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Date: 3/18/2022
HAMPDEN/WILBRAHAM – The principals, associate principals and assistant principals of all six Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District (HWSD)schools presented the School Committee with a unified school improvement plan, rather than the individual ones each school usually prepares annually. The plan was designed to encompass both the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years and will be incorporated into the district’s strategic plan, currently under construction.
Wilbraham Middle School Principal John Derosia said administrators used lessons learned from the results of the 2021 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) when crafting the improvement plan.
Serenity Greenwood, principal of Soule Road School, covered the academic goals, the first of three parts to the plan. The first goal focused on adopting, “rigorous, evidence-based and vertically connected curriculum across all grade levels,” and gave a deadline of June 2023. To do this, the administrators planned to implement the action steps that were identified when reviewing the MCAS results, develop a cohesive language and structure when discussing subjects so students will be able to carry their learning from grade to grade and provide professional learning to get teachers on the same page, regardless of grade.
“Regardless of the teachers they have, they’ll hear the same terms,” said Nicole Smith, associate principal at Minnechaug Regional High School (MRHS).
There will be two curricula that the district will choose between. Teachers will have the opportunity to field-test them and provide feedback. MRHS Principal Steven Hale said the adopted curriculum will be “universal” and offer “elemental learning.” Every course will be examined with universal accessibility in mind. The schools will also incorporate more MCAS prep into the everyday lessons, from MCAS-style questions to writing on demand.
Hale mentioned that the high school was exploring the idea of restructuring classes so students would be able to have more consistency and traction. He explained a student may have English in his first semester of ninth grade and not again until late the last semester of 10th grade. If the school could arrange more consistency of classes, it might help students be prepared for the MCAS.
Monique Dangleis spoke about the second goal, socio-emotional competence and resiliency. A major factor in achieving this goal is hiring the faculty needed. More counselors will work within a system that allows staff at different grade levels to identify patterns of behavior and offer support.
Hale said social-emotional support can include, “huddling,” and check in with students on a daily basis, as well as rewarding students who “do the right thing,” consistently.
Another way social-emotional health will be supported is by re-establishing the School Climate Team and providing professional learning on diversity, equity and inclusion.
Students will have a direct role in their own wellbeing at the high school level through incorporation of “student voice” and making students and their families aware of how they can access help when needed.
The last goal is safety. Green Meadows School Principal Sharon Moberg talked about how the focus has been on student safety through the lens of the pandemic, but the schools need to reorient to other safety needs. This will include renewed safety audits, more training and safety liaisons, who can do planning, drills and after-action reviews.
School Committee member Lisa Murray asked about the timeline of the curriculum rollout and expressed concerns that teachers would be expected to teach – and students expected to learn – too many things in a short span of time.
“It is a lot,” Greenwood acknowledged. The field testing will begin in late March and early April. Ganem assured Murray the rollout would be done methodically but said there was a “sense of urgency” with the curriculum. “We’re starting to see those gaps in our kids,” he said.
School Committee Vice Chair Maura Ryan asked if there would be data available so parents could see, “how it’s effective, how it’s not.” Greenwood told her that there are universal benchmarks which will help schools keep track of progress.
Referring to the administrators’ vision of a vertically aligned district, Ryan asked if there was a program through which parents could track their child’s progression, year over year. Moberg said that while there was not a program planned for that, the district was planning to incorporate transparency in all steps of the plan.
School Committee member Patrick Kiernan asked about defining academic success and making sure the schools are not basing it solely on MCAS results.
Ganem responded that there is a “fine balance between each kid learning differently and having a standard way to measure their growth.”
Superintendent Search
Turning to the topic of the superintendent search, School Committee Chair Michal Boudreau told the committee that, because the search will be under a $50,000 threshold, the district does not need to go through the bidding process. Instead, it could decide among search firms and vote on them.
Boudreau reviewed information she had gathered from three firms that could potentially aid the district in its superintendent search. Ray & Associates, with offices in Connecticut and Iowa, had a rate of $22,200, inclusive of everything except expenses. The Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) offered their services for $10,500 plus expenses, while the services of the New England School Development Council (NESDEC) can be had for $13,560 plus expenses. Because HWRSD is a member of NESDEC, its price tag comes with a 20 percent discount.
All three firms had completed searches in Massachusetts, and all had a similar offer to repeat the search process for free, plus expenses, should the chosen superintendent not work out. While MASC offered this within a one-year period, the other two had two-year guarantees.
“[MASC] did a good job getting us Superintendent Ganem,” Kennedy said.
Murray, however, said she preferred NESDEC because its outreach is wider than MASC, while also including local candidates.
School Committee member William Bontempi asked for Ganem’s opinion as someone who has been on the other side of the search. He said most superintendents with which he is familiar look to MASC when searching for a position in the area. Likewise, Director of Finance, Operations and Human Resources Aaron Osborne, who has been a superintendent in the past, said MASC works with the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and “knows who the players are.”
Kiernan said MASC was at the bottom of his preferences. He noted NESDEC had worked with higher-performing districts.
Bontempi reminded the committee that there is no line item in the budget for a search and cost was a factor. He also liked that MASC was “intimately involved” with potential candidates.
School Committee member Sherrill Caruana appreciated NESDEC’s discount, but Bontempi likened it to a sweater sale in which the price is increased before the sale, making it a discount in name only.
The committee voted 3-4 against using MASC. The vote on NESDEC passed 5-2 with School committee Clerk Sean Kennedy and Bontempi opposed.
Conflict of Interest
Boudreau addressed a recent finding by the Massachusetts Board of Ethics, which found a conflict of interest had occurred when Ganem approved the hiring of his wife and daughter during the height of the pandemic without first alerting the School Committee. While both individuals were qualified educators and Ganem did not have direct oversight of either of them, the board pointed out that the superintendent was required to notify the School Committee 14 days before their employment.
Kiernan questioned why Boudreau’s recount of the timeline and the facts did not align with the public letter released by the board. The letter stated the family members were hired before the positions were posted. Boudreau explained her information was gathered from the letter itself, the job posting and information from Ganem’s attorney.
Bontempi opined that the School Committee had a hand to play in the incident because members had pushed Ganem to fill positions and lower remote class sizes. He added that at least three committee members knew of the hires and the time and did not report it.
“What Al did was in the best interest of educating our kids,” Bontempi said. Kennedy agreed and said there was nothing “nefarious” in Ganem’s actions.
Kiernan said if the letter is inaccurate, Ganem should want it fixed. For his part, Ganem told Kiernan the issue within the letter was not the hiring process, but his failure to notify the committee beforehand. He added that the letter also stated there had been no repercussions from the School Committee but said his review would indicate otherwise.
Ganem apologized for what he told Reminder Publishing was “honestly, a mistake.” He said to the committee, “I think our teachers appreciate my intention. It was nothing more than to get teachers for those 125 students.”