After a long and challenging winter I think we are all ready for some milder spring weather. I hope this blog post finds you well as we move into spring. Although communicated in emails to parents, Tweets, and through the local press it certainly needs repeating. I can't thank the Medfield DPW and the MPS staff enough for their hard work over the past two months. We were able to have school when other districts could not because of the dedication of these individuals!
I would also like to thank the Medfield School Committee for voting to go against their longstanding policy of starting school after Labor Day when the holiday falls before September 3rd. Without that vote, our last day of school would be on June 29th instead of June 23rd. We all benefited from their willingness to reexamine this traditional practice.
This post will feature budget information for the 2015-2016 school year, an Elementary Day Committee update, the 2015 Goldin Award for Educational Excellence is given to Medfield educator, education evaluator training, the Dale St. Principal Search, and details about the Dale St. Music Pilot Study.
**Please follow me on Twitter @JeffreyJMarsden for information several times a week.**
School Year 2015-2016 Budget
At their February 3rd meeting, the Medfield School Committee voted to approve a Fiscal
Year 2016 budget that represents an increase of 5.4%. This budget maintains the same programs and staff for our students. This budget also provides funding for additional technology and math programming for our elementary schools.
Please click on the links below to find more information. The first link shows a video of the budget public hearing and the second link is to the presentation slides from that hearing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3F_k6IVqls
http://www.medfield.net/district-offices/superintendent/budget-information.html
The School Committee and I are currently working with the Warrant Committee to arrive at a budget number that fits into the overall budget for the Town of Medfield. Since the meeting on February 3rd, we have agreed to reduce our approved budget by $300,000. These reductions will be a combination of personnel and non-personnel budget items. The Warrant Committee is currently deciding on whether they will recommend an additional $100,000 reduction. Please remember that our budget is not approved until Town Meeting on April 27, 2015.
Elementary School Day Committee
This committee has been hard at work for the past few months reviewing other elementary school day models and discussing the needs of Medfield. Our conversations have centered around expanding the school day by 30 minutes. We have developed a survey for teachers to gauge their interest and determine the instructional impact. In addition, we will have survey questions that address the elementary school day included in our district-wide survey. The district-wide survey will be distributed to all parents by the end of April. Please take this opportunity to share your feedback on the current structure of our elementary school day. The estimated timeline for the district-wide survey will be mid-April.
The Harriet Goldin Award for Educational Excellence
Our own Doug Olsen is a 2015 recipient of the Goldin Award for Educational Excellence. Mr. Olsen is the third Medfield educator in the past two years to receive this distinction. Last year the award went to Nat Vaughn and Melinda Lohan. Mr. Olsen has been the backbone and driving force behind our music program for more than 20 years. He is an accomplished musician, an outstanding teacher, and a talented band director/leader, who clearly deserves this overdue recognition. An award presentation is scheduled for April 13th at Norwood High School. Congratulations Doug!
See http://www.goldinfoundation.org/ for more information.
Educator Evaluation Professional Development
Over the past few months, the entire leadership team, content specialists, and the teachers' union president have been involved in an initiative that will improve our teacher evaluation process. These trainings have fostered meaningful conversations related to instruction and learning. A highlight of this training used the "Instructional Rounds" model to visit classrooms in teams of 4 or 5. After the observations we debriefed and discussed feedback. I'm really proud of the growth this group has made with evaluation this year.
Dale St. Principal Search
We have begun the exciting process of choosing a new leader for the Dale St. School. A committee comprised of 6 parents, 4 teachers, 3 principals, 2 school committee members and our police chief have been reviewing credentials, choosing candidates and preparing for interviews. We will be interviewing, conducting site visits, and background checks in the next few weeks. We plan to make an announcement prior to April 17th.
Dale St. Music Pilot
As promised, we will be conducting a comprehensive study of the Dale St. Music Pilot. There will be opportunities for both parents and staff to provide feedback to the consultants conducting the study. The project should be completed by mid-May and the results will be distributed and placed on our website. The recommendations will be used for scheduling purposes for the 2015-2016 school year.
