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Regional School District 10 director praises new hires as Wit & Wisdom pilot expands
Summary
At the Sept. 16 Regional School District 10 Curriculum Committee meeting, Director of Teaching & Learning Vonetta Romeo-Rivers reported a strong start to the school year, outlined new-hire orientation results (23 certified, 13 non-certified), and updated the committee on a scaled Wit & Wisdom elementary rollout and planned training.
Regional School District 10’s Curriculum Committee met Sept. 16 and heard a start-of-year update from Vonetta Romeo-Rivers, the district’s director of teaching and learning, who said the district saw strong attendance and classroom energy as the school year began.
Romeo-Rivers told the committee that a new-hire orientation held the Thursday before school welcomed 23 certified and 13 non-certified new employees. "I was very impressed with the extremely high quality of these new hires," she said, adding that the district’s clearer job descriptions and a tighter alignment of hires to Region 10 growth priorities have helped raise hiring quality.
The committee reviewed professional learning dates held Aug. 25–26 and a half day on Aug. 27 prior to the start of school. Romeo-Rivers said the professional learning sessions and handouts outline rollout expectations for the year and will include additional training for new hires.
The meeting included a program update on the Wit & Wisdom elementary literacy curriculum. Romeo-Rivers said the district is currently implementing three lessons per week, not five, and that roughly half of elementary staff have completed the pilot. She said remaining staff and new hires will receive training as specified in the Professional Learning Series and supporting handouts provided to teachers.
Committee members reported that current levels of early childhood education (ECE) and Advanced Placement (AP) offerings are "going well," and discussed the possibility of adding an additional ECE course in Fine Arts at a future date, noting that the idea is in the very early stages of assessment.
Members also flagged elementary scheduling pressures tied to state program mandates for grades 3 and 4 and suggested the committee revisit that topic for follow-up planning. The committee discussed the schedule for future meetings and indicated that, barring pressing issues in October, the next official meeting may be in November.
Votes at a glance: A motion to approve the minutes from the May 20, 2025 meeting was made by Scott Savelle and seconded by Cassandra DuBois; the transcript records the motion and second but does not record a vote tally or explicit outcome. A motion to adjourn at 5:50 p.m. was made by Rachel McFadden and seconded by Cassandra DuBois; the transcript records the motion and second but does not show a vote tally or explicit outcome.
The Curriculum Committee did not record formal vote tallies in the provided transcript. The committee’s next steps include scheduled professional learning sessions and targeted training for remaining Wit & Wisdom participants; the committee may reconvene in November if no urgent matters arise.
