Bedford School Employees Trained in Suicide Postvention

On December 09, 2015, twelve Bedford School District employees completed a 3-day Connect Suicide Prevention Training Program in sudden death to include suicide, conducted by NAMI NH, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. School staff trainers are: Michelle Ouellette, School Nurse at Riddle Brook School; Ali Puffer, School Counselor at Bedford High School; Lisa Pleate, Guidance Counselor at Memorial School; Carol Houde, Clinical Psychologist for Bedford School District; Zanna Blaney, Dean of Student Services at Bedford High School; Chip McGee, Superintendent of Schools; Donna LaRue, Youth Counselor for Lurgio Middle School and Bedford High School; Bill Demers, Assistant Principal at Lurgio Middle School; Claudette Stone, Behavior Specialist at Lurgio Middle School; Mike Fournier, Principal of McKelvie Intermediate School; Priscilla McGinty, Guidance Counselor at McKelvie Intermediate School; and Cheryl Daley, Principal of Peter Woodbury School.

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Everyone plays a part in suicide prevention.  NAMI NH is collaborating with the Makin’ It Happen Greater Manchester Suicide Prevention Coalition to implement the Connect Program across the region. Postvention training promotes healing and reducing risk for all community members in the aftermath of a sudden death, to include suicide.  For more information about this recent training initiative, please contact Chip McGee, Bedford Superintendent, at #472-3755 ext. 7 or at mcgeec@sau25.org.  For more information on the Connect Program and suicide prevention efforts in New Hampshire, go to www.theconnectprogram.org or to www.makinithappen.org.

 School staff trainers from left to right are: Michelle Ouellette, School Nurse at Riddle Brook School; Ali Puffer, School Counselor at Bedford High School; Lisa Pleate, Guidance Counselor at Memorial School; Carol Houde, Clinical Psychologist for Bedford School District; Zanna Blaney, Dean of Student Services at Bedford High School; Chip McGee, Superintendent of Schools; Donna LaRue, Youth Counselor for Lurgio Middle School and Bedford High School; Bill Demers, Assistant Principal at Lurgio Middle School; Claudette Stone, Behavior Specialist at Lurgio Middle School; Mike Fournier, Principal of McKelvie Intermediate School; Priscilla McGinty, Guidance Counselor at McKelvie Intermediate School; and Cheryl Daley, Principal of Peter Woodbury School.

AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES CANCELLED 2/08/16

All after school activities have been cancelled today district wide.  This does not effect the New Morning School  After School Program that runs in our schools.

DELIBERATIVE SESSION FEBRUARY 2, 2016 AT 7:00 P.M. - BHS THEATER

Deliberative Session Feb. 2 at 7:00 p.m., BHS Theater

Budget Information HERE.   All voters in Bedford are urged to come to the Bedford School District Deliberative Session on Tuesday, February 2 at 7:00 p.m. at the Bedford High School Theater.  This is when the community either affirms or revises the School Board's proposed budget for 2016-17 (The budget is presented in the School District Warrant.) The proposed budget is $68.3M, a 3.9% increase over this year.  The increase is primarily because of personnel, health insurance benefits, and significant building maintenance.  Voting on the warrant is on Tuesday, March 8 from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Bedford High School gymnasium.  If the proposed budget is voted down, the default budget would be $2.3M lower.  

Deliberative Session February 2, 2016 at 7:00 p.m., BHS Theater

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Deliberative Session Feb. 2 at 7:00 p.m. BHS Theater

All voters in Bedford are urged to come to the Bedford School District Deliberative Session on Tuesday, February 2 at 7:00 p.m. at the Bedford High School Theater.  This is when the community either affirms or revises the School Board's proposed budget for 2016-17 (The budget is presented in the School District Warrant.) The proposed budget is $68.3M, a 3.9% increase over this year.  The increase is primarily because of personnel, health insurance benefits, and significant building maintenance.  Voting on the warrant is on Tuesday, March 8 from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Bedford High School gymnasium.  If the proposed budget is voted down, the default budget would be $2.3M lower.  Additional information can be found here.

Community Members wanted for Task Force

Bedford School District seeks two community members to serve on the newly formed Technology Responsible Use and Student Privacy Task Force.  The task force will present a report that identifies and addresses the issues and challenges with the use of social media and other online educational services by students and staff and the impact it has on student privacy. The report will be completed by May 2016 when it will be presented to the School Board.  The commitment will include monthly late afternoon meetings between January and May of 2016.  

Letters of interest will be accepted until Wednesday January 13, 2016 and should be directed to:

Chip McGee

Superintendent of Schools

Bedford School District

103 County Road

Bedford, NH  03110

Senior Projects 2015 on BCTV

Senior Projects are in depth research projects on a topic of the students' choice.  They culminate with a presentation.  All students are required to complete a Senior Project to graduate from Bedford High School.  Thanks to BCTV, five of them are being broadcast this week on BCTV Channel 23.  Here is the link if you want to stream them on your computer.  Five Bedford High School Senior Project Presentations 2015

Testing the School Messenger Alert System

With winter weather surely headed our way, I think it is time to test our School Messenger Alert System.

​If severe weather causes me to delay or cancel school, I will contact parents with a phone message and text message. I have sent ​those messages on Sunday, November 22​ to test the system. Parents, please make sure that you received those message​s.

If you did not get the phone message or the phone message went to the wrong number, you can fix this in two ways.

1. Log onto PowerSchool, click on Demographic Change, and type in the preferred number as your "Primary School Messenger Alert Phone.​"​
2. Call or visit the main office at your child's school and provide them with your preferred number.

​P​lease note that ​you will need to make this change for each child in your family.​ I will be calling just the ​Primary​ School Messenger Alert Phone for weather delays​ and cancellations​. Only in an urgent emergency would I send messages to all of the phone​ numbers we have on record for parents.  The call will come from this number - (855) 344-6323.​ You may want to ​store this number ​in your caller ID to remember that it is really from the Bedford School District's Alert System.

If you did not get a text message and you would like to get one,​ log onto PowerSchool, click on Demographic Change, and ​make sure the correct cell phone number is included. Once that is complete, text "yes" to 68453.

​Finally, I want to review the process I will follow to make the decision regarding delaying or cancelling school due to weather.

• I consider variables including the state of the roads and school campuses, the number of power outages, and the upcoming weather predictions. 
• I ​consult with with the Bedford Police, the Bedford Department of Public Works, our bus company, and our maintenance director. I also talk with a weather service and superintendents in other districts. 
• I try to balance the needs of families to know sooner rather than later with the need to get accurate weather forecasting information, which changes frequently. I plan on deciding in the morning to post the decision by 5:30 and make the phone call to parents by 6:00 AM. I know families really appreciate knowing the night before so I try to do that, if possible. 

​Here is looking to a lot of Saturday afternoon ​snowstorms this winter!

Sincerely,
Chip McGee, Superintendent of Schools