Published in the September 28, 2016 edition
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Superintendent of Schools Jane Tremblay presented an update on the school system’s strategic plan to the School Committee last week.
Tremblay said the district’s strategic plan serves as a “road map” for the school system.
“It guides everything we are doing in our school district,” said Tremblay.
Tremblay said the strategic plan includes five strategic objectives. The strategic objectives are meeting the needs of all students; building leadership capacity; educator growth; curriculum and instruction, and assessment and accountability.
Student needs
Tremblay said meeting the needs of all students is a critical component of the strategic plan. She said it’s important to allocate necessary resources, including hiring and retaining high quality teachers, to support students academically and socially.
According to the plan, Tremblay said school officials are working with the police department to “establish consistent policies and procedures across all levels to ensure the safety and well-being of staff and students.” She said the school system will be providing “stress reduction activities for faculty and students.”
Tremblay said supporting students’ health and wellness needs are critical.
“Physical and psychological safety is one of the most important things we do because we can’t do the teaching and can’t do the learning without physical and psychological safety,” said Tremblay.
According to the strategic plan, High School Assistant Principal Brian Bates will be looking to “increase community service opportunities at the high school” through the Compass program.
Tremblay said high school officials and the guidance department will be creating a “needs assessment survey for parents at Lynnfield High School to evaluate student transitions and overall programming.”
According to the plan, Huckleberry Hill School will be researching and implementing a social emotional learning program. Tremblay also said she wants the school department to “increase school and family engagement.” She said Summer Street School will be establishing inclusive practices “within the general education classroom to provide greater access to all learners.”
Building leadership capacity
Tremblay said building leadership capacity will help teachers develop “a shared vision of excellence” in addition to “effective teaching practices.”
According to the strategic plan, Tremblay and school officials will be sharing and comparing “teacher walk throughs and evaluations for high expectations and consistency of feedback specifically related to formative and summative reports.” Tremblay and Teaching and Learning Director Kevin Cyr will be participating in walk throughs with curriculum leaders and administrators across the district.
“The goal is to continue having consistent, high quality feedback that will immediately inform instruction in the classroom,” said Tremblay. “That hopefully will have a positive impact on students.”
Tremblay said the administrative leadership team will be looking to “foster the entry and development” of Bates and Middle School Assistant Principal Tom Sallee. Additionally, Tremblay will be working closely with Cyr to get him more familiar with his new role and responsibilities.
“The consistent support we are giving them will help their leadership skills,” said Tremblay.
According to the strategic plan, Lynnfield Middle School administrators and faculty members will be assisting teachers across the school system with implementing the Understanding by Design framework and the Atlas database.
School Committee member Rich Sjoberg asked Tremblay how teachers have received the Understanding by Design framework and the Atlas database, both of which are included on each school’s improvement plan.
Tremblay said it’s been a “very positive” experience so far.
“We are doing it the right way because we are not hitting them with everything at once,” said Tremblay. “This is a multi-year process. We cannot do this in a way that is going to stress out the teachers. The feedback I have been getting is we are doing OK. What I have been hearing from teachers is they are excited we are all moving in the same direction. We all have the same vision for our school community, which is to have excellence in our classrooms. It doesn’t mean there will not be bumps in the road and there will be times teachers and administrators are stressed out but that is all part of the work. We will work hard to monitor that and stay on top of it.”
Tremblay and Cyr will also be looking to “empower educators” to participate in professional development opportunities outside of the school system.
Educator growth
Tremblay said the educator growth component of the strategic plan focuses on setting “high expectations” and having teachers continuously improve their teaching practices.
According to the strategic plan, the Professional Development Steering Committee has developed and communicated “a long range agenda for professional development throughout the district.”
Tremblay said school officials are working on establishing “consistent district-wide hiring protocols including recruiting, hiring and retaining high quality educators.” She also said faculty meeting time is being restructured in order to “facilitate collaborative learning experiences.”
Curriculum and instruction
Tremblay said the curriculum and instruction component of the strategic plan seeks to “support continuous curriculum development and instructional excellence.” She said the goal entails having the school system develop a “shared vision for high quality outcomes and expectations.”
According to the strategic plan, school officials will be implementing an “Understanding by Design approach to curricula across all levels.” Additionally, English language arts curriculum leaders will be conducting demonstration lessons from the pilot vocabulary program, which will be shared across all grade levels. Cyr, the Lynnfield Curriculum Council and the technology department will be adopting and implementing a “centralized database at all levels to track and monitor curriculum development.”
Tremblay noted as part of the high school’s improvement plan, LHS officials will be looking to expand the internship program in order to “broaden student learning opportunities in non-traditional ways.”
Assessment and accountability
Tremblay said the assessment and accountability component of the strategic plan entails having school officials continue analyzing “district and state data to support continuous student achievement.”
“We want to make sure we are always reevaluating and always looking at the resources that we have to meet the needs of our learners,” said Tremblay. “It’s not something we will be looking at during budget season or at the end of the year when we begin planning for a new year. It’s something we are looking at every single day because we know what works today might not work tomorrow. We just can’t sit on our laurels and say it worked yesterday so we are going to keep it that way. We never want to become complacent.”
Tremblay said Mauro is currently conducting an “internal special education program review” in order to monitor and assess the special education program. The superintendent said school officials will be researching, assessing and implementing Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) mandates.
