Dear Beethoven Ohrenberger Families,

We hope this letter finds you well and safe during this historic moment in our lives.  Our hearts are heavy as we all continue to face the ongoing impacts of this pandemic and systemic racial injustice within our community and across the country. As we approach the start of our upcoming school year, many uncertainties remain. One thing that is certain is you are a valued member of our school community and we will get through this together!

First, we would like to welcome our new families to the Beethoven Ohrenberger family.  You are joining a caring, diverse, and truly amazing community.  To our returning families, we cannot wait to see you and your students again.

We would like all to know that there are many ways to be informed within our school community.

• We have a school website www.beethovenohrenberger.org which is managed by our parent council.  Come back and visit often for updates.

• You can follow us on Facebook at Beethoven Ohrenberger K-8 for the school page, and our Beethoven-Ohrenberger Parent Council Facebook page.  

• We also have twitter feeds, the handles are @BeethovenBPS and @OhrenbergerBPS which we use to share information out.

  Thank you to all of you who came to our virtual School Parent Council meetings. It was great to see so many of you! There were many thoughtful questions raised, and while we know there are not yet answers to everything, we do hope it gave you some insight into how plans are being made to keep our kids engaged and safe.

  A recurrent topic that came up several times was around technology and the online platforms the kids will be using in September. Therefore, we are sending out a reminder that there is training happening this week and next through BPS. They are currently offering several time slots through September 10th.  The learning session will help you support your student with the various online platforms they will be using this school year, including Zoom, Google Classroom, Clever, and SeeSaw (SeeSaw is for elementary students only).

  To join a Remote Learning Session for Families register here.

  We hope you are able to take advantage of these sessions before the school year begins.

  We also want to inform families that there will not be any before or after care at the Beethoven or Ohrenberger run by the schools.  The district has informed us of this decision.  We are sorry for any inconveniences this may cause families.

  We do not know when the district will be sending home to families what cohorts families are going to be in.  We are working to finalize student homeroom assignments and intend to send them out soon.  Given the unknowns however, some minor adjustments may be necessary as we learn new information from the district.

We will have many challenges ahead of us this school year.  As a community, we will be able to collaborate to ensure our students get the best education possible, no matter the circumstances.

Thank you for your time and stay safe,

Principals Ed Puliafico & John Travis

epuliafico@bostonpublicschools.org
jtravis@bostonpublicschools.org