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Date: 1/25/2021
GRANBY – The Granby School Committee had a crucial agenda for their Jan. 14 meeting in which they discussed their superintendent search.
In order for the committee to move forward in their next step and be able to send flyers advertising the position, Chair Emre Evren said they needed to finalize some aspects of the posting in terms of salary. In the end, the committee made a motion for the superintendent salary range from $125,000 to $135,000. As of Jan. 22, the flyer has been posted.
Student Social Media Policy
At the Jan. 19 School Committee meeting, Granby Junior/Senior High School Assistant Principal Alison Jordan-Gagner informed the committee there is a delay in winter sports and they are slated for March 1. She also spoke on a student social media policy. This policy is only for group organizations like the class officers and polling. Students will not be able to comment or post.
“It’s not specific towards athletics,” Gagner stated. “We wanted to put something in place where students can use social media outlets such as Instagram and Twitter. We wanted to put some policy in place in regards to students using it. We didn’t have any existing language outside of our technology use language that was in the student handbook. We wanted to get something in writing and add it to the handbook.”
The committee then made a motion to approve the student social media policy and a motion to approve the building use user fee document.
Student Opportunity Act Plan
Next on the agenda was the Student Opportunity Act Plan. Curriculum and Technology Integration Coordinator Susan Crago presented to the committee a plan for the act and how it applies to the Granby schools. The Student Opportunity Act is a funding law the legislatures of Massachusetts passed in 2019 to try to mitigate funding inequities resulting from the Chapter 70 funding formula.
The Act has not yet yielded any funding. They are funding at a rate of $30 per student, and based on Granby’s current population, that would give the district $21,480. In order to receive this money, districts have to have an evidence-based program that addresses achievement disparities of what the state defines as a student subgroup.
“We decided to focus on high needs students,” Crago stated. “We decided to focus on this group because our numbers are steadily growing in that area from 2015 till now. We went from 30 percent to 44 percent of our population which is a big increase.”
Crago also said this is a different definition given by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE.) It’s an umbrella term for students who are eligible for and received subsidies, low income and economically disadvantaged, an English learner or former English learner and also students with a learning disability. Crago explained that their evidence-based program is supporting educators to implement high-quality aligned curriculum, write standards-based curriculum in UBD (Understanding by Design) format, and develop assessments that are differentiated and performance-based and create opportunities for more hands-on experiential learning.
Superintendent Carol Hepworth said this plan was supposed to be done in the spring of 2020. However, when COVID-19 hit, everything stopped and she was notified a week ago that school needed to have a plan in. From a process and procedure perspective, the committee explained they are trying to respond to the state’s request that there be a plan. The plan has to be approved by the school committee and resubmitted to the state. Ultimately, the committee approved the Student Opportunity Act Plan.
Reopening Planning Process
Granby is still in the red for COVID-19 classifications and has been in remote learning. There was an ongoing discussion on finding dates for students to return to in-person learning. Considering the numbers are consistently changing, the committee expressed difficulty in deciding on specific dates.
Committee member Stephanie Parent said, “We stayed hybrid for two weeks while we were red – many districts didn’t do that. We all want to get back in. The second we’re yellow, I hope we transition to stay that way, but a bigger factor here is for a very small committee we’re not doing a very good job [with COVID-19 numbers].”
She went on to say, “I hate to say it but it’s just true. Our numbers for such a small town are really discouraging and when you hear the Board of Health and where they’re coming from it’s frustrating. For every parent that wants their kid back in this building I encourage you to tell your friends and let’s just hunker down, and that’s the only way to get back in.”
Decisions in regard to the return to school will be made at the Jan. 26 School Committee meeting.
Stepping down
At the end of the meeting, Evren announced after nine years serving as chair on the School Committee, he is stepping down from the position effectively by the end of this month.
Evren stated, “I want to thank everyone. I thank this School Committee especially in a difficult time for all of your collaboration, input and feedback standing there for the school district, students, teachers and community overall. Being on a committee is like being on a continuous learning program and I really appreciate it.”
The chair position will go to Vice Chair Jennifer Bartosz and the committee will make a decision on who will be the next vice chair at their next meeting.