At the March 3rd School Committee meeting there was discussion of Pollard Middle School Improvement Plan, Needham High School Attendance and Credit Loss update, policy updates for service/emotional support animals, and Pollard Middle School Project update.
Public Comment
Caregiver expresses concerns for staff following 501/IEPs and doctors orders at school.
Subcommittee Updates
The Stephen Palmer building committee met on February 26th and decided to eliminate the following options for use: single or 2 housing, a private community center, solely green space area. They also decided that the current building needs to be renovated, have an addition or new construction. The next town input meeting will be March 30th.
Superintendent’s Comments
Director of Social Studies 3-8th grade, Brooke Kessel, is receiving the 2026 Charles Mitsakos award for Outstanding Supervisor from Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
Pollard School Improvement Plan
Dr. Tamatha Bibbo presented the Pollard School Improvement Plan which focuses on 4 sections: drivers of learning, adaptable environments, integrative learning, and structure. The school improvement plan can be found on pages 33-49 in the packet.
- Drivers of learning include curriculum audits and embedding Portrait of Needham Graduate portfolios
- Adaptable environments include implementing and monitoring evidenced based practices for emotional intelligence (Yale RULER) and career interests assessments (SCOIR)
- Structure includes the building of a new Pollard school
- Integrative Learning includes examples of Civics Action Capstone and expanded academic competitions
Students and teachers shared their projects and lessons learned from the Democratic knowledge Project, a section of the Civics Action Capstone.
School Committee members engaged in robust discussion with students, teachers, and administrative staff about the benefits and challenges of the topics and group work to complete their projects.
Needham High School Attendance Policy Update
Aaron Sicotte and Mary Kay Alessi presented high school student data from 2026 regarding attendance and credit loss. Detailed slides can be found in the packet. This data is being presented while students are in quarter 3 but they cannot make up missed credits until the following quarter. Mr. Sicotte and Ms. Alessi note that this data will change once students have had the opportunity to make up credits.
The current policy is summarized below:
Mr. Sicotte noted that subgroups of Low Income, Hispanic, Black, or IEP students are small sizes and results can be affected by 1 or 2 students. Interventions for these groups are student specific with the goal of increasing attendance.
There are many intervention steps to help students with attendance issues avoid credit loss.
School Committee asked questions and engaged in discussion. Highlights of the discussion:
- Students missing days for family vacations during school time has increased from pre-pandemic levels. More students are also missing class days for non-NHS athletic events (club sports, etc). Increase in students with mental health struggles that are missing significant time from school.
- Many absences are just for first block with students coming in late, but as attendance is marked by subject, these missed sessions can accumulate and still lead to credit loss.
- NHS Attendance Google form is no longer in use as they discovered that students were filling it out themselves. Now parents/guardians must call or e-mail to report absences.
- Questions asked about gaps between subgroups, unintended consequences of this credit loss policy, can students make up credits lost in the last quarter of a year?
Policy for Service Animals and Emotional Support Dogs in School
Dr. Gutekanst provided a brief summary of the work from the policy subcommittee and states the Service Animal Policy was updated to encompass Emotional Support Dogs in schools. The policy was also updated with clear definitions and improved flow. The policy can be found on pages 62-67 of the packet.
Pollard School Project Update
The School Building Committee will continue to work on preferred schematic design after successful MSBA vote to move into Module 4. The SBC will also be hiring a construction manager at risk (CMR) to help during construction. The final recommendation for CMR will be March 9th.
ACTION ITEMS
The School Committee voted 7-0-0 to approve an item for payment for special town meeting in May. The cost of $8,125 was for bus transportation in FY 25.
The next School Committee meeting will be on Tuesday March 17th at 6:30pm.