From the Superintendent's Blog

From the blog of Superintendent Brian Salzer:

Photo by: Idea go

We are close to being fully staffed once again.  Today, Laurie Farkas, Director of Special Education from Hampshire Regional accepted our position.  We will continue the discussion next week regarding her start date and transition following her opportunity to speak with her current superintendent.  Laurie brings years of successful experience in leadership of special education programs, teaching, and financial management.  I am also excited about her previous experience as a principal in all grade levels as well as her teaching background.

Early next week I will be able to finalize the hiring of our new Director of Innovative Instruction and Technology.  We have attracted high quality candidates for all of our positions which has made it a pleasure to interview.  I offer heartfelt thanks to all who served on committees to make these decisions with me.  While we will miss our transitioning team members very much, we are excited for next year.  Our quality candidate pool speaks well of our district’s reputation with so many people seeking to join our system.

Following Tuesday’s Late Start Forum, I was able to meet with our central office team to continue to discuss the proposal I will be bringing to the School Committee in September.  The latest draft idea: JFK starts at 7:40, NHS at 8:15, Elementary remains at 8:50. While this idea is satisfactory for the high school, it presents two major concerns: JFK begins 15 minutes earlier and on the other end of the day we will need to add 20 minutes to the elementary school day for adequate pick up travel time. However, this would make the elementary schedule equal in time to the other levels at 6 ½ hours. As you can see, the complexity of a system that meets our needs, adds no additional cost, and works for all families are the reasons this has been in discussion for many years.  We will keep trying.

I’d also like to thank the School Committee for their guidance and support as we go through my first year evaluation using a system new to all of us.  I’m enjoying the process and finding it valuable to my work and goal setting for next year.

Sincerely,

Brian L. Salzer, Ed.S.

 

Photo courtesy of f_shields via Flickr. Used under Creative Commons license.