Tuesday, August 28, 2012
With the new school year upon us, help get your kids’ brains working again with this fun, free daily email newsletter.
Westford students are heading back to school as we all know, which means it’s time for an abundance of expensive school supplies, backpacks full of complicated text books and dreaded questions about math homework. With back-to-school stresses piling up, Laura Overdeck wants to let children and parents in on a little secret: math can be fun. Really. Overdeck is on a mission to change the way Americans think about math — especially given that math anxiety has been tracked in kids as young as age 5. This is what inspired her to create Bedtime Math, a nonprofit that sends out a daily email with a math problem tailored to “wee ones,” little and big kids. Overdeck is a Westfield native who now lives in Short Hills, NJ. She is an astrophysics…
Monday, August 27, 2012
Accuweather believes its likely, but what do you think?
Recently Accuweather's long-range meteorologists reported that they are projecting a weak to moderate El Niño effect as we head from summer to autumn. Why is that important? Well, they go on to say that weak El Niños, or fluctuations of warmer sea temperatures in the Pacific, generally have led to more snow, and more snow days, particularly in the Northeastern United States. So, today we ask you, what does this mean for Westford? Will the forecasts be wrong? Will we see another mild winter? Or, will last year's lack of snow days for the kids seem like a distant memory this year? Take part in our poll and tell us what you think in the comments section.
School's almost back in session, but were you aware of these state laws on school buses?
Nobody's as good as six-year-old Meggie Norton when it comes to knowing all the "Rules of the Bus", but here are a few Massachusetts' state laws about school buses you might not have known. #1. Everyone knows to stop when a school bus is loading and unloading passengers, but what you may not know is that if you don’t stop, you could get a ticket of up to $250. That fine can go up to $2,000 and a suspended license of up to a year for subsequent offenses (MGL 90-14) #2. Oh, speaking of stopping behind a stopped bus, even fire trucks, police cars and ambulances with their sirens on have to stop until the passengers have been loaded or unloaded. (MGL 89-7B) #3. Tell your kids to sit down, because bus drivers can be fined up to $500 if they …
Friday, August 17, 2012
Here's our first entry in our back-to-school grocery guides all this month.
School is almost back in session here in Westford, and all this month we're using the grocery hunt to take a look at some items local Patch users have asked us to take a look at. Today's items come from Chelmsford's Andrew Weiner, who is a fan of Lunchables, Fruit2O and Peanut Butter Sandwiches. For folks looking for these items in local stores, Lunchables are generally in fridge cases near the bacon, peanut butter and bread are almost always in the same aisle and Fruit2O is usually, but not always, near the water. All Fruit2O prices were for six packs of 16 ounce bottles. All other weights are noted. Prices were taken on Aug. 14, prices may change without notice and may not necessarily reflect taxes and fees not indicated on labeling.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Freshman year is a tough year - what advice would you give?
- BACK TO SCHOOL
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Thursday, August 9, 2012
As the calendar flips to August, thoughts start to turn to the first day of the new school year. When Westford Academy opens its doors for the school year, a brand new crop of freshmen will begin the wild, four-year (in most cases) journey that is high school. So we pose the question -- What advice would you offer to the incoming Class of 2016?
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
While the bad weather has abated, Westford superintendent Bill Olsen was still concerned with lingering live power lines in the way of bus routes.
While the rains from Hurricane Irene ended on Sunday, the storm’s impacts had a much longer lasting effect on the Westford School District. The impetus of downed power lines, many of which were still live, proved to be too much of a risk for opening school today for Westford Superintendent Bill Olsen. Olsen announced his decision at last night’s School Committee meeting, explaining that he conferred with Westford Chief of Police Thomas McEnaney over the decision. McEnaney told Olsen that despite the fact the weather had improved, many roads remained impassable in town and did not feel comfortable with children trying to get on school buses in areas where live power wires may be nearby. Olsen concurred, notifying the committee he felt that…
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Randy Winslow
4:53 pm on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
The power goes out constantly in westford. Why is the infrastructure here so weak? more ›