Help us spread the word! The school district’s Holiday Caring and Sharing Drive is underway. District families and generous community sponsors will be providing needy families in our community with turkeys, food baskets and gift cards ahead of the holiday break. 

If you have received assistance from the holiday drive in the past and wish to participate again, or if you could benefit from assistance this year, please contact your child’s school principal or your school nurse (if you have children in more than one school, you only need to contact one school.)

• Eagle Elementary – Stacie Decker, School Nurse: 694-3953
• Elsmere Elementary – Linda Jean Isenberg, School Nurse: 439-3019
• Glenmont Elementary – Mary Ellen Fusco, School Nurse: 439-4929
• Hamagrael Elementary – Monica Vail, School Nurse: 439-8889
• Slingerlands Elementary – Kathy Betzhold, School Nurse: 439-8984
• BCMS – JoAnn Menrath, Laura Collier & Mary Ann Bruno, School Nurse: 439-7705
• BCHS – Beth Callahan & Annemarie Marsh, School Nurse: 439-4921

IMPORTANT: If you know of a family in need, with children in the Bethlehem schools, please share this information with parents or guardians.

Have questions? Contact Sherri Fitzpatrick at sfitzpatrick2@bcsd.neric.org before Friday, December 11.

Learn more: http://www.bethlehemschools.org/2015-holiday-caring-sharing-drive/

These students are some of the 6th-grade “coin ambassadors” who helped to coordinate this drive (from L to R): Sophia Soka, Madison Robbins, Lauren Kinn, Paige Doherty, Ashrith Rao, William Bievenue, Maddie Ferreira, Sinead FitzPatrick

6th-grade coin drive proceeds to supply 30,000 meals for hungry children!

The BCMS 6th grade homeroom held a coin drive this fall in order to help feed the impoverished children of the Busoga School in Jinja, Uganda. All BCMS homerooms participated in this fundraiser and collected over $3,000 to feed some of our planet’s most impoverished children.

Every ten cents raised provides a nutritious meal for a child in this small school of 200 students — the money the students raised will provide a total of 30,000 meals! Busoga School is located in a country where the average family lives on less than $2.00 per day.

This drive was part of the 6th-grade social studies project on world differences that focuses on developing skills of global citizenship.

Twenty teachers from China visited Bethlehem Central Middle School on Monday, December 7 where they had a chance to observe classes ranging from music and math, art and language, computer literacy, science, social studies and more.

The group, which is in the middle of a two-week tour of the Capital Region, is part of program helping worldwide educators learn more about the education system in the United States. The teachers were introduced to Bethlehem Middle School by parent Drey Martone, assistant professor and chair of the Teacher Education department at the College of St. Rose.

Martone, who had visited her son’s classrooms as part of American Education Week in November, realized a similar experience would be beneficial to the visiting educators from China who have spent a great deal of their time attending presentations and activities on the St. Rose campus.

“It was great to be a fly on the wall to observe the interesting work the teachers are doing and see the student learning,” said Martone.

The visitors met with Mr. Klugman prior to the start of the school day and were broken into small groups that could visit up to three of 15 classrooms in the early part of the day. BC teachers hosting the delegation included: Ms. Painter, Ms. Rosenberger, Mr. Michalek, Mr. Shannon, Ms. Mattis, Ms Casey, Ms. Vincent, Ms. Bollentin, Ms. Bruff, Ms. DiFabbio, Ms. Baker, Ms. Wood, Ms. Beiter, Mr. Reilly and Mr. Klamka.

Among the lessons the Chinese delegation observed were a review of action verbs in Ms. Rosenberger’s first period class, where students used the white board to deconstruct sentences and identify verbs.

“Use the double underline to pick out the verb in each sentence,” Ms. Rosenberger instructed the students. “I believe the double underline is the universal symbol for verbs!”

Some of the visiting educators had limited conversational skills in English and the larger group was accompanied by an interpreter.

The visitors who could speak English, along with students in Ms. DeFabbio’s second-period music class, walked away from today’s lesson on rhythmic notation with information about musical notes and rests and an easy tool for remembering how to spell one of the trickiest words in the English language.

“Rhythm helps your two hips move,” Ms. DeFabbio told the students. “Remember those words in that order and I guarantee you will never have trouble spelling rhythm.”

Following the classroom visits, the smaller groups reassembled in the library for a question-and-answer session with Mr. Klugman about some of what they observed throughout the morning, including the size of classes, homework, and what courses are required, or considered core courses. Other topics of interest to the visitors from China included character education, mental health education and teacher evaluations.

Students in Ms. Painter’s first period art class complete their projects.

Mr. Michalek explains how he uses mastery learning techniques in his Computer Literacy class.

Ms. DiFabbio explains rhythmic notation to her music students.

Ms. Wood challenges her students in a friendly competition on plant science.

Last stop for our visitors? The Library Media Center.

On one rainy autumn afternoon in November, students in Mrs. Ludik’s room at BCMS were too busy having fun placing bets on each other’s work and donning safety goggles to even consider the gloomy weather outside.

“I’ll take 150!” yelled one student. “155! No, 165!” and so on, as more students joined in, biting their lips and sitting on their feet, each waiting to see if the next few minutes would prove them to be the best educated-guesser in the class.

Meanwhile, at the front of the room, their classmate Dan screws a small model of a wooden bridge into a contraption designed to first inflict and then measure pressure and strain, telling the students how much the bridge can withstand before breaking. Mrs. Ludik assists Dan in slowly pumping pressure into the device while announcing the amount of strain the bridge is taking, little by little. 

“124 pounds…148 pounds…163 pounds,” they count trepidatiously. A loud crack and pop resonates in the room while pieces of the wooden bridge go flying every which way. Dan’s bridge withstands a test load of 187 pounds before breaking; the largest test load achieved in this class on this day. No student guessed that exact amount, but all were not too disappointed due the excitement of the bridge being scattered to pieces.

To 12- and 13-year-old kids, Engineering Basics may not initially sound like a fun course of study. However, their mindset usually changes once they find out they get to build CO2 dragster cars (racing cars propelled by carbon dioxide) and build and test models of bridges as part of the curriculum. At BCMS, seventh-grade students study Engineering Basics 1 and eighth-grade students study Engineering Basics 2 — both required courses for all students at Bethlehem. 

These hands-on courses are designed to spark an interest in STEM before the students reach high school. They also aim to help students see the fun and importance of human-machine interaction in engineering, as students come into contact with cars and bridges in everyday life, but may not always think about the complexity of designing such systems for our society. 

During the bridges project, students have to design truss systems in a Computer Assisted Design and Drawing (CAD) program. The program helps them see and understand how loads are distributed to the bridge and what design parameters are most effective in allowing students to craft a bridge that uses the least amount of material while carrying the greatest load.

Working with computer-generated systems like a CAD program also enable the students to adapt to emerging technologies — a skill very much needed in today’s workforce, whether or not you are an engineer. Eventually, this course of study at the middle school leads students to the Introduction to Engineering Basics & Design (IED) course of study at the high school, a foundation technology course for the Project Lead the Way program where students can further their knowledge of mechanical drawing techniques and their use of CAD programs.

Stay tuned for our upcoming story on how our BCHS Computer Science students partner with BCMS students to learn about coding.

The Honor Roll and Merit Roll for the first quarter of the 2015-16 school year is now available. View the BCMS Honor Roll and Merit Roll.

Congratulations to our students!

We are accepting orders for the 2015-2016 Middle School Yearbook. The order form for the yearbook was sent home with your child and can be found here.  Yearbooks are $22 and you can order them online at https://YBPay.lifetouch.com with Yearbook ID Code: 8364516 or you may fill out the attached form and have your child return the form to their homeroom teacher along with a check made out to BCMS #125 for $22.00.

Orders for the Middle School yearbook are being accepted until March 4, 2016.  Additional forms are available in the main office and the Middle School website.

Bethlehem Opportunities Unlimited (BOU) is sponsoring “Life after BC” on Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 7 p.m. in BCHS, Room G100 (choir room). 

Returning BC graduates with varying backgrounds and experiences in public and private schools, community college, gap year and internships, will discuss college and work in a panel discussion moderated byBCHS Guidance Counselor Ryan St. John.

Come talk with BC graduates about:

• College Selection
• Campus Environment
• Healthy Habits
• Dorm Life and Roommates
• How to Make Friends and Become Involved
• Extracurricular Activities
• Navigating Campus Safely
• Social vs. Academic Balance 

This event is most appropriate for juniors and seniors and their parents/guardians, but all grades are welcome.  We hope to see you there.

Sponsored by Bethlehem Opportunities Unlimited (BOU), a nonprofit organization of community volunteers dedicated to promoting safe and healthy activities for our youth and prevention education for our community.  Like us on Facebook or go to our website.

We are pleased to announce the tenth year of our Eagles Wrestling Club. The start of this year’s club will be on Thursday night, January 7, 2016.  Practice will take place in the Middle School Wrestling Room located in the basement. The club will meet mostly on Tuesday and Thursday nights, right up through the third week of March 2016.  The only time we will not hold practice is during February break or on snow days.

We will be holding “sign-ups” at the Bethlehem Central High School’s main lobby from 6:30 p.m.to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 5, 2016.

All children between second and sixth grade that attend the Bethlehem Central School District are eligible. Practice will go from 6 to 7:15 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday night. There may be a couple of exceptions. If the numbers are high, we may be forced to split up the wrestlers. If this happens, you will be notified via email.

The fee to join the club is $75 for one child or $100 for two or more from the same family. If money is tight, please contact me personally or speak to me when you sign up (Chris Braga, contact information listed below) and we can work out some type of pay as you go plan. We do not want to see any child interested in wrestling unable to attend due to cost. All proceeds benefit the Bethlehem Central Athletics Association (BCAA).

The coaches in attendance will be Chris Braga (Varsity Wrestling Coach) and possibly Chris Holiday (Modified Assistant Coach) or Sean Mooney (Modified Head Coach) plus some of the varsity wrestlers from time to time.  We regularly connect with other schools to provide our young wrestlers with an opportunity to test their skills in a non-threatening environment. The schools we connect with are Guilderland and Ravena.  We will also provide information on youth tournaments where your child can test their skills in a competitive atmosphere.

Only money orders or cash will be accepted. In past years, checks have bounced which cost the booster club over a hundred dollars in penalty fees. Please make money orders out to “BCAA/Bethlehem Wrestling Boosters”.  Along with your payment, please include a 3 X 5 card with the information requested below.  It is imperative that you turn in a card with ALL the information requested. E-mail will be the main form of communication. 

CARD INFORMATION:

• Child’s Name and Grade
• Name of Mom and Dad
• Complete home address with phone numbers (home and cell)
• E-mail address
• Any health conditions that would be important for us to know.
• The School your child attends and the name of his teacher
• Shirt Size;  Youth S, M, L or Adult  S, M, L, XL.

We look forward to having you join our wrestling family. 

Sincerely,
Chris Braga
Eagles Wrestling Club
bragchs@bcsd.neric.org

Several BCMS student-athletes who play travel basketball got a surprise visit the night of Dec. 9 from tennis star Venus Williams during their practice at the high school. The visit was arranged by the team’s coach, Ray Rudolph.

Williams, who was in town for a speaking engagement, was generous with her time, playing basketball with the girls and sharing words of wisdom.

“I was so excited to meet her,” said BCMS seventh grader Kiara Seavey. “She has inspired me ever since the third grade.”

Seavey said the team taught Williams “some basketball stuff” and Williams returned to the favor by encouraging the students to “stay healthy, eat healthy, don’t goof off in practice and continue to do what you love.”

Williams even stuck around long enough to sign a get-well card for one of the girls’ teammates who was having surgery. A truly memorable evening for some of our students.

Families in need of support this holiday season can pick up a holiday basket of food, a turkey, and a gift card, TOMORROW, SATURDAY, DEC. 19 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon at Bethlehem Central High School.

For weeks, students from all over our district (elementary, middle and high school) have been collecting donations of food and assembling boxes of goods to bring over to the high school for the holiday drive. The high school Student Senate assembled the holiday boxes today from these district-wide donations for Bethlehem families in need — these boxes include items such as instant potatoes, cans of cranberry sauce, cans of peas, cans of corn, stuffing mix, gravy, pudding, pie crust, paper towels and more. 

Families who have already registered with their school nurse to receive their holiday box, turkey and gift card should arrive at the high school between 9 a.m. and 12 noon on Saturday, Dec. 19 to pick up the donated goods. If you (or someone you know) did not pre-register, Bethlehem families in need can still receive goods through the Holiday Caring and Sharing Drive by showing up at the high school from 11 a.m. to noon. Turkeys and gift cards may be available for families who are not pre-registered, but they are not guaranteed.

IMPORTANT: Pick up will take place on the Van Dyke Road side of the high school, next to the cafeteria. Cars can pull into the lot and the holiday boxes and turkeys will be brought to your car. If you are not traveling by car, please check in at the cafeteria. 

If you have any questions, please contact Sherri Fitzpatrick by email at sfitzpatrick1@bcsd.neric.org or by phone at 439-8886 ext 1.

Thank you to our family and community sponsors who give generously every year to the Holiday Caring and Sharing Drive!

Computers are everywhere, but fewer schools today teach computer science than 10 years ago. Bethlehem Central is bucking that trend.

This year, for the first time ever, Bethlehem Central High School is offering a Computer Science class to its students as part of a districtwide focus on increasing opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Partnering with Siena College and through a National Science Foundation grant, 24 BCHS seniors are currently enrolled in the class at the school and on Thursday, December 10, these students traveled to the middle school to share their knowledge and provide students there with a peek at the new high school course during an “Hour of Code.”

The Hour of Code is an annual campaign sponsored by Computer Science Education Week [csedweek.org] and Code.org [code.org] as a way to introduce millions of students to one hour of computer science and computer programming. The BCHS students brought presentations and programming activities to students in grades 6-8 in one of more than 150,000 Hour of Code events which took place around the globe during the week of December 7-13.

In BCMS teacher Amy Ludik’s Introduction to Engineering Design (IED) class, eighth graders were introduced to some of the high school students and teachers and learned a little about the new STEM learning opportunities at the high school.

“We will start with having you do a little coding on a game using Python, the coding language we use in class,” said senior Nico Castro. “We hope it will give you a little taste of what you can expect if you take computer science at the high school.”

After a brief introductory presentation, the students walked through the classroom offering suggestions and support as the younger students tackled the coding exercise.

“I’ve never actually seen or done this before,” said eighth grader Avery Roach. “It’s not as hard as I thought it would be.”

Other students realized that some of their afterschool interests rely on coding.

“I play MineCraft a lot and you have to enter the right commands for stuff to go right,” said Madeline Nolan. “It’s a lot like this.”

Accompanying the high school students on their visit to the middle school were the computer science instructors. Currently, the course is taught by two Siena College professors, Dr. Robin Flatland and Dr. MaryAnne Egan.

According to Dr. Flatland, the professors are training BCHS math teacher Rachel Linehan to take over the class next year. In 2016-17, the class will be co-taught with Ms. Linehan with support from the Siena faculty, but Linehan will take over the class completely in the 2017-18 school year.

Students enrolled in the course at Bethlehem High School can choose to earn Siena College credits, said Drs. Flatland and Egan.

“These students are learning valuable skills,” said Dr. Egan. “Even if they never program again, the logical thinking that is required is a great skill to carry with you through life.”

Dr. Egan said those who do choose to study computer science in college will find there is a huge demand for skilled workers in the U.S. right now.

“Two-thirds of computer science jobs can’t be filled because they can’t find the skilled workers,” said Dr. Egan. “We think this is an important course offering for today’s students.”

In a sixth grade classroom, BCHS senior Ellie Bell chose to introduce coding concepts to the students by asking them to help her code instructions for making a Nutella and Fluff sandwich. Students gave her careful directions as she worked to construct her sandwich.

“Coding has to be super-specific, meticulous, in order to work,” she told the students, as she followed one student’s instruction to take the lid off the Nutella. “Had you written code that said ‘put the Nutella on the sandwich’ without first writing code to take off the lid, put the knife in the jar, coat the knife with Nutella, take it out of the jar, place it on the bread and spread it on the bread, there would just be an entire jar of Nutella sitting on this slice of bread.”

The sandwich-making session was not the first time the sixth graders in Mr. Farnan’s Computer Literacy class have learned about coding. Farnan and fellow teacher Mr. Michalek worked with administrators last summer to write new curriculum for their classes that would include some basic coding.

“We recently used a coding lesson to make paper airplanes,” said Farnan. “Students would write the code and hand it off to the person next to them who would use the code to design the paper planes.

“On our first try, we only had 8 successful airplanes out of 85,” he said. “We went back and corrected our steps, did some trouble shooting and debugging to allow students to find success.”

As for teacher-for-an-hour Ellie Bell, she said she is interested in continuing to study computer science in college, but does not plan to focus solely on programming.

“I’d like to maybe major in Information Science,” said Bell. “It combines computer science with business and is a little more social than programming alone.”

Jack Farley, another senior helping to bring the Hour of Code to the middle school, plans to major in digital forensics when he gets to college.

“I had thought seriously about becoming a State Trooper,” said Farley, who said the new Computer Science class is one of his favorites. “I want to have a job where I keep people safe but I’m really interested in technology.

“Digital forensics would lead to a job where I could maybe stop cyber attacks and keep people safe in a different way,” he said.

The visit to the middle school and the new computer science offering at the high school are part of an effort by the district to connect more students with learning opportunities in STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math. Earlier this year, the district announced formation of a STEM committee comprised of educators, STEM professionals, and community representatives which meets regularly year to discuss ways to:

• Increase the number of students enrolled in STEM courses and balance gender enrollment;
• Increase in the number of students enrolling in college STEM programs;
• Increase the resources available to students that are actually used in the professional field, including updated facilities and equipment;
• Increase the opportunity for students to make connections with businesses, either through internships/field experiences or bringing professionals into the school to work with students; and
• Create a working list of community members in the STEM filed that would be interested in sharing their knowledge with students.

Every three months, as part of the school’s Character Education Program, BCMS students are honored for representing the specific character traits outlined in the BCMS Pillars of Character. They are nominated by faculty and staff and are often observed demonstrating these traits without any expectation of reward.

At the beginning of every month, students will highlight a certain Pillar of Character on the morning announcements to be the Character Trait of the Month. At the end of a three-month period, each team nominates students who have demonstrated each of the the particular character traits during those months.

As a surprise treat, the school hosts a pizza party for the nominated students and their friends (because who you hang out with builds character as well.) This year’s first celebration honored the following students who have demonstrated the traits of Open-Mindedness, Prudence & Bravery.

6-P1

• Emily Spada
• Jack Woods
• Emma Chaney
• Maddie Robbins

6-P2

• Tyler Novak
• Frank DuPont
• Shannon Chateauneuf
• Lexi Gibson

6M

• Thomas Burzezi
• Michael Xie
• Teddy Shaw
• Sarah NeJame
• Juliette VanLuven
• Sophia Soka

7-P1

• Holden Prescott
• Liv Bryant
• Lily Rutski
• Nick Watson
• Isabella Demarest
• Jaydan DesChamps

7-P2

• Simron Shenoy
• Sarah Brock
• Cristina Grigas
• Molly Biers
• Ben Goldberg
• Shay Roberts

7M

• Lauren Jack
• Fiona Lacey
• Max Oechsner
• Abby DeFranco
• Lauren Quinn
• Danielle Huli
• Annika Clarke
• Maddy Saunders
• Tyler Salisbury

8-P1

• Maureen Caroll-Barbuto
• Jack Pocorobba
• Rachel Wilson
• Avery Roach
• Eric Hildreth
• Brogan Bennett

8-P2

• Megan Fallon
• Taylor Roddy
• Tristen Melas
• Will Davis
• Will Vagianelis
• Ashley Martucci

8-M

• Luke Carlson
• Emma Black
• Lily Brusic
• Katie Bailey
• Avi Patel
• Marcus Caputo

Congratulations to all!

For weeks, students from all over our district (elementary, middle and high school) collected donations of food and assembled boxes of goods to bring over to the high school for the district’s Holiday Sharing & Caring Drive. The BCHS Student Senate assembled 183 holiday boxes from these district-wide donations for Bethlehem families in need — these boxes included items such as instant potatoes, cans of cranberry sauce, cans of peas, cans of corn, stuffing mix, gravy, pudding, pie crust, paper towels and more. 

The Bethlehem Community Foundation generously donated 100 turkeys to go with these holiday boxes and many local families, organizations, and groups donated gift cards to also be included. The district thanks these groups and also anyone who donated to the drive.

The district would also like to thank our school nurses, who work with our families in need for this drive, but also throughout the entire year.

The leftover holiday boxes and food from the drive has been donated to the Bethlehem Food Pantry.

The BCMS and BCHS interim progress reports for second quarter are now posted in Aspen. 

Once again, Bethlehem Middle School is gearing up for their annual musical theater performance! As one highlight of the school year for students, parents and the Bethlehem community alike, this year’s production of Disney’s High School Musical Junior is sure to be another crowd-pleaser.

Directed and choreographed by Lindsay Dashew, with Musical Director Jason Dashew and Technical Director and Middle School Teacher Mary Katherine Daly, the cast of 78 actors are feverishly working on the show’s 16 musical numbers and various scene and set changes. Set in the typical all-American high school, the cast of characters are broken down into four groups: the Jocks, the Thespians, the Brainiacs and the Rebels. The musical explores what happens when students don’t necessarily fit neatly into one of these categories. Can they follow their dreams? Can they have more than one label? Will their friends and family support them as they search for their own identities? 

High School Musical Junior is a heartwarming story about working together to support one another’s passions and honoring the differences that make our students, our schools and our world so interesting.

The Bethlehem Middle School Musical is a group effort with 60 additional students serving as crew members. Students on the various crew teams will assist in every facet of the production including stage set design, lighting and sound, make-up and costumes, and props. Students will also be helping with tickets sales, as well as serving as ushers at each performance.

Director Lindsay Dashew feels it’s very important to get the students involved at every level of the Middle School Musical.

“The collaborative effort of all of the students is what makes these productions so special and so successful,” she said. “Each and every job is important, just as each and every student is important. It actually really speaks to the message of this production. As the students explore what they love and find their own strengths, they realize they have to work together to make the show the success that it is.”

High School Musical Junior opens at BCMS on Thursday, Jan. 21. There will be nightly shows at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21, Friday, Jan. 22 and Saturday, Jan. 23. There will also be a matinee performance at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 23. 

Ticket sales will be open to the public at the Middle School at the following dates and times: Thursday, Jan. 14 from 3:30-6 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 16 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. and at the Box Office before the shows on Jan. 21 from 5:30-7 p.m., Jan. 22 from 5:30-7 p.m. and Jan. 23 from 12:30-2 p.m. and 5:30-7 p.m. 

Tickets will also be sold to the students during their lunch periods on Wednesday, Jan. 13 and Friday, Jan. 15 from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Ticket prices are $8 for adults and $5 for students and seniors.

At the Jan. 6, 2016, Board of Education meeting the Bethlehem Music Association presented a $1,703.45 check to benefit the district’s music program in the form of funding the purchase of a full classroom set of 31 ukuleles for the Middle School.

In his remarks accepting the donation, Music Supervisor David Norman stressed that the ukuleles, in addition to being more accessible and inexpensive for the students than a guitar, also will serve as engaging and effective music theory teaching tools. BMA President Alan Goldberg noted how wonderful it is to see funds contributed by the BMA’s many donors used to put instruments in the hands of Bethlehem students. 

BMA instrument grants typically fund the purchase of smaller numbers of more expensive instruments for the District’s band and orchestra programs — last year the BMA donated $6,780 for BCHS to purchase a french horn, a string bass and a bass clarinet for use at the high school.

This year’s grant will benefit every music class student in the Middle School.

“On behalf of the BMA and its many donors, I just want to thank the Board for its continued recognition of the invaluable role that music plays in the educational experience of all of our children,” said Goldberg.

Thank you, BMA!

For more information about the Bethlehem Music Association, visit their website.

Congratulations to all who participated in this year’s spelling bee at BCMS. The following students finished in the top four and earned the right to advance to the Annual Capital Region Spelling Bee at Proctors in Schenectady on February 2, 2016. This year’s winning word was “gorse”.

Learn more about the Annual Capital Region Spelling Bee here.

• C.C Amory – grade 8
• Claudia Grimaldi – grade 6
• Navid Mazidabadifarahani  – grade 8
• Alex Wood – grade 8

District ELA supervisor Andy Baker talks to eighth graders about making a smooth transition to high school. The event took place during the school day on Jan. 12, with an evening event planned for parents at 7 p.m. at BCHS.

On Tuesday, January 12 at 7 p.m., the Bethlehem Central High School faculty and staff will welcome families of eighth graders to the school as part of 8th Grade Transition Night. Families will get an overview of course offerings at the school, meet subject supervisors and administrators, learn about the Counseling Center, view a typical freshman schedule, and have an opportunity to tour the building.

The Northeast Regional Information Center (NERIC), which hosts our district website and SNN system, experienced an outage yesterday, Jan. 19, 2016. Both our website and SNN were restored very early in the morning on Jan. 20. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience as NERIC worked toward a solution.

We would like to assure you that this regional outage was due to a system equipment failure and was not the result of hacking or any sort of data breach. No student or other school district information was compromised.