September 7, 2010

We received an update on the opening day of school from Interim Superintendent Mary Beth Hamel, Principal Brian Haas, Vice Principal Rich McGrath, Principal Fred Deppe and Principal Don Parker.  All reported that the first few days were very warm and very smooth.  The children and the staff are excited to be back in the classroom.  We were particularly interested in the Middle School opening since we merged the two schools this year.  The report was that it has gone even better than expected.  The faculty and students have mixed together beautifully and the curriculum that is now available to the students is tremendous.  To quote Principal Haas, "We have a student centered schedule with maximum flexibility and maximum curricula."  We want to acknowledge the leadership of Interim Superintendent Mary Beth Hamel, Principal Brian Haas and Vice Principal Rich McGrath the entire faculty and staff who made this happen.  We also want to acknowledge and thank the generous folks at Bemus who made the move happen by volunteering equipment, people and time to facilitate the move from Ayer.

MSBA Update

There is a meeting about to happen at MSBA where we will receive their feedback on the data we have sent to them and where we will get the information that we need in order to move forward with the feasibility study for the Middle High School project.  The key is to make sure that we come up with an addition/renovation plan that will sustain changes in technology and populations over the next 20+ years.  We continue to plan to go to the Fall town meetings to get the funds to support this first phase of the project.

Health Insurance Update

There was a very productive meeting with the administration and the teachers unions to identify critical issues in reaching an agreement on health insurance.  Both groups have hired a single consultant to work with us to examine the benefits and the costs associated with any particular offering.  The next meeting will be held on 10/7/10.  The goal is to make a decision in the early Spring so that all enrollments can be completed in advance of the July 1 region operation start date. 

Transitional Funds Update

The funds are in place and the first installment has been received.  The remaining issue to pursue with DESE is in regard to the allocation.  Since the district has no existing budget, it is problematic to submit for the funds on a monthly basis and still be able to pay bills when they come due.  The superintendent will pursue this with DESE to see if we can secure a larger portion of the grant sooner.

Technology Consultant Update

Superintendent Hamel has hired Focus Consulting (NH) to work with us on the technology infrastructure plan for the district.  The consultant will work with the IT director in Ayer and in Shirley to make sure that we properly set up the infrastructure necessary for a technology enabled district.  The IT team will present the technology needs and a project plan and costs to the Committee on 9/22/10

Administration/Organization

The committee had voted to move forward with a superintendent and a high school principal search this year.  Mr. Frost presented the first draft of the plan.  This includes the schedule and required tasks.  The optimum scenario is to have the superintendent on board first and to have that person participate in the last phase of the principal search.  We will be determining search committee characteristics at the next meeting in September.

District Naming Process

We presented the process for naming the district to the committee.  Phase 1 is to solicit names from the community via online survey for 10 days.  Phase 2 is to allow the community to vote on their favorite name via online survey for a period of a week.  This means that the results will be presented at the 10/5/10 meeting.

District Policy Manual

We had a first reading of section A & B of the manual.  Prior to accepting these sections into the manual we will have a discussion period and then a final revision and vote.

The Committee will meet on the first Tuesday of the month in Ayer (Professional Development Room at Page Hilltop) and then the third Wednesday of the month in Shirley (Middle School Library). This new schedule will start in September.

Pat Kelly
Vice-chair ASRSC

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Last Updated on 14 August 2011