Superintendent's Report 11.14.18

Superintendent’s Report to the School Committee

November 14, 2018

Academic Tutor for Grade 3 at Stanley:

• An Academic Tutor is in place and is providing general education targeted support in grade 3.

Hadley School Principal Updates

• We are pleased to inform you all that Ms. Bebchick and her husband, Currier McEwen, welcomed their baby BOY on Sunday morning, November 11th!
• Mrs. Huntley, Interim Principal, and Ms. Bebchick had already begun the transition, but with the early arrival of Ms. Bebchick’s son Mrs. Huntley has hit the ground running.

MSBA Update

• We have unveiled a new School Building Committee website which can be found on the district webpage under the SCHOOLS  and ABOUT US drop-down menus as well as the RESOURCES drop-down menu under Community. I encourage everyone to browse this page for both old and new information.
• Our School Building Committee has already met twice since our last School Committee meeting and both agendas and minutes from these meetings can be found on the website.
• Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 10th at 7:30 am at the Middle School. These meetings are open to the public.

Essex County Learning Community (ECLC) - Showcase of Learning

• Tuesday, December 4th from 3:30-6:30 pm our district along with 5 other districts who were awarded the $25,000 grant will be presenting their action plans for improving the way we serve students with diverse learning needs.  Carin Marshall will be attending with me.

Director of Facilities

• Max Kasper, Building Commissioner, and Tom Prentiss, Assistant Operations and Maintenance Supervisor will be sharing this position for the remainder of the year.
• Max will continue to focus on the general government needs while Tom’s focus will be on the school department’s needs. They will continue to collaborate on projects in both areas.
• We will re-evaluate this position and this model at the end of the year.

Director of Curriculum & Instruction

• Mrs. Condike is currently enjoying a much-deserved vacation and is hopefully enjoying the sunshine and beaches in her travels.
• However, I’m saddened to announce that Mrs. Condike has informed me that she is retiring for personal reasons. 
• Her last day in the district will be Friday, November 30th. 
• Mrs. Condike has worked tirelessly during the last 2.5 years to move the district forward in many areas including aligning curriculum, beginning analysis of the high school academic programming, strengthening the METCO Program, initiating a math pilot in grades K-5, curriculum mapping, and so much more. She will truly be missed.
• Currently, I have no plans to fill this position for the remainder of the year. I am currently working with Mrs. Condike to transition her responsibilities to me for the remainder of the year. I will need some assistance with these responsibilities and will update the Committee on my plan once it is established.

National Blue Ribbon Ceremony in Washington, D.C.

• Mr. Kohut, Ms. Mackey, and I attended the Awards Ceremony and Conference last week in Washington.
• It was an amazing opportunity to be there with the other recipients and actually spend time with our colleagues from Massachusetts - Abington and Minute Man Regional in Lexington. 
• It wasn’t until we were there that I truly realized what an amazing recognition this is for our school community. One half of 1% of schools in the nation receive this award. Think about that.
• The high school administration will be forming a committee to discuss ways to honor our students and staff and to celebrate this award throughout the year.
• Sheila Harrity, former Principal at Worcester Tech - a turnaround school - said something in her workshop that really resonates with me, When your intentions are pure, and you are doing the right things for the right reasons, you become a National Blue Ribbon School.” I think that sums it up!