Bristol County Agricultural High School: Back to School Aggie Weekly

Aggie Weekly

Good Afternoon Students, Parents, and Community Members:

We hope this summer has been filled with rest, enjoyment, and an opportunity to set higher goals for you to achieve this year. We are looking forward to another successful school year! This summer has been quite busy with hiring new personnel, establishing new trainings for our staff, and looking at ways to improve student achievement.

Stay Connected! Stay Informed!

We have instituted an additional means of communication through the Bristol Aggie Blog. This blog allows students, parents, staff, and community members to stay informed of what is happening at Bristol Aggie. You can sign up for daily emails to ensure you don’t miss anything! You can also view the calendar feature which lists all the events that are happening at BA daily. During Parent & Freshman Orientation today, we were able to sign up over 100 parents to the new blog! For any of the parents who signed up for the blog today, and did not receive an email for registration, please visit the blog and enter your email address again. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Mr. Braga (KBraga@bcahs.com).

Student Handbook Update:

Updated Bus Information: www.bcahs.com/transportation

Introduce the New Staff:

We have had the opportunity to hire a few new members to our staff. Below is a short bio on each new member of the Bristol Aggie team.

Special Education Director- Dr. Marie-Juanita D. DiGioia

Dr. DiGioia is incredibly excited about joining the community at Bristol County Agricultural High School as the new Director of Special Education. Dr. DiGioia has always been passionate about special education. She earned her Bachelor of Science from Rhode Island College in Special Education, her Master of Education from the American International College in Administration, and her Doctorate of Education from Nova Southeastern University in Special Education. Dr. DiGioia has several years of experience working with special education both in and out of the classroom. Her experiences include teaching special education in the inclusion and separate settings (grades 7-12), special education coordinator/team chair at the high school level, and as an assistant principal at a regional comprehensive high school where she was responsible for overseeing the Special Education Department. On a personal level, Dr. DiGioia has an awesome teenager, Trey, who is her best friend! In addition, she has 2 adorable cats, a mouse, and truly loves all animals! During her spare time she enjoys boxing, hiking, and the beach. She also loves meditating, collecting sea glass, music, musical theater and spending time with her friends and family. She seems to always be on the go and looking for something fun to do! She is currently most interested in learning about keeping a beehive and is just tremendously excited to join the BA family!

Dr. DiGioia visited the hives at Bristol Aggie with Senior Kyle Mazzola

Director of Agriculture and Vocational Education -Ms. Stasia E. Peters

Ms. Peters arrived at Bristol Ag after serving in the Massachusetts vocational education community since 1982. Within this short time frame, she has served at the District level as a Director of Technology (Keefe Tech, Southeastern) and at the high school level as a Vocational Director (Southeastern & D-R). Along the way she chaired the DESE Information Technology Frameworks group, served as a member of DESE's Certificate Of Proficiency Advisory Committee, contributed to the creation of the MAVA New Teacher Toolkit, as well as served as an adjunct professor with Fitchburg, Northeastern, and UMass teaching multiple MAVA required courses. Ms. Peters received a Bachelor's from URI in Health, Physical Education & Recreation, a Master’s from Indiana State in Physical Education/SportsMedicine where she was the 75th woman to be nationally certified as an athletic trainer. She then spent the following 3 years teaching in El Paso, TX and returned home to teach for 3 years at Dover-Sherborn RHS after spending a summer on the medical team in Colorado Springs at the US Olympic Training Center. She has a CAGS from Bridgewater State in Educational Leadership, and has completed her Doctorate coursework at Northeastern, in educational leadership with a thesis: " The Electronic Portfolio as Authentic Assessment of Student Competency in Vocational Education". In her own words, "It's a real cliffhanger." Stasia is "passionate about vocational education, but more so in helping teachers be successful in their classrooms. Great teachers turn out great students! Happy and successful teachers have happy and successful students." She likes being creative and innovative, and working together to problem solve and troubleshoot. "I am here to learn and to grow and hopefully return the favor to each of you." On a personal level - Ms. Peters participates in a few road races here and there with the goal each and every time of just finishing. "Getting the bling is the thing." Her next event will the the Marine Corp Marathon in October. She resides in Attleboro and her family owns a Dalmatian named Harry Spotter and a yellow lab monster puppy named Stella Bella the Yella. Ms. Peters enjoys taking a humorous outlook on life and is anxious to have everyone return for the start of the school year. "It is great to be here, to be a part of a super team of administrators, teachers, and staff!"

Open Positions

Guidance Counselor
Special Education Teacher
Sophomore Class Advisor
JV Softball Coach
Boys Basketball

Sidewalk Update and Traffic Flow:

We wanted to notify the Bristol Aggie school community that there is currently construction taking place that will impact traffic for the first couple of weeks of school. A sidewalk is being installed connecting the work that was done on the Dighton-Berkley Bridge a few years ago, to Route 138. Please drive carefully and leave some time for delays to ensure you get to school on time.

Freshman Academy:

Mrs. VanRotz and Mr. Caswell organized another successful Freshman Academy on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday we hosted our parents for Freshman Orientation. Our students had the ability to meet their new classmates, discuss goal setting, understand the culture at Bristol Aggie, and most importantly have fun!

Student Parking Parking Form: NEW Parking Requests

Please click this link to fill out the Student Parking Parking Form. If you already have a parking spot from the 2016-2017 school year, please do not fill out this form. Parking spots will be assigned on a first come first serve basis. You will be notified through email when you are assigned a parking spot. Please follow the instructions and complete ALL the information on the Student Parking Parking Form. Incomplete applications will not be processed. A valid drivers license will be requested.

Bristol Aggie Feature: Must Be the Milk!

On June 30th, New England Dairy visited our campus and made this great video. Click here to check it out.

Freshman Parent Orientation:

Bristol Aggie Farm to Table Feast

Join us for an evening on campus when our farm meets the table. Dinner will be prepared by The Westporter with Bristol Aggie produce and locally sourced products from agricultural enterprises throughout the southcoast. Saturday, September 16, 2017 at six o’clock 135 Center Street, Dighton, MA 02715 Wine/beer cash bar provided by Westport Rivers Winery & Buzzards Bay Brewery Music Provided by DeJa Blue Trio $75 per Person.

Dighton Board of Health- PRESS RELEASE

West Nile Virus Confirmed in Mosquitoes from Dighton, Massachusetts

DATE: August 29, 2017 CONTACT: Board of Health

TOWN: DIGHTON TELEPHONE: 508-659-4159

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) announced today that West Nile virus (WNV) has been detected in mosquitoes collected from Dighton, Massachusetts.

WNV is most commonly transmitted to humans by the bite of a mosquito infected with the virus. While WNV can infect people of all ages, people over the age of 50 are at higher risk for severe infection.

By taking a few, common-sense precautions, people can help to protect themselves and their loved ones:

Avoid Mosquito Bites

Be Aware of Peak Mosquito Hours - The hours from dusk to dawn are peak biting times for many mosquitoes. Consider rescheduling outdoor activities that occur during evening or early morning. Otherwise, take extra care to use repellent and protective clothing.
Clothing Can Help reduce mosquito bites. Although it may be difficult to do when it’s hot, wearing long-sleeves, long pants and socks when outdoors will help keep mosquitoes away from your skin.
Apply Insect Repellent when you go outdoors. Use a repellent with DEET (N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide), permethrin, picaridin (KBR 3023), IR3535 or oil of lemon eucalyptus [p-methane 3, 8-diol (PMD)] according to the instructions on the product label. DEET products should not be used on infants under two months of age and should be used in concentrations of 30% or less on older children. Oil of lemon eucalyptus should not be used on children under three years of age. Permethrin products are intended for use on items such as clothing, shoes, bed nets and camping gear and should not be applied to skin.

Mosquito-Proof Your Home

Drain Standing Water - Mosquitoes lay their eggs in standing water. Limit the number of places around your home for mosquitoes to breed by either draining or getting rid of items that hold water. Check rain gutters and drains. Empty any unused flowerpots and wading pools, and change water in birdbaths frequently.
Install or Repair Screens - Some mosquitoes like to come indoors. Keep them outside by having tightly-fitting screens on all of your windows and doors.

While Dighton continues to work closely with the MDPH and other agencies, locally the Dighton Board of Health we will be distributing fact sheets that are located at the Town Hall and on the Town Web Site.

Information about WNV and reports of WNV activity in Massachusetts can be found on the MDPH website at http://www.mass.gov/dph/wnv. Recorded information about WNV is also available by calling the MDPH Public Health Information Line at 1-866-MASS-WNV (1-866-627-7968).

Fall Sports:

Boys Soccer: We are still in need of more players for the Boys Soccer team. Anyone interested should contact Coach Ben Medeiros (BMedeiros@bcahs.com)

Coach Medeiros is prepping the new HOME soccer field. All games will be played at Bristol Aggie this year. We thank our Landscape department for their assistance.

Cross Country: Cross Country has been working hard to get a start on the season. We hired a new Assistant Coach, Ms. Alyssa Costa who was a 2017 Bristol Aggie Graduate. They are looking for more runners, so anyone interested should contact Head Coach Costa (BCosta@bcahs.com).

Volleyball: Head Coach Keating and Assistant Coach Lindrooth have expressed their excitement for this year’s volleyball season. We have had a record turnout this year and we look forward to seeing their hard work on the court.