Photo provided by the author
Middle School kids head for the entrance.
As I’ve walked down the hallways of our schools watching and listening to staff and students, it is clear that we are all working together to provide all students with the best opportunity for success in the world of tomorrow.
Our District Improvement Plan Map is already having an impact on how we focus our attention on teaching and learning. Our map is based on our collective knowledge gathered during the past year’s work in the areas of curriculum, instruction and assessment, teacher growth and evaluation, and organizational health. The District Improvement Plan and the School Improvement Plans for the 2016 school year will be presented to the BOE and public in October. These plans assist us in focusing our efforts towards improving student outcomes, providing clear communications, and determining budget priorities. They will provide measurements to review progress towards district goals and provide me with an internal accountability structure in support of continuous improvement.
Teachers assisted in prioritizing our strategies as we work towards our goals. Teachers overwhelmingly rated time to collaborate, write curriculum, work in professional learning communities, and provide teachers with teacher-led learning as top priorities. With this input, we are studying the possibility of providing early release days. As part of this study we will be visiting neighboring districts who currently provide regularly scheduled early release days in their school schedules and we are forming focus groups consisting of teachers, administrators, students, parents and community members.
If this sounds interesting to you and you want to know more about Suffield’s commitment to educational progress, please contact the Superintendent’s office and volunteer to participate in a community focus group during the 2016 school year.
Photo provided by the author
Kindergarteners smile and wave at the photographer on the first day of school.
Photo provided by the author
Suffield High School teachers line up for the ice cream truck after the “Welcome Back” convocation on August 26, five days before the students’ first day.