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Date: 12/3/2021
EAST LONGMEADOW – As the school district builds toward a sense of normalcy, the East Longmeadow School Committee analyzed the 2021 fall status report during their Nov. 15 meeting.
Superintendent Gordon Smith showcased a presentation detailing the district’s current state as it works to overcome the pandemic. While the superintendent shared his encouragement with the district’s status, he stressed the time it will take for operations to recover completely. “Fully coming back from the pandemic probably is more than a one-year challenge; it’s going to be multiple years,” said Smith.
In his presentation, the superintendent highlighted support mechanisms being offered to students. Smith said all five schools are focusing on the social and emotional education in conjunction with their academic curriculum. For elementary schools, the social-emotional learning program “Second Step” is being implemented, while Birchland Park Middle School and East Longmeadow High School are utilizing scheduled blocks for social and emotional curriculum, according to Smith.
The superintendent shared that each school has also maintained a counseling partnership with River Valley Counseling over the last three years. In regard to the district’s efforts for emotional education, Smith stressed the curriculum’s significance for student improvement.
“This is something that is a need, and we need to have the resource to help our students. If we are not working with our students emotionally and looking at mental health for all involved in the school community, then we aren’t able to do the job we want to do,” said Smith. His presentation also highlighted a panorama survey conducted for students and staff, with the superintendent sharing his optimism with how the district compared with national figures.
Smith then discussed spring 2021 MCAS test scores. As the superintendent noted, most students in the district scored in the “Meeting Expectations” or “Partially Meeting Expectations” categories. Compared to past MCAS tests, Smith said more students landed in the latter category, as well as the “Not Meeting Expectations” category. “That’s going to be where we have to dig in to see what are the standards that are most challenging for students at different grade levels,” said Smith.
As far as final takeaways for the presentation, Smith discussed the importance of supporting student achievements despite pandemic challenges and the discrepancy between the district’s promising ELA scores compared to lower math results. Despite some drops in performance, the superintendent also shared his encouragement with the district performing in line with several national and state averages.
The School Committee will meet again on Dec. 7.