Communication

Home/school communication is essential to a positive educational environment. Improving communication is a continuing initiative of The ECMS School Improvement Plan and we have a range of effective communication methods in place. School-wide and grade-level information are available through:

● The ECMS School website at www.sudbury.k12.ma.us/curtis

● Curtis Parent Organization (CPO) Notices and The Curtis Connection. Sign up to receive these at www.curtiscpo.org.

● ECMS notices. Sign up to receive these by registering with Aspen.

● To sign up for a lunch account and deposit lunch money, go to www.myschoolbucks.com. You will need your child’s name, birth date and student ID (please contact the front office if you do not have the student ID) in order to set up the account.

Team and classroom information is communicated in:

● Printed and electronic team newsletters

● Open Houses at the start of the school year

● Additional methods chosen by individual teams (e.g. team websites or calendars)

Communication regarding an individual student may take place in several ways:

● Classroom telephones including voicemail

● E-mail Parents/Guardians are encouraged to ask team teachers whether they prefer telephone or e-mail communication. Teams will generally inform parents of their preferences at the Open House and will explain their timetable for responding to parents’ voice or e-mail messages, dependent upon teachers’ schedules.

● Mid-trimester appraisal reports and end-of-trimester report cards

● Team Conferences Middle school team conferences do not generally serve the same purpose as the twice-a-year elementary school progress conferences and are not routinely scheduled for each student. Parents are invited to request a conference if other, more immediate, forms of communication have not resolved a particular matter or inquiry. In the middle school, conferences provide an opportunity to address matters that involve the whole team and cannot be addressed by phone or email. These conferences may include the school counselor and/or an administrator. Parents may request a conference through the secretary in the Student Services office who maintains the conference schedule for all teams. Parents are advised to initially contact the teacher/team via telephone or email to determine whether a team or individual teacher conference is needed or if the concern may be addressed in another way. Teams may hold conferences at various times during the school week. Some early-dismissal Wednesdays (dates are on the district calendar) and team planning times during the school day are designated for parent conferences. Due to the number of students on a team, a conference time may not be immediately available, however, we will schedule conferences as soon as possible. Appointments for conferences with Unified Arts teachers should be made by telephoning the teacher or sending an email.