Board of Ed. Meeting Covers COVID-19, Staff Diversity, Academic Slide, and Coleytown Middle School News
Last night’s Board of Education meeting, adjourning just after 10:30 PM, covered a lot of ground as members of the Board of Education, Board of Finance, school administrators, and other educators or community members discussed the status of public education in Westport.
The Board of Finance described a turbulent economic climate for the Town, with Chairman Brian Stern citing the pandemic, storms, and other periods of financial losses for the Town - while also speaking about a possible 1%-1.5% increase in the Town’s Grand List. The Board of Finance members also made mention to the rising per-pupil costs for the District as they plan their budget - citing its increasing from “roughly $18,000/pupil in 2014” [actual per-pupil expense was $18,858] “to a projected $23,000/pupil for 2021.” Stern added in his hope that the Board of Education would “submit their own assessment” regarding diversity in the Westport Public Schools workforce, however declined to elaborate further citing not wanting to sound judgmental.
Board of Finance member Jim Foster asked Superintendent Thomas Scarice to describe Westport’s educational vision, saying “I’d love to see, before we get into the numbers, what Westport’s vision is” due to his feeling that sometimes the main vision gets lost as the entity begins to talk about dollars.
“The virus basically stops at the school doors” said Superintendent Thomas Scarice, and echoed by Suzanne Levasseur, District Health Services Supervisor, who described little to no evidence of viral spread taking place in the school buildings. Members applauded mask wearing and other health guidelines that assisted in keeping the low rate of transmission in schoolhouses in the community. Levasseur also answer a question regarding news that quarantine days could be lessened from 14 days to 10 days, saying that “we’re waiting to hear from the State on that.”
Scarice and Staples High School Principal Stafford Thomas Jr. explained a recent increase in students switching from in-school learning to at home, remote-learning - especially at the high school level. This was described as a challenge for educators to accurately plan lessons, when “some days the teacher may plan for 11 in-person learners, and then only three show up” according to Scarice. This point was also echoed by local educators, describing the difficulty they are finding in planning with so much volatility in the attendance. Principal Thomas said that since November 7th, 200 high school students made the switch from hybrid to full distant learning despite the relative safety and health of the school building.
Anthony Buono, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, reviewed the NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) assessment scores, and the changes they displayed from Fall of 2019 to Fall of 2020. The test is administered to all students in elementary and middle school, and is designed to show academic difficulties or strengths for students and/or districts.
Maths were the hardest hit subject per the assessment RIT scores (Rasch Units), showing varying levels of decline throughout all grades except Kindergarten. Maths scores were still above the national average despite the decline from last year to this year, but showed a larger margin of decline in younger students than older students.
Reading scores showed strength, as those scores remained near-level with last year’s scores - some grades sliding <1% point. Kindergarten again showed no decline. Buono made mention to data that showed the district’s margin of higher-performing students thinned over the year, while the margin of lower-performing students widened.
“Work is happening at a feverish pace” exclaimed Don O’Day, Chair of the Coleytown Middle School Building Committee (CMSBC) as he gave a progress report for the school, which was closed over two years ago after an evacuation due to reported illnesses rocked the school community. The town has long awaited the re-opening of the school - and with “a quarter million dollars worth of books being delivered to the new library media center tomorrow”, the committee plans to “hand the school” to the Board of Education this Wednesday; teachers can expect to begin to set up their new classrooms as soon as this Thursday.
Although not done, he said they’re nearly there. The last delivery of essential materials for window flashings will be delivered this Friday, and all materials or supplies stored off-site for the duration of the construction will be coming back to the school on December 18th.
With the January 4th opening date nearing, the interior construction is scheduled for completion by December 23rd, O’Day said as he showed some interior photos of a newly-tiled lobby. And with the luck of the New Year, technology and exterior construction work will be complete by December 30th, however he warns that there will “still be punch list items to be completed in the first quarter of 2021, for probably a 3 month period.” Over two years and a pandemic later, the Coleytown Middle School staff and students finally have opening day within their grasps.