January 7, 2022

Dear Clippers!

I’ve never been more proud of staff, students, and families! We have come to the end of our first week of 2022 and have much to be thankful for in this new year. First, a super shout out to our faculty and staff. Your diligence in staying healthy and your dedication to our students allowed us to open our doors on Monday and remain open. We are ever so grateful. Second, thank you to our students for wearing your masks, following the rules, and staying home if you’re experiencing symptoms. You’re keeping our schools safe. Lastly, thank you to our families for bearing with us through these ongoing challenging times. I know not everyone is happy with all the rules, the testing, and disruptions, but we’re keeping students in school and learning. I’m also grateful our sports teams are still practicing/competing when so many districts saw the need to pause their season. Thank you to our coaches and athletes for doing the right thing. I’m also grateful we’ve been able to allow theatre and music performances, before and after school activities, and some field trips. All of these extra-curricular and co-curricular activities are vital to our students’ school experience.

The second dose vaccine clinic for 12+ year olds will be held on January 10, 2022 at FHS from 2:15-3:45pm. Boosters will also be offered to 16+ year olds during this clinic. You may sign up for a booster through this link.

We always knew there would be a surge after the holidays, especially this year with the fast spreading omicron variant. Here is a snapshot of the positive cases per day this week:

Monday - 36 students and 8 staff. Contract tracing was required for 7 of the cases.

Tuesday - 25 students and 8 staff. Contract tracing was required for 16 of the cases.

Wednesday - 28 students and 3 staff. Contract tracing was required for 22 of the cases. Thursday - 21 students and 0 staff. Contract tracing was required for 11 of the cases.

For more information, please visit our COVID dashboard at https://www.falmouth.k12.ma.us/covid19.

This is budget season. Patrick Murphy, Director of Finance, and I have been on the presentation circuit. We held two sessions this week; one for Lawrence School and FHS and one for the four elementary schools. Thank you for your attendance. More Pond School presentation will be held on Monday, January 10 at 6:00 PM. We will also hold a zoom meeting on January 19 at 6:00 PM. Please use this link to join us. You may also view the presentation at the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, January 11. We appreciate your input which will be shared with the School Committee before they vote on the budget on February 15, 2022.

The District is proud to present two music concerts in January. Morse Pond School’s Music Concert is scheduled for January 13, 2022 at 6:30 PM in the Lawrence School Auditorium. And our rescheduled FHS Instrumental Music Concert will be held on January 20, 2022 at 7:00 PM in the FHS Auditorium. 

We are continuing our staff training on Restorative Practices. Dr. Curtis Bates will complete the formal training for all of our schools in January and February. He will continue to offer support to our faculty and administrators as practices are put into place throughout the spring. To learn more, please view this brief video on Restorative Practices presented by two of our district's principals, Rose Moran and Tom McManamon.

Kindergarten registration will be held February 28, 2022 through March 4, 2022 from

8:15 AM to 3:45 PM at all four elementary schools. In addition to the daytime registration hours, on March 3, 2022, we will offer registration from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM, also at all four elementary schools. Please note that only children who are age five (5) years old by August 31, 2022 will be allowed to register for kindergarten per our School Committee Policy JEB - Entrance Age. If you have any questions regarding which school your child should attend please contact Student Services at (508) 548-0151 x 143.

I hope our Clippers are enjoying some fun in the snow today! Please stay safe and healthy!

Sincerely,

Lori Duerr, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools