Superintendent Provides Update, “we will continue to relax additional measures”
From Superintendent Thomas Scarice:Greetings,
My apologies for the weekend update. I simply ran out of time this week. No emergencies, just a series of updates for the school community.
Snow Day and School Calendar
After ten years of being a superintendent I have certainly experienced my share of successes and failures in calling for snow days or delays. The snow day on Thursday January 20 was most frustrating.
The decision to close on Thursday was based entirely on a forecast, one that predicted the same scenario we experienced on January 5, that is, a rapid refreeze of wet roads, covered by a couple of inches of snow, precisely at arrival time, and continuing through what would have been a delayed opening arrival time. Forecasts are not always correct, but at 4:30am, this was the best information available.
Snow is one thing, but the projections of a refreeze, covered by a layer of snow, is what prompted this decision. Unfortunately, two faculty members had car accidents on January 5, one "totaling" a car. The forecast called for the same dangerous conditions, thus the decision to close.
The impact to the student calendar is yet to be determined as we are clearly in the middle of a traditional New England winter. Students attend school for 182 days. There are 6 snow days “built into” the calendar (June 17-24). Additional make-up days beyond those six will require using April vacation days, beginning with Monday, April 18.
The original last day of school was scheduled to be June 16. We have had a total of four student days cancelled so far: three snow days (January 5, 7 and 20), and I called for an emergency “staff only” day on January 3 in response to what was unfolding with Omicron over the winter break. Staffing, including school-based personnel and bus drivers, were in question for our January 3 return and, among other reasons, I intended to avoid any chaos of a student arrival, followed by an early dismissal due to lack of staffing or bus drivers. Fortunately, we were able to staff and fully open on January 4.
Last Monday evening I made a recommendation to the Board of Education to reduce the student calendar from 182 to 181 as a result of the emergency day I called for on January 3. This is difficult since non-certified staff were asked to report on January 3 and maintaining the 182 student calendar would warrant an additional unplanned paid day to these employees since it would take them one day beyond their contractual work calendar.
Given the uncertainty on January 3, and the constant decision-making confronting a global pandemic, I am confident that this recommendation is prudent. The Board of Education will vote on this recommendation at an upcoming meeting following the January 24 meeting. .
Relaxing Covid Mitigating Measures
Given the steadily decreasing infection rates, we will continue to relax additional measures. Last week we removed the requirement for masks to be worn during outdoor recess and we restarted before and after school programs across the entire district.
Changes Beginning January 31:
School Visitors will be welcomed back to our buildings. We will return to the provisions prior to the Omicron surge. All visitors will be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test administered 72 prior to the visit. It is expected that vaccination and negative Covid test requirements for employees will be revisited at the state level. We will consider revisions based on those expected changes.
Desk shields will be removed at Staples High School immediately, and from the elementary and middle schools at the end of the upcoming week.
Lunch in all of our schools will return to the pre-Omicron practices beginning on January 31.
PPTs will return to “in person”, with the option for virtual, beginning on January 31. Please consult with your child’s school for additional information.
BOE Budget Process
Recently I made a recommendation for the 2022-2023 district budget to the Board of Education. The overall recommendation represents a 3.78% increase over the current budget. I encourage the school community to review the resources on our website, particularly the executive summary I provided the Board of Education on pages 6-12 of this document: https://www.westportps.org/uploaded/site_files/www/Food_Services/2021-2022/Table_of_Contents_Executive_Summary.pdf
The Board of Education continues to carefully deliberate over the budget process. The January 24 meeting agenda includes additional discussion on this topic. It is expected that the Board will vote on the 2022-2023 budget at their upcoming meeting on January 31.
Strategic Plan Update
As the impact of the pandemic lessened last spring, the Board of Education began initial steps to develop a new long-term strategic plan. This process began with a series of Board of Education meetings on this topic, and my facilitation of focus groups with faculty, support staff, parents, and students at each of our schools. I provided an update to the Board on my interpretations of the feedback I received. This initial inquiry and synthesis summary can be found on pages 2-6 of this document: https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1627385122/westport/zscoiwsx4ytdwooab6nv/7-27-21SpecialMeeting-Packet2.pdf.
In the fall, retired superintendent, Judith Wilson, provided services to the district by administering surveys and conducting interviews to test and validate my findings from the focus groups. Additionally, Judith helped assemble a range of data for a core team of 28 Westport educators to begin the process of establishing an overarching strategic direction for the district’s work over the next 3-5 years. Two full days were dedicated to this work on November 16 and 17.
The Board of Education is committed to providing input and guiding the overarching strategic direction of the district’s work, and this core team of educators worked to establish a recommendation. This recommendation was provided to the Board of Education on January 4. Although the presentation was significantly abridged due to the Omicron surge (i.e. I led the entire discussion when the plan was for numerous members of the core team to lead), the recommendation for a strategic direction was provided. At this point in the process, I sought endorsement of two areas of focus, safeguarding from a process that could diffuse focus. That summary can be found on pages 5-13 of this document: https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1641218752/westport/pmhbl2iisrofooeko7vr/1-4-22BOEAgendaPacket.pdf
Following the presentation, it was requested that further elaboration and justification for the two recommended areas of focus (i.e. social/emotional wellness and collaborative problem solving via design thinking) be provided. In addition, since January 4, a number of questions and mischaracterizations have been raised about the appropriateness of a focus on social and emotional wellness.
I will be returning with most of the 28 members of the core team of educators to respond to this feedback at the January 31 Board of Education meeting. The team is very enthused to dig deeper into these topics and this process for the Board of Education and the entire community. We are most interested in expanding further on the vision of this strategic direction and intend to elaborate and justify further for the school community in order to have this direction enthusiastically endorsed. We will provide examples of work that has been done for decades in our schools, as well as how a new iteration of this work will be different and set our students up to thrive when confronting the challenges they will face as young adults.
Once this focus has been thoroughly established, the team will work to develop specific action plans and a 3-5 year map for the district. Strong consensus on the strategic direction is necessary in order to successfully continue the next steps of this process.
You are strongly encouraged to join us on January 31 at the Board of Education meeting.
Closing
Please keep warm this weekend as the New England chill has gripped our region!! Although we are not out of the woods yet with the pandemic, it is becoming increasingly clear that we are about to turn a corner, much like last year at this time. As we do, I eagerly look forward to joining together as a school community to move forward beyond the pandemic, to a bolder and aspirational vision for our students and schools.
Respectfully,
Thomas Scarice
Superintendent of Schools