Good Evening Everyone,
I hope this Superintendent Update for April/ May 2021 finds you and yours well. As you are aware, throughout the month of April we transitioned to full in-person learning for all of our schools within the Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District. Our entire district and each of tis schools worked diligently to prepare for the "pivot" to a full in-person return to learning with recalibrating and recovery on everyone’s minds. As a district, I am pleased to report that our transition of Grades K-6 on Monday, April 5th, 2021 and then Grades 7-12 on Monday, April 26th, 2021 went well.
Enrollment: Currently, the Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District is proud to serve more than 1,386 students. We have increased our enrollment by nine students since the beginning of the school year. We have a number of students that due to the pandemic had their parents/families decide to stay home and home-school during this turbulent time. Please know that we work hard daily to adhere to all of the guidance received by our local boards of health, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department to Elementary and Secondary Education’s guidance materials as well as the technical assistance/advice from the Department of Public Health. Moreover, that when you as a family are ready, please know we are prepared and will do what is needed to promote safety, health and wellness as best we are able…so that your son or daughter returns to school and in-person teaching and learning.
Covid-19 & Reopening: As a result of our due diligence and efforts to keep our students and staff safe and healthy, since we reopened our students to full-time in-person learning, five days per week, we have had three students at David Prouty HS; two students at Knox Trail MS; and one student at Wire Village School, total. We have had no confirmed cases of Covid-19 within the East Brookfield Elementary School nor among any of our faculty, staff or administration. At one point between March and April we had four weeks within one case among any faculty or students
Teacher Appreciation Week 2021! Last week the district and each of its schools celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week. Thank you to our parents, families and communities for recognizing our faculty, staff and administration in various ways throughout the week – as we had various themed activities taking place up and down the district – energizing the district in ways you could not imagine. Please know your kind words, thoughts and deeds do not go unnoticed and mean a great deal to us within each of our schools here in the Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District!
Commissioner Riley Visits SEBRSD! Over the course of the pandemic we had scheduled the Commissioner of Education, Jeffrey C. Riley, to come out and visit with our administration, faculty, staff and students to see how we were progressing throughout the pandemic. Due to a multitude of last minute “pivots” throughout the pandemic, we could never get on the same page to host him here in our schools. Well, thanks to some creative scheduling, Commissioner Riley and his Senior Advisor, Anne Marie Stronach, made their way to Knox Trail Middle School and East Brookfield Elementary to spend time with every one of our faculty, staff and students – thanking them for their service. We cannot thank Commissioner Riley enough for coming out last week to Southern Worcester County to join us and spend time with us, especially where the visit happened during Teacher Appreciation Week. It was such a nice visit.
Knox Trail Innovation Lab Committee Forming Soon! During April Break our custodial services went above and beyond and worked diligently to clean up the old wood shop in the downstairs space next to the gymnasium. They took on this cleaning project with the idea of getting the space ready and prepared for the Knox Trail Middle School “Innovation Lab.” Much of the old heavy equipment that could be repurposed was set aside in a back storage area - so that it could be donated to Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical School at alter date. However, the purpose of this cleaning project was to get it ready for what will become an “Innovation Lab” at Knox Trail Middle School. As a regional school district, our goal is to align our Science, Technology, Engineering Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) efforts into a central classroom space that is multipurpose and able to support students with more hands-on, problem-based learning activities - not only at the middle school but also at the high school - so that our students have Innovative Learning Labs in grades 5-8 at Knox Trail and & 9-12 at David Prouty. As a result, the Principal of Knox Trail, Ralph Borseth, will soon be asking for students, parents, families and community members who have in interest in designing, developing and helping us make this “Innovation Lab” space a reality for students in grades 5-8. If interested, please reach out to Mr. Borseth via email at: borsethr@sebrsd.org.
MSBA Update: Also of note over the past two weeks, our regional school district, in partnership with the Massachusetts School Building Committee, secured the designer services of Jones Whitsett Architects. As a result, it is my pleasure to announce that as of last week, and our most recent School Building Committee (SBC) meeting, the local SBC authorized me to sign the contract with Jones Whitsett, thus setting up the Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District with what it needs to begin the next Module of the process, which is the Feasibility Study.
With the technical assistance, guidance and support of our Owner Project Manager, Colliers, and our designer services/architect, Jones Whitsett, it is our sincere hope and expectation to begin the visioning portion of the process any day now with our administration, faculty, staff and others throughout SEBRSD. For further updates on our David Prouty High School Building Project, please go to our website: https://www.sebrsd.org or use the tag @ChooseSEBRSD via our social media channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Also, much of the visioning workshops will be recorded and produced so that it may be viewed at your leisure on our YouTube channel. Again, to learn more, you can go to our YouTube Channel or any of our Social Media accounts in the days and weeks ahead just by using the tag @ChooseSEBRSD.
Finally, here are some important dates to remember…
District-Wide Events
Financial Subcommittee meeting of the School Building Committee via Zoom
- Thu, May 13, 20201 (Start Time 5:00 PM)
Knox Trail Middle School
National Junior Honor Society Induction
- Wed, May 19, 2021 (Start Time 6:00 PM)
David Prouty High School
Graduation Rehearsal
- Tue, Jun 1, 2021 (Start Time 9:00 AM)
David Prouty High School Baccalaureate
- Tue, Jun 1, 2021 (Start Time 7:00 PM)
David Prouty High School Graduation Rehearsal
- Wed, Jun 2, 2021 (Start Time 9:00 AM)
Senior Stroll 2021!
- Thu, Jun 3, 2021 (Start Time 9:00 AM)
David Prouty High School Class Day
- Thu, Jun 3, 2021 (Start Time 12:00 PM)
David Prouty High School Graduation
- Fri, Jun 4,2021 (Start Time 6:00 PM)
Knox Trail Middle School Graduation
- Wed, June 16, 20201 (Start Time 5:00pm)
NOTE: The Knox Trail Middle School Graduation Ceremony will take place at the David Prouty High School Football field. Details to follow.
Last Day of School (Half Day)
- Thu, Jun 17 , 2021
Please know that due to current COVID safety protocols, many of the events listed above will have limited attendance. As always, I deeply appreciate your continued partnership and support of the Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District. #Progress #Unity #Knowledge
Sincerely yours,
Paul S. Haughey, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
@MASchoolsK12 @MASCSchoolComm