After the pledge, the floor was open for public comment and Mr. Mike MacDonald discussed the prospect of having a morning prayer to improve student mental health. He suggested that there were numerous health benefits to prayer and, since our school offers yoga, which he claimed was a religious exercise, there should be a Christian prayer at the start of the school day to, in his own words, “Give our kids a chance to have a relationship with God.”
After the public comment, the minutes from the last meeting were approved and it was announced that the scores for MCAS were going to be available online, however, there are security concerns so that date will be pushed back. Additionally, only thirteen school districts reached pre-Covid levels in reading and math.
Every time there is a school committee meeting, a different department will share its findings and concerns with the committee; this month it was the Art department. There were concerns over the fact that the position of middle-school and high-school art teacher (a position the art director described as difficult) has been vacant and four different people have recently left the position. There was also concern raised over the fact that art at the Woodsdale is conducted on the stage. There was also talk about extending the Art show for more days, and while this may be feasible for the middle school, the high school projects are displayed on science table which must be returned for the following school day.
The school committee voted in favor of allowing sophomores to go on international field trips (this year to Eastern Europe) in an effort to boost the number of people signing up for the expensive international field trips. In a similar vein, there were talks about allowing Abington and Weymouth students to have joint field trips, again, to increase the number of people going on these field trips. The middle schoolers’ trip to Washington DC was approved. There was concern over the fact that the students may not behave appropriately at the holocaust memorial museum however, the middle school principal Mr. McCurtain, stated that there will be ample information given to the students, not just during the trip but throughout the year, on the significance and importance of the location they will be visiting.
Superintendent Dr. Moschella discussed the need for short term goals for this year to align with the 2024-2029 strategic plan. (More information about the strategic plan can be found on the Abington Public Schools website, in short, in consists of new methods of “vertical and horizontal” teaching, improving communication between all parties, students, parents, educators, and administrators, fostering an inclusive and diverse environment, and provided high quality and safe facilities for education.) She stated that, with regard to MCAS scores it is important to keep the high scorers scoring high and bring up the scores of those students who struggle.
Dr. Moschella also discussed how administrators (and members of the school committee if they wish) walking through classrooms could help identify strong points and areas for improvement. She stressed that these walkthroughs would not be for purposes of evaluation of individual teachers, but rather identifying common threads, both between classrooms and schools. She mentioned the benefits of how having multiple adults in one room would allow classroom teachers to visit other teachers’ classrooms to see what they do and learn from how they teach. She also will be completing her second of three years in the new superintendent program this school year.
In accordance with the strategic plan, Dr. Moschella hopes to improve communication between the school district and the Abington police department and parents of students of Abington Schools, especially with regard to public safety. There will be two drills this school year coordinated by the school district and Abington police.
Town officials are anticipating a difficult year with regard to the town’s budget and there is concern over the need for an override. The school committee will work closely with all to determine a level budget and an override budget. A level funding budget is a budget that same dollar amount between the current and previous year. The amount of money needed pay for staff, services, etc. makes up the service budget. Because of the current budget environment there will be no service growth for some time. The committee anticipates the first budget will be a level service budget not a growth budget, however there will be more meetings to work out any issues concerning the budget. A major difference concerning the budget is that it will have to be submitted before March instead of the usual May or April.
The next meeting of the Abington School committee will be Tuesday, October 28 at 7:00.
