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BACK to Grapevine HOME | Shen HOME COMMUNICATIONS
Posted on October 5, 2010 Would Shen ever consider selling space on various bulletins, permission slips, class calendars, school notices, and the like, as per Peabody MASS? It seems like a reasonable and age-appropriate way of generating a bit of cash for the district? If not WHY NOT? BTW--this service is a great community outreach! Kudos to all involved with the "vine" and Shen schools, especially the cafeteria monitors!!
Posted on April 6, 2011 Who was the woman who comes to take pictures? Does Shen have a paid photographer on staff? What else is she responsible for in the district?
Posted on December 21, 2010 Has the policy for handing out flyers in the schools changed? My middle schooler brought home a Hannah's Hope Pepsi Refresh flyer yesterday. The Girl Scouts have been told that flyers promoting the Scout program cannot be handed out. Please clarify.
According to our Regulations distribution of flyers is not permitted unless the event is sponsored by the PTA. Flyers may be posted in the individual buildings.
Posted on December 21, 2010
I have the highest regard for the way you answer these
questions. The answers are complete, informative, and without
any emotional attachment (which is very respectable, being that
many of the questions are worded unkindly). My issue, however,
is with the amount of grammatical mistakes. The website is
representative of the school district, and as such, should not
have, for example, "Talk to your PTA, they run that program."
Please try to use commas, periods, and semi-colons properly.
Posted on December 15, 2010 The purpose of the grapevine is to help answer people's questions if not all questions are answered what happens to those people who's pertinent questions are not answered? especially if they have a deadline to meet.
Posted on December 15, 2010 Why is the grapevine never updated? It has been 2 weeks since the last update. My tax dollars pay your salary. Do your job.
If you have a time limit on your questions, you should contact the district by phone.
Posted on February 2, 2010 I am concerned about the number of "SIS" Messages
that are e-mailed to the various e-mail accounts the school has for me
and my wife. I get them to at least 2 different e-mail accounts and also
on my Blackberry. They all need to be erased
There are two formats for sending email notifications to parents. They either come from the district office or from the individual school. Sometimes, if you have a student in more than one school you may receive the email twice. In general though, we set up the messages to go out with a "one message limit", meaning that our system scans the email list and sends only one email per guardian not per student. If, in a two guardian household, both guardians use the same email address then you will get two. If you have your email set up to go to a PDF we have no control over that. We only send email to addresses that you have given us and are in our student information system. If you need to have you email contacts changed please contact the district office.
Posted on February 2, 2010 The purpose of the grapevine is to help answer people's questions if not all questions are answered what happens to those people who's pertinent questions are not answered? especially if they have a deadline to meet.
There are many ways to get answers to questions you may have including phone calls, e-mail, or personal conversation with a staff member. If you have a deadline these avenues would probably be a better way to get a response. There are only a couple of reasons why questions are not answered on the Grapevine, either they have been answered before, they are inappropriate or the question has a deadline that already passed.
Posted on January 15, 2010 What happens if a school official acts inappropriately? How are they held accountable? By whom? Does it also become public knowledge as it does for the students?
The process for staff (school officials) is pretty much the same as students. There are rules of conduct. When the district receives a report of inappropriate behavior, it is investigated. If proven true, there are disciplinary consequences. And, just like with students, someone typically tips off the media or sends it into the grapevine and it becomes public knowledge.
Posted on January 11, 2010 How is it underage drinking becomes a news story? Does Shen report these types of common teenage issues to the press? I find it unbelievable that these are newsworthy stories. Somehow I don't think Shen wants this type of publicity. I imagine it is a parent of a student not involved that passes this information on. This is the exact reason I pay my hard earned money to send my children to private school. Shen is not a community. It's very political and people seem to be happy when a child/children get into trouble. Just like the comment about a family party where there are pictures of children drinking with their family on the internet. Seriously, people need to worry bout themselves and stop thriving on trying to get people in trouble. I read the Grapevine every now and then because we live in the shen district. I give whoever answers the questions a huge amount of credit, because it seems like a place for people to hid and ask outrageous questions. So anyway, does the district call the news regarding the bad choices some teenagers make?
No. If asked, we will confirm that an event took place, but we do not publicize when students make bad decisions. We do not release the specifics of the investigation and we do not release how students were disciplined (that is protected by the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act) Typically when the media calls they say that they received a “tip.” That is one of the reasons we created this grapevine, to provide a place for people to get answers instead of going to the media.
Posted on January 6, 2010 Can you please post our questions on the grapevine word for word, I found my question but it was written differently. I feel this doesn't mean anything if it is not posted how people write it.
Questions are usually posted word for word (with grammatical editing). However, references to a specific staff member are taken out. If your question was worded differently, it probably wasn't your question. It was probably asked by someone else in a different way. We often get multiple questions on a particular topic.
Posted on January 6, 2010 Would you be able to give more detailed information on how to get a cell phone text message on Twitter for school delays and closings? I set up an account but don't see any instructions as to how to add my cell phone number so that Shen can text me. Thanks.
When you log in to Twitter or sign up for an account, click on the settings link (top of page). Then click on the link that says "Mobile" and follow the directions.
Posted on January 5, 2010 Shen is now on Twitter, however, when I click on the icon, the Shen Web Filter prohibits me from getting on the Twitter website. Please advise.
Posted on March 20, 2009 In reference to an incident that occured you indicated that the information was posted on the web site and the student portal. The information did not give specifics about what happened and what particular action was taken by the school. Instead, my children come home with all kinds of rumors and it takes 3 questions on the grapevine to finally find out what happened. I think it is time for the district to be more open about what happens in the school and to give complete information.
We can't always anticipate every question a parent will have about a particular incident. We prepare letters and breaking news stories to provide information and then we created this page for follow up questions and communications. You can also always call the principal or the superintendent's office if you have questions that you feel are unanswered.
Posted on March 20, 2009 This site was clearly intended to discuss district-wide issues. Can I suggest that members of this community take a moment to realize that building specific complaints should be addressed in THAT BUILDING? Afterall, that is what we pay the principal such a significant salary. Spare us the questions about prom tickets and club meetings.
Actually this site was created to improve communications across the board. It is a very large district and many people struggle with who to go to with what questions. All of the building-specific questions are forwarded to and answered by the building principals.
Posted on February 5, 2008 I heard that the district did not allow SAGE (Shenendehowa Advocates for Gifted Education) to distribute Saturday Scholars information in the schools. Why not?
Distribution of the information was delayed because we needed to determine what to do because of a new policy regarding sending home information with students related to outside activities (not run by the school). In the meantime, we posted it on the website and the parent portal while we sought clarification. This new policy is a result of teachers and parent concerns about what and how much outside information was going home with students. It was becoming more difficult to determine what items were school/class related and what were not. We will help spread the word about activities through links on our website and a bulletin board/announcement area in each elementary school. Saturday Scholars was not singled out, this is the policy for all groups.
Posted on February 5, 2008 Why did some Shenendehowa elementary schools refuse to distribute information pertaining to youth organizations for their students? Specifically, information related to Cub Scouting organizations in the fall. Is this a district decision or a local school decision? Why can some information related to outside activities be distributed and not others?
This new policy is a result of concerns about what and how much outside information was going home with students. It was becoming more difficult to determine what items were school/class related and what were not. We will help spread the word about activities through links on our website and a bulletin board/announcement area in each elementary school. Cub Scouts was not singled out.
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