Quabbin committee adopts updated school improvement plans and handbook revisions focused on attendance, device use and curriculum accommodations

The Quabbin Regional School District School Committee voted to approve updated school improvement plans and a set of student handbook revisions that tighten attendance protocols, expand positive behavior supports and set procedures for curriculum accommodations after recent court guidance.

Superintendent Colleen presented the changes and said the district had revised language to discourage family vacations during the school year, telling parents that “school attendance matters and we discourage families from taking vacations while school is in session.” She described new, districtwide attendance protocols developed over a recent administrative summit to increase positive, frequent communication with families and reduce chronic absenteeism.

The superintendent said elementary schools will deepen their PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) work and that elementary teachers will follow a revised data-meeting protocol, meeting every six to eight weeks to review interventions and academic progress. At the middle-high school level she described a new “B team” of middle school teachers who will pilot common expectations and strategies intended to align middle-school behavior supports with work already implemented at the elementary level.

The handbook revisions add clearer electronic-device rules for students. The committee materials cite state law and district counsel advice; the superintendent said the handbooks now specify that videotaping, recording or streaming on school grounds or on school buses is prohibited and that, for elementary vacations, work will not be provided ahead of time but will be given to students when they return. The handbook language includes a quotation of state regulation language used by the district: “In accordance with 603 CMR 26.05.1, the Quabbin Regional School District through its curricular materials encourages respect for the human and civil rights of all individuals …” The superintendent said the curriculum-accommodation language is intended to reflect a recent court decision and DESE/MASC guidance and that building principals will handle individual accommodation requests so classroom teachers are not the initial decisionmakers.

Committee members asked for clarification on implementation. Doctor Allen recalled an earlier principal’s rule-of-thumb for approving absences for travel and urged the district to balance opportunities and attendance, while other members sought more details about how missed instructional time is calculated. The superintendent pointed out that a single missed school day is about 6.5 hours of instruction and noted that missing 10 days amounts to about “60 hours” of instruction lost.

The committee also discussed gender-neutral bathrooms; the superintendent confirmed a middle-high school gender-neutral restroom is available next to the media center and said it has been in place for years and communicated to families.

The committee approved the elementary and middle-high school improvement plans and the handbook changes in roll-call votes during the meeting.

Why it matters: The handbook and school-improvement changes address attendance and behavior — two issues the superintendent tied to district literacy and achievement concerns since COVID — and add a formal, district-level process for curriculum accommodations that the superintendent said legal counsel recommended be handled by building principals.

Looking ahead: The superintendent said the district will post curricular materials on its website so families can review materials in advance and that principals will be prepared to handle accommodation requests promptly. The committee directed staff to bring competency-determination policy revisions to policy review and reform before Oct. 31 to align with forthcoming state changes.