Author: Mark King

Please follow the link to view the June newsletter.

Please follow the link to view the March newsletter in our new format.

January 26, 2018

Dear CBGS Families,

I hope you survived the cold temps and icy driveways this January has brought our way. Although we lost a bit of instructional time, as usual, your sons and daughters have risen to the occasion and we’re closing up the 2nd quarter and thus first semester.

This letter accompanies your student’s report card. On this report card, you’ll see in the first column your student’s Semester 1 grade for each class. Following to the right are 1st quarter; 2nd quarter grade, which just ended; a culminating exam (if that class had one as a separate grade); and then attendance and comments.

CBGS students are dedicated students who have much to juggle in terms of schoolwork, sports, fine and performing arts, volunteering, and more. We encourage you to reach out to us anytime in order to support your child, in the times that he/she needs extra assistance.

We do know, as well, that school “slumps” can happen – even to the most focused, motivated students. Our expectations for positive learning remain the same until June 1, our last day of school. Attendance matters, as does meeting assignment deadlines, being engaged in class (cell phones generally don’t help that, unless the teacher is showing a cool app!), productively collaborating with peers in group work, and asking their teachers when students do need support or have questions. We hope students will keep up their high-quality work and best effort until the final buzzer. We’re here to help that happen. Let us know if we can address concerns that you see as a parent.

Below are a few upcoming event reminders. Thanks for all you do for CBGS!

All the Best,

Terri L. Perkins, Ed.D., Director – CBGS

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Important Dates

Saturday, March 10th – CBGS Science Symposium at VCU

Friday, March 30 – Friday, April 6 – Spring break (There is no school 3/30; school resumes Monday, 4/9)

End of the 3rd Quarter: Thursday, March 23th (report cards issued 3/29)

Monday, May 21st at 7:00 p.m. – Senior Night Essex County High School

November 28, 2017

Dear CBGS Families,
We hope you enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday. A few items for your information today…

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Inclement Weather

Ah, yes – it will soon be the season when a school closing could occur. Here is a reminder about CBGS’s policy and practices around snow-related closings:

• When your child’s home school district is closed due to weather, he/she does NOT come to CBGS. Period. We know that in some counties, some roads are clear when others are poor. And we know some students drive or get car rides to school. However, out of a clear priority for safety, if your own district’s superintendent has deemed conditions too dangerous for travel, then CBGS adheres to that same warning. No child should get in a car to travel to CBGS when their home high school is closed for weather. Our teachers will allow for all work to be made up.
• When your child’s home school district is on a two-hour delay due to weather, he/she does NOT come to CBGS. Since we only meet until 10:30, this is our practice for the same reasons as above.
• If your child’s home school district is on a one-hour delay due to weather, bus transportation should be provided as normal to allow your child to get to CBGS one hour late.
• If a high number of our districts close, then CBGS will likely close. We make those decisions just as area superintendents do, and will publicize our closing to you.
• When our hosting facility institution is closed due to weather, CBGS must close also. This means that CBGS closes if RCC is closed. In addition, for Bowling Green students, our BG site must close if Caroline County Schools close or are delayed 2 hours.

And the big question … how will you know? Check a variety of places, but remember that our Schoology alert is usually the best way to know. We also strive to get word to radio and TV stations; we post it to our website; and we encourage you to be checking your home school district announcements, Caroline County Schools’ announcements (if you are a Bowling Green-CBGS student), and RCC’s website.

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Important Dates

Each year, CBGS holds a Science Symposium that involves all 242 of our students from all counties and all sites. Seniors are presenters; juniors listen and learn in order to be prepared for their own time in the spotlight; sophomores also attend talks and also assist with the room monitoring. The date is dictated by availability of our venue, at VCU. Thus, unfortunately, it falls on an SAT Saturday – this year, it is Saturday, March 10th. We ask that all students and families put this event on your calendars and do your best to plan for your student to attend. If there is a conflict that cannot be renegotiated, please have your student let his/her science teacher know right away. And families: plan to join us at VCU that day if you can; it is an awesome event!

CBGS’s winter break is from Wednesday, December 20th (the first day we have off) through Tuesday, January 2nd (we return to classes on Wednesday, January 3rd).

We celebrate our seniors annually with a Senior Night held at Essex County High School. In hopes that all seniors and your family members can attend, please mark your calendars now for Monday, May 21st at 7:00 p.m. Underclassmen are welcome, too, of course!

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Thank you for all you do and please let me know if you have questions or concerns.

All the Best,

Terri L. Perkins, Director – CBGS

October 4, 2017

Dear CBGS Families,
The 2017-18 year is in full swing! As we pass the middle of our first nine-weeks, I highlight a few items for your information.

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Parent Advisory Groups

CBGS wants to hear from parents and include your involvement in the life of our school.

We have traditionally organized a Parent Advisory Committee, with meetings held in Tappahannock. We have also had more loosely organized meetings at our campuses for parents to check in with me on concerns or initiatives that you want to see continued.

This year I would love to have a representative or two from each county to be on the Parent Advisory Committee. You may actually only need to be available virtually – that is, meetings could be optional, but I’d ask that you send out word on a parent survey or a coffee to be held … or perhaps solicit input on an issue we’re working on.

I’d like to have the group together by late October, so if you are willing to be your area’s representative, please email me at tperkins@cbgs.k12.va.us or call me at 804-443-0267.

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Important Calendar Dates

Monday, October 9th – Regular school day for CBGS (Some of our district partners have a modified day on 10/9, Columbus Day. We do not, however, so please know your student should be at CBGS unless sick or otherwise excused.)

Friday, October 27th – End of Quarter 1 … assignments must be in to teachers

Friday, November 3rd – Report Cards sent home (We will email parents if there is a change; occasionally printing or processing problems in our system holds up distribution. However, if you do not hear from us, the reports cards went home with your child BY Friday, 11/3. Please ask to see it.)

Tuesday, November 7th – Parent-Teacher Conferences at Sites 7:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. NO CBGS SCHOOL FOR OUR STUDENTS ON THIS DAY. Please contact the Site Office Associate at your child’s campus for appointment times.

Thursday, November 16th – All-Site Day Field Trip to Richmond museums (science and fine arts … yes, there is science in the arts!!) Details will follow in early November, with a permission slip.

November 22nd-24th – No School for Thanksgiving Break

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One last note: We hope to have all forms and fee payments in soon. Families who need fee scholarship assistance are most welcome to contact me (tperkins@cbgs.k12.va.us or 804-443-0267). Some of the student forms we require are a matter of safety and emergency notifications (e.g., contact info, medical conditions) so please be sure you send us these items. In the coming week, our Office Associates will contact you if they are missing something from you.

Thank you for all you do and please let me know if you have questions or concerns.

All the Best,

Dr. Perkins

September 5, 2017

Dear CBGS Families,
We hope you are ready for another great year at Chesapeake Bay Governor’s School. It is a pleasure to have your terrific students with us; and we’ve enjoyed a good start to our program year.

Here are a few items of note as we begin 2017-18:

• Back-To-School Nights are great opportunities to hear about your students’ classes. We’ll start in the auditorium just to say hello and let you know what rooms to visit. The dates, by site, are:
  
  • Tuesday, September 12th at 6:30 – Warsaw Campus
  • Wednesday, September 13th at 6:30 – Bowling Green Campus
  • Tuesday, September 19th at 6:30 – Glenns Campus

Please join us!!

• We hope you will take advantage of the use of Schoology to have notifications of school news and events sent to you; plus, it is a means to check on your child’s homework, attendance, grades, and progress. Parents of new students were recently provided your logins; families of
  returning students, the login is the same as last year. We understand, though, that logins and passwords get misplaced or stop working. Please let us know if you need your login information resent or a password reset. It is NO trouble at all! Just contact the site Office Associate, Site Lead, me, or any of your child’s teachers.
• Remember there are junior and senior year fall weekend field trips coming up. Our summer mailing provided dates, and our website calendar is kept current so visit https://cbgs.k12.va.us/events-calendar/.

Please let me know if I can answer concerns or questions at any time.

Enjoy the year!

Terri

Dear Students and Parents:

I hope that you are having an exciting summer!  Chesapeake Bay Governor’s School is gearing up to start a great school year. I wanted to share information about the opening of school.

Reminders of summer assignments

Summer science reading assignments are posted on the website. If you have questions on math assignments, please reach out to your mathematics teacher. All teacher emails can be found here on our website.

Also, students are reminded that summer is a great time to work on community service hours. Keep track of your hours; the form is found on our website.

Orientation Week for NEW Students – Monday August 21 through Thursday, August 24

Orientation for new students will be held from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Monday, August 21 through Thursday, August 24.  Students that are new to CBGS should report to their respective campuses. In addition to meeting your fellow CBGS-ers, orientation will consist of:  (1) an overview of the courses; (2) meeting teachers; (3) details about the overnight field studies program and day trips; (4) information on community service hours; (4) help on study skills; (5) an introduction to mathematics requisite skills; and (6) information on policies and guidelines.

For transportation:  Please check with your local school division regarding transportation for the Orientation Week. There will be no school on Friday, August 25.

First Week of School – Monday, August 28 through Thursday, August 31

School opens for ALL students on Monday, August 28th. Students will report to their respective campus at 8:00 a.m. and will be dismissed at 10:30 a.m. Attendance during the first week of school is very important. Again, please check with your local school division regarding transportation for the first week of school.  There will be no school on Friday, September 1 or on Labor Day, September 4th. However, there is an all day, all-site event, at Belle Isle State Park on Wednesday, August 30.

Field Studies

Field study trips and our annual Science Symposium are essential parts of the CBGS curriculum; students are required to participate. Scheduling is very difficult and we know conflicts are unavoidable. Still, we ask that you make every attempt to have your student keep their calendars clear on the dates listed below. We also stress that students may attend the trip of another site, if they are completely unable to go with their own site classmates.

Dates	Grade Level	Site
September 23-24	Juniors	Warsaw (Colonial Beach, Essex, Northumberland)
September 24-25	Juniors	Warsaw (Lancaster, Richmond, Westmoreland)
September 30- October 1	Juniors	Glenns
October 1-2	Juniors	Bowling Green
September 16-18	Seniors	Glenns
September 23-25	Seniors	Bowling Green
September 30-October 2	Seniors	Warsaw
April 21-23	Sophomores	Glenns
April 28-30	Sophomores	Bowling Green
May 5-7	Sophomores	Warsaw
Saturday, March 10, 2018	ALL STUDENTS AT ALL SITES:  CBGS Science Symposium

 

Fees:  A postal mailing should come to all families in July, and contains information on trip and other fees. If you would like to pay your student’s fees prior to the opening of school, please mail the check to:  Chesapeake Bay Governor’s School, P.O. Box 1410, Tappahannock, VA  22560. Fees can be submitted to your site Office Associate once school begins, too. Any student in need of financial assistance should contact me at (804) 443-0267 or email tperkins@cbgs.k12.va.us.

Please feel free to contact me this summer and throughout the year with questions or needs.

All the Best,

Terri L. Perkins, Ed.D.

Director – CBGS

Hello CBGS Community,

As is the case annually, I find myself unable to believe that we are in mid-May already. The school year flies by, full of teaching and learning, events, field experiences, competitions, and more.

On May 23rd we will bid farewell to our seniors. Well, they’ll stay with us until June 2nd, but we will gather at Essex County High School (at 7:00 p.m., in the auditorium) to honor their achievements at CBGS. Join us for Senior Night, if you can.

For our returning and new students: stay tuned!! Orientations, summer assignments, yearbooks, and the end-of-year picnic are all still to come. Oh yes, and exams, too. Don’t check out yet!

Please watch the website for continued information. If you are just looking to learn more about us, and are not in our program now, please email us with questions you may have.

Have a wonderful remainder of the school year!

Dr. Perkins

Dear CBGS Families,

Second semester is upon us! As the year flies by, I highlight a few items for your information.

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Parent Advisory Groups ~ All are welcome!

CBGS wants to hear from parents and include your involvement in the life of our school.

We have tried a single Parent Advisory Committee in past years, with meetings held in Tappahannock. While that’s a central location for our large, 14 school district area, it is still quite a drive for most parents.

This year we’re trying site-based parent meetings. Even if you did not sign up to be officially on the Parent Advisory Committee, I welcome your attendance at one of these gatherings:

• Monday, February 27th at RCC-Warsaw (Room 110) at 6:00 p.m.
• Tuesday, February 28th at RCC-Glenns (Room 118) at 6:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, March 1st at CBGS Bowling Green campus (Room 5) at 4:30 p.m.

On our agenda will be updates from the Director on our program, questions for parents around some of our challenges (and how you might see us solving them), and time for parent input.

Please join us!!

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Calendar Planning for 2017-18

Ever wonder how a regional program can coordinate school calendars with 14 different school districts? The answer: Very carefully (but not perfectly.)

The good news is that there is great coordination and cooperation on all parts – district partners and CBGS. CBGS receives drafts of district calendars in the winter/spring, and our partners commit to providing transportation even when they are off on particular dates for teacher workdays or holidays. The bad news is that there is truly no way to match up every day off or on with each and every school district CBGS serves. The best we can do is hit as many major breaks as possible and keep stakeholders informed of our schedule.

We are currently collecting all 14 of the district’s drafts and attempting to match up as many as we can, while maintaining the required number of school days. An approved calendar should be ready by late March and we will post it on our website. Knowing we won’t hit all of the days off your child has in his/her home school, we invite you to provide any thoughts or ideas you may have for our calendar. Please email me at tperkins@cbgs.k12.va.us.

 

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Other News

We hope you’ll join us at the Senior Science Symposium on March 11th. Remember to be prompt if you’re aiming to see a particular presentation … once our students start their talks, the doors are strictly closed, as these are adjudicated events. Senior research projects showcase amazing work, so join us at VCU if you can.

Senior Night has been set for Tuesday, May 23rd at Essex High School (auditorium) at 7:00 p.m.

This is a lovely celebration of the accomplishments of our graduating students; we hope to see you there.

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Important Second Semester Dates

Saturday, 3/11/17:  Science Symposium at VCU (VCU Student Commons and Activities Building ~ 907 Floyd Avenue, Richmond 23284)

Friday, 3/17/17:  End of Quarter 3

April 10 – 17th:  CBGS Spring Break (School is back open on Tuesday, 4/18)

Spring Sophomore Trips:

• April 22-24 GLENNS
• April 29-May 1 BOWLING GREEN
• May 6-8 WARSAW

Tuesday, 5/23/17:  Senior Night

Thank you for all you do and please let me know if you have questions or concerns.

All the Best,

Terri