Medway Public Schools

Medway Elementary Students Practice Bus Safety

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Medway Public Schools
Armand Pires, Superintendent
45 Holliston St.
Medway, MA 02053

For Immediate Release

Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019

Media Contact: Benjamin Paulin
Phone: 781-428-3299
Email: [email protected]

Medway Elementary Students Practice Bus Safety

 

MEDWAY — McGovern Elementary Principal Amy McDonald and Burke-Memorial Elementary Principal Amanda Luizzi are pleased to share that Medway’s elementary students recently learned about and practiced school bus safety.

Students at the McGovern and Burke-Memorial elementary schools spent a few weeks during October learning about bus safety. Elementary health teacher Marissa Keleher built bus safety into her lesson plans and taught students how to safely wait for the bus and expectations while riding the bus.

Keleher and other school staff stressed the importance of bus safety to students with the goal of equipping every student with the knowledge of the proper behaviors to exhibit while traveling on a bus, whether it be the daily ride to and from school or on a field trip. With the help of school administrators, counselors and bus drivers, students learned safety practices at a bus assembly and later practiced bus rides and emergency evacuations.

These lessons were aligned with the 2019 National School Bus Safety Week, recognized by the National Association for Pupil Transportation, which took place Oct. 21-25. National School Bus Safety Week is a public education program meant for schools, parents and school bus operators to teach students how to act safely and appropriately while riding and waiting for the bus.

While the schools conduct bus safety initiatives at other times throughout the year, this was the first robust effort between the schools and bus company Holmes Transportation to explicitly teach and practice comprehensive bus safety skills.

The safety skills the children learned over the weeks can also translate to general safety tips that are applicable to many other situations, such as crossing the street or waiting for a car.

“We appreciate the Holmes Transportation Company’s willingness to assist us in providing practical experiences to go along with the safety lessons our students learned in the classroom,” Superintendent Armand Pires said. “We want to ensure the safety of all of our students and the best way to do that is to provide them with the necessary lessons so they can safely ride the bus.”

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Medway Public Schools, Town of Medway Receive State Grant to Improve Cybersecurity Awareness

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Medway Public Schools
Armand Pires, Superintendent
45 Holliston St.
Medway, MA 02053

For Immediate Release

Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019

Media Contact: Benjamin Paulin
Phone: 781-428-3299
Email: [email protected]

Medway Public Schools, Town of Medway Receive State Grant to Improve Cybersecurity Awareness

MEDWAY — Superintendent Armand Pires and Medway Director of Information Services Richard Boucher are pleased to announce that Medway Public Schools and the Town of Medway were awarded a grant as part of the 2019 Cybersecurity Awareness Grant Program to improve awareness and training among staff.

Distributed by the state’s Executive Office of Technology Services and Security Office of Municipal and School Technology, the grant will fund the extension of the town’s current cybersecurity awareness and training tools to Medway Public School staff.

With the help of the grant, the town and school district will educate approximately 500 staff members on cyber threats and provide training and best practices for keeping the community’s data as secure as possible. Over the next few weeks, the town’s Information Services Department will work with the schools to develop a comprehensive plan for cybersecurity training and assessment.

The funding will also be used to add to the existing municipal efforts in cybersecurity awareness. The town has been using a tool called KnowBe4 for the past three years. The program allows the town to train staff and run campaigns to test both the staff’s ability to recognize cyber threats and the town’s ability to manage those threats. With the assistance of KnowBe4, the town has decreased the average percentage of employees who click on a link or open an attachment in a phishing test email from about 40 percent to two percent. With this grant, the town will be able to continue to monitor and educate staff through the use of KnowBe4.

“With an increase in municipal cyber attacks around the country in the past few years, it is important that we continue to improve upon our efforts in cybersecurity,” Boucher said. “With the training this grant will allow us to provide to school and town employees, we intend for our staff to understand that cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility and that being able to identify and correctly respond to a cyber threat is key to remaining digitally secure.”

About the Cybersecurity Awareness Grant Program

The Executive Office of Technology Services and Security 2019 Cybersecurity Awareness Grant Program is a one-year competitive grant program that will help local government to improve overall cybersecurity posture through end-user training, evaluation and threat simulation.

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Medway Public Schools to Unveil Brand-New Fitness Center at High School

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Medway Public Schools
Armand Pires, Superintendent
45 Holliston St.
Medway, MA 02053

For Immediate Release

Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019

Media Contact: Benjamin Paulin
Phone: 781-428-3299
Email: [email protected]

Medway Public Schools to Unveil Brand-New Fitness Center at High School

Fitness Center Paid for with $90K in Local Donations

MEDWAY — Superintendent Armand Pires is pleased to announce that the Medway Public School’s new fitness center at Medway High School will be unveiled next week.

WHEN:

Tuesday, Nov. 12, 3:00 p.m.

WHERE:

Medway High School, 88 Summer St., Medway

WHO:

Speaking at the unveiling event will be Medway Board of Selectmen Chair John Foresto, Medway School Committee Chair Susan Dietrich and Superintendent Armand Pires

Those in attendance will include booster organizations, town officials, school committee members, coaches, school administrators and students.

WHAT:

The state-of-the-art fitness center was fully funded by $90,000 in generous donations from local sports boosters, fundraising organizations and athletics and education supporters.

“Without the tremendous donations we received, this new fitness center would not have been possible,” Superintendent Pires said. “Our students receive such great support from the members of the Medway community. Not only will the center be open to our sports programs, but all Medway students will be able to take advantage of this great space for health and exercise.”

The school’s old fitness center opened when Medway High School first opened in 2004. The equipment has since become outdated and the space was too small for the school’s needs. That space will now become an area for aerobics. The new fitness center is located just down the hall.

The fitness center is 2088-square-feet and features equipment from Cybex Treadmills, Life Fitness and Hammer Strength.

All students will be able to use the fitness center after school from 2:45-4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, when Strength Coach Dale Fingar will be supervising. Athletics teams will also be able to sign up to use it as a group with their coaches.

Athletic Trainer Sean Powers and Fingar held an orientation on Wednesday, Nov. 6, to show students and staff members how to properly use the equipment.

The new fitness center was made possible through generous donations from the following groups and organizations:

  • Medway Amateur Hockey Association, Inc.
  • Medway High School Boosters
  • Medway High School Soccer Boosters
  • Medway Youth Football and Cheer
  • Medway Community Education
  • Medway High School Field Hockey Boosters
  • Medway Lions Club
  • The Alex Handy Fund for Youth Safety
  • Medway Foundation for Education
  • Medway High School Girls Volleyball Boosters
  • Medway Mustangs Gridiron Club Inc.
  • Town of Medway
  • Medway High School Basketball Boosters
  • Medway High School Gold Boosters
  • Medway Secondary Parent Teacher Organization
  • Medway High School Lacrosse Inc.
  • Medway Youth Flag Football

A plaque with the names of the donors will be placed outside the entrance of the center.

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Medway Public Schools Expands its Weekend Backpack Program to Include the McGovern School

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Medway Public Schools
Armand Pires, Superintendent
45 Holliston St.
Medway, MA 02053

For Immediate Release

Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019

Media Contact: Benjamin Paulin
Phone: 781-428-3299
Email: [email protected]

Medway Public Schools Expands its In-School Food Pantry and Weekend Backpack Program to Include the McGovern School

MEDWAY — Superintendent Armand Pires is pleased to announce that following a successful pilot program last year, the Medway Public Schools is expanding its in-school food pantry and Weekend Backpack Program to include both elementary schools in town.

The program launched in 2018 with the opening of the Burke-Memorial Elementary School’s in-school food pantry, with about 10 bags a week being put together for students in need. Starting this year the program has expanded at the school, and now also includes the McGovern School.

“The program went really well last year and we’re excited to be expanding it to both elementary schools this year,” said Medway Village Church Food Pantry Director Susan Dietrich. “We recognize the need that exists for some of our younger residents in town and this will help us meet that need.”

All of the food is stored at the Burke-Memorial School. Each Wednesday, around a dozen volunteers gather to prepare the backpacks.

Almost 30 bags of food are packaged per week for McGovern students, and another almost 20 for Burke-Memorial students.

Dietrich or a volunteer brings bags for McGovern students to the school on Thursday evenings, and students at both schools pick up the bags at their school’s respective nurse’s office at the end of the day on Friday. The empty bags are returned on Monday.

There are rolling sign-ups for participation, and any student can enroll during the year. There are no requirements to receive the bags and those who would like to participate should go to the principal’s office at the school.

“The students and their families have been very appreciative of the bags so far and we’re excited the program has gone so well,” McGovern School Principal Amy McDonald said. “It fills a growing need for our school population, and fits perfectly with our strategies for supporting students who may need assistance.”

Dietrich noted that many of the younger people who volunteer to package the bags are current Medway students.

“This program has been a great volunteer opportunity for families,” Dietrich said. “We encourage this kind of participation, as a way for members of the community of all ages to experience hands-on service for their neighbors.”

Donations Needed

The expansion of the program means that more food is needed to stock the shelves.

“Now that we’re doing almost 50 bags a week, we’re always looking for donations from the community,” Dietrich said. “We’re very grateful for the support we’ve received so far.”

The program distributes individual serving sizes of the foods they receive. Donations in bulk/case quantities are most helpful.

“We also aim to provide healthy options,” Principal McDonald said. “The kids are very excited to be receiving such tasty food.”

Suggested donation items include the following:

  • Fruit cups in 100 percent juice – mixed fruit, peaches, etc.
  • Individual cups of microwavable Rice-A-Roni
  • Ready Pasta pouches (Barilla) – rotini, elbows or penne
  • Individual bags of pretzels – 10-pack or larger
  • Individual bags of Goldfish crackers – cases of 30
  • Individual boxes of raisins, packages of six or larger
  • Boxes of instant oatmeal packets, like Quaker reduced-sugar
  • Pirate’s Booty – cases of 36 individual bags
  • Nutri-Grain breakfast bars
  • Nature Valley granola bars
  • Boom Chicka Pop popcorn, sea salt flavor – cases of 24 individual bags

Residents are also able to donate to the backpack program by purchasing select items at the check-out line at the Shaw’s supermarket in town.

The Weekend Backpack Program is an extension of the Medway Village Food Pantry, a private, non-profit group. The Medway Village Food Pantry is a member agency of the Greater Boston Food Bank.

As a member agency, the Medway Village Food Pantry is able to order food in bulk at a reduced cost. Dietrich said she is able to provide shelf-stable milk, juice boxes and applesauce for the backpacks from the GBFB, and these items are not needed through community donations.

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