Happy 2015!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. As we go through our hectic lives with the many obligations to our children and work, it is always nice to reconnect with family and friends before we get back to our normal schedule. I wish you all of the best in 2015 as we continue our journey to be the best school district in Massachusetts!

The beginning of a new year is also a great time to reflect on the many people, both professionally and personally, that we have a "responsibility to" and a "responsibility for". My former professor at Boston College, Robert Starratt, wrote an outstanding book entitled  Ethical Leadership that highlighted the "Virtues of Responsibility, Authenticity, and Presence". Dr. Starratt's work always puts in perspective the enormous responsibility educators have "to" our students, while emphasizing the importance to continuously refine and improve the work we do "for" our students. The age old response, "This is the way we have always done it" is no longer acceptable in education. I find it helpful to use his book a few times a year to reflect and reexamine priorities.

This blog update will provide you with a reminder about our winter weather procedures, information on our budget for next year, and some important survey information.

Winter Weather Procedures
We were lucky enough to make it through December without a snow day, but the next three months are often the most problematic in New England. We will once again utilize the Blackboard-Connect System to notify parents if school is closed, delayed, or dismissed early. The phone call will be sent to each household and parent cell phone number that is currently on file with the district.

In addition to the phone call, the announcement will appear on:

• Twitter @JeffreyJMarsden (I actually do this first...so follow me!)
• Television Stations: FOX  25, WBZ 4, WCVB 5, and WHDH 7
• Our district website: www.medfield.net
• Cable 8

Please remember that there will be times when school is not cancelled, delayed, or dismissed early and the weather is still inclement. Those days will feature slower travel for buses and cars, but will not necessarily require a change in the normal schedule. Please remember if you feel it is unsafe for travel, you always have the option to keep your child home.

Budget for the 2015-2016 School Year
Although its only the beginning of January, we are currently working on the budget for the next school year. The town charter requires the School Committee to adopt a budget by January 31st. The initial budget presentation requests an increase of 5.4% over the previous year's budget. The Warrant Committee has requested  all town departments increase their budget no more than  2.5%  and the Town Administrator has the school department projected for a 3% increase. The initial FY16 budget presentation can be found on www.medfield.net. The School Committee will hold a public hearing on the budget on January 26th  at 7:30 PM at Medfield High School.

Survey Information
We are pleased to announce a partnership with Panorama Education (https://www.panoramaed.com/) to develop and administer a feedback survey for parents. As some of you know, I spent considerable time last year meeting with teachers, staff, parents, town officials and community members to learn about the culture and values of the district. Those 100-plus interviews gave me an incredible amount of useful information. This year we will broaden the scope of feedback with a district-wide survey that will target specific issues along with general feedback about the district. Our timeline for the survey distribution is in late February/early March. The results will be shared with parents and used along with my entry plan data to begin a strategic planning initiative for the district. Stay tuned!