Tuesday, June 2, 2020

June 2020





The horrible and tragic killing of George Floyd has once again brought the longstanding issue of race and injustice to the forefront of our lives. Scenes of peaceful protests, violent protests, words that bring people together, and words that divide us are plastered on our television screens and social media feeds. Our kids are watching and listening. 

While I was in my doctoral program at Boston College, we spent an enormous amount of time reading and discussing issues of race and social justice. I will never forget a discussion I had with a classmate, friend, and colleague that is African-American. He said to me, “ One thing you will never have to do as a father is to tell your son to keep his hands on the wheel when he gets pulled over. In fact, that is the first thing I told my son when he got his license.”  My son is now 18 years old and I’ve never told him that he needs to keep his hands on the wheel when he is pulled over. When people say that race is not an issue, I share my colleague’s story because people can at least relate to that concrete example. That conversation took place in 2004, we certainly have a long way to go.

Growing up in a small city, race, and ethnicity were never part of the conversation in our schools. The city’s Catholic churches were all designated by ethnic background. The Irish, Portuguese, Polish, and French all had their own church. In elementary school, black kids, brown kids, and white kids were in the same classes and everyone played together. Somewhere around middle school and high school black and brown kids sat together in the cafeteria while all of the white kids sat together. It just happened that way. The problem was that no one ever talked about it...never. It wasn’t until I read (and highly recommend)  Beverly Daniel Tatum’s book, “ Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in The Cafeteria?” did I begin to reflect on my own experiences growing up and how that shaped my thinking through my K-12 years. If we are truly honest with ourselves we all have some implicit bias. Tatum’s work, along with Pollock’s Everyday Anti-Racism (A former Blake MS book group read) can really help with reflection and self-examination of these issues. 

Unlike my experience in school, in Medfield, we feel that we have a responsibility to address these issues with our instruction and learning. It’s no secret that we lack racial diversity in our community. In fact, two years ago was the first time our student population was below 90% white. In the 2018-2019 school year, we began a Civil Rights Self Evaluation Review Committee that includes PreK-12 representation of teachers, parents, and administrators. This committee has begun to review the curriculum and practices within our district. We developed and trained our teachers on the Medfield Model for Evaluation of Bias Checklist. This tool is used when new curricula or materials will be introduced to our students. Our school libraries are beginning to be infused with books that are culturally sensitive and bring different perspectives to our students. Since early February, 20 teachers have participated in an onsite (now a zoom) 10-week college course on Cultural Proficient Teaching. Our leadership team is scheduled for a full-day workshop in August on supporting Cultural Proficient Teaching with follow up professional development during the year. Our strategic plan also addresses the issue of student diversity. This is clearly a focus of our district and we feel these changes can make a difference, but like our country, we still have a long way to go.

This topic is not easy or comfortable. Please take some time to talk with your children and help them process these recent events.  I’ve provided a link that might be of help as our country continues to grapple with these issues. Now more than ever it is important to remember that our kids are watching and listening. 





Wednesday, January 22, 2020

January 2020

Happy New Year! I hope everyone has a safe and healthy 2020.

This blog post will provide an update on the Dale Street Project and the Fiscal Year 2021 Budget. Please remember to follow me at @JeffreyJMarsden and @DaleStProject for updates on Twitter. Search #medfieldps to see all of the great experiences happening in our schools. Don't forget to join the over 1,300 people that have downloaded our new app from the Apple Store or Google Play. Search "Medfield Public Schools, MA"  

Click here to see some recent Medfield Public Schools' news stories!

Dale Street Project Update

School Committee Chair Anna Mae O'Shea Brooke sharing at a recent visioning meeting.
The important visioning process continues to move forward. The Education Visioning Group consists of teachers, parents, town officials, administrators, and community members. This group has been working with consultant David Stephen to begin the visioning process for a new elementary school. The process will continue on January 28th and again on February 4th. The February 4th meeting will also include the second Community Forum beginning at 7:00 PM in the Dale Street Cafeteria. This will give anyone in the community an opportunity to ask questions and give feedback. A third Community Forum will be on February 24th at 7:00 PM in the Dale Street Cafeteria.

Last week, a design team from Arrowstreet met with all teachers and staff to hear about their learning goals and priorities. This information will be used as the basis for the creation of the Dale Street Educational Plan. This plan is required by the Massachusetts Schoool Building Authority (MSBA) and is a key document in the design process. Also, members of the design team, our project manager, the Chair of the School Building Committee, Mike Quinlan, and I met with the Medfield Energy Committee to discuss sustainability features for the potential new school.

Two major decisions related to the project will take place during the spring; site selection and grade configuration. Our focus for site selection was on town-owned land with potential for school construction. The following sites were reviewed: Red Gate Farm, McCarthy Park, Hospital Hill/Sledding Hill, Hospital Campus, Dale Street School (existing site), and Wheelock site (land behind the school). It was determined that the only two viable sites are the Dale Street site and the Wheelock site. More analysis and public input will be done on both sites prior to any decision. Another major decision is related to the grade configuration of the new school. The MSBA has given us two options; a Grades 4 and 5 school or a Grades 3,4, and 5 school. Projected student enrollment, teacher/staff input, as well as parent/community input will all be considered before any decision is made. To participate in the Dale Street School grade configuration survey click here.

The Dale Street School Project website can be found here.

FY21 Initial Budget

It is that time of year again as we begin to build the budget for the 2020-2021 school year or also called the Fiscal Year 2021 Budget. After many meetings with principals, directors and department leaders, we presented an initial budget to the Medfield School Committee on December 19th. School Committee members Jess Reilly and Meghan Glenn are serving on the FY21 Budget Subcommittee.  This version of the budget is our first pass "draft" which includes additional personnel and supplies requested from each building. The current budget increase stands at 4.02%. The FY21 Public Hearing will take place on January 30th at 7:30 PM in the Lowell Mason Auditorium at MHS. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. 

The Initial FY21 Budget presentation and a detailed line item FY21 Budget can be found here.

Did you know?

Our SEL Task Force at a recent meeting. This group of students, parents, teachers, administrators, and community members is tackling important issues such as student and teacher wellness, school schedules, and student use of mobile devices.
  • You can now access the same documents and informational items the Medfield School Committee receives prior to each meeting. Many items of interest can be found here.
  • The Office of Social Emotional Learning has a great website with outstanding resources for students and parents including Challenge Success and SEL Task Force. Click here.
  • Medfield is a member of INTERFACE- a referral service for mental health support. Their helpline is 617-332-3666  X1411 or 888-244-6843 X1411.