Portsmouth School Board Hosts Community Engagement Meeting Aug. 16

PORTSMOUTH, NH — Superintendent Stephen Zadravec announced on Monday that the Portsmouth School Board will host a community engagement meeting this week to hear feedback from the public about their experiences accessing school programs. The board, a press statement noted, is committed to providing equitable access to all Portsmouth school programs. The meeting will be held in the Gosling Meadows Recreation Center, 40 Wedgewood Road, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 16, 2017.

The Portsmouth School Board and school administration are interested in hearing feedback from parents, students, residents and community members about their experiences with the Portsmouth School Department. In particular, officials would like to learn about the public’s experience in relation to available educational opportunities, the statement noted. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Portsmouth NH Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

“Our goal with this meeting is to really get a sense of the areas that we can improve on as a school district in regards to our program offerings,” Zadravec said. “We are always looking for new, innovative ways to better serve our community, so we hope that residents will come out to share their thoughts and experiences.”

Participants will convene in small groups to discuss a variety of topics surrounding access to programs at Portsmouth Schools, such as advanced coursework, after school activities, enrichment initiatives and field trips. Following the community engagement portion of the meeting, participants will be welcome to stay for an update on the School Board’s goals, which will be focused on current data related to opportunity and achievement gaps.

The school board will then review specific action steps to achieve short-term and long-term plans for closing those gaps. Discussion topics will include an analysis of current strengths of strategies in place in the Portsmouth Schools and ways to expand them, along with emerging opportunities and new steps for the coming school year.

Submitted by the Portsmouth Schools.

Image via Shutterstock.