Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Curriculum Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board hears first reading of Merton values report; committee proposes curriculum work
Summary
The board received the first reading of a committee-authored Merton values report proposing definitions, grade-band mappings, family engagement and a yearlong plan to write a district-specific values curriculum with public review next spring.
The board received a first reading of the Merton values report, a committee product that defines district values, maps them to grade bands and recommends ways to embed values across student, staff and community experiences. Maria Picharsky, introduced as the district’s director of curriculum and instruction, led the presentation and described three committee artifacts: a detailed report with definitions, grade-band one-pagers, and a value-mapping document showing where values appear in current practice.
Picharsky said the committee’s work included reviewing research on character education and social-emotional learning, mapping values to the district’s strategic pillars (community, staff experience and student experience) and producing recommendations such as board classroom visits, family nights focused on values, updated branding to make values more visible, and professional learning for staff. "We think our definitions are pretty good, and they're not really controversial in any way," Picharsky said, and recommended a yearlong curriculum-writing effort in partnership with teachers, with the goal of making materials publicly available for parent review next spring before implementation.
The administration emphasized that adopting a locally written values curriculum would require time and resources and recommended staying the course with current resources (including existing ACP/Second Step curriculum) while the district writes its own materials. Picharsky also proposed an explore/elective course that would teach community giving and business-community partnerships, tying curriculum development to hands-on community projects.
Board members asked questions about classroom visits and who would write and teach new offerings; Picharsky identified teachers who would be involved in curriculum development and said she would provide regular board updates. The board took no final action on the report at this meeting; it was presented as a first read to inform next steps and summer planning.
