Summer, 2018 - A Glimpse at the Year Ahead 

It’s summertime and I’m guessing that few have begun to think about the 2018-19 school year ahead. In the meantime however, the Mascenic School Board and SAU Administration have held several planning meetings as part of our ongoing effort to bring focus to the work underway in the Mascenic Schools.

 The result of these meetings has been the identification of three “areas of focus” that we intend to pursue. Specifically these include:

 Focus Area #1 - Communication (“Community Outreach”)

 That is, to use a variety of means to reach out to the citizens of Greenville and New Ipswich in ways that will help provide easy access to the information on school events and multiple opportunities for them to become involved in their schools and the work underway in support  of continued success for all of our students.

 Focus Area #2 - Culture

 To work to develop and support the recent work that is underway in supporting administrative transparency, inclusion in decision-making, collaboration, recognition of the value of many of our traditions and celebration of the positive accomplishments of our staff and students that occurs everyday.

Focus Area #3 - Competitive Competency (“Student Success”)

 To work to broaden opportunities for student learning as our first priority in ways that will encompass all of our students interests and needs. Activities that include classroom volunteers, support of our PTO/PTSO’s, school-business partnerships, increased Vocational (CTE) programs, staff professional development, and the list goes on.

 Our extended discussion of these areas of focus led us to the next most important question. That is how we can we go about following-through on these important areas of focus in getting things done? This led us to several specific areas of work to be done within each area of focus.

 2018-2019 (and beyond.., ) Mascenic School District Goals

 The school board and administration have drafted the following set of goals for the year ahead. Individual members of the board and administration have begun the preliminary work of outlining the specific activities what form(s) each goal will take in the year ahead. (The last names of the board members/administrators working on each topic are listed. An initial report on our plans is scheduled for review at the August 6th meeting of the Board with further reports on our progress to follow.)

 Goal Area #1, Community Outreach

 Activities 

• To continue holding “Community Conversation” meetings with citizens/parents at each school and other locations throughout the upcoming school year (Lampinen, Falter, Lewis, Russell).
• To seek ways/opportunities to reach out to voters, representatives of town and state government as a means of promoting positive communication and supporting public education (Pellerito, Russell) .
• To utilize and expand upon our the ways that we can use technology to reach out and promote “news on our schools” (Anderson, Lampinen, Lewis, Ballou). 

Goal Area #2, Mascenic School Culture

 Activity 

• To work to describe and highlight the various aspects of the Mascenic School life that make it a special place to work and learn. Characteristics such as an emphasis on school safety, promoting a sense of belonging, the recognition of the positive, stakeholder involvement, opportunities for student input, mutual  respect, etc. (Spratt, Anderson, Seusing, Russell)

 Goal Area #3, Ensuring Student Success

 Activities 

• To define the specific ways and metrics we will use to define student success. This will be made up of measures beyond traditional standardized assessments and report cards. It may include student attendance, participation in co-curricular activities, engagement in AP or dual enrollment courses, volunteerism and community service, etc. (Spratt, Anderson, Seusing, Russell)
• To focus upon and strengthen the foundational pieces of the organization of the Mascenic School District through work on the program of studies, evaluation process, professional development planning, organizational chart, instructional expectations and PK-12 curriculum. (Spratt, Anderson, Lewis, Russell) 

Plans are underway to refine our areas of focus and resulting goals to be pursued over the course of the next several months as we roll-out the details of our efforts and solicit ways in which to improve upon these efforts. We have shared this information with our administrative team of principals, assistant principals and other administrator’s not involved to date. Further work is planned in sharing this information with our staff at the opening of school in late August and through meetings and public information campaigns with the parents and citizens of Greenville and New Ipswich. It is our hope that with everyone’s involvement we can continue the important work that is underway. 

Sincerely, 

Stephen Russell, EdD