Accomplishments and Challenges Discovered in Weymouth Schools Evaluation

The Weymouth schools received some good news, along with some recommendations during an evaluation by the state’s Department of Education and Secondary Education.

Reporting their findings during a recent school committee meeting, Director of Education Data Services and the Center for School and District Accountability Rob Curtin said the results from the came from 37 hours of interviews and focus group with 70 stakeholders during a four-day visit in January. The two focus groups were held with 10 middle school and four high school teachers.

The 14 findings included Superintendent Kenneth Salim’s ability to create a stable atmosphere and developed aligned plans to improve instruction and increase student achievement after the sudden passing of Mary Jo Livingstone in 2011.

The report also said that 93 percent of the classrooms displayed learning environment with positive and 82 percent showed a respective tone and standards of behavior that were clearly establish and communicated to the students.

Other significant findings by the evaluators included the school district’s investment in a wide range of assessment programs in an effort to diagnose student needs and promote learning, the effort and extra day assigned to professional development, and the use of Parent University to engage with parents.

It wasn’t all good news for the school district though. Like any other evaluation, the report stated that there is room for improvement in the Weymouth Public Schools.

Financially, it was recommended that the schools invest more in student spending. The average spending per pupil is $1,500 below the state average and Weymouth has not met its required its net school spending for the past five years. In addition, the Chapman Middle School has structural issues that calls its long term viability into doubt.

A limited number of administrators, resulting in a ratio of 174 students to 1 staff member in a leadership position, much higher than the state ratio of 108 to 1, and an absence of content leadership position were also cited as some of the challenges for the school district.

Chairperson Sean Guilfoyle said the low numbers were a result of a 2010 decision to eliminate the curriculum coordinators as part of mandated budget cuts.

“We don’t have a lot of support there. It’s a decision we made as a committee at the time with the best information that we had but hindsight is 20/20 and it was a gigantic error on our part,” Guilfoyle said.

The evaluation also cited a need to align the curriculum with state standards as one of the challenges for the Weymouth schools.

Committee member Diana Flemer called the report, “concise and clear.”