At the June 3 School Committee Meeting there was discussion of the Mitchell School Improvement Plan, the Sunita Williams School Improvement Plan, High School Attendance Procedures, and the Grace Prep Academy Private School Request.
Public Comment
Denise Schwerzler, NHS Nurse, spoke on behalf of NHS nurses in favor of the current absence policy that requires a health care provider’s note for an absence to be considered “excused”. She stressed the role of the policy in promoting student wellness, timely medical evaluation, public health, ensuring equity, and maintaining student accountability. The nurses expressed that loosening the rules could create inequities and weaken documentation standards.
- Promotes equity, consistent expectations, early health intervention, and connection to medical homes.
- Aligned with DESE’s chronic absenteeism benchmarks (10%+ missed days/year).
- Helps school staff identify patterns and intervene compassionately and effectively.
School Committee Comments
- SC congratulated the Class of 2025 on their recent graduation.
Superintendent’s Comments
- Dr. Gutekanst thanked the NHS staff members who facilitated a successful senior prom at Gillette Stadium
- He also apologized for terse responses he gave during the last meeting regarding the NHS Absence policy.
DISCUSSION ITEM
Mitchell School Improvement Plan
Greg Bayse, Mitchell School Principal, presented the Mitchell School Improvement Plan. This is Mitchell’s 74th year. Detailed slides can be found in the packet.
- Co-teaching pilot in all grades to support students with disabilities to try to combat opportunity gaps seen in certain content areas
- Focused on specific social-emotional learning competencies each month that were implemented school-wide to allow for reinforcement of these concepts
- Kindergarten Child Protection units were implemented successfully
- Professional development on Responsive Classroom
- Student growth: By the end of 5th grade, there are no students who are “not meeting” the state benchmarks in math
- Literacy scores are also beginning to recover to pre-pandemic levels and no 5th graders are “not meeting” expectations on MCAS (despite still using the older literacy curriculum).
- High Growth was also seen in both Math & ELA
- Reading is encouraged, goal to have all students reading or being read to daily. Battle of the Books remains a popular program.
- Community links 5th graders with Seniors at the Senior center
- Active PTC coordinates monthly activities for families to foster connection to the school community
- Goals for next year:
School Committee members asked questions and engaged in discussion.
Sunita Williams School Improvement Plan
Kiana Brunson, SWES Principal, presented the Sunita Williams School Improvement Plan. Detailed slides can be found in the packet.
- Sunita Williams, who returned from the International Space Station this spring has been a great inspiration for the SWES students
- Goal is to foster collaboration, culture, and community
- Focus on Responsive Classroom for both student & staff culture
- Created instructional leadership team to help improve general education & special education collaboration and coherence between classrooms
- Decreased chronic absenteeism.
- Increased joy, confidence, and pro-social behavior among students.
- Improved MCAS outcomes and student growth percentiles.
- Astronaut Sunita Williams visited the school — meaningful inspiration and community event.
School Committee engaged in discussion and thanked Ms. Brunson for her work & accomplishments as SWES Principal.
High School Attendance Procedures
- Followup conversation on the NHS Attendance Policy which has been discussed at several previous SC meetings.
- Need to vote to finalize the NHS Handbook including the Attendance Policy at the June 17th meeting. Updated policy can be found in the packet.
- Based on feedback from SC at past meetings, Dr. Gutekanst thinks these are the shared goals regarding attendance:
Aaron Sicotte, NHS Principal, Mary Kay Alessi, NHS Assistant Principal, Lisa Austin, NHS Nurse, Mike Hirsch, NHS Physics Teacher, and Frederica Lalonde, NHS Parent and School Council Member, presented about the NHS Attendance Pilot.
- teachers feel that a clear concise attendance policy that emphasizes the importance of being in school is essential.
- there are good policies in place to handle long term absences due to illness (1-2 weeks in a row) with nursing & transition support; teachers understand how to adjust their curriculum to meet these needs. What is more disruptive & challenging for teachers is chronic absenteeism one day a week, frequently missing first block, etc. These types of recurring absences undermine the collaborative learning in the classroom as a whole.
- Nurses routinely speak with families if students are out 3 days or more to try to determine the reason for the absences and remind families of the absence policy. Nurses have found that many PCP practices will provide a school note without necessarily requiring an in person visit depending on the history given and previous relationship with families. Nursing team also works to connect students without PCPs to medical care in the community.
- Many conversations occur with students and families if students are approaching credit loss due to absence, and there are opportunities for students to earn these credits back.
School Committee engaged in robust discussion and asked many questions of the presenters. Highlights of the discussion:
- excused absences are largely things that students can’t control (death in family, court appearance, illness as documented by PCP).
- If a parent calls to say their child will miss school today, this is an “acknowledged absence” but not an “excused absence”.
- 5 absences per quarter (20 per year) are allowed without any credit loss. Due to rotating schedules with not every class occurring every day, this is determined on a class by class basis. The vast majority of students never come close to concerns for credit loss.
- School Committee members expressed some concerns that students would feel the need to attend school sick, or conversely feel that they had the freedom to just take of 5 days per quarter without consequence.
- Concern for culture of high achieving students who don’t want to miss school/tests so choose to come to school sick for this reason (unrelated to concerns of attendance policy/credit loss).
- Also concern that the attendance policy still does not clearly explain the issue for families. Inconsistencies between elementary, middle & high school student attendance policies.
- Concern that some subgroups attendance did not seem to significantly improve despite these attendance policy changes. Certain subgroups also have more credit loss than others.
Grace Prep Academy – Private School Proposal
School Committees in MA are required to approve any new private school that may originate in their community. Previously the SC approved the expansion of a Needham Montessori School. Grace Prep Academy is now requesting approval. It is located on Greendale Ave (colocated with Ruach Israel). It is a hybrid private Christian K-8 school combining in-person and homeschool instruction that serves 80 students, none from Needham. They do not offer special education services. Details can be found in the packet.
Status:
- Grace Prep presented request for official approval under DESE regulations.
- District conducted a full site visit and reviewed curriculum, staff, and compliance.
- School Committee to finalize recommendation and vote at a future meeting.
The next School Committee meeting will be Tuesday June 17 at 6:30pm.