A MESSAGE FROM THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE: December 3, 2014 Dear Community of Wilmington: With the academic first quarter coming to a close, we hope that everyone is enjoying their school year. A special welcome to our new superintendent Mary DeLai, as she is quickly acclimating to our school district and community. We are anxiously awaiting the completion of the new Wilmington High School, which is scheduled to open on February 24, 2015! The Wilmington School Community is excited about opening our new state of the art facility. The North Street School window project is almost completed, and it looks beautiful. Congratulations to Wilmington High School and the Woburn Street School for reaching Level 1 status on this past year’s MCAS scores. The role of the School Committee is defined by law as: - hiring and evaluating the Superintendent of Schools - ensuring that a budget to meet the needs of the school system is developed and approved - ensuring that the school district has policies that ensure that the schools meet the needs of students according to the law. We have a full workload to address. The new State Educator Evaluation Program applies to superintendents, as well as administration and faculty – and provides us with an opportunity not only to assess our superintendent, but also to provide her with guidance. As we move toward the full implementation of this program, we find it is adding value to our approach to managing our schools. The process is benefiting the students, just as it is benefiting the teachers. On the policy front, we have updated our district’s policy to reflect the new state initiatives on bullying, discipline, and special education, which were instated in July 2014. Additionally, there is policy work to be done in the areas of curriculum and the summative assessments (MCAS, PARCC or other) that will measure our students’ progress. Finally, we are re examining the District’s Policy Manual for accuracy and effectiveness. Our budget process has begun. We continue to be challenged by recent State and Federal mandates, such as, the new state disciplinary laws, the state’s new curriculum framework and future assessment tool, School Nutrition and Food Service mandates, the Educator Evaluation, McKinney-Vento Homeless Transportation Act and No Child Left Behind. We will be working closely with our administration to create a cohesive and comprehensive budget. We invite the community to our first School Budget Hearing on Wednesday, December 10, at 7PM in the Wilmington High School library. We are eager to expand our communication with the community at large as we fulfill our goals. We invite you to email us at SchoolCommittee@wpsk12. School Committee meeting materials are available on our website after our meetings. The Community is always welcome and encouraged to attend our meetings, which are typically held on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month at 7PM at the Wilmington High School library. While we seek and value your input on school wide issues, please remember that questions regarding individual schools, staff, or students are best resolved by following the “Chain of Communication” protocols. Sincerely, The Wilmington School Committee
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 02:23:12 +0000
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