1. Personnel

Goal 1.1: Negotiate contracts for all groups (teachers, paraprofessionals, secretaries, nurses, custodians, etc.) and individuals (as needed).

Goal 1.2: Develop a process to review evaluation procedures for staff members in selected bargaining units.

Goal 1.3: Begin working toward the implementation of new state guidelines for evaluation of professional staff members. 

2. Financial/Building Management

Goal 2.1: Continue to implement an overall school building plan for the district by pursuing the process that will lead to the eventual construction of a combined Hurld-Wyman elementary school.

Goal 2.2: Complete the roof project at the Kennedy Middle Schools by accessing funding opportunities from the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

Goal 2.3: Work with the Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations and the Finance Subcommittee to develop a new format for the school department budget.

3. Curriculum and Instruction

Goal 3.1: Focus school improvement goals on student achievement at the school level by using collaborative reflective practice as a means to meet measurable targets.

Goal 3.2: In collaboration with the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Principals at the secondary level, develop a structure that leads to the development of 21st century curriculum in grades 6-12.  

Goal 3.3: Work with the Director of Educational Technology to create learning opportunities for students that take advantage of available technology-especially opportunities for online collaboration.

Goal 3.4: In collaboration with the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, continue to develop methods and strategies for improving mathematics achievement at the middle school level.

4. Communication

Goal 4.1: Work with the School Committee to generate a plan for reviewing our mission statement and overarching goals to provide a basis for future strategic planning.

Goal 4.2: Continue to explore use of various forms of online technology to increase communication with staff, parents, the School Committee, and the general public.

In addition to the many day-to-day responsibilities that are part of my position, I look forward to continuing to work on these important activities designed to keep the Woburn Public Schools moving in the right direction.  

A select few students from the Joyce Middle School have contributing artwork in the Mass College of Art and Design's New Educators exhibit. Twenty-eight public, private, and parochial schools throughout the Boston area are participating in the exhibit. Art teacher Ms Nancy Borrelli took Jill Vickers in as a Student Teacher intern for these past two terms. Part of Jill's training was to observe them participate in all aspects of art education in the classroom. The New Educators Exhibit at MassArt is a collection of student art that was created in the classrooms, which these twenty eight Mass Art interns were assigned to.

Participating students include Joseph Siverhus, Eric Passerini, Damian MacPhee, Dylan Elwell, Alexander Amadeo, Casey Danizio, Ariana Gelvez, Angela DeSousa, Kyle Chute, Jayda Byrne, Jason Creamer, Nicholas Poulakidas, Priya Pai, Amanda Molinari, Erika Crampton, James Park, Tim Forson, Michael Doyle, Jessica Rufo, Marissa Parker, Joe Reynolds, Nam Nguyen, Julie Doherty, Brendan Surette, Bianca Lundin, Nichelli Squilliciotti, and Jonathan Tavares.

The Arnheim Gallery at Mass College of Art and Design is located at 621 Huntington Ave in Boston. The show will run until Jan 6, 2012. Hours are Monday through Saturday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

This fall the Mary D. Altavesta School was fortunate to have student teachers in our classrooms from Salem State University. These student teachers, who were embedded in the classrooms from September to December are the second group of aspiring teachers that have completed their practicum experience here at the Mary D. Altavesta. Forming collaboration with Salem State University has benefited not only the student teachers involved, but also the staff and students here at the Altavesta.

During the student teachers' time here they gained experience in planning for and implementing curriculum, collecting and using data from assessments to drive instruction, and using positive behavior interventions for whole class and individual students. The cooperating teachers here at the Altavesta guided and slowly released responsibilities to the student teachers, eventually leading up to a two week take over period by the student teachers. In addition to gaining day to day classroom experience, the student teachers became valued and respected members of our Altavesta family by attending bi-weekly RTI meetings with our staff, running intervention groups side by side with their cooperating teachers, attending back to school night, parent conferences, staff meetings and school functions.

The cooperating teachers enjoyed modeling the "real world" educational experience for the student teachers and felt that these aspiring teachers helped breathe new life into their experienced teaching practices. The teachers here reported that they enjoyed sharing their own ideas and tried and true instructional practices with these new teachers, as well as hearing fresh ideas. Everyone here at the Mary D. Altavesta is looking forward to continuing our collaboration with Salem State University as we welcome students into our school this coming spring semester.

We would like to highlight Mrs. Doyle's 5th grade ELA class. "They have been doing the Native American Project since 1984," says Ms. Kelly another 5th grade teacher.

The project is really comprehensive and teaches the students a lot about researching, organization, planning, time management, and much more. The students have to choose between the Sioux or the Iroquois tribes to research, illustrate, and write a report. They are constantly applying the skills they have learned and the topics they have covered to complete this project.

"It is fun, but it is challenging, and it takes up a lot of time," say Lia and Leandra from Doyle's class.

Another fifth grader, Ray, said, "The project takes hard work, skill, and intelligence."

Mrs. Macdonald(a current 4th grade teacher) states, "She completed the project in 1986, and what she learned most was how to take organized detailed notes. She also said that Mrs. Doyle made her the writing teacher that she is today."

Mrs. Doyle said, "The students will be different, in a very unique way, because of this project."

Mrs. Kozachuk's third grade class at the Hurld School recently sent letters to Emma Journeay. They worked on learning and writing all of the parts of a friendly letter: heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature.

Emma is a gregarious and enthusiastic third grade girl who loves Justin Bieber. She was diagnosed with stage IV Neuroblastoma in September. She is currently going through rounds of chemotherapy. It cheers her up when she receives letters. Emma also enjoys getting postcards from around the world. If you want to spread some holiday cheer, Emma would love to hear from you. It brightens her day when she is reading letters and postcards.

Emma Journeay

c/o Kathy Terceiro

5 Carriage Court

Merrimac, Massachusetts 01860

The second grade classes at the Hurld School are working collaboratively reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. They are exploring new vocabulary, character development, plot, and setting. In order to differentiate instruction, they have formed literature circle groups in which they are working together on these skills. They will culminate this project by making a shadow box that depicts all of the elements of fiction.

     The fifth graders at the Linscott are working on completing 50 hours of community service. When the 50 hours are earned students are eligible to receive the Y.E.S. Award (Youth Engaged in Service) at the end of grade 5. The fifth graders are staying after school and completing tasks for beautification and betterment of our school. The jobs given to the 5th graders have been cleaning kindergarten tables, dusting and cleaning the library, picking up trash and leaves around the school, constructing holiday decorations, collating information and much more. The students were asked why are you participating in the after school program they all said "We want to give back to our community and school."

Samantha Feeney, Chris Chalmers, and Sophia Sheldon clean the kindergarten tables at the Linscott-Rumford.

The elementary school years represent a critical phase of development, in which children are deciding who they are and who they will become. Leadership training at the elementary level can be fun, educational and can reveal the leaders of tomorrow by increasing their capacity to make decisions and shoulder responsibility. The Malcolm White School has developed a grade five, school-based leadership team, which brings young, civic-minded people together. Thus far, these student leaders have developed teams charged with assisting the office staff and school nurse, managing the lost and found, and working to increase the safety of all children while at recess. Most recently, this group has expressed an interest in doing their part in working towards a greener Earth, starting at the Malcolm White School.

On Monday, December 19th, the WMHS Students Towards a Greener Earth visited the school and began a partnership with not only this leadership team, but also the entire fifth grade. While determining whether or not an item could be recycled the students reflected upon recycling practices for both home and school. Further, students had the opportunity to make posters that will be displayed around the school encouraging all students to do their part in making the Malcolm White a greener school. Both the WMHS STAGE group and the Malcolm White's leadership team are eager to continue their collaboration.  

The sciences came to life at the Goodyear School as our Kindergarten, First, and Second Graders were visited by the Windows on Wildlife Program. They were able to experience first hand wildlife cycles, development of survival behaviors and adaptations of living things in relationship to their environment. This program supported classroom instruction and learning standards in this area of the sciences.   

We move into the winter months with snow and ice. The Facilities Department is prepared to deal with the upcoming weather. Plows and sanders are ready, snow blowers have been serviced, and sand and ice melt have been delivered to all schools. We will do our best with snow removal operations. However, everyone needs to remember that it is winter, and it is important to have appropriate footwear and warm clothing during the winter season. Please remember to slow down when driving on snow and ice. Snow banks can become very high, and children can be hidden from view.

In other news, the roof replacement over at the Joyce School gym and rink is complete. The roof replacement at the Kennedy School will be completed in the next two weeks.

We hope everyone enjoys the Holidays.

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