What Does the 'Main Thing' Have to Do With the Election?
September 23, 2016

"Belmont Day School strives to be a diverse community dedicated to academic excellence and intellectual discipline where students feel secure, experience the joys of learning, and know their accomplishments are valued.”

This sentence concludes the opening paragraph of our Statement of Purpose, and I have given it a considerable amount of thought this summer as both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions have been held and we, along with the rest of the nation, have been given our two dollar ticket to the national election process as it unfolds in the most public of forums. Choose any news outlet you’d like and you will find that they have all, in one way or another, promised one of the ugliest presidential races in US history. No better time, in my humble opinion, to be an educator of pre-k to eighth grade students.

Contentious elections are nothing new to our nation. In 1800, those backing John Adams’ candidacy published in a news journal that Thomas Jefferson had died, and thus should not be voted into office. (Jefferson was alive and well at the time.) Today, that is the stuff of quaint legend; one of the many stories that shape our nation. Certainly, something worthy of being taught. What, then, to make of this year’s election?


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Upcoming Events
Monday, September 26 to Friday, September 30

B Week
Monday, September 26 to Tuesday, September 27: School Picture Days

Monday, September 26: Erskine Library Committee, 8:15 a.m.; PA Executive Committee, 8:30 a.m., Head's Office

Tuesday, September 27: Admissions Tours Begin; Barn Design/Utile, 8:15 a.m., Erskine Library; Grade 8 Parent Social, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Erskine Library

Wednesday, September 28: Buildings & Grounds, 8:15 a.m., BDS Bungalow; Flag Football vs Rectory, 3:30 p.m.; Field Hockey vs Fay, 3:30 p.m.; Cross Country vs Fenn/Nashoba Brooks, 3:30 p.m.; Boys Soccer at Cambridge Friends, 3:30 p.m.; Girls Soccer at Cambridge Friends, 3:30 p.m.; Grade 2 Parent Social, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Erskine Library

Thursday, September 29 to Friday, September 30: BDS Pumpkin Patch, outside Coolidge Hall

Thursday, September 29: Grade 5 Parent Social, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Kiva

Friday, September 30: Summer Book Sharing Assembly, 8:50 a.m., PAC; SSAT Prep, 1 p.m.

Saturday, October 1: Family Community Service at Gaining Ground, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.; Belmont SaturDay Concert with Tim Seston, 10 to 10:45 a.m., Coolidge Hall

Lunch & Snack Menu

Health Resources on the Website

"Is my child REALLY too sick for school, or can she make it through the morning?" "I don't think my son should participate in athletics today—what should I do?" You can now find the answers to these and similar questions on the parent Page site on BDSG! Look for the Health Resources tab—it contains the school illness and dismissal policy, the athletics participation policy, as well as a host of helpful information about all things health and wellness. Check it out!

Green Team Launches Newsletter

Want to learn more about safe and natural cleaning products, reducing plastic water bottle use, and how to get involved in sustainability and greening at Belmont Day School and beyond? Then check out our new greening newsletter! We plan to publish three issues of tips, news, and ideas each year. The next opportunity to be green: Family Community Service for the Environment at Gaining Ground on Saturday, October 1. Click Here or contact Kathy Jo Solomon to sign up for this event!

Braiding Different Strands Meeting
Tuesday, October 18 in Erskine Library

Come one, come all to our first Braiding Different Strands meeting on Tuesday, October 18 in the Erskine Library! Braiding Different Strands is a group that engages in lively conversation around equity and diversity, sharing resources, ideas, and challenges in a collaborative and safe environment. All adult members of the Belmont Day community are welcome to attend and contribute ideas or questions, whether you can make one meeting or all of the meetings. This month our focus will be on getting to know each other and working through challenging vignettes that our children/students might pose to us around issues of diversity. A light dinner will be provided at 6:15 p.m. and the meeting will start promptly at 6:30 p.m.

Families of Color Social

More news on our Families of Color Social, including a date and time, will be coming in next week’s Scoop!

Picture Days are Coming
Monday, September 26 and Tuesday, September 27

We are delighted to welcome back photographer Porter Guilford for the second year. Picture ordering will be done online. Shortly after picture days, we will send out information about purchasing photos along with the link to Porter's website. All students will be photographed for school records. Purchasing photos is optional for families.

Event Update

Last fall's inaugural Harvest on the Hill event for families and the community was a celebration of local food and artisans and a showcase of our school garden. Harvest was organized by a core group of parent and faculty/staff volunteers in collaboration with Edible Boston. While the team is organized and ready to carry on this wonderful community event, the decision has been made to host Harvest every other year. The inaugural event was small and cozy—by taking more time to plan, cultivate relationships, and do outreach, we hope to expand participation by vendors and attendees alike. Stay tuned for more information after the new year about Harvest on the Hill 2017.

Auction 2017: Homegrown

We are thrilled to announce this year's auction theme: Homegrown. Homegrown is a farm to table-themed community gathering and fundraising event on April 29, 2017. Homegrown will also include an online component February 1-14, 2017. 

Help cultivate our school’s growth! The most important way you can participate in the auction is by attending the community event on April 29, 2017. Other ways you can contribute:

Volunteer
We would love to harvest your energy! Please sign up here on our online form.

Donate an item to the Auction
Your donations are essential to the success of our community-building fundraiser. Items can be donated online at http://tinyurl.com/bdsauction.

Sign up to solicit a business
Online town sign up at: www.timetosignup.com/belmontday for Food & Wine, Restaurant, Entertainment Venue, Retail, and other solicitations. Donation packets are located in the development office and are also available electronically on the parent site on BDSG.

Make a contribution
Plant a seed to help our growth! Please make checks payable to BDS PA and return to Beth Sousa in the development office.

Advertise your business or sponsor a message in the catalog
Do you have a business that would like to market to the BDS community? Or would you like to publish a message of support from your family? Please contact auction@belmontday.org.

If you have questions, please contact Danielle Lemack or Alex Danahy, co-chairs of Internal Solicitations, or email auction@belmontday.org.

It's Not Too Late!

The Grandparents' and Special Friends' Visiting Day invites were mailed yesterday, but if you still have someone to invite, please let us know and we will get an invite in the mail. Please note: while the school keeps grandparent address information on file, we do not keep the address information for special friends. Please complete this form to provide the name(s) and address(es) for your child's guests. If you would prefer that we NOT send an invitation to your child's grandparents, or if you have questions, please notify Development Associate Beth Sousa at bsousazois@belmontday.org. Thank you!

How Much Does it Weigh?

Students are welcome to guess the weight of the huge pumpkin in the front lobby (one guess per child). Winner will be announced at the September 30 sharing assembly.

Come find your perfect pumpkin! Pumpkins in three sizes, as well as colorful mums, will be on sale at drop-off and pick-up times for the PA's fall fundraiser in front of Coolidge on Thursday, October 29 and Friday October 30. 

Taking a Plunge: The Middle School Story

On Saturday, September 17, Middle School Head Liz Gray and Middle School Spanish Teacher William Yepes jumped into Boston Harbor as part of an annual event, "The Boston Sharkfest," a 1-mile open water swim. It was the perfect metaphor to the middle school experience! Señor Yepes described it this way: "There is always trepidation and fear of the unknown, but once in the water it was clear that the conditions were perfect. The organization had worked to provide a safe space and there were volunteers all along the way. The biggest support came from the fact that I was not doing the swim by myself. I had a friend with me, even though she was much faster than me." Our middle school students experience the same feelings. There are fears and challenges to overcome, and the reason it is possible to conquer them is because there is an organization behind them, as well as a huge troop of volunteers. Most importantly, they are not alone. They are surrounded by friends.

Science on Saturday: Welcome to the Jungle
Saturday, October 29, 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. 
at MIT Lincoln Laboratory on Hanscom AFB

Join Dr. Zarin Machanda of Tufts University and listen to the sounds of the jungle. Learn about chimpanzees, the closest relatives of humans. How are chimps similar to and different from humans? You will see video clips of chimpanzees in the wild. Volunteers will be able to help with demonstrations on stage.

Session 1: 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Session 2: 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

To learn more and to register for either session, visit the website here.

The Scoop, Print Edition - September 23

Click here to find all of the articles from this week’s Scoop, formatted together for easy printing or conversion to a single PDF.