continue to monitor the filter to ensure that we do not put students or staff at risk and we make adjustments to web sites improperly placed in blocked categories. The new content filter has a much more robust reporting capability.  This reporting capability allows the school division a greater opportunity to ensure optimal network performance.  More important to note, as it is stated in the Responsible Use Policy, every web site that you visit while using school division technology is logged and can be accessed by DART staff.  DART staff will periodically review the logs to verify the technical operations and ensure the network is functioning properly.  During this time, staff reviews the data to ensure that neither staff nor students are violating the Responsible Use Policy by using the school division’s technology for purposes not consistent with our educational mission.