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District officials report gains on attendance, outline curriculum and facilities steps; budget subcommittee okays a set of staffing moves
Summary
Superintendent and principals reviewed end‑of‑year goals showing modest attendance gains and reduced chronic absenteeism, described new math curriculum adoption and facilities repairs, and the committee's budget subcommittee approved targeted staffing changes while seeking more detail on special‑education assignments.
District leaders told the School Committee on Thursday that the district has posted modest gains on attendance and described a string of curricular, facilities and staffing steps to carry forward into the next school year.
Dr. Slaney, presenting district‑level highlights, said the district attendance rate improved from 94.1% to 94.8% and that chronic absenteeism fell from 16.7% to 11.2% over the reporting period. He and principals identified continuing challenges for specific subgroups — especially multilingual learners (MLLs) and students with special education needs — and said the district will continue tiered interventions.
Administrators outlined instructional work, including full adoption of a new elementary math program (Eureka Math Squared for pre‑K–5) and Reveal for grades 6–12, an expansion of AI literacy planning and pilot classroom use, and tighter progress monitoring using IReady and IXL data. Principals reported gains in grade‑level benchmarks for reading and math and said the district is increasing use of Open Architect data tools for monitoring.
On facilities, administrators said roof repairs are under way at the middle school and a rooftop HVAC replacement was completed above the high‑school auditorium using the district HVAC reserve. Other summer capital work includes track resurfacing and an auditorium lighting upgrade scheduled for July.
On student assessment, school leaders said the district will look to strand‑level measures and to required PSAT administration for all 10th‑grade students next year to obtain comparable, college‑scale measures; they also noted mixed results using IXL and IReady at the high‑school level and described plans to refine how those tools are used for intervention.
The committee’s budget subcommittee moved to approve three staffing items requested by the administration — an initial kindergarten teacher, a 0.58 FTE adjustment in the ELL staffing allocation and a six‑hour per day math tutor — and the full subcommittee vote carried 7–0. The committee also authorized the budget subcommittee to continue working with staff on a recommended change in special‑education staffing at the high‑school level and to return with a recommendation; that matter was not finalized at the meeting.
Committee members asked for continued transparency on enrollment and special‑education placements as the subcommittee and administration refine staffing decisions; administrators said they would provide additional details to the subcommittee before final decisions are posted to the committee.
The meeting closed with a unanimous roll‑call vote to enter executive session on collective bargaining or litigation.
