From the blog of the NPS Superintendent Brian Salzer:

During our ALT meeting time, we continued our work on successful strategies for training and implementation of the Educator Evaluation Tool.   Our next step is to schedule training through the MTA to continue to guide our implementation steps during this pilot year.  We also discussed the new school nutrition regulations and how this is playing out in reality in the lunchroom. For many students, the intent of the regulations to offer healthier foods and limited calories is not turning out as intended.  As many of us know, children will eat what is appealing to them and often waste food that is not.  We will continue to monitor the realities of the lunchroom, evaluate our costs, and document our compliance with the regulations and the unintended impact.

I mentioned last week about a transgender student who is transitioning at Bridge Street School.  This student and the family are making careful, thoughtful steps about this major life decision and are working closely with the teacher, counselor, and principal.  I will be working with the family therapist to draft an informational letter to the families of Bridge Street and will send a draft to ALT and SC on Monday prior to the letter going out to the Bridge Street parent community.

As a marathoner, I recognize a marathon when I am in one and last night’s School Committee meeting met the criteria (actually it lasted and hour longer than my last marathon).  We covered a lot of ground: Budget, Capital Planning, Special Education, Technology, MCAS, Advanced Placement, the NEASC accreditation review, superintendent evaluation goals, and the proposal for a later start time for the high school as well as its impact on the other schools and families in our community.  The final decision was for me to take Proposal #3 and #4 as the two recommended options to a community forum (inclusive of all parents of all levels), to the teachers at the high school, and to our ALT team.

To respond to this, our team met this morning to create an easy to read/present one page document.  We established the meetings: ALT agenda for October 16th, NHS student meeting October 29th from 2:10 – 2:40 in the NHS Auditorium;  NHS teacher meeting October 30th from 2:10 – 2:40 in the NHS Little Theater, and the general public plus teachers and administrators are all invited to a Community Public Forum at NHS on October 30th from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. in the NHS Auditorium.  At these meetings, people will be able to review the two proposals, ask questions, make comments, and voice their support or disapproval.

Sincerely,

Brian L. Salzer, Ed.S.

Photo courtesy Alan Cleaver via Flickr. Used under creative commons license.