Dr. David Hopson
I believe we were very fortunate this year in terms of the weather and school related activities. As I watched our students departing for summer vacation on one of the hottest days of the school year, I was grateful that we didn’t have an earlier, and longer, period of very hot and humid weather. It is difficult enough to keep students on track when the seniors have graduated and summer vacation is just around the corner, without dealing with classrooms that are extraordinarily hot and humid. We also generally made out better than the lower lying areas in terms of the October snowstorm and the winter was generally mild, meaning we didn’t miss many days of school due to the weather.
As students begin to enjoy their summer vacation, life changes somewhat for our staff although very few actually get to have the entire summer off. Our custodial and maintenance staffs are already in high gear to clean, repair, and generally overhaul all of the classrooms, hallways, and other areas in the buildings. Our teachers will be updating their professional abilities through professional development, graduate courses, and other activities in addition to taking some time off to relax and recharge. Secretaries are busy completing all the-end-of year requirements so that they can begin all of the preparations for school to resume in late August. Administrators are already looking ahead to the next school year while at the same time completing all of the necessary requirements for the one that just ended. And of course on the financial end, we’re closing out one year, preparing for the annual audit, and setting up the budget that begins on July 1.
This summer is also a busy one given the changes in the Jr./Sr. High School and elementary principals with Laurie Marvel’s retirement and with Todd Gazda leaving to become superintendent in Ludlow. And, as if all of this wasn’t enough to keep everyone busy, the state is implementing a new way of measuring school and district accountability, schools are reviewing and deciding how they will implement the new teacher and administrative evaluation systems required by the state, and we’re all still rewriting and reworking curriculum to incorporate the national core standards.
Despite all of this preparation and work, it would be very helpful to our students if parents and other family members supported students in maintaining, and potentially improving, their abilities, skills, and knowledge. I’m not implying that students need to formally attend educational programs in the summer but rather that we all support students’ reading (and that can be of almost anything, we need to have them read routinely over the summer break), provide experiences that will get children to use their mathematical skills, try to incorporate learning about the world (think science, history, geology, etc.) while going about daily activities or on vacation, and, whenever possible, to have students write (on paper, via email, text, social media – the idea is to get ideas down, to synthesize information, and express themselves). The more we can encourage students and get them to practice their academic skills, the less they’ll lose their ability to do these things and this will result in less remedial and review work on their return to school in the fall.
I certainly hope that everyone has an enjoyable summer that allows each person to grow a little, partake in activities that are meaningful to them, have fun, and relax.
