Lost, Forgotten, and more! Notes from South

 More tips from South's Survival Guide:

LOST & FOUND
Students lose items often, especially when seasons are changing and clothing needs change dramatically from 7:30 AM to 2:30 PM! Please label all items with your child's name (or last name at least) and we'll make every effort to return lost items to them! There is a large Lost & Found in the front lobby outside the Cafeteria. Valuables are often kept in the Main Office and items left in the Gym will usually stay down in those cubbies for a few days before being brought up to the lobby. Check these places first if something goes missing! It's always best to check with your classroom teachers, as well as any teachers whose rooms are near your locker. If an item is turned in to the teacher, they'll usually keep it at the front of their classroom for a few days and then send it to the large Lost & Found. So, retrace your steps and if something isn't there one day, keep checking back; it'll turn up eventually!

FORGOTTEN ITEMS
If your child forgets a needed item for school, you may bring it to the Main Office. In the vestibule, there is a rack for forgotten items. Please write your child's name and the item left for them on the clipboard attached to this rack. Students can check the vestibule between periods and should cross their name off the list when they pick up their forgotten item. Student names will be called over the PA if they have not picked up their item. PA calls are made only twice a day, at 10:28 AM and 12:54 PM, so try to make deliveries before then or let your child know they'll need to check the vestibule on their own.

Does the school want caregivers to deliver forgotten items?
All this being said, if your child calls you in a panic, please take a moment to decide if you really need to rush to South. It's OK to say no, especially if your child's organization seems to be a bigger priority for you than for them. Reasonable consequences for forgetting items might be the best way to flip that arrangement! One day in afterschool detention for not having their homework might be a wake-up call (and also gives the teacher an opportunity to discuss organization strategies with your child)! 

B.Y.O.D. & TECH SERVICES
With Braintree Schools' Bring Your Own Device policy, one item students are expected to bring to school each day is a chromebook or laptop, fully charged. If they forget this--or the battery dies--students can borrow and in-class loaner for the block or can go to the Media Center to sign out a loaner for the day. If a student's personal device is having technical difficulties, South is lucky to have a technician, Mr. Collier, based out of our building who can troubleshoot a lot of issues. He can also sign out a long-term loan device for students, typically called a "yearly loaner" or families can go to the Braintree High Media Center to get a yearly loaner. Get more information about the BYOD program, device specifications, and yearly loaners here: Braintree Schools BYOD. At this point in the school year, students are expected to have a device daily. If your child is not prepared, they will be marked down.

BYOD? What about screen time?!
South teachers have had several years to get used to the District's BYOD policy and in many lessons it is helpful to know that students will have technology at their fingertips. However, teachers are well aware that a flashy piece of technology is not always the tool best-suited to learning a particular topic or completing a learning task, and they plan accordingly. As I walk through the halls at South, the classrooms are alive with students actively moving around the room, talking with groupmates, and learning by doing. BYOD is just one tool in a rich assortment of instructional methods in use and teachers work hard to ensure kids are shutting their devices when it makes sense to do so. In this way, we are hoping to model that tech can be helpful but should not occupy every waking hour!

Speaking of kids & screens...
If you care about what it means for young people to grow up so often shared and compared online, you will be interested in reading Devorah Heitner's book Growing Up In Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World. It is available on Kindle today only for $1.99! (Or, you can purchase the hardcover edition for $16 on Amazon, or for $24 on Bookshop.org and support independent booksellers.)