Leadership Team Update
District Leadership Team Meeting
The
District Leadership Team held its first meeting on Wednesday, September 14th.
(Agenda in Packet) It was a productive meeting as we discussed roles and
responsibilities in decision making so that the entire team has common language
on expectations regarding the making of decisions. One issue that was
recognized was the number of meetings that administrators attend outside of
their buildings on school days. In recognition of how valuable a resource time
is, we are piloting a restructuring of our meeting format. In order to do this
effectively, we identified three main areas of work that the team needed to
complete to move the District forward and meet the expectations that were set
in the DIP. The three areas were hiring
procedures: Student Success, Teams, and Success Criteria. The resultant task
forces and their goals are listed below:
Hiring
Subcommittee (Element 4D-2)
Primary Goal:
- Develop standard operating procedures and best
practices for hiring
Key Activities:
- Review
current practices and timelines;
- Develop
new and/or revise current forms and processes for efficiency and compliance;
- Explore
options for automation; and
- Develop/enhance communication as a candidate
moves through the hiring process
Subcommittee Members:
- Cindy Todd Brian
- Ana Ellen Melissa
Student Success Teams (Element
3B-2; student learning goal 2)
Primary Goal:
- Establish consistent data based process and
protocols for student success teams at all levels to insure responsive
instruction and/or support services for students
Key Activities:
- Work
collaboratively with special education improvement team;
- Develop
a plan to create shared ownership for Building Curriculum Accommodation
plans and the District Curriculum Accommodation Plan (D-CAP);
- Develop
a communication plan to include teachers and parents; and
- Determine professional development needs of staff
for successful implementation
Subcommittee Members:
- Cathy Erin Lee
- Matt Miriam Dave
- Angie Dan Jason
Success Criteria (Element 1E-3)
Primary Goal:
- Define metrics of performance relative to HPS
mission in order to assess success and stimulate progress
Key Activities:
- Define
metrics and evidence;
- Align
metrics with our DIP; and
- Communicate metrics for inclusion in District
documents including SIPs
Subcommittee Members:
- Leslie Karen Josh
- Rachel Patty Kelly
- Amy*
As
a result of adopting this subcommittee structure and the need to have “all
hands on deck”, we will be dividing our three hour District Leadership Team
Meetings into two parts. For the first two hours, the subcommittees will have a
blended meeting using a combination of face-to-face and a virtual platform.
These will be working groups. The blended format will allow every administrator
to attend and be an active participant without leaving a building regularly
unattended. The final hour of the meeting will be conducted using a more
traditional format. I am looking forward to seeing how this new structure
affects our productivity and if it makes our time together more efficient.
Administrator Council
The
Administrator Council is a group of five administrators elected by their peers
to serve as a smaller advisory team that is more nimble in making decisions and
debating issues. We met on Tuesday, September 20th. (Agenda in
Packet) The topics that we were discussed were how to best develop a budget
that met the needs of the entire District moving forward and allowed for
prioritization of needs with a K-12 view. We also discussed how to best recruit
teachers for our skillful teaching course, how to structure our final (perhaps)
“traditional” leadership meeting on September 27th and how to move
the proposed administrative restructuring proposal through a vetting process
prior to my presenting it to School Committee. This was a highly productive
meeting and I appreciate the active participation of all council members.
Analyzing Teaching for Student Results (Element 4D-2; District
Improvement Goals 3 & 4)
The
District Leadership Team had its first session of Analyzing Teaching for
student results on Wednesday, September 21st. I spoke with several
members of the team afterwards who said that they found it helpful, but were
very tired! It was a good session with many thoughts brought to the forefront.
We are lucky that we have a veteran facilitator that is teaching both our
course and the teachers’ course. She analyzed where we were in relation to our
current practices and our District Improvement Plan and quickly realized that
the course could be tweaked to better meet our needs. As one of the original
curriculum developers for the course, she is going to rewrite portions prior to
our next meeting so that it will precisely meet our needs. I am quite excited
about having the opportunity to learn and grow professionally alongside the
administrative team.
Finance and Operations
CHAPS
Partnership (Professional Practice Goal 1)
I
recently spoke with Steve Freitas to invite him to speak about our Partnership
at an upcoming meeting in response to a request by the Committee Chair. Steve
will be attending our October 11th meeting. The initial transition
to our new programming model has been overwhelmingly positive. Steve and I
discussed how he has staff members working in the parking lots assisting
students and parents, the positive comments he has received from staff and
families, as well as the responsiveness of our amazing building and grounds
staff whenever an issue arises. Steve will be presenting more detailed
information to us at our October 11th meeting.
RADAR
Project DESE (Element 2E-1)
Our District has been accepted into DESE’s project to pilot a new
set of Resource Allocation and District Action Reports (RADAR) to support
strategic planning and budget decision making and to help the Department
develop tools and resources that can be useful to districts statewide. Our District
was selected from among a number of applicants based on the thought put into
our current efforts to use resources strategically, and our expressed desire to
improve resource allocation. This pilot will begin in the fall 2016 and
continue until fall 2018.
The aim of this project is to provide the District with:
·
More and better data in easy-to-use reports to inform resource
allocation decisions;
·
Training on strategic budgeting from our partners at the District
Management Council;
·
Workshops and protocols that you can use for budgeting in your
district; and
·
Opportunities to provide feedback and shape the RADAR tools
Patty Lange and I attended an all-day meeting on Friday, September
23rd, at Worcester State University, that brought together teams
from all seven pilot districts for a training session on strategic budgeting
practices and an introduction to the RADAR tools and reports. I will have a
more informed update at our meeting. After this initial meeting, we will be
looking for a School Committee member who would be interested in accompanying
us to future meetings.
MCAS
2.0 (Element
1C-1)
As I have made the Committee
aware, DESE is requiring all students in grades 4 and 8 to take an electronic
version of MCAS 2.0. DESE has released the technical specifications for running
the test and given that it will be able to run on Windows 7. The District is in good shape as far as having
the hardware to make this happen in the spring. I participated in a conference
call this past week for the requirements and expectations regarding
administering the test online. This will be a heavy lift for our database
specialist, entire Technology Department, the Office of Student Services and the
ELL Director. One of the largest changes is related to testing accommodations
for students with diverse learning needs and how the accommodations are
accessed and reported. There will be numerous administrative level meetings
occurring over the year to plan for this transition and to be sure that we are
fully aware of the implications of the training. Mrs. Schuck and I will be
meeting Tuesday afternoon (9/27/16). The District administration will work hard
to keep the Committee and the community apprised of the developments as we
build our own understanding of them.
Curriculum and Instruction Update
Curriculum
Review Task Force (Element 1A-1; District Improvement Goal 1)
The
District had 31 teachers apply to be members of the Curriculum Review Task
Force (CRTF). The District selected 22 members from this terrific pool of
applicants. The decision was a very hard one for the Curriculum Directors to
make. I am excited that we had so many teachers interested in this opportunity.
The work that they do will bring our curriculum to the next level and is
critical to meeting the objectives of our District Improvement Plan.
Superintendent’s Items of Interest
Book
Group-Potluck Reminder
Just
a reminder that our Administration/School Committee joint potluck dinner and
book group discussion will be happening October 4th from 6:00-8:00 p.m.
PTS
Ceremony
Thank you Chairperson Dufour, Vice Chairperson Hay, and Dr.
Maston for attending our second annual Professional Teacher Status Ceremony.
This is such a special night and really exemplifies what is best about Hudson.
Listening to the positive characteristics displayed by the individuals
receiving this honor really brings home why this District is so special. The
supportive colleagues who are present exhibit such pride in the accomplishments
of their peers. This night is just one example why we have such a positive
professional culture here in Hudson.
Enrollment
All enrollment numbers are up to date
as of the writing of this report. They are unofficial numbers. The
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education collects
snapshots of enrollment data three times per year October, March, and June. I will
provide you with monthly enrollment numbers so that you can be aware of the
amount of fluctuation that may or may not be occurring on a monthly basis.
|
5/20/16
|
9/9/16
|
9/22/16
|
|
|
|
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HHS
|
968
|
941
|
943
|
|
|
|
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QMS
|
649
|
648
|
642
|
|
|
|
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Farley
|
498
|
485
|
488
|
|
|
|
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Forest Avenue
|
340
|
325
|
325
|
|
|
|
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Mulready
|
260
|
248
|
249
|
|
|
|
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District Total
|
2,715
|
2,647
|
2,647
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By the Numbers: September 13
–September 27, 2016 (Element 3C-1)
•
42 email conversations (at least 3
exchanges in conversation)
•
156 email exchanges (no more than 2
exchanges in each interaction)
•
2 tweets
to 850 followers
•
7 meetings
with individual staff members
•
6 meetings
with groups of Administrators
•
1 District
Leadership Team meeting
•
1 School
Committee member meeting (Chairperson)
•
1 mentor
meeting re: Boston College PCAP Program
•
3 school
visits
•
1 labor
management meeting
•
1 Department
of Elementary and Secondary Education conference call
•
1 Professional
Teacher Status Ceremony
•
1 First Day of Graduate Course: Analyzing Teaching for
Student Results • 1 Budget Analysis and Resource Allocation Pilot Conference (DESE)
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