It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just a couple of days away. I hope all of you have had a great month since my last post. This post will feature some clarifying points on the Dale St. ensemble pilot.
Dale St. Music Pilot -What does a Dale St. School education look like with an additional 90+ hours of instruction a year?
The Dale St. music pilot has become a topic of conversation in our community and I think it's important to provide some clarity around the issue and help clear up some misconceptions that have surfaced. The pilot moved ensemble practice for band, orchestra, and chorus from during the school day to before school. Prior to this pilot, students had one instrument lesson, one general music class, and a 45 minute ensemble practice per week. Our students still enjoy one lesson and one general music class during the school day. It's important to understand that nothing was cut, instead the time for ensemble practice has changed to before school instead of during the school day. Elementary ensembles outside the school day is a model that has seen years of success in other preeminent music programs such as Weston and Wellesley. We remain committed to maintaining the excellence of the Medfield music program. A program that everyone in our community has come to value and enjoy. This pilot is an effort to study a simple and compelling overarching question: What does a Dale St. School education look like with an additional 90+ hours of instruction a year?
The decision to change the music schedule and not another content area was a result of careful examination of the academic and specialist schedules at Dale St. That process illuminated that music was the only special content area that met three times a week during the school day and many classrooms at Dale St. had science and social studies instruction only 2 days a week. Initial feedback from the the classroom teachers' experience with increased instructional time has been very positive. In addition, 63 of our students are able to participate in both band/orchestra and chorus; a great opportunity the previous model did not allow.
In addition to collecting qualitative data through teacher feedback and parent questionnaires, this pilot will also be discussed by a committee examining the school day in all three elementary schools. The committee is comprised of parents from all three elementary schools, each elementary principal, classroom teachers, special education teachers, representative teachers from the specialists (including Mr. Dexter from the Music Dept.), two school committee members, and Chris McCue Potts from the Medfield Music Association. This group will study the current models and provide recommendations for an improved structure in all three buildings. The goal is to elicit feedback from parents and teachers in early March. This will give the committee time to analyze the data and make thoughtful and informed recommendations for the 2015-2016 school year.
In addition, Mr. Vaughn and Mr. Olsen will be examining an ongoing trend of attrition from the music program. We are seeing participation in music and band programs drop significantly as students enter Blake Middle School. It's important to get to the root cause of this trend and consider how we can support students' continued participation in our outstanding music programs.
In closing, this pilot is about expanding learning opportunities for all students. It's about a belief that the most important interactions during the school day take place between the teacher and student. It's about centrality of the classroom. I acknowledge that having ensemble practice before school is less convenient for some parents, especially the transportation. I ask you to let the pilot process "play out" and please participate by giving honest feedback on the survey.
I wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Friday, October 24, 2014
Medfield Superintendent's Blog
Welcome to the Medfield Superintendent's Blog!
The purpose of this blog is to highlight and share great news and important information about the Medfield Public Schools. This blog will be updated monthly, so please visit often. You can also receive updates on Twitter @JeffreyJMarsden.
As always, please contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns.
Leadership Team at The Connors Center in Dover
The Medfield Leadership Team spent an entire day in late August reflecting on the 2013-2014 school year and planning for this year and beyond. Our topics of discussion included: targeting areas for improvement, implementing year two of the MA Educator Evaluation, planning professional development, and creating consistent practices among all schools.
We have two new members of the Leadership Team; Dr. Melissa Bilsborough and Michael La Francesca. Dr. Bilsborough is the new principal of Memorial after spending the past 10 years as a principal in Wrentham. Mr. La Francesca is the new Director of Finance and Operations after spending the past 9 years as Assistant Superintendent of Finance for the Dedham Public Schools. Welcome aboard!
Early Childhood Education: Critical for a Strong Foundation
We are pleased to provide Full Day Kindergarten (FDK) for our community this year. We have 120 students in the program and the early feedback has been very positive. As I met with parents, teachers and community members during my initial months in Medfield, FDK was something that was on a lot of minds. A special thank you to the Medfield School Committee for unanimously supporting this important initiative. We have also expanded for our learning opportunities for our Pre-Kindergarten students by adding 12 additional slots to that program.We will continue to focus on building a strong foundation for our youngest students.
Changes in District Technology
We have updated our student information system for improved performance for both staff and parents. Instead of having five separate databases, our new database allows all schools to access student data quickly, has a parent portal component and will allow us to file the many required state reports in a more efficient manner. Next year parents will be able to log on to a parent portal to update all student information such as phone numbers and emails.Very soon our high school parents will be able to access student grades and assignments. Although we have had a few glitches with group email, our teachers, office staff and technology staff have done a great job during this implementation.
In addition, we also have new business software that moves us away from triplicate paper purchase orders to a paperless system with real time access to accounts and account balances. This new software package is also used by the town departments allowing for better collaboration.
MSBA Project-Wheelock School Boilers
We are excited to report our grant proposal was accepted and we have been invited into the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) Repair Program for the replacement of the Wheelock Boilers. The original boilers are over forty years old. If our proposal gets final approval in January, we will be asking Town Meeting in April to fund this project. If funded, the state will reimburse Medfield 39% of the project cost. Completing this project through the state program instead of our town capital program will save taxpayers thousands of dollars. I will provide a status update in future blogs.
Focus on Food Service
Another topic I heard a lot about last year was our food service program. The district has suffered from many years of extremely low participation and with many families not even considering school lunch...ever. Dawn Lavalle is our new Food Service Director and she is already making outstanding changes to the program; fresh fruit, healthy choices, and better variety. To continue with this initiative, I am organizing a Food Service Advisory of parents and teachers as we continue to develop a food service program that is healthy and one our kids will enjoy! Please contact me at jmarsden@email.medfield.net if you have interest in serving on this committee.
High School Turf Replacement is Overdue
The 2014-2015 school year is the 11th season for our High School turf. The life span of the existing field is only 10 years. Our turf field is constantly used by 18 HS teams, youth soccer, youth lacrosse, adult leagues, our HS marching band, and MS/HS Physical Education classes. In August we spent almost $20,000 to replace worn turf, fill in the many depressions, and groom the turf fibers. These repairs made the turf safer for our kids this year, but a replacement is needed very soon. We are currently exploring the development of a field study committee to look at all aspects of field use in Medfield. We want to make sure our students have a safe surface to play on and that facilities are on par with the rest of the Tri-Valley League and neighboring communities.
Check out the metal that was removed from the turf during the grooming process!
The purpose of this blog is to highlight and share great news and important information about the Medfield Public Schools. This blog will be updated monthly, so please visit often. You can also receive updates on Twitter @JeffreyJMarsden.
As always, please contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns.
Leadership Team at The Connors Center in Dover
The Medfield Leadership Team spent an entire day in late August reflecting on the 2013-2014 school year and planning for this year and beyond. Our topics of discussion included: targeting areas for improvement, implementing year two of the MA Educator Evaluation, planning professional development, and creating consistent practices among all schools.
We have two new members of the Leadership Team; Dr. Melissa Bilsborough and Michael La Francesca. Dr. Bilsborough is the new principal of Memorial after spending the past 10 years as a principal in Wrentham. Mr. La Francesca is the new Director of Finance and Operations after spending the past 9 years as Assistant Superintendent of Finance for the Dedham Public Schools. Welcome aboard!
Early Childhood Education: Critical for a Strong Foundation
We are pleased to provide Full Day Kindergarten (FDK) for our community this year. We have 120 students in the program and the early feedback has been very positive. As I met with parents, teachers and community members during my initial months in Medfield, FDK was something that was on a lot of minds. A special thank you to the Medfield School Committee for unanimously supporting this important initiative. We have also expanded for our learning opportunities for our Pre-Kindergarten students by adding 12 additional slots to that program.We will continue to focus on building a strong foundation for our youngest students.
Changes in District Technology
We have updated our student information system for improved performance for both staff and parents. Instead of having five separate databases, our new database allows all schools to access student data quickly, has a parent portal component and will allow us to file the many required state reports in a more efficient manner. Next year parents will be able to log on to a parent portal to update all student information such as phone numbers and emails.Very soon our high school parents will be able to access student grades and assignments. Although we have had a few glitches with group email, our teachers, office staff and technology staff have done a great job during this implementation.
In addition, we also have new business software that moves us away from triplicate paper purchase orders to a paperless system with real time access to accounts and account balances. This new software package is also used by the town departments allowing for better collaboration.
MSBA Project-Wheelock School Boilers
We are excited to report our grant proposal was accepted and we have been invited into the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) Repair Program for the replacement of the Wheelock Boilers. The original boilers are over forty years old. If our proposal gets final approval in January, we will be asking Town Meeting in April to fund this project. If funded, the state will reimburse Medfield 39% of the project cost. Completing this project through the state program instead of our town capital program will save taxpayers thousands of dollars. I will provide a status update in future blogs.
Focus on Food Service
Another topic I heard a lot about last year was our food service program. The district has suffered from many years of extremely low participation and with many families not even considering school lunch...ever. Dawn Lavalle is our new Food Service Director and she is already making outstanding changes to the program; fresh fruit, healthy choices, and better variety. To continue with this initiative, I am organizing a Food Service Advisory of parents and teachers as we continue to develop a food service program that is healthy and one our kids will enjoy! Please contact me at jmarsden@email.medfield.net if you have interest in serving on this committee.
High School Turf Replacement is Overdue
The 2014-2015 school year is the 11th season for our High School turf. The life span of the existing field is only 10 years. Our turf field is constantly used by 18 HS teams, youth soccer, youth lacrosse, adult leagues, our HS marching band, and MS/HS Physical Education classes. In August we spent almost $20,000 to replace worn turf, fill in the many depressions, and groom the turf fibers. These repairs made the turf safer for our kids this year, but a replacement is needed very soon. We are currently exploring the development of a field study committee to look at all aspects of field use in Medfield. We want to make sure our students have a safe surface to play on and that facilities are on par with the rest of the Tri-Valley League and neighboring communities.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)