Silver Lake schools will continue to use MCAS tests to measure students’ progress despite election results.
The Silver Lake Regional School Committee met on Thursday, Dec. 12. Superintendent Jill Proulx provided a status update to the Committee. Regarding the budget, she said that preliminary proposals would be ready in January. She also told the Committee that Kingston had applied for and been approved for a grant looking at the costs and benefits of full regionalization.
Proulx said that despite the election results eliminating the graduation requirement for MCAS, participation is still required by federal and state law. “DESE’s [Department of Elementary and Secondary Education] accountability system will continue to use assessment participation errant rates and the resulting achievement and growth in its annual determinations for each of our school districts,” she explained. She said that award programs tied to MCAS results will continue as usual.
Committee member Jason Fraser said, “We have trained educators and administrators who know what competency looks like which is one of the reasons why question two passed by such a large margin.” He said he hopes that the State won’t create a new mandate to try to skirt the will of the voters. He further noted that he is working with others on legislation that would prohibit those types of mandates.
Fraser also provided a legislative update. Former Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley is now working at MIT interfacing computer technology, specifically their AI department, with public education. “I’m in conversations with him to try and develop some professional development for school committee members,” Fraser said.
Fraser said that his conversations with acting Commissioner Russell Johnston have been more “stressed” primarily around a blind lottery for Chapter 74 programs which are vocational/CTE programs. Fraser said that they are potentially looking into removing discipline, attendance, and grade requirements for entry into Chapter 74 programs in order to avoid imbalance and equity issues. Fraser said, however, that after a review of the State, very few programs were found to have such equity issues and the ones that do, the State is working with them to correct.
Fraser also said he was asked to give testimony regarding how much should be allocated for Circuit Breaker next year. “We’re asking for $667 million which is about $58 million more than last year,” he said. He further said that this year might be the first year in over a decade where they don’t meet the 75 percent threshold for Circuit Breaker reimbursement which he said would be “devastating.” “Trump, when he was candidate Trump, talked about potentially disassembling some parts of the Department of Education, potentially dismantling it in its entirety. It does seem like candidate Trump is looking at potentially shifting all of the title funding directly to the states and bypassing the bureaucracy of Washington. That might be an efficiency… that does cause an issue with how the states then allocate those title funds to individual municipalities and schools. Unfortunately for us, most of that would be needs-based assessments and when people look at our towns they don’t see much need, so it could mean losing out on federal funding,” Fraser said.
Fraser said, “there is a significant chance that Plympton will need to consider a proposition 2 ½ override for this spring.” Committee member Jeanne Coleman said, “Kingston experienced the same thing a couple of years ago and I just want to warn you, the town then accused us of, I believe it was, a 12 percent increase and it was like no, you have to consider that we had a deficit mid-year so we were really only looking at much less of an increase of, I believe, it was 4 percent.”
Director of Finance and Operations, Sarah Hickey said there was $160,000 in the FY25 capital plan for special education vehicles. She said that they would be spending just over $87k leaving an excess of nearly $73k. She also spoke to the Committee regarding the CTE repair to the garage door. The project is being moved to June which will incur a $14,000 cost but is less than alternative options.
Director of Facilities Mike Lawless said that earlier this year, the Committee had voted to use $100,000 of allotted funds for a building assessment and use the remaining $72,000 to do HVAC repairs. He said that one of the main HVAC repairs he hoped to do was in the auditorium at the Middle School. That repair to a 19 year-old unit came in at approximately $60,000. He said that they were looking to complete smaller repairs instead with those funds and noted that the unit in the auditorium would likely be the first one replaced when they complete the assessment. The Committee voted to approve the change to the intended use of funds.
Silver Lake Regional Middle School Principal Becky Couet said that the students brought in thousands of canned goods for Thanksgiving that were donated to a local food pantry. Students Making a Difference (SMAD) and Student Council are going to Head Start to “spread holiday cheer.”
Regarding teaching and learning she said, “we’re seeing carnival ride creations in tech ed, we’re exploring amendments in civics, we’re also applying real world problems to linear equations… they’re designing investigations in science in ways that I’ve never seen before,” Couet said. “Kids are engaged and talking to each other every single day and I’m really proud of the education we have here,” she continued.
Couet also asked to raise the additional half-time adjustment counselor full-time. She said that the funds were there due to an unexpected resignation. She stated that this would be done with the knowledge that the funds may not be there in next year’s budget. The Committee approved the request.
Silver Lake Regional High School Principal Michaela Gill also provided an update. She first turned things over to the student representative Carissa Smith. Smith told the Committee that they changed a lot of things about Laker Day this year. She joked that they won’t be doing student-teacher dodgeball this year as a lot of teachers were still hurting from last year’s game. She said that they also did a “masked singer” event where teachers came dressed in inflatable costumes. She also said that they held a pep rally and noted that the Beauty and the Beast performance went “really well.”
Gill said that a working group consisting of various administrators and staff reviewed a mock schedule for an 8-period feasibility schedule. She said they found that not all students that requested a world language are able to be serviced. She also said that class sizes have increased. She said that in order for the schedule to become reality, it would need to be approved by January.
Gill said that the Kingston Police Department in collaboration with the FBI and Plymouth County DA’s office held a presentation in November on the rise in threatening statements made by students. Included in the presentation was what would happen should someone be caught making such a statement.
Gill went over some changes in curriculum offerings including a new Women in History and Culture course. The Committee voted unanimously to approve all the changes to courses and new courses added.
Assistant Superintendent Tricia Clifford said, “Earlier in the year, I applied for a grant through the Department of Ed. for support for the homeless shelter for our multilingual learners and we were awarded that grant for Silver Lake which was $7,500. That money will be used mainly for professional development… to help teachers to learn the best strategies to work with EL students.” The Committee voted to approve the acceptance of the grant.
Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator Melissa Greene presented to the Committee on the social studies curriculum in Grade 8 and the new MCAS exam that the students would be taking as an operational test this spring. She said that in 2018 the Department of Education released updated guidelines for Social Studies curriculum more focused on civics. She said that in 2022/2023, Silver Lake participated in piloting a new Social Studies MCAS exam and last year, the entire state took part in the testing. She said they received limited data from the exams taken. They did, however, extrapolate that analyzing a source proved to be a difficult task for students.
Greene said that this year they started a new, free curriculum that is fully aligned with the State frameworks. “Through that curriculum we are really looking at opportunities for kids to engage in the civic practices and the discussions that are really meaningful and really thinking about their role as a community member,” she said. She said that the curriculum comes from one developed by the Democratic Knowledge Project out of Harvard. Silver Lake received a grant for nearly $25k for three years’ worth of support from the Democratic Knowledge Project.
Also during the meeting, a spokesperson for the SLEA spoke and took a moment to show gratitude toward the special education teachers in the district.
Committee
MCAS Will Continue to be Taken Despite Election Results
The Silver Lake Regional School Committee met on Thursday, Dec. 12.
Superintendent Jill Proulx provided a status update to the Committee. Regarding the budget, she said that preliminary proposals would be ready in January. She also told the Committee that Kingston had applied and been approved for a grant looking at the of costs and benefits of full regionalization.
Proulx said that despite the election results eliminating the graduation requirement for MCAS, participation is still required by federal and state law. “DESE’s [Department of Elementary and Secondary Education] accountability system will continue to use assessment participation errant rates and the resulting achievement and growth in its annual determinations for each of our school districts,” she explained. She said that award programs tied to MCAS results will continue as usual.
Committee member Jason Fraser said, “We have trained educators and administrators who know what competency looks like which is one of the reasons why question two passed by such a large margin.” He said he hopes that the State won’t create a new mandate to try and skirt the will of the voters. He further noted that he is working with others on legislation that would prohibit those types of mandates.
Fraser also provided a legislative update. Former Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley is now working at MIT interfacing computer technology, specifically their AI department, with public education. “I’m in conversations with him to try and develop some professional development for school committee members,” Fraser said.
Fraser said that his conversations with acting Commissioner Russell Johnston have been more “stressed” primarily around a blind lottery for Chapter 74 programs which are vocational/CTE programs. Fraser said that they are potentially looking into removing discipline, attendance, and grade requirements for entry into Chapter 74 programs in order to avoid imbalance and equity issues. Fraser said, however, that after a review of the State, very few programs were found to have such equity issues and the ones that do, the State is working with them to correct.
Fraser also said he was asked to give testimony regarding how much should be allocated for Circuit Breaker next year. “We’re asking for $667 million which is about $58 million more than last year,” he said. He further said that this year might be the first one in over a decade where they don’t meet the 75 percent threshold for Circuit Breaker reimbursement which he said would be “devastating.” “Trump, when he was candidate Trump, talked about potentially dissembling some parts of the Department of Education potentially dismantling it in its entirety. It does seem like candidate Trump is looking at potentially shifting all of the title funding directly to the states and bypassing the bureaucracy of Washington. That might be an efficiency… that does cause an issue with how the states then allocates those title funds to individual municipalities and schools. Unfortunately for us, most of that would be needs based assessments and when people look at our towns they don’t see much need, so it could mean losing out on federal funding,” Fraser said.
Fraser said, “there is a significant chance that Plympton will need to consider a proposition 2 ½ override for this spring.” Committee member Jeanne Coleman said, “Kingston experienced the same thing a couple of years ago and I just want to warn you, the town then accused us of, I believe it was, a 12 percent increase and it was like no, you have to consider that we had a deficit mid-year so we were really only looking at much less of an increase of, I believe, it was 4 percent.”
Director of Finance and Operations, Sarah Hickey said there was $160,000 in the FY25 capital plan for special education vehicles. She said that they would be spending just over $87k leaving an excess of nearly $73k. She also spoke to the Committee regarding the CTE repair to the garage door. The project is being moved to June which will incur a $14,000 cost but is less than alternative options.
Director of Facilities Mike Lawless said that earlier this year, the Committee had voted to use $100,000 of allotted funds for a building assessment and use the remaining $72,000 to do HVAC repairs. He said that one of the main HVAC repairs he hoped to do was in the auditorium at the Middle School. That repair to a 19 year old unit came in at approximately $60,000. He said that they were looking to complete smaller repairs instead with those funds and noted that the unit in the auditorium would likely be the first one replaced when they complete the assessment. The Committee voted to approve the change to the intended use of funds.
Silver Lake Regional Middle School Principal Becky Couet said that the students brought in thousands of canned goods for Thanksgiving that were donated to a local food pantry. Students Making a Difference (SMAD) and Student Council are going to Head Start to “spread holiday cheer.”
Regarding teaching and learning she said, “we’re seeing carnival ride creations in tech ed, we’re exploring amendments in civics, we’re also applying real world problems to linear equations… they’re designing investigations in science in ways that I’ve never seen before,” Couet said. “Kids are engaged and talking to each other every single day and I’m really proud of the education we have here,” she continued.
Couet also asked to make the additional half-time adjustment counselor a full-time one. She said that the funds were there due to an unexpected resignation. She stated that this would be done with the knowledge that the funds may not be there in next year’s budget. The Committee approved the request.
Silver Lake Regional High School Principal Michaela Gill also provided an update. She first turned things over to the student representative Carissa Smith. Smith told the Committee that they changed a lot of things about Laker Day this year. She joked that they won’t be doing student-teacher dodgeball this year as a lot of teachers were still hurting from last year’s game. She said that they also did a “masked singer” event where teachers came dressed in inflatable costumes. She also said that they held a pep rally and noted that the Beauty and the Beast performance went “really well.”
Gill said that a working group consisting of various administrators and staff reviewed a mock schedule for an 8-period feasibility schedule. She said they found that not all students that requested a world language are able to be serviced. She also said that class sizes have increased. She said that in order for the schedule to become reality, it would need to be approved by January.
Gill said that the Kingston Police Department in collaboration with the FBI and Plymouth County DA’s office held a presentation in November on the rise in threatening statements made by students. Included in the presentation was what would happen should someone be caught making such a statement.
Gill went over some changes in curriculum offerings including a new Women in History and Culture course. The Committee voted unanimously to approve all the changes to courses and new courses added.
Assistant Superintendent Tricia Clifford said, “Earlier in the year, I applied for a grant through the Department of Ed for support for the homeless shelter for our multilingual learners and we were awarded that grant for Silver Lake which was $7,500. That money will be used mainly for professional development… to help teachers to learn the best strategies to work with EL students.” The Committee voted to approve the acceptance of the grant.
Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator Melissa Greene presented to the Committee on the social studies curriculum in Grade 8 and the new MCAS exam that the students would be taking as an operational test this spring. She said that in 2018 the Department of Education released updated guidelines for Social Studies curriculum more focused on civics. She said that in 2022/2023, Silver Lake participated in piloting a new Social Studies MCAS exam and last year, the entire state took part in the testing. She said they received limited data from the exams taken. They did, however, extrapolate that analyzing a source proved to be a difficult task for students.
Greene said that this year they started a new, free curriculum that is fully aligned with the State frameworks. “Through that curriculum we are really looking at opportunities for kids to engage in the civic practices and the discussions that are really meaningful and really thinking about their role as a community member,” she said. She said that the curriculum comes from one developed by the Democratic Knowledge Project out of Harvard. Silver Lake received a grant for nearly $25k for three years’ worth of support from the Democratic Knowledge Project.
Also during the meeting, a spokesperson for the SLEA spoke and took a moment to show gratitude toward the special education teachers in the district.