School Committee Notes: Welcoming A New School Year

While the discussion over the Merrimack Valley Special Education Collaborative took front stage at Tuesday’s School Committee meeting, there were several other topics as the board counted down the last two weeks before the beginning of the 2011-12 school year in Westford.

Special Education Given High Marks

Superintendent Olsen reported to the board his notification from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that Westford has received the highest possible level of accountability in regards to the state agency’s “determinations” regarding meeting federal special education guidelines.

Slight Enrollment Discrepancies

Expected enrollment figures varied in some areas with current tallies for the upcoming year in grades K-5, with some estimates coming in under expectations while others were higher than expected.

Olsen noted that there may be an increase in the numbers before the beginning of the school year with last minute enrollments at the end of the summer.

The largest discrepancies came in the kindergarten programs at the , and schools.

“I think what we’re finding is more and more parents bring their children into private full day kindergarten,” said Olsen. “I would hope that our school district would consider sometime in the next few years full day kindergarten, because then I think you’d see a marked increase in kindergarten numbers.”

Green Approach to Agendas

The first meeting of the school year marked the first as Chairman for Angela Harkness, but also marked the first without any paper agendas.

Each School Committee member brought laptops from home in an attempt to save the district money and reduce environmental impact, with agendas and other documents in meeting packets now available from the Westford School District’s website.