Board visits Arthur S. May School and highlights responsive-classroom practices
Summary
Board members visited Arthur S. May School, observed inquiry-based lessons, phonics instruction and choice-based art, and heard plans for family engagement (Nov. 6 family night) and a schoolwide book club with the PTA.
Principal Sherry Todd welcomed the board to Arthur S. May School and outlined the school’s focus on responsive-classroom practices: morning meetings, schoolwide expectations, logical consequences, reflection and peer-support programs such as buddy classrooms and a bus-helper program.
Todd described family-engagement efforts including a family night on Nov. 6 (literacy and math sessions, escape rooms for grades 3–5, yard games and food trucks) with interpreter support; she said 50 families had already registered with two weeks to go. Todd also announced a schoolwide community book club in partnership with the PTA featuring The Anxious Generation.
Board members who attended classroom walkthroughs praised phonics instruction in kindergarten, inquiry-based lessons on gravity, and a choice-based Inktober art lesson where teachers integrated vocabulary and literacy. Trustees highlighted moments of teacher-student connection observed in hallways and classrooms, calling the engagement and energy “delightful.” Several trustees thanked named teachers (Miss Rush, Mr. Kolecek, Miss Eckhart, Miss Shook) for hosting and emphasized the value of these visits for governance and community connection.
The board signaled it will continue its rotational school visits, with the next scheduled stop at Union Vale Middle School in coming weeks.
