Winter Wellness
Megan Arivella, District Coach of Health & Wellness
High School Happenings
YWCA- Students HHS participated in a workshop with Health I classes on Building Healthy Relationships and Health II on Toxic Relationships with YWCA’s resources.
Our Department is working on adjusting the Program of Studies to include new electives for Health & PE.
Swim Unit-Opt-out notification letters will be given to students during their first week of PE1 of the Semester 2 session. We encourage all students to participate in the four-week swim unit; however, if opt-out is necessary, please complete all the requested information. Data showed that in Semester 1, 61% of PE1 students elected to participate in swimming.
Substance Abuse Student Survey HHS/SBIRT Survey– Massachusetts General Hospital and HPS aims to discover what makes a young person particularly vulnerable to substance use. The information your student provided in the voluntary survey taken in grades 9-12 in December will be invaluable in not only improving our understanding of adolescent mental health and substance use but also in helping the Mass General team and Haverhill Public Schools to develop more effective intervention, prevention, and education programs to help students and families. In addition, students in Grade 10 will receive a brief intervention screening for substance abuse beginning in January (opt-out letters will be provided) and additional surveys. We also benefit from a Wellness Interventionist, Gina Albano, who has been trained in many platforms and programs our high school utilizes. She will be an asset to our student population.
Middle School & Elementary Happenings
4th Graders at Bradford Elementary and Silver Hill & 5th Grade at John Greenleaf Whittier attended a field trip to the Tsongas Arena on the campus of UMass Lowell to participate in a fitness and health expo and experience a women’s college basketball game ULowell vs. Maine. They had a fantastic time being exposed to a college campus and arena and participating in wellness exercises, dancing, and vendors. Students in Grade 4 will continue to receive lessons this year on vaping. Physical Education teachers have participated in additional training with Stanford University to provide two more lessons from the You and Me Together Vape Free curriculum.
Middle School students will participate in the Attitudes & Behavior survey in March; more info will follow later.
Grade 7: A new lesson added to the curriculum this year from the 3 R’s curriculum: Rights, Respect, Responsibility on Be the Change You Want to See in the World: promoting advocacy, dignity, and respect for all individuals.
Grade 8: Students will receive a new lesson from the 3 R’s curriculum: Rights, Respect, Responsibility on Healthy & Unhealthy Relationships: adopting healthy behaviors when choosing relationships and deciding whether they are healthy.
Wellness Groups- “Strides to Wellness,” 5th-grade wellness groups are now up and running at JGW, Consentino, and Nettle. Students can participate in this after-school club that includes lessons on nutrition, healthy relationships, yoga and meditation, exercise, and socialization in a safe and supportive environment. There will be two sessions running from January to June. See your school counselor for more information.
Mental Health Collaborative completed its two-year partnership with HPS to bring a two-part training program to Health Teachers/Counselors. The training will provide instruction and prevention on a foundational level to 8th Graders in Health classes on identifying mental illness, reducing stigma, and a proactive approach to receiving help. Please check out their Caregiver Series PowerPoint from November, found on the Wellness district webpage.
For those parents and students who may still need to attend the information evening held in January, here is a link to the information regarding high school Wellness classes and requirements. Parent Night 7th & 8th Grade HHS Wellness
Money Smart Program- we are partnering with the Bank of New England to provide introductory lessons about financial literacy (a new and necessary focus for our young students!) for Grade 5 students and students at Gateway. This will be a program that we hope to bring to all middle schools starting this year into next. The standards-aligned curriculum series empowers educators with engaging activities to integrate financial education instruction into subjects such as math, English, and social studies.
New Frameworks- The Wellness Department has been taking time to delve into the latest frameworks during curriculum days to collaborate and review what we teach, how to develop and incorporate more lessons to include new standards, and update our scope and sequence to follow the practices. It’s a new way of thinking, not a new way of teaching. However, this allows us to gain more professional knowledge, develop and provide additional lessons on specific areas, reorganize tasks, and provide more inclusive practices.
Health Frameworks PreK-12
Physical Education Frameworks PreK-12
The Department continues to work with many resources and organizations during professional development days:
- Eammon’s Heart/Brigham & Women’s Hospital
- Lighthouse Health Education Consulting
- Mental Health Collaborative
- Partners in Sex Education
- Michele Grenier, Adaptive PE education
- PLT4M (physical education and health online platform
- Advocates for Education
Stanford University- All of their newest drug education and prevention curriculums, updates, media features, resources, and more can be viewed & accessed here.
HAVERHILL SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Regular meetings of the School Committee are held at 7:00 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month in the Theodore A. Pelosi, Jr. Council Chambers, 4 Summer Street in Haverhill. Citizens of Haverhill who wish to submit items for a meeting agenda, should email the agenda item to the School Committee Office, Attn: Beverly McGillicuddy, Secretary to the Haverhill School Committee beverly.mcgillicuddy@haverhill-ps.org with a copy to both the Superintendent of Schools and the Mayor no later than the seven (7) days prior to a Committee meeting is held.
For additional information please visit the School Committee Department on our website.
PLEASE NOTE: The Inauguration of New School Committee Members is coming in January
Mayor, James J. Fiorentini, Chairperson
mayor@cityofhaverhill.com
Ms. Maura Ryan-Ciardiello, Vice Chairperson
mryan-ciardiello@haverhill-ps.org
Ms. Toni Sapienza Donais
tdonais@haverhill-ps.org
Mr. Scott Wood, Jr.
swood@haverhill-ps.org
Attorney Paul Magliocchetti
pmagliocchetti@haverhill-ps.org
Ms. Gail Sullivan
gail.sullivan@haverhill-ps.org
Attorney Richard Rosa
richard.rosa@haverhill-ps.org