Canton Public School Shares Information From School Committee Meeting On April 8

Press release from Canton Public Schools:

April 15, 2021

CANTON — Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Fischer-Mueller would like to share with the school community updates and information provided at the April 8 Canton School Committee meeting.

A recording of the full meeting can be viewed here.

Additional meeting materials, including the Superintendent’s Report and all documents shared at the meeting are available here.

2021-2022 School Calendar

District administration over recent weeks has been working to gather feedback from the Canton Teachers’ Association and families regarding the first day of school and early release days. The CTA voted to agree to go back to school earlier than September 1 for the 2021-2022 school year, allowing the District to schedule the first day of school for students on September 1, 2021. Additionally, a survey to parents/guardians regarding early release days showed that a majority of parents preferred Friday as the early release day over Wednesday. Friday release days were also slightly preferred over Wednesday by the CTA.

The approved 2021-2022 school calendar can be found here. The approved version shows the first day of school on September 1, 2021 and the last day of school on June 16, 2022. Additionally, early release days are scheduled for Fridays, and the full-day staff professional development day that typically occurs in November has been newly scheduled for March 11, 2022.

“All-in” Model Updates

COVID Update

Canton is currently in the “Yellow” state designation for COVID, which represents a “medium” risk level. The District continues to consult with the Health Department and closely monitor school-based data and data surrounding quarantining and attendance. Attentiveness to COVID protocols in and out of school, as well as continued communication between families and building nurses and completing the Daily Screener remain of the utmost importance.

Health and Safety Updates

Since beginning the state’s pooled testing program on March 9, the District submitted 17 pools for testing through April 8 and all were negative. Pooled testing for JFK grade K-2 students began on April 6. GMS pooled testing continues with another grade 7 team added to the program. Pooled testing will continue to expand to other grades at GMS in the coming weeks. An additional elementary school will also be added to the program once testing has taken place within JFK for a few weeks.

The state has opted to fund pooled testing for participating districts through the remainder of the school year. Parents/guardians will continue to receive links to sign their child up for testing through the program, and parents/guardians may enter or remove their student(s) from the program at any time.

School-Based Updates

All students in grades K-5 and Preschool are now learning in the All-in Model.

GMS: Thursday, April 15 was the first All-in day at GMS. Monday, April 12 and Tuesday, April 13 were teacher professional development days and there was no school on these days for students, including those students on the RLP. Wednesday, April 14 was a remote learning day for all students. From Thursday, April 15 onward, all GMS students on the Learning Continuum will report to the school building, regardless of their Cohort. A webinar was recently held for GMS families and the recording can be viewed here.

CHS: Wednesday, April 28 will be the first All-in day at CHS. Monday, April 26 and Tuesday, April 27 will be teacher professional development days and there will be no school on these days for students, including those students on the RLP. A webinar was held for CHS families regarding the All-in Model plans on Wednesday, April 14. A recording of the webinar can be viewed here.

Parents/guardians are reminded that Principal Newsletters are an excellent source for the most updated building-based information, and families with questions about the All-in Model are encouraged to contact their building principal.

Operations and Business Update

The District has received and deployed 225 new desks and chairs as of April 8 for the three elementary schools. The furniture storage containers have been delivered to GMS over the past few weeks and have been unpacked to set up rooms for All-in. Furniture storage containers for CHS began being delivered on April 6 and will begin to be unpacked and set up in classrooms.

Building inspections and the evaluation of spacing and cleaning measures are continuing with the Fire Chief, Building Inspector and Health Department. Inspections at GMS took place Monday to prepare for All-in on Thursday. The latest round of air quality testing in school buildings took place Thursday, April 8. Windows in classrooms and on school buses will remain open as often as possible to provide additional airflow as the weather continues to improve.

The All-in update presentation, including photos, can be found here.

FY22 Budget Update

Following additional work by the Central Administration and School Committee and an additional meeting with FINCOM, another revised version of the FY22 Operating Budget was presented. With various adjustments, the difference between the District’s proposed budget and FINCOM target was reduced once again from $261,986 to $121,437.

At Thursday’s meeting, the School Committee voted to move forward with FINCOM’s target budget, which is $47,792,662 and does not include the $121,437 difference. Because the $121,437 difference is not included in the final School Department budget, members of the Central Administration and School Committee will work over the coming weeks and months to determine where additional adjustments can be made to eliminate the difference.

The budget will now be sent back to the Town Finance Committee for its vote. Pending the Committee’s vote, the budget will be included in the town budget which will be voted on by residents at Town Meeting in May.

The updated budget document can be found here.

School Committee Reorganization

Kristian Merenda was elected as the Chair of the School Committee for the coming year; Nichola Gallagher was elected as the Vice Chair; and Maureen Moran was elected as the Secretary.

Additionally, Kendall O’Halloran was introduced as the newest member of the School Committee. Ms. O’Halloran has volunteered in a number of various roles with several organizations within Canton and was the President of the JFK CAPT.

Additional Updates

MusicCounts! Donation

MusicCounts!, the music booster group for CPS, generously donated Pentatonic Freechimes for each elementary school and a Quatro post for the Rodman Preschool playground. CPS Performing Arts Coordinator Catherine Eckersely is working with Barry Nectow and CPS Facilities Director Brian Lynch to determine the best location at each school. These new structures will add a musical element to outdoor environments.

CHS Externships

A total of 75 students will be participating in the Senior Externship program this year. The Senior Externship enables qualified seniors to spend 4th term working on a career exploration project of their choice with the support and collaboration of Mr. Amico and the Career Center. These externships are work-based activities in which students engage in learning through practical and relevant experiences in a career path that is of interest to them and/or will be majoring in at college. The externship runs for 5 weeks (25-school days) from April 12 through May 21. It is an unpaid independent study program offering seniors an opportunity to learn in an educational environment not previously available to them. Student externship placements include schools, country clubs, law firms, fitness centers, physical therapy offices, real estate offices, marketing, social media, medical offices, video production, museum of science, nonprofits and more.

Changes to MCAS

On April 1, Commissioner Riley announced that he will recommend to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education that they modify the state graduation requirements for the Class of 2022. If approved, this year’s 11th graders would not be required to take the MCAS test. In addition, the timeline for administering the tests in grades 3 through 8 and 10 will be extended until June 11 in an effort to provide maximum flexibility for school districts. Current juniors and seniors may still take the test this spring to qualify for the Adams Scholarship and Koplik Certificate of Mastery. Juniors who do not participate this spring will be able to test for scholarships during the retest period in fall 2021.

In addition, DESE will offer remote administration of the English language arts, mathematics, and science assessments this spring for grades 3-8 to accommodate families who chose to have their children learn remotely through the end of the school year. Additional information is expected to be available in the coming weeks.

Massachusetts Art Education Association (MAEA) Exhibit

This year, artwork from several CHS students was included in the MAEA exhibit. The online gallery can be viewed here.

Artwork from the following artists was included in the exhibit:

Laura Miranda
Trisha Bhattacharya
Jessica Hart
Kiara Cerruti
Alvaro Cezon Gimenez
Natalie Nguyen
Kaitlyn Sullivan
Meghan Walter
Skyler Lam
Elise Murphy
Elise Kleinbauer
Zoe Bonilla Carranza

Additionally, Kaitlyn Sullivan’s work received a President’s Choice Award and was included in a national Youth Art Month virtual exhibit of student artwork at the NAEA (National Art Education Association) annual convention earlier this month. She is one of only four students in the state to receive this award.

After School and Out of School Time Grant

The District was recently notified that its application for an After School and Out of School Time (ASOST) grant has been accepted by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Canton Public Schools will receive $50,000 which will be used to support summer school programming at CHS and GMS. The grant will support staffing and transportation for a 5-week summer school program that will run from July 6 through August 5, four days a week Monday through Thursday.

Massachusetts Partnership for Diversity in Education (MPDE) Virtual Job Fair

Human Resources Administrative Assistant Kim Eardley worked with the MPDE virtual job fair on March 31. The Massachusetts Partnership for Diversity in Education is committed to recruiting and assisting in producing career opportunities for educators and administrators from diverse backgrounds and forming collaborative relationships that will enhance staff diversity within school districts. Ms. Eardly made connections with some of the participants in the chat room and will distribute resumes to the appropriate school/hiring manager. CPS will follow up with candidates, as appropriate.

CDEI Joint Statement on Anti-Hate

The School Committee presented a revised proposed joint statement from the Canton Select Board; Canton Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee; and Canton School Committee regarding acts of hate. The statement received a vote of approval from the School Committee. The statement can be read here.

The next Canton School Committee meeting will take place on Thursday, April 29 at 7 p.m. Each meeting is available to watch via Zoom and upcoming meetings are listed on the District website.

This press release was produced by Canton Public Schools. The views expressed are the author's own.