Friday, August 18, 2023

Helpful Information, Exciting Announcement, and Cartwheel Care Info


Important and Helpful Information

As a reminder, please refer to our mid-summer logistics blog post for important and helpful information. Here you will find information on summer schedule help (including instructions for booking an appointment), parking, a 9th-grade supplies list, and much more!


Exciting Announcement

We hope summer has been treating you well. We are so excited to welcome our faculty and students back to school in the next couple of weeks. We wanted to share a few announcements about two positions at CCHS this school year, as well as a wonderful program we are partnering with this year to help support our student’s mental health needs. First, our Special Education Administrator, Frances Woof, moved on to Ripley to serve as the Interim Assistant Director of Student Services for this school year. We will miss seeing Fran daily but are thrilled she will be right down the road! For this year, one of our special educators, Nancy Boutin, will be serving as our Interim Special Education Administrator. We are excited to work closely with Nancy and know that the department is in good hands. You can read about Nancy below.

Next, we have added a Wellness Coordinator position to our school. For many years, and especially post Covid, some of the largest issues facing our student community have been stress, mental health, the effect of mental health on overall health, the sense of well-being, and the feelings of belonging.  Not surprisingly, the groups that struggle the most with these issues are youth who have historically been marginalized (LGBTQ+, low-income, BIPOC, and students with disabilities). Adding a building Wellness Coordinator to our team will strengthen our ability to address these challenges. This position will help to coordinate the multiple teams and initiatives we have in place to address these issues within our school. We are thrilled to announce that School Psychologist (and former Interim Dean of Students), Cristina Jonson, will serve as our Wellness Coordinator. We are excited to continue our work with her this year. You can read about Cristina below.

Lastly, this year, we are partnering with the organization Cartwheel Care. Cartwheel Care is a community-based mental health partner for the Concord-Carlisle school community. The program delivers virtual therapy, psychiatry, and parent guidance with no waitlists and works with all families regardless of insurance. Students in grades 9-12 are eligible to participate and can receive services starting in September. We will share more specific info about the referral process in the coming weeks. We are thrilled about this partnership and believe it will be extremely effective and beneficial to our students who participate. Here are a couple of resources about the organization:

NPR article + radio clip highlighting their program

ABC News TV clip on Cartwheel's partnership with Salem Public Schools






Nancy Boutin and Cristina Jonson


Dear Concord Carlisle Community,

I am honored and excited to begin my new position as the Interim Special Education Administrator for Concord Carlisle Regional High School. For the past two years, I have served as the Reading Specialist and Lead teacher in our newly developed Literacy and Beyond program, which supports students with Language-based disabilities, such as Dyslexia. Before joining the CCHS team, I spent seven years as a Special Education Teacher at Alcott Elementary School. In addition to being a Special Education Teacher, I was a second-grade classroom teacher in Wrentham, MA. I earned my B.A. in Developmental Psychology from Framingham State College, an M.A. in Special Education from Lesley University, and an M.A. in Reading and Language from the University of Massachusetts.  

I am thrilled to be joining the incredible leadership team at Concord-Carlisle High School, from whom I will continue to learn and grow. I am grateful and delighted for the opportunity to guide and support our students to become independent, self-sufficient learners, as well as partner with families throughout your child’s time at CCHS.

Sincerely,

Nancy Boutin


Dear Concord Carlisle Community,

My name is Cristina Jonson. I am a New Yorker who traveled and experienced a variety of career paths in pursuit of work that made an impact. While living in England, I began to work in schools and discovered the ultimate reward, celebrating and supporting students through achievement and challenge. 

I am entering my 5th year at CCHS. During my time at CC I have worked as a school psychologist, Interim Dean of Students, and now the Wellness Coordinator. As the Wellness Coordinator, I will work with students, staff members, and families to support and promote the wellness and positive growth of our community members. I am excited and grateful to have the opportunity to continue to work and collaborate with our amazing students, faculty, and families. 

-Cristina Jonson




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