Sunday, October 8

 

Happy Sunday Families! Please let me know when you are sick of me gushing about Westbrook, but seriously, I can't stop. When I think about this last week, I smile. It was just an average week but so many great things were happening. I posted one of our classes singing the amazing song Mr. Marmorstein taught them; We had Walk to School Day with so much excitement and participation; Friday began with another excellent Flag Salute in the morning; Jason Perrone came and read in some classes and it ended with buddy classes reading. I mean, come on, it does not get better than this. Throughout the entire week, we had many volunteers coming to work in classrooms and more coming at lunch. I want you to know that we all feel your support and appreciate it so much. It is true: Westbrook Wolverines ROCK!! 


Resilience: I talked about resilience in my ROCKstar report and want to include a bit more in my blog. In my opinion, the most important thing we can teach children is how to overcome adversity, solve problems and have the sense of control over themselves and their future. This is known as resilience. Resilience is a skill that is taught and needs to be practiced. It is not a character trait that some people have and some don't. As adults and parents, we are responsible for teaching children this skill. The only way children will learn how to be resilient is if they are put into uncomfortable situations that they have to work through. They need to know what to do if they can't find something or if they don't know how to do something. I feel it is important to share this because we have seen a huge increase in the number of children who do not have these skills. It is very apparent everything has been done for them. I am not shaming anyone because I know that as parents we want to provide for our children. However, it is important to know how important it is to let your children be uncomfortable and learn how to solve problems. 

Candy Donations Needed: We would love to accept candy donations for our Fall Festival. You can drop them off in the front office or in a marked candy donation bin. This is going to be a super fun event the kids will never forget. We can't wait!


Picture Day: Next Monday, 10/16, is picture day. Make up pictures will be the following Monday, 10/23. Forms will be coming home soon. 


Sponsorships Available: Our amazing PTC has released the Westbrook sponsorship tiers. Please click the link to see what is available-  Sponsor Westbrook

Dear Parent/Guardian,

We are pleased to announce that our school, as part of our districtwide launch, is now utilizing STOPit, an anonymous online reporting tool. STOPit is designed to deter vandalism, threats, violence, suicidal ideation and other behaviors, consisting of an app/online platform and a back-end incident management system for school administrators.

Our families will have access to the STOPit mobile app and web-based reporting system, which have two

simple but powerful features.

Specifically, the program educates students and families to:

  • Recognize the signs of at-risk behaviors

  • Take every sign and signal seriously

  • Report it anonymously through STOPit app, website or 24/7 Incident Response Center

  • Submit photo or video evidence 

  • Alert designated administrators to issues and risks early, before they escalate

No personal information is needed to use STOPit. The only way personally identifiable information will be accessible through STOPit is if a requester voluntarily includes it within the content of a request or message.

Both our school and STOPit are committed to protecting the privacy of student data. STOPit is a signatory to the Student Privacy Pledge, spearheaded by the Future of Privacy Forum and the Software & Information Industry Association. You may review STOPit’s Privacy Policy for details, including more information on how anonymous reporting works.

Students and families have the power to help put an end to harmful and inappropriate behavior they see online through

social media and other means. They can use STOPit to reach out for help with the following:

  • Vandalism

  • Weapons

  • Threat or planned attack

  • Hate crime/discrimination

  • Cutting/self-harm

  • Domestic violence

  • Assault

  • Suicidal ideation

Our goal with STOPit is to create safer, kinder, school communities both online and off.

We encourage you to download the STOPit app and search for your students' school using the directory or report online via our website by clicking on the STOPit icon at the top of the homepage. You can privately ask for help for your student, family, others you care about, or even acquaintances who appear to need help.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.


Together, we can make sure everyone in our community is healthy, happy and able to learn and thrive. Thank you for your

cooperation in keeping our schools safe and healthy. 


Sincerely, 

Jessica Brooks

Principal



Dates to Remember: 
October 16- Picture Day
October 20- Fall Festival at 5pm



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