April 16, 2025 - On Wednesday, April 16th, 2025, Wire Village School Principal, Mrs. Melanie Ethier, and East Brookfield Elementary School Principal, Mrs. Christine Lavin, were informed by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education today by letter that their elementary schools, which are part of the Spencer-East Brookfield School District were awarded the Class of 2025 Purple Star Designation. The award is in its second year in Massachusetts, having been established during the 2023 - 2024 school year. Each school met all the criteria outlined in the application process for this three-year designation.
Recipients of this award support military-connected students enrolled and attending their schools, as well as the families and staff who interact with military-connected students. The goal of this award is to recognize schools that are helping to close educational gaps military-connected students experience, as a result of their high mobility while their parent/guardian is serving our country.
Purple Star Designated Schools
“The Purple Star School program is designed to help schools support military-connected students, who often experience frequent relocations and the challenges of parental deployments. In Massachusetts, the benefits of the Purple Star Designation include support(s) in areas like relocation, enrollment, registration, and social and academic planning for military-connected students,” said Superintendent of Schools, Paul Haughey.
To be clear, our entire regional school district - all four of our schools - are deeply committed to providing the programming and services of Purple Star Designation in grades PreK-12, and will provide the necessary programming, services, and supports of military-connected students and their families - now and into the future…" added Superintendent Haughey.
“With that said, we are equally humbled to have earned this designation from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education this spring; and will submit an amendment to include Knox Trial Middle School and David Prouty High School in the fall of 2025 for the entire district.”