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Date: 6/29/2023
EAST LONGMEADOW — East Longmeadow Public Schools Superintendent Gordon Smith invited the school leadership teams to present the year-end academic and social-emotional achievement review at the June 26 School Committee meeting. Smith said the school department “did very well” according to end-of-the-year metrics, meeting or exceeding its goals. He said that in kindergarten through second grade, emotional regulation and engagement had both increased since the mid-year review. In grades 3-5, 93% of students reported having a “supportive relationship” with an adult at school. Similarly, in grades 6-12, the number of students reporting supportive relationships was in the 99th percentile for all school departments using the Panorama surveys. Positive feelings were up, while students reporting challenging feelings had decreased in both grades 3-5 and grades 6-12.
Less positive is the increase that both grade ranges reported in witnessing or being the target of bullying.
The anonymous staff survey showed 97.4% of employees are at least slightly enthusiastic about coming to work. This correlates with the staff’s reported perception of student enthusiasm to be at school.
The effectiveness of collaborative time was rated as neutral by more than 42% of teachers and paraeducators, while 48% said it was at least “slightly useful.”
School Committee Chair Gregory Thompson commented that the usage of private counselors had increased, and he was concerned about the “privatization” of schools. The school leadership team said several students had not been able to get into external counseling due to a backlog. Another administrator said the type of counseling is different from what is generally provided by guidance or adjustment counselors. A third person said students are excited to come to school on days they know they will see the counselor.
Late bus
Two high school students who chose to focus their civics project on the addition of a late bus to the district’s transportation schedule came before the School Committee to request the change. The committee called the outreach done by the pair “truly incredible.” They had gathered survey results from more than 300 students, many of whom said they would use a late bus if the opportunity was available.
One of the students said that she had missed out on activities because of a lack of transportation. “I really believe this after school bus would be a help to students,” they said. Their partner, who was attending the meeting from Uganda via Zoom, transferred to East Longmeadow public schools from a school district that employed a late bus with great success.
Smith told the committee that three school departments in the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative used a late bus and said Agawam’s method of using the Career Technical program bus would be the easiest to implement in East Longmeadow. He explained that the bus could wait 10 to 15 minutes after dropping off students at the school in the afternoon, which would provide transportation for students who have afternoon activities. The bus could then travel to Birchland Park Middle School to pick up students leaving activities there.
It would cost less than $9,000, Smith said, adding that it could be paid for with this year’s approximately $10,000 dividend from the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative, which provides the school buses. A trial run of the late bus was approved for the 2023-24 school year.
Community engagement
The School Committee discussed ways to engage with the community throughout the summer around the high school building project. Smith recalled that during the COVID-19 school closure, the school department worked with East Longmeadow Cable Access Television to put out informative videos. He said a similar strategy could be used to address topics related to the new school. School Committee member Aimee Dalenta said keeping the videos limited to two or three minutes will increase the number of people likely to watch them.
“I think it’s important the community knows what will happen” if the vote to fund the project fails, School Committee member Antonella Raschella Manzi said. Smith commented that the public does not really understand the capital planning process or how short the period is for school projects to be completed, adding that construction is usually limited to the two months when students are out of school for the summer. The bidding process alone can take up to six weeks, he said.
Smith said he would work with ELCAT Director Don Maki on the informational videos.