School District Close to Selecting New Elementary ELA Curriculum

By Adam Swift

The school district is getting close to choosing a new ELA and reading curriculum for its elementary schools.

On Monday night, the school committee approved adding a half day to the current school year calendar on June 5 at the elementary schools. The additional half day will be used for professional development for teachers and staff to get a headstart on the new curriculum.

Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard said building teachers and administration have spent the past several months looking at options for a new curriculum for the schools. Currently, the district is looking to make a final decision on one of two options.

“When the curriculum is chosen by the staff, we will come back and make sure the school committee is well aware of the curriculum and able to see the curriculum,” said Howard. “This has been a process that has gone on for quite some time.”

Materials for the new curriculum will be paid for with the federal ESSER Covid relief funds.

“It’s a good use of that money for a curriculum that is going to last us for a few years,” said Howard. “I have to applaud the teachers; there has been a large team of teachers that has been looking at this curriculum along with the direction of some of our reading specialists and other folks in the district really vetting it out.”

Howard said the final selection will come down to what works best for the students in the district.

“The work starts with recognizing where is it that our kids are doing very well, where is it that we see a great need for our kids and then cross referencing those curriculums to see which one offers us the largest opportunity to reach the most students that we have,” said Howard.

School Committee Chair Jennifer Powell did request that the final choice go to the committee’s curriculum subcommittee for review.

In other business, Howard said there will be a draft of the 2024-25 school calendar ready for review at the next school committee meeting on March 25.

“We are working on putting that together now and getting feedback from the principals, including things like professional development day and parent-teacher conferences,” said Howard.

There are also ongoing discussions about school start and end times, which Howard said may not be solidified by the March 25 meeting.

“But for planning purposes for families and vacations, we like to get it up as soon as we can,” said Howard.

The March 25 meeting will also feature presentations on the school improvement plans for the district’s elementary schools. The school improvement plan presentations for the middle and high schools will take place at the next committee meeting after that, according to Howard.

Howard also noted that the district’s Project 351 student ambassador, Emanoela Novak is organizing a clothing drive for Cradles to Crayons at the middle school that will be held through Friday, March 15. Anyone with new or gently used clothes to donate can drop them off at bins located at the middle school, the Arthur T. Cummings School, and on the third floor of the Winthrop School of Performing Arts.