Principals from across the Freetown-Lakeville Regional School District presented updates on three-year school improvement plans during the Dec. 11 meeting, describing goals in instruction, inclusion and social-emotional learning.

Bethany (principal at Assawasi Elementary) said year three of a three-year plan has allowed teachers to focus on a few priorities and build shared practices. She described efforts to refine a school pledge to emphasize inclusivity, implement a “coffee with the principal” family engagement night, and use consistent evaluation rubrics and "what to look for" walkthrough protocols in partnership with other principals.

Michael Ward, principal of Freetown Elementary School, summarized four goals focused on reading, mathematics, writing and social-emotional learning. He said progress monitoring places most students in Tier 1 instruction with roughly 15% in Tier 2 and about 5% in Tier 3, and he reported chronic absenteeism at Freetown Elementary has fallen to about 7.1 percent. Ward credited staff, family engagement and targeted interventions for the improvement.

Doctor Sullivan, intermediate school principal, described three interrelated goals emphasizing self-awareness and social-emotional supports, culture and attendance. Sullivan said the building has introduced additional adjustment counselor supports and care teams that allow quick check-ins for students in distress; the intermediate school has tracked weekly attendance and missed the 94% target fewer times each year (six weeks missed in 2022, three in 2023, one so far in 2024).

Technology: Ryan Blanchard, technology director, reviewed this summer’s work and upcoming needs. The district deployed 417 Dell Chromebooks in protective cases, completed a direct fiber connection between ARHS and AES to route traffic within campus networks, and replaced aging cable infrastructure at Freetown Elementary with Cat-6 cabling and new IDFs. Blanchard said the district has applied for a 2025 cybersecurity-awareness grant and listed major capital needs over the next five years: a replacement phone system, network switches (installed in 2013 and now end-of-life), and classroom desktop computers that cannot be upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11.

Finance and budget: John Higgins, director of finance and operations, provided an FY25 update and early FY26 planning information. He said the FY24 audit is nearing completion and preliminary reports note recurring issues from FY23 but also indicate steps taken in FY25 should address those findings. Higgins warned of budgetary pressure from health insurance (district health insurance percentage increase to be provided in February and a conservative planning assumption of a double-digit increase), retiree health insurance adjustments tied to Medicare (about an 18% increase as of Jan. 1), and special-education tuition inflation (an estimated 3.67% increase for FY26 and about 5% for collaborative tuitions). Liability insurance premiums have doubled since 2023 after two significant claims; subrogation litigation related to one claim is ongoing and could affect future premiums.

Administrators said planned next steps include continued progress monitoring of improvement-plan goals, prioritizing technology capital purchases, and finalizing the FY26 budget after receiving insurance rate information.

Quotes in this article come from principals and staff presenting at the Dec. 11 meeting.