School Committee: New Teachers, More Students, New Middle School Update

The school year may have just started for Hingham’s children but for the School Committee, the summer months have seen several projects move forward.

Middle School Project & High School Fields Project  

Monday’s meeting may have clashed with the Patriots game, but there was plenty to discuss with the Middle School Project and High School Fields Project certain to be debated in the weeks to come with a Special Town Meeting set for October 24. 

Both of these have been in the public domain for some time and they continue to engender debate and comment from Hingham residents. The designs for both are still to be finalized but with the Special Town Meeting on the horizon, School Committee is currently putting together the wording of the Warrant Articles for both proposed projects.

The tax implications of the proposed new Middle School for residents will be detailed in a formula provided by Ted Alexiades, Town Administrator, and will form part of the Warrant Article on the Middle School Project. With this in mind, School Building Committee will continue their program of Community Outreach with presentations at PTO meetings in the next few weeks.

The Building Committee has had a productive meeting with the Massachusetts School Building Authority and it appears that the Middle School Project is ready to be approved by the MSBA at their meeting on September 28. There is still some more Value Engineering to be considered by the Building Committee and Ai3, the designers but these will be in the nature of fine-tuning the project before it goes before the town vote in October.

Figures on the High School Field Project have now been released and the total request for funds on the Warrant Article will be $935,000. The tennis courts will now be repaired as opposed to replaced and School Committee will be seeking a grant from the state of $30,000 for the track and a minimum of $4,000 from the USTA for the courts.

New School Year Begins

Classes started again last week and the latest enrolment figures showed that the number of children in Hingham Public Schools continues to increase. The opening day of the 2011-2012 school year started smoothly with the exception of East Elementary whose ovens failed, forcing the children to eat tuna fish sandwiches as opposed to chicken nuggets but this was the only reported problem. 

Five-Year Strategic Plan

The committee also received a copy of the Five-Year Strategic Plan which detailed the core values and goals for the years 2011-2016. These will allow Hingham Public Schools to continue to provide challenging and comprehensive educational programs in a safe and supportive environment while enabling all students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary for success as local and global citizens.

New Hingham Teachers

The summer has also seen a number of new teachers appointed within the school system and the Committee formally noted these last night.

These appointments were as follows;

Kathleen Jennings, Grade 4 teacher at East School, effective August 29.

Kathleen Joyce, Grade 4 substitute teacher at East School, effective August 29.

Emily Palmer, English teacher at Hingham High School, effective August 29.

Camile Rodriguez, Grade 8 Science teacher at Hingham Middle School, effective August 29. 

Claire Burgess, Lab Technician at Hingham High School, effective August 30.

Lysa Curry, para educator at Foster School, effective September 6. 

Julie Dale, para educator at Plymouth   River School, effective September 6.

Eileen Farrell, para educator at Foster School, effective September 6.

Seamus Killeen, para educator at Hingham High School, effective September 6.

Julie Quill, para educator at Hingham High School, effective September 6.

Brian Muldoon, para educator at Hingham High School, effective September 6.

Meghan Russell, para educator at Foster School, effective September 6.

Emily VanLeuvan, para educator at Hingham High School, effective September 6.