Welcome to the 2025-2026 school year!
Here at BPS, we are all excited for our school doors to officially open on September 3 for grades 1 - 12, September 4 and 5 for Kindergarten, and September 8 for Preschool. We are looking forward to welcoming students back to school, ready to learn.
This summer, our teams have been busy preparing for a strong start to the school year:
New student registrations are being processed daily and will continue through the start of the school year.
Principals have been connecting with families through orientation activities and sharing key information.
Our Transportation Department has been finalizing bus routes.
Our facilities teams have been cleaning and completing maintenance in every school building to ensure safe and welcoming spaces.
Curriculum resources and instructional materials are being delivered to support high-quality teaching and learning.
Fall athletic teams have begun preseason training as they prepare for a strong and spirited season.
Principals and Directors have been hiring staff across all grade levels, including new administrators:
Butler Principal - Elizabeth Nolan
BHS Assistant Principal - Jeff Molk
Evaluation Team Leaders At Elementary - Jessica Eisner and Jeff Forti
As we look ahead, our work continues to be guided and deepened by our district’s Strategic Plan. We have refined our goals to sharpen our focus on key priorities:
MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports),
Vision of a Graduate,
Multiple Pathways to Graduation,
Social-Emotional learning and Mental Health, and
Family Communication.
This year, we’re supporting our goals through several key initiatives:
Continuing the roll-out of the new Illustrative Math curriculum in elementary and upper elementary classrooms. The roll-out began last year in grades 5 and 6 and is expanding this year to grades K, 1, and 4, with the remaining grades to follow next year.
Pioneering the new Fishtank literacy curriculum in elementary classrooms. The Literacy Curriculum Review Committee engaged in a thorough, thoughtful process and recommended Fishtank as the District’s literacy curriculum. The School Committee approved this recommendation in June 2025. The District will also continue implementing Fundations for explicit phonics instruction.
Further defining and integrating our Vision of a Graduate competencies into daily teaching and learning, ensuring that students build the skills and attributes needed for life beyond high school.
Exploring multiple pathways to graduation to provide students more opportunities to explore interests and strengths.
Reviewing SEL and Mental Health programming, including school climate measures.
One key initiative this year is the launching of Talking Points, a multilingual, two-way communication platform. TalkingPoints will help strengthen the partnership between home and school by making it easier for families to stay connected, informed, and engaged in our community. We ask all families to get started with TalkingPoints here - https://families.talkingpts.org/welcome - and to use this platform to communicate with teachers.
Finally, our Leadership Council had a highly successful 3-day retreat last week, working on instructional visioning and strategic planning. With school just one week away, we are all excited to see our students and families return.
I hope you all have had an enjoyable and relaxing summer. See you soon!
