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Plymouth River School committee approves 2024–2026 improvement plan emphasizing UDL, PBIS and a "One School, One Book" program
Summary
Principal Greg Lamont presented a midterm update to the Plymouth River School improvement plan (2024–2026) on Oct. 6; the School Committee approved the plan after discussion of universal design for learning, schedule changes to increase specialist support, and a PBIS-focused SEL program centered on a schoolwide book read.
Greg Lamont, principal of Plymouth River School, presented a midterm review and update of the school’s improvement plan for 2024–2026 at the Hingham School Committee meeting on Oct. 6. After discussion the committee voted to accept the plan.
Lamont framed the plan around three goals: strengthening teaching and learning with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and improved schedules to maximize instructional time; bolstering social-emotional supports using PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) and the Social-Emotional and Behavior Academy; and building community connections through improved communication and a one-school read.
What the plan includes
- Instructional supports and schedule changes: Lamont described using shared special-education staffing across grade-band teams so that two special educators support each grade band. The revised master schedule and shared staffing, he said, helped create flexible service delivery and allowed the school to deploy six specialists in first-grade “walk-to-read” time to provide intensive reading instruction.
- Coaching and professional development: Lamont said coaching for literacy and math specialists is underway and slowly gaining teacher participation; the plan aims to expand coaching-based professional development where teachers request it.
- Social-emotional programming: Plymouth River joined the district’s Social-Emotional and Behavior (SEB) Academy and selected PBIS as a priority area. The school will implement revised PBIS matrices (polite, responsible, safe) and a schoolwide “One Book, One School” program. This year’s book selection, Be a Tree, will be paired with lessons tied to literacy, life science, art and social awareness standards.
- Family and community engagement: Lamont said an anonymous staff survey returned too few usable responses to guide action and the school is redesigning student- and grade-level surveys to gather more targeted feedback. He also reviewed referral data and said PBIS implementation has already reduced classroom referrals as incidents shift to fewer locations.
Committee action and reaction
A motion to approve and accept the Plymouth River School Improvement Plan for 2024–2026 passed by voice vote. Committee members praised the cross-disciplinary ‘‘One Book’’ approach and the school’s efforts to refine schedules to better support inclusive instruction. One committee member asked whether low survey response rates reflected participation issues; Lamont said the school will rework questions and distribution methods to increase response rates.
Practical next steps
- Finalize and distribute the revised student- and grade-level surveys.
- Continue PBIS rollout with staff training and tracking of referral-location data to target supports (playground, cafeteria, bus, classroom).
- Expand coaching opportunities as teacher interest grows and collect measures of impact at the grade-band level.
