Now that the school budget is officially in the Board of Finance’s hands, Monday night’s Board of Education (BOE) meeting could focus on other matters. That’s precisely what they did. Here is an overview of the most consequential items from the night’s agenda.
Overview of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEAS&C) 5-year progress report
Back in November 2019, the Committee on Public Secondary Schools provided a review of the evaluation report from a Spring visit to Stafford High School and continued accreditation in the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEAS&C). These visits happen every eight years, according to Marco Pelliccia, Principal of Stafford High School (SHS). Between visits, the SHS administration and staff have worked to address the recommendations, and on March 11, Pelliccia and SHS Vice Principal Ben Scurto updated the board on their progress.
Scurto said that 32 of the report’s recommendations have been addressed and completed, with just seven more to go. Cuts to the school budget have impacted some of the items that remain on the list. For instance, one request reads, “Request Evaluate the current SRBI/Intervention delivery model and make any necessary modifications in order to increase student learning.” While a plan seems to be in place, executing it has been difficult. According to documents provided along with the BOE meeting agenda: “A district-wide Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Handbook was developed in 2022-2023 with input from the building administration, special education administration, 9-12 mathematics interventionist, 9-12 ELA interventionist, school social worker, and school counselor. The MTSS Handbook provides a consistent process for academic and behavioral support across the district and guidance on the use of data to determine students in need of tiered intervention…” However, “The high school has lost all regular education non-certified support staff, creating multiple needs throughout the building. The interventionists have worked hard to continue assisting all students, but they cannot do so in full alignment with the systems detailed in the District’s MTSS Handbook.”
Some of the other outstanding items are seemingly mundane, such as a lack of storage and inconsistent heating and cooling throughout the building.
An interim report questionnaire asked SHS to describe any substantive changes that would impact its ability to achieve any of the standards, and the response is a litany of lost positions:
One full-time Physical Education and Health teacher has resulted in the school not being able to offer Unified Physical Education and any elective Physical Education. Both health and physical education are only offered in 9th and 10th grades.
One full-time World Language teacher, which resulted in the entire French program being removed from the program of studies and increased class sizes.
One full-time history teacher has resulted in a reduction in course offerings, including advanced-level coursework, and increased class sizes.
Two classroom paraprofessionals, which resulted in a lack of adult support for students with disabilities.
One Library Media paraprofessional, which resulted in library closures and diminished assistance for students.
One in-school suspension paraprofessional, which has resulted in teachers losing collaborative time to cover in-school suspension and a lack of a consistent program
Two academic tutors were cut, which completely removed support from students who have fallen behind with classwork, homework, projects, etc., and a reduction in passing rates/credit attainment.
The removal of the Technology Integration Specialist, who assisted and supported teachers in the implementation of tech tools in the classroom.
This included training, troubleshooting, privacy agreements, and other levels of support. Now, teachers do not have specific integration support.
It is projected that the school will not fill the currently open math interventionist position.
An open Special Education Position has not been filled for a long time.
Pelliccia also mentioned that two tutor positions currently in the proposed budget would help address this problem. For a full accounting of the completed and still outstanding items, see the agenda (and scroll past the minutes from recent meetings).
Increasing Educator Diversity Plan
A legislative mandate (Public Act 23-167 Section 10) requires that all local and regional BOEs submit a plan detailing how they will increase educator diversity within their districts. At Monday’s meeting, Dr. Laura Norbut, Chief Academic Officer, presented the plant to the board for approval. The plan seems to have been developing right up until the last minute, as a few minor differences exist between the version in the agenda materials and what was ultimately approved.
While the plan represents a wide array of strategies and practices not only to recruit but retain a more diverse staff, the “Theory of Action” sums it up best:
“If Stafford Public Schools develops partnerships with local colleges/universities, promotes the strengths of the district in its recruiting efforts, and ensures procedures and practices that attract, hire, and retain qualified, diverse educators, then the district will increase the diversity within its learning communities, fostering a responsive educational experience for students, preparing them for college, career, and life. The term responsive is defined as understanding the diversity within our school communities including language, race/ethnicity, gender, religion, and sexual orientation. It involves creating welcoming working and learning environment, ensuring that staff and students feel valued and respected. In Stafford Public Schools, we believe in the importance of meeting each student’s individual needs.”
As Dr. Norbut pointed out, the state mandates towns adopt a Vision, a Theory of Action, and three specific goals—but the timing is right for Stafford, which is currently struggling to attract employees. She said the district wants more applicants so we can find the best candidates and that more applicants tend to mean a more diverse pool to choose from.
In addition to working with local colleges and universities, Dr. Norbut suggested the district could hold local career fairs and reach out across state lines into Massachusetts. She also said that the district could play up selling points like smaller class sizes and proximity to nature to attract staff.
The thing that went unsaid is that Stafford pays less than many of its competing districts. At a time when school staff is already in short supply, that makes it tough to compete.
Board member Shana Boland asked a question about ensuring diverse stakeholders, saying she noticed that parent committees were often made up of the same group of parents. Dr.
Norbut acknowledged that one of the risk factors for the plan is a current lack of diverse staff, but said she hoped that once the plan was implemented, it could have a snowball effect (my words, not hers).
Board member Jennifer Biedrzycki said she had been researching the impact of diversity in organizations. Among other things, she found that “Diverse teams make better decisions… up to 87% of the time.” (Similar findings can be found here and here.)
With little other discussion, the BOE moved on to a vote, and the plan was approved, with Boland abstaining. You can learn more about the plan by reviewing the materials included in the agenda.
Addition of Italian III
As we have noted multiple times recently, Stafford has lost a number of staff positions due to budget cuts. There is no longer a French language program, leaving Spanish and Italian to fill the gap. The district would like to add Italian III to its course offerings for a variety of reasons, but most notably because colleges often require at least three years of a foreign language on a student’s transcript. Students who wanted to study Italian for three years could not.
The cost of the instructional materials was included in the 2024-2025 budget proposal, but the district is also pursuing a possible grant through the Italian American Committee on Education (IACE). The board voted unanimously to approve the addition of Italian III to the high school’s offerings.