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Date: 9/7/2022
HAMPDEN/WILBRAHAM – The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District (HWRSD) School Committee examined its goals for the year, chief among them was communication.
During the Sept. 1 meeting, members of the committee spoke about the limits of the technology currently used to record and stream the School Committee and subcommittee meetings. The district uses an OWL brand camera, which is designed to automatically pan to individuals who are speaking. With the high ceilings in the high school’s Information Research Commons (IRC) where the committees meet, echoes disrupt the camera’s ability to focus on the correct person or persons. People in the online audience have also complained about garbled audio, while the members have experienced reverberations and electronic feedback from the speakers in the room.
School Committee member Bill Bontempi said the OWL had served its purpose but was no longer the best equipment for the job.
The committee also contemplated using a room off the IRC as a dedicated meeting space. Dr. Georgina Trebbe, department head, teacher and information specialist for the IRC, said that the room was originally intended to be a media lab. The room is currently used for graphic arts instruction.
Continuing the topic of communication with the public, the discussion was brought around to the website. Bontempi said the technology improvement and a more user-friendly website are key.
“Hopefully, that website would be the gateway” to information about the district, Bontempi said. From there, information could be shared to social media platforms and legacy media, such as newspapers.
School Committee member Patrick Kiernan noted that improving the website is a goal of the School Committee every year and it has not been accomplished. It should be the committee’s sole communication goal this year, he said. School Committee Vice Chair Maura Ryan and Bontempi said the audio and visual quality of remote meetings was also important.
Ryan explained to Superintendent John Provost that there was a long-standing desire to create an online location for parents to review student achievement at the district level. Bontempi said the committee must define what achievement looks like and said the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) only offers a snapshot of how students are doing on a particular day.
School Committee Secretary Sean Kennedy agreed and said the School Committee has often considered the need to compare the district’s achievement from one year to the next. Provost suggested a subcommittee tackle the issue and produce some concrete steps.
Employee Exits
Kiernan wanted to talk about the reasons behind recent employee exits from the district. He pointed to former Minnechaug Regional High School (MRHS) Assistant Principal Heidi Drawec, who left the district after 22 years, and a teacher he did not name who had left after 18 years. In Drawec’s case, she made a statement to the school committee citing a general feeling of being unsupported. Specifically, she had noted the lack of a second assistant principal in the high school and a “grieve it or leave it” culture when it came to expressing objections.
Kennedy suggested looking at similar districts to compare turnover rates, but Kiernan pushed back on that. “Set the data aside. I don’t care about other districts. I only care about us,” he said.
Bontempi took exception to Drawec’s use of the Aug. 16 committee meeting as a venue to make “accusations” because the other parties were not there to offer a rebuttal.
Overall, Bontempi said, exit interviews were the best way to find out why people were leaving. Kennedy pointed out that if someone were leaving due to their interactions with their principal, an exit interview with that principal would be problematic.
As the topic was not on the agenda, Provost suggested the conversation be tabled to a future meeting.
Beginning of school difficulties
Several community members have reached out to the School Committee with transportation complaints. Assistant Superintendent of Finance, Operations and Human Resources Aaron Osborne said that the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative, which runs the buses used by HWRSD, has had a large turnover in drivers and there have been some “glitches.” He added, “Safety issues we’re going to get to right away,” otherwise, the first two weeks are going to have some “difficulties.”
When discussing the district’s finances, Osbourne said energy costs have been higher than anticipated, including the cost of gas. Electricity is also up, largely due to an electrical issue at MRHS that prohibits the lights from being shut off at night. The district is awaiting parts to fix that issue.
Despite the energy increases, Osborne reported that the district is “$8 million to the good,” but warned that many costs are still pending.
Superintendent’s report
Provost shared photos and statistics from the first week of school. He said that of the 2,864 students enrolled in for the 2022-23 school year, 188 of them were kindergarteners. He had attended three “popsicle parties” to welcome young families into the district. He also said two of the district’s 25 new teachers were HWRSD alumni. After showing a video of him high-fiving students as he ran past, he finished by saying he felt, “uplifting and hope for the new year.”