Superintendent’s Corner: Spring Happenings

It has been a busy few months and we are heading towards the down stretch with approximately eight weeks remaining in this school year.  Where did the time go? 

• I recently attended the play “Grease” performed by our students and staff and what outstanding talent we have in our school district.  Parents, students, and the community thoroughly enjoyed this performance and we thank Mr. O’Toole for his endless hours of work with our students to make this such a huge success!
• Congratulations to our BHS Principal Mr. Clark and his staff for being selected to participate in the MMSI (Massachusetts Math and Science Initiative) Cohort V.  We have lobbied our legislators for additional funding to implement this initiative and look forward to a positive response so that our students will benefit from more opportunities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) advanced placement courses. 
• Our school district recently completed an annual Coordinated Program Review conducted by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).  During this week long review, teachers, parents, and administrators were interviewed by a team from DESE in the areas of special education, Title IX, ELL, Civil Rights, and Career and Vocational Technical Education.  The preliminary report indicated that our school district did very well in this review and we should receive a final written report sometime this summer.  Thank you to our Director of Special Education Dr. Jane Jezard, our Director of Student Services Dr. Gina    Hurley and all the staff and administration who participated in this review.  We look forward to the final report! 
• I am pleased to report that the FY13 School Budget was approved by the School Committee on April 10th in the amount of $58,085,365.  This level service budget with program enhancements represents a 1.58% increase from the FY12 budget.  Thank you to our administrators, teachers, school councils, school committee, and Deputy Director of Finance for their thoughtful input into the preparation of this budget. 
• Congratulations to our Barnstable School Committee for their recent presentation at the 72nd Annual Conference of the National School Boards Association held in Boston.  The title of the session “Creating and Combining a Charter and Site-Based School Governance Model that Works for ALL Students” has been a model for parental choice and site-based innovation.  The panelists included Mr. Patrick Murphy, Chair; Mr. Tom McDonald, former Principal, Superintendent and School Committee member; Mrs. Margeaux Weber, School Committee member; and Mr. Ken Keenan, former Principal. 
• Thank you to Mr. Gyra and the many student, staff and community volunteers for their work on the Astro Park history walk which will bring to completion this beautiful area of Barnstable High School.  We look forward to a fall celebration to showcase BHS! In the coming weeks our students will be engaged in MCAS, Advanced Placement Exams, spring concerts, and athletic events.  

I encourage our staff, parents and the community to attend as many events as their schedule will allow! 

Sincerely,

Dr. Mary A. Czajkowski 

Superintendent of Schools