Published in the September 8, 2017 edition.
WAKEFIELD — The town’s public school students headed back to class yesterday for the start of the 2017-18 academic year, and everything seemed to run like clockwork.
Supt. of Schools Dr. Kim Smith reported that 3,519 reported to school on the first day. She also said that these are to be considered preliminary figures since administrators have until October 1 to certify enrollment with the state.
The town ended the 2016-17 year in June with 3,525 students.
A breakdown of the preliminary enrollment looks like this:
Doyle: 125; Dolbeare: 453; Woodville: 432; Walton: 202; Greenwood: 220; Galvin: 1,049 ; WMHS: 1029; POST Academy: 9.
There are also 72 METCO students enrolled for 2017-18.
In a letter to parents a couple weeks ago, Smith and Assistant Supt. Douglas Lyons wrote, “We enter the 2017-18 school year with a renewed focus on developing strong reading fluency and comprehension with the Readers’ Workshop curriculum model in Grades K-4, along with a continued emphasis on building our students’ skills in Writing and Math understanding. Across Grades K-12, we introduce new, high quality, standards-aligned Science, Technology and Engineering curriculum. We also begin a year-long plan to research and review World Language curriculum resources and alignment.
“The Wakefield Public Schools also implements, for the first time, a Social and Emotional Health and Learning strategy to support every student.
“Effective communication with families continues to be an important goal of the Wakefield Public Schools. Please access our district website, Facebook page, and Twitter account by visiting wakefieldpublicschools.org. Please call, email, or request an appointment with school or district administrators at any time,” they concluded.
