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Date: 11/30/2022
LONGMEADOW – Longmeadow Public Schools Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea introduced Chelsea Barry and Rebecca Powell, former teachers in the district who have taken on the role of instructional math coaches for grades K-8. They explained to the committee how the Bridges curriculum works for all learners.
Barry said a 30-person pilot group began working last year to build a cohesive math strategy. The strategy includes “effective teaching practices” such as supporting reasoning and collective problem solving and working toward concept fluency.
Teachers should encourage students to, “look for structure and generalize and come up with rules instead of being fed them,” Barry said. She explained that, in this way, students learn there are often multiple ways to reach the same answer and can find which method works best for them.
The structure of the Bridges math curriculum that the district adopted earlier in the year allows for spreading out learning over longer periods. Barry said, for example, division content may be worked into lessons ahead of the lessons on division and continued after the unit ends, giving students longer to master concepts.
School Committee member Kevin Shea asked how long the coaches will be needed to support the curriculum. Powell said she would, “love to see it be a permanent part of our budget the way literacy coaches about 10 years ago were put into our full-time mode.”
Barry added that the initiative around math instruction may wane without coaches to keep it on track.
School Committee member Julie Morgan asked how families had responded to the changes in math instruction and what caregivers can do to help. Barry told her that because students are completing most of their work in class, there may less homework and they “may be asking less of parents.”
Restructured staffing
With the expected departure of Director of Pupil Services Jean Fontaine at the end of December, O’Shea put forth Williams Middle School Assistant Principal Nicole Paris-Kro to take a restructured role with the title of interim director of special education.
O’Shea also asked the committee to approve the creation of two new positions. The first was a grade K-8 special education supervisor. O’Shea said the elementary level is “where the challenges are most acute,” and including the middle school grades would help backfill the loss of Paris-Kro. The second position was that of a director of student and family support who would work at the district level to oversee social-emotional learning, mental health services and the implementation of diversity, equity and inclusion policies and practices.
“We’ve had to make investments in special education, but we’ve also had to make critical investments in the overall well-being of our children,” O’Shea said.
School Committee member Gianna Allentuck, thanked O’Shea and said as a counselor, she appreciated positions that “enhance all needs” of the students.
School Committee Chair Nicole Choiniere also approved the restructuring, saying it focused on needed areas. Similarly, School Committee member Zachary Verriden thanked the district for “recognizing the needs of the child in a post-[COVID-19] reality.”
The positions and appointment of Paris-Kro were approved.
Other topics
Vice Chair Mary Keane reported that the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative, which provides bus transportation for the district, received a grant for 25 new electric buses worth almost $10 million. It is also waiting to hear whether they will be awarded a $2 million grant.
The committee gave preliminary approval for an overnight field trip to Hyannis for Longmeadow High School students to attend a meeting of the Massachusetts Association of Student Councils. The trip is scheduled for March 8 through 10, 2023.