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Nantucket schools report small enrollment rise, 17 teacher vacancies; state funding, vocational capacity on committee radar
Summary
Superintendent told the School Committee on May 6 that enrollment rose by two students in May and the district is recruiting for 17 teaching positions. Committee members said state-level adjustments to education funding and vocational capacity are priorities raised at MASC’s Day on the Hill.
The superintendent told the Nantucket School Committee on May 6 that district enrollment rose by two students for May, to 1,723 from 1,721 the previous month, and that the district is actively recruiting to fill 17 teacher vacancies ahead of next school year.
"So for the month of May, we are up 2 students. We have 1,723, from 1,721 last month," the superintendent said, and later added, "We currently have 17 teacher positions to fill," with the vacancies spread across schools.
The committee heard a breakdown of the vacancies: three openings at NES, four at NIS, four at CPS, and six at the high school. The superintendent said two positions at the intermediate school are officially filled and five additional positions are tentatively filled pending final steps. She said recruitment channels include SchoolSpring, the Town of Nantucket website, Indeed, and job fairs, including an upcoming fair at Bridgewater State University that district staff will attend.
Committee member Laura Gallagher Byrne, who attended the Massachusetts Association of School Committees Day on the Hill with the superintendent, summarized state legislative topics discussed with legislators and staff. "They shared with us 5 key legislative priorities," she said, listing adjustments to Chapter 78 to account for inflation, improving fiscal health for rural districts, expanding vocational-technical capacity, establishing and funding financial literacy curriculum, and supporting superintendent searches.
The superintendent pointed to recent state data released on May 2 showing Nantucket High School earned 11 of 12 target points in the high-school-only completion category, raising its annual criterion reference target percentage to 71 percent. "These new data helped to put the high school at 71% for our annual criterion reference target percentage in 2024," she said, noting that was up from 55 percent in 2020.
Committee members said the state-level issues discussed at MASC — particularly changes to Chapter 78 funding and efforts to expand vocational capacity and financial‑literacy requirements — are relevant to Nantucket because they affect district funding, student pathways and hiring. Gallagher Byrne also described state efforts to permit more privacy early in superintendent searches so candidates who are currently seated elsewhere can apply without immediate public disclosure; she said the state is considering allowing executive-session privacy in initial parts of searches.
The district plans to continue recruiting through the summer; the superintendent said she is "feeling confident that we will be able to fill our positions," while adding the district will "continue to recruit" and complete required hiring steps before the new school year.
The committee did not take a formal vote on staffing at the May 6 meeting but asked that staffing remain on future agendas and noted state funding changes under consideration could materially affect district budgets and service capacity.
