Kittredge Elementary School

Books due back this week.

This year MCAS will be administered to students in the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. The tests will be administered during the weeks of March 27th and April 3rd in Reading and English Language Arts. The 4th graders will be taking the long composition on Tuesday, March 28th. Testing in Mathematics in grades 3, 4 and 5 will take place in May. The 5th graders will also take the Science test and a History and Social Science tryout. We will send home a complete schedule the week before the testing begins. It is important for your children to be present and on time, get plenty of sleep and have a good breakfast. Please encourage your children to do their best!

The corrected packets went home on Friday. Please return pledges by this Friday, March 17th. Checks should be made out to Kittredge PTO. Thank you to everyone who participated. The preliminary results look like we should be able to cover most of the cost of remulching the playground. Questions; call Heidi Chaff at +1 978 794 2595.

The "Kittredge Pharaohs" and "Darth Andover" are heading to the Destination Imagination Tournament this Saturday! The teams have been working on their "challenges" since November and they are excited to compete. All the best to our DI Teams - we are SO proud of you!

Wednesday, March 15th, 7:00-9:00 pm at the Middle School Library.

Please join us for a presentation on "Food Allergies and Anaphylaxis" by Dr. Michael Young, author of The Peanut Allergy Answer Book on Wednesday, March 22nd, 7:00PM at the Atkinson Elementary School Cafeteria. Questions? Please contact school nurses, Mary Hadjian at +1 978 794 3849, Gail Munro at +1 978 557 7908, or Linda Sullivan at +1 978 686 1862.

The Kittredge School will be hosting its "Fourth Annual Family Skate Night" on March 14th, 2006. This is a fun social evening for Kittredge families to enjoy some rollerblading/skating, music and games.

On Saturday, February 11th at the Father/Daughter Dance, a charcoal grey cashmere, 3-button dress coat, size 42/44 Long was taken by someone in error. Could you please check your closet and confirm that you took home the correct coat. If you discover you have the wrong one, please call Bill at +1 617 248 5177. Your coat is waiting for you in return.

Representative Torrissi says that the letters he received from concerned parents made a difference. Make your concerns known to our elected officials:

2006 Spring Season: Registration for the North Andover Soccer Association (NASA) Spring '06 season is open using the popular on-line registration system found on our web site, www.nasoccer.com. NASA will be accepting late registrations (with late fee for returning families) until team rosters are filled and prior to March 17th. Please do not wait until the last minute to register, as NASA has needed to turn away last minute interested players.

2006 Summer Camp: Registration for NASA's Summer Camp program is open as of February 15th using the same on-line registration process. Reserve your child's spot early!!! Contact registrar@nasoccer.com for questions.

2006 Fall Season: Register on-line May 1st at www.nasoccer.com for the Fall '06 soccer season.

North Andover Middle School Auditorium, Thursday, March 16 at 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm. There will be an informational evening for parents/guardians of children entering kindergarten in the fall of 2006. Children must be five years of age by August 31st, 2006, in order to be eligible for kindergarten. This evening is for parents/guardians. In addition to an orientation and information session regarding kindergarten options, there will be an opportunity for registration. In order to register your child, you must provide a birth certificate and proof of residency (see below). If you are considering registration for the full-day kindergarten program, you will also need to pay a non-refundable fee of $50. If you know of neighbors or friends who have a child entering kindergarten in the fall, please be sure to relay this information to them. If you are not able to register your child on March 16th, 2006, there will be an open registration at your district school between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. during the week of March 20th.

You must be a resident of North Andover to attend the public schools. You will need to present the original of one of the following (two originals for Item D):

1. Occupancy Permit (new construction);
2. Deed or mortgage payment coupon for an existing home;
3. Effective lease or rental agreement; or
4. Two of the following (within 2 months of current date): Master Card/Visa; public utilities (gas, water, electric); income tax return; or assessor's statement indicating owner of property.

Remember: beginning Monday, February 27th, all snacks have increased to $.75 each.

There were several items on the agenda. Al Perry was voted in as the new chairman to replace the departing Dan Murphy. The two main events, however, are summarized below:

Superintendent Harutunian presented two different plans to achieve approximately $2.8 million in cutes required to balance the FY07 budget. Both approaches are broad-reaching and propose the elimination of 68 school department employees including teachers in the elementary, middle, and high schools, a principal at the elementary level (meaning one principal will cover two schools next year), and assistant principals at the middle and high schools. One proposal attempts to maintain elementary class sizes similar to the current numbers by eliminating all art, music, and physical education at the elementary level. The other sacrifices elementary class sizes to save music, art, and physical education.

In response to Dan Murphy's motion, the school committee voted 3-2 in favor of requesting the Board of Selectmen and FinCom consider an override. The consensus seemed to be that the cuts the school department faces next year will have devastating results for our children. All committee members also seemed to agree that a request for an override might be inevitable, but there was strong disagreement over how, when, and with what justification to make the request.

Visit our Kittredge website at http://www.northandover.k12.ma.us/Kittredge/.

Please send via email to kathy.eastwood@comcast.net (please put Newslink in the subject line) or call Kathy Eastwood at +1 978 794 3025 by Friday at noon.

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