April Update

This April Update will have important FY20 Budget information, a recap of Design Your Learning Day, the recent One Love training at MHS and important links for parents. Don't forget to visit #medfieldps or Twitter or Google to see all of the great experiences our kids are having in the Medfield Public Schools! I wish all of you an awesome April break! FY20 Budget Update The Medfield School Committee voted unanimously to support a revised, lower FY20 budget proposal to present at Medfield Town Meeting later this month. The Warrant Committee also voted to support the budget at it's March 29th meeting.

The revised budget included a reduction of the proposed budget increase from 4.54% to 3.99%. The reduction will help the town to bring a balanced budget to residents at Town Meeting on April 29th and avoid the need for an override.The revised budget now comes in at $36,471,424, a 3.99% increase from the FY19 budget of $35,070,766.

I am pleased that the school committee has accepted the newly proposed budget for FY20 and we are confident that we are presenting a sound, balanced school budget for Medfield residents to consider at Town Meeting. Our goal each year is to always look for ways to keep our budget as low as possible, while still being able to provide an exceptional education and learning environment for our students. The reductions in the revised proposal, which total $190,030, included freezing the FY19 Budget on March 25 and using the $85,000 in savings toward the special education tuition rates in the FY20 Budget, and taking out a $30,000 increase to the technology budget. There were also individual retirement and leave of absence personnel matters that were resolved that further reduced the district's spending.  A new kindergarten teacher will be added to address increased enrollment and multiple part-time positions would be added to the special education department, including a teacher, transitional coordinator, and psychologist. Medfield School Committee Chair Anna Mae O' Shea Brooke added, "The goal at the beginning of this process was to put a school budget forward to residents that meet the needs of all students and staff for the next fiscal year and beyond. I believe this budget has met that goal and hopefully residents agree at Town Meeting in a few weeks." The overall increase to the FY20 budget would help to maintain most current staffing levels and programs district-wide. The budget would also allow the district to fund increases in teacher salaries and compensation and all other collective bargaining agreements, fund increases to student transportation costs and fund increases in professional development initiatives. Please remember to attend Town Meeting on April 29th at 7:00 in the MHS gym. Additional budget documents can be found here. Design Your Learning Day-2019

Medfield's Design Your Learning Day (DLD) was held at Medfield High School on April 4 and featured over 100 professional development programs, activities and education sessions that teachers could take part in throughout the day. There were also multiple speakers who gave presentations about a variety of educational and experiential subjects. Teachers from across Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire traveled to Medfield to take part in the event.

In 2012, Medfield's DLD began as a small professional development day for Medfield teachers focused on technology. Since then, the program has grown and evolved to include teachers from across Massachusetts and other states and covers a variety of topics and activities focused on good teaching practices, social and emotional well-being for students and teachers and the latest in education technology trends.

Our teachers and teachers from districts all over the region look forward to this event every year. Being able to bring so many educators together to collaborate and learn from one another truly is a special experience. The DLD Committee of Neal Sonnenberg, Diane Horvath, Kerry Cowell, Kate Jones, Ann Lodge, and Stephanie Worthley did an amazing job planning this event. There were also about 25 student volunteers who, on their day off from school, helped out during the event.

Some of the sessions offered this year included a yoga class, a cooking class, a data analytics course, a program on examining grading practices, sessions on coding, a student-led course on E-sports, a student-led session on LBGTQ inclusivity and programs about augmented and virtual reality.

Neal Sonnenberg, Technology Integration Specialist summed it up best, "DLD gives teachers the freedom to choose which topics they would like to learn about and offers insight into what other school districts are teaching and how they approach education and learning. The teachers get an opportunity to learn from one another while giving each other new ideas and methods to use in their own classrooms." 

The day started in the auditorium with five teachers giving short speeches called "Passion Pitches" to those in attendance. The attendees then broke off into four different sessions that they chose to participate in throughout the day. At the end of the day, a short video presentation done by student volunteers was shown giving the highlights of the event and a final Passion Pitch was given to wrap things up. The DLD Passion Pitch presenters Nat Vaughn, Principal of Blake Middle School in Medfield; Jed Stefanowicz, Natick Public Schools and Natick Innovation Fellow; Kim Zajac, Norton Public Schools Speech and Language Pathologist; Melinda Lohan, Medfield High School Social Studies Teacher; Julie Lowerre, 5th Grade Teacher at Dale Street School in Medfield; Rayna Freedman, 5th Grade Teacher Mansfield Public Schools.  "One Love"Training for Healthy Relationships

The One Love Foundation recently visited Medfield High School and gave an in-depth presentation to seniors about understanding the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships. Founded in 2010, the One Love Foundation works to educate people about how to maintain healthy relationships, while teaching them about the signs of unhealthy relationships that they or their friends and loved ones may be in. On Tuesday, April 2, all Medfield High School seniors attended a video presentation by the One Love Foundation and then broke into small discussion groups led by student facilitators. This initiative is led by Mr. Parga, Principal and Dr. Worthley, the Director of Social-Emotional Learning. "In a few months our seniors will no longer be walking the halls of Medfield High School and many will find themselves away from home at college or in the workforce," Worthley said. "As they venture off on their own, some will soon begin new relationships. We want all of our graduating seniors to know how to build a healthy relationship, how to get out of relationships that aren't working and how to identify unhealthy behaviors. One Love's presentation does a great job of teaching those important skills to young adults."

The week before the presentation, a One Love staffer came to speak with 32 MHS seniors to train them to be group facilitators. The group facilitators were taught how to lead the discussion with their peers following the video presentation. They were taught what warning signs to look out for and how to help someone who may be in an unhealthy relationship.

The 40-minute video, shown to the approximately 190 students in the senior class, follows the story of a girl in college who is in a relationship with her boyfriend. The girl's friends and family members present her with warning signs that she is in a bad relationship. After the video, the students broke out into the group discussions led by the student facilitators.

"The group discussions really resonated with the students because they were able to candidly talk about these issues among their peers," Mr. Parga said. "I want to commend the students for their maturity in dealing with this serious topic and hopefully they all took away the fact that there is help available if you find yourself in a bad relationship."

Some warning signs of an unhealthy relationship include:

• An imbalance of power in the relationship, a feeling of ownership and having one partner isolate the other partner from their friends and family
• A partner who is controlling in general. Tries to control who their partner talks to, where they go, who they're friends with, etc.
• Physical or verbal abuse
• On again, off again relationships

How to help a friend in an unhealthy relationship:

• Be supportive
• Talk to your friend or loved one
• Focus the discussion on the unhealthy behaviors
• Don't place blame on the friend or loved one
• Offer solutions and help in the future

For more information, visit the One Love Foundation's website here. Important Links Updated Bullying Prevention Plan The Medfield Challenge Success Website The Medfield Social Emotional Learning Website

January Post

Happy New Year! I wish all of you a healthy and happy 2019. This post will include a reminder regarding "snow days", highlight the first pass of the 2019-2020 school budget, an update on the Dale St. Project, and other important information. Please remember to check #Medfieldps on Twitter or Google to see all of the awesome experiences taking place in the Medfield Public Schools!

School Cancellations, Delays, Dismissals...

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.

We have been lucky so far...

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

• Twitter @JeffreyJMarsden (I actually do this first...so follow me!)
• Facebook (Medfield Public Schools page is linked to Twitter)
• Television Stations: Boston 25, WBZ 4, WCVB 5, and WHDH 7
• Our district website: www.medfield.net

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. Important:  If you feel it is unsafe for travel, you always have the option to keep your child home.

Fiscal Year 2020 Budget-Initial Draft

It is that time of year again as we begin to build the budget for the the 2019-2020 school year or also called the Fiscal Year 2020 Budget. After many meetings with principals, directors and department leaders, we presented an initial budget to the Medfield School Committee on December 17th. 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 4.85%. This initial budget request is typically larger than the public hearing version (7:30PM on January 28th in MHS Auditorium) and the final version at Annual Town Meeting (7:00PM on April 29th in MHS Gym). 

The Initial FY20 Budget presentation can be found here. 

Important: Watch for an email during next week with a more detailed presentation and an opportunity to give feedback on the budget prior to the public hearing. 

MSBA Moves Medfield to the Next Phase

On December 12th,  School Committee Chair Anna Mae O'Shea Brooke, Town Administrator Kristine Trierweiler, School Building Committee Chair Mike Quinlan, Director of Finance and Operations Michael LaFrancesca, and I attended the Massachusetts School Building Authority meeting in Boston. The MSBA accepted all of our work submitted in Phase 1 and voted to move the Dale St. School project on to the feasibility phase. Our first major task will be to hire an Owners Project Manager (OPM). The feasibility phase will take about a year to complete. During this phase we will engage the public with focus groups and eventually have construction recommendations for the project. Information on the Dale St. Project can be found here. We will continue to update this site as the project progresses.

Did You Know?

• Medfield High School students Erin Sullivan and Sophia Gustafson led four assemblies for Grades 9-12 students that explained the philosophy of Challenge Success and described our initial vision of what Challenge Success will be in Medfield. The Challenge Success working group of students, parents, teachers and administrators continue to meet regularly as we continue to "roll out" this important initiative.
• NESDEC has our enrollment growing 31.5% over the next ten years after dropping 13.7% during the past ten years. The growth figure is without development at the former Medfield State Hospital property.
• The SEL Task Force (students, parents, teachers, a community member and administrators) continues to meet and focus on areas around student and staff wellness, screen time, and school start times and schedules. Special thanks to all of these great volunteers working to improve school and life for everyone at MPS! Special thanks to Mrs. Susan Cowell and Dr. Dave Worthley for co-chairing this important committee.
• Principal Nat Vaughn and Math Department Chair Susan Bycoff meet monthly with all of our new teachers, as well as consult with their teacher mentors. Induction programs are critical for teachers new to the profession or new to our district.
• The next Superintendent's Parent Advisory is scheduled for January 23rd at 9:30AM at the Blake Library. I hope to see you there!

October Post

This month's post will highlight the recent Coordinated Program Review (CPR) from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), a reminder about "Snow Day" procedures, and many "Did You Know?" items. Please remember to look at  #medfieldps to see all of the positive events in our schools.

Members of the SEL Task Force at a recent goal setting meeting.

Medfield Gets a "Great" Review from DESE!

"Medfield had a great Coordinated Program Review.", was how the meeting with DESE's Matthew Nixon began. Nixon was in Medfield last week to review the report with School Committee Vice Chair Jessica Reilly, Director of Student Services Mary Bruhl and me. Mr. Nixon spoke highly of the students, staff, parents and programs in the district.

The CPR takes place every six years to review the compliance with Special Education, English Language Learners, and Civil Rights. Each of these focus areas has many criteria for compliance. After the document review and onsite visit, DESE provides districts with recommendations to get the district into full compliance. In my over 25 years in education, I've seen this process move from a "gotcha" to the current and much appreciated collaborative process of assistance. There are findings of non-compliance in every CPR and we were no different. Some items were partially implemented and a few were not implemented. We will have one year to correct any items not fully implemented with most just requiring a tweak to our current practice.

 A special thank you to our Special Education Department, ELL Educators, and office staff for their many hours preparing for the review and uploading the required documents. The full report will be available on the DESE website and on our website in the next 7-10 days. In addition, a presentation by Mary Bruhl will take place at the November 5th School Committee meeting. 

School Cancellations, Delays, Dismissals...

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.

Yes...it will be here soon.

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

• Twitter @JeffreyJMarsden (I actually do this first...so follow me!)
• Facebook (Medfield Public Schools page is linked to Twitter)
• Television Stations: Boston 25, WBZ 4, WCVB 5, and WHDH 7
• Our district website: www.medfield.net

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. Important:  If you feel it is unsafe for travel, you always have the option to keep your child home.

Did You Know?

• Meghan Glenn was recently appointed to the Medfield School Committee during a joint meeting of the Medfield Board of Selectmen and Medfield School Committee.
• Medfield was well represented at the recent MassCue Conference held at Gillette Stadium. Marjorie Heim, Diane Horvath, Neal Sonnenberg, Kerry Cowell, Julie Lowerre, Kelly Bertschmann, Christy Callahan, Marissa Foley, Maura Condon, Bethany Robertson, Steve Grenham, 6th grade student Adeline Keaveney and School Committee member Leo Brehm all presented at the two day conference attended by over a thousand educators.
• Anna Mae O'Shea Brooke and Jessica Reilly of the Medfield School Committee will hold an "Office Hour" on 10/25 at the Blake LMC from 7:00PM-8:00PM.
• The Superintendent's Parent Advisory on October 24 at 9:30 in the Blake LMC will focus on our Challenge Success initiative. Special thanks to the MHS PTO and MCPE for their support.
• The Medfield SEL website is a great resource for parents and educators.

Congratulations to Diane Horvath for receiving a 2018 Pathfinder Award!