Marion School Committee Chairperson April Nye opened the committee’s January 11 public meeting with recognition of 10-year-old Sippican Elementary School student Davin Alves, whose hard work on behalf of the United Way of New Bedford raised nearly $1,000 used to buy food for needy people during the holiday season.
“Thank you!” said Alves, who was presented a certificate amidst applause from the committee members and the ORR Central Office team.
Nye would revisit Alves’ accomplishment during her Chairperson’s Report.
“Seeing his fundraising efforts … it really brought it home to me and made me appreciate this young man and his family and their efforts toward our community. It just kind of made me look at things in a bigger picture,” said Nye. “I appreciate what he did and looking at it and … with everything else that’s going on with school committees and whatnot, it just made me think, you know, we all could take a lesson from that (11)-year-old about the way that we talk and the way that we conduct ourselves.”
In his Central Office Report, Old Rochester Regional Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson told the committee that the ORR District has received $50,000 in grant funding for its Acceleration Academy to be implemented during the February and April vacation weeks. Applications went out to district families during the second week of January.
Nelson said the next SMEC collaborative meeting for family engagement will be held remotely on February 1 with Sarah Ward, whose clinical background will be brought to bear on executive functioning and how families can support students in bridging the gap between home and school.
ORR heard from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and learned that the district’s audit of its English Language Services that began last year is complete and meets DESE’s standards.
Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Dr. Shari Fedorowicz reported that the Literacy grant received by the district is in action with weekly programming, most recently developing the Literacy Action Plan. Fedorowicz thanked school leadership and faculty for moving the plan forward.
ORR scheduled a professional-development day for Friday, January 13 and also took its fourth “learning walk” by visiting Rochester Memorial School.
Nye asked Nelson to pass along thanks to Director of Student Services Craig Davidson, who was unable to attend the committee meeting, for his work on the Acceleration Academy.
In a discussion about the FY24 operating budget, Nelson said that Nye and member Michelle Smith have been working alongside the Budget Subcommittee has on a draft budget, and School Committee met Marion’s December 23 deadline for department heads to submit their proposed budgets.
The FY24 budget has been designed to maintain current levels of programming and staffing. A main budget driver, said Nelson, is inflation’s impact on utilities, needed financial literacy support accounting for a 14% tuition increase for special education and private-school tuition.
Nelson credited Marion Finance Committee Chairman Shay Assad for his work in partnership with the Budget Subcommittee.
A public hearing is anticipated for the one of the next School Committee meetings, said Nelson. The committee will vote on whether to recommend the budget as an article for the voting residents to decide upon at the Spring Town Meeting.
In her Principal’s Report, Marla Sirois highlighted equity in school and recent activities around the holiday season, including Project Grow door decorations and first graders’ family events.
“It was great to have volunteers back in the building, we’re so excited,” said Sirois.
Grade 5 students learned about a solar-powered boat that cleans up trash in Maryland, then practiced with Lego robots. Grade 4 learned about circuits and created holiday cards that lit up, and several grades participated in an optional, eight-week mathematics challenge.
After a visit to Sippican by members of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, students participated in class trips to New Bedford to work with the orchestra. The Sippican Concert Choir helped the Town of Marion kick off its annual Christmas Stroll, and the school band led the parade around village streets. Sippican students participated in an effort that accomplished the donations of 100 new toys to Gifts to Give.
The committee approved the disposal of speech and language materials out of date or otherwise no longer usable, along with a vote to recycle tech items, either broken beyond repair or incapable of updating to the latest software.
Since the last Marion School Committee meeting, the ORR Facilities Department has hired Cody Leonardo as the Building & Grounds Supervisor at Sippican School. He was scheduled to start on January 25.
The School Committee voted to appoint Melissa Wilcox as the School Committee secretary and add her as a recording secretary.
During a brief but emotional Public Comment session, Christine Legault, 508 County Road, told the committee she had exercised her rights under the federal Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) to request Sippican’s fifth-grade curriculum and received the information, only to see her access later denied.
“It was pulled from me and stopped and ceased and never allowed to continue, and I’m not really sure why when I have a federal right … to see how and what you are teaching my child every day …,” said Legault, who added that no teachers have responded to her inquiries. “I can’t even get what the kids are even doing for gym for the next four weeks so I know how to deal with my daughter’s really long hair or what to put on her.”
Legault reiterated that she has gone through the proper channels and said she even contacted DESE, which she said confirmed her understanding of her rights as a parent. “I really think you guys need to come up with a policy and procedure to allow all parents, not just those that can jump through your hoops and come in during the day, to see the curriculum and know what you’re doing.”
The School Committee approved three donations to Sippican School: 16 $25 Target store gift cards totaling $400 from St. Vincent de Paul, $2,078.58 from LifeTouch for the Fall Individuals 22-23 Program and $500 from Cape Cod 5 Educational Mini-Grant program to teacher Cathleen Furtado for securing additional reading materials for Sippican students.
The committee voted to enter executive session and only returned to adjourn the public meeting.
The next regular meeting of the Marion School Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, March 8, at 6:30 pm.
Marion School Committee
By Mick Colageo