Canton Public Schools: Canton Public Schools Shares Information From May 13 School Committee Meeting

Press release from Canton Public Schools:

Leah Comins

May 27, 2021

CANTON — Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Fischer-Mueller would like to share with the school community updates and information provided at the May 13 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.

The Canton Public Schools COVID-19 Protocols for close contacts has been updated. Following updated guidance from Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, those who are exposed to a COVID-19 positive individual in the classroom or on the bus while both individuals were masked no longer need to quarantine unless they were within 3 feet of distance of the positive individual for a total of 15 minutes during a 24-hour period. This does not apply if someone was identified as a close contact outside of the classroom or bus (such as in sports, extracurriculars, lunch, etc.) or if masks are not worn by both persons at the time of exposure. Testing is encouraged and as always, the COVID-19 test results should be reported to the Building Nurse. In collaboration with the Canton Board of Health, the CPS Nursing Team will work with school staff and the positive individual (when possible) to determine on an individual basis which persons may meet this revised definition for quarantine.

See the revised Protocol Document here.

Defined by the PBLWorks organization, Project Based Learning (PBL) consists of students working on a project over an extended period of time. The project they work on will engage them in solving real-world problems or answering a complex question. Students then demonstrate their knowledge and skills by creating a public project or presentation that can be shared with a real audience. Through this method of learning, students are able to develop deep content knowledge and skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication. GMS has been developing project based units as part of various grade levels and subjects for approximately five years. Recent projects at GMS have included The Galvin Pride Project and Seedfolks, “Oh Deer,” and i2 Learning. See the full presentation here.

GMS has also received two grants to support this type of learning, including a Massachusetts PBL School Leader Network grant and a One8 grant for Project Lead The Way (PLTW) work.

Read more about PBL at GMS here.

Director of Finance and Operations: Stephen Marshall has been selected and approved by the School Committee as the District’s new Director of Finance and Operations following the upcoming retirement of Barry Nectow. Marshall most recently worked as the Director of Business Services for the Newton Public Schools since September 2019. He has also previously worked as the Grants & Business Analyst for Newton Public Schools and the Director of Food Service for Watertown Public Schools. He has also worked in the private sector, holding positions with Serve-U Brands and Aramark Corporation. He received an Associate’s in Culinary Arts, a Bachelor’s in Food Service Management, and an Master of Business Administration-Finance, each from Johnson & Wales University. He also currently volunteers with Educators for Anti-Racism Inc., of Boston, and Southeast Cyclones Youth Hockey, of Randolph.

Nurse Leader Appointment: Interim Nurse Leader Lauren Pushard was recommended and approved to be the District’s permanent Nurse Leader. Nurse Pushard has been the Interim Nurse Leader since October 2020 and has held many previous nursing positions at various schools in the District. She also previously worked at the Holy Name Parish School in West Roxbury, LifePlans, Inc. of Waltham and Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton. She holds an Associate’s degree in Nursing from Massachusetts Bay Community College, as well as School Nurse Manager and School Nurse Leadership Certifications from the Boston University School of Medicine.

Canton High School Ranked as a Best High School

Canton High School placed 47 of 365 Massachusetts high schools (top 13% in the state) and 39 of 229 Boston metro-area high schools. Ranked by 2021 U.S. News & World Report, the Best High Schools Report ranks nearly 18,000 high schools in the nation. Schools are ranked based on six factors: college readiness, college curriculum breadth, math and reading proficiency, math and reading performance, underserved student performance and graduation rate. Read more here.

Achieving a Personal Goal – US Citizenship

Naomi Akan, an ABA Tutor at Hansen and a parent of a CHS student, was honored Friday, May 14 by Senator Timilty and Representative Galvin. Naomi recently gained her US Citizenship, fulfilling a personal goal and very special achievement. To celebrate this accomplishment, Sen. Timilty and Rep. Galvin visited and presented official Citations to Naomi from the Senate and House. Several students that Naomi works with were also present at the ceremony. Read more here. 

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