Goodbye, Good Friday as a day off. Starting with the 2014-2015 school year, the joint School Committees voted March 27 to do away with giving students as a day off the Friday before Easter. The committees also voted to make the Wednesday before Thanksgiving a full day-off, rather than a half-day, to counterbalance the added Good Friday school day.
“That’s a religious holiday and we shouldn’t be giving off religious holidays in the public school setting,” said Rochester School Committee Chairman Michelle Cusolito.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Elise Frangos cautioned the committees, wondering if anyone took the time to look at the proposal “through the eyes of legal counsel” before taking away the day-off. She added that tests and assessments should not be given on religious holidays observed by some students, because any missed tests given on those days cannot count against the students.
Many of those in favor of the change considered Dr. Frango’s advice as an “unwritten rule,” and pushed ahead with the proposal.
Marion School Committee Member Christine Winters, who voted against the motion, said that she makes decisions on policy, not on unwritten rules. She questioned how that day would be a good instructional day if students and teachers would take the day off to observe the religious holiday.
“This never came up,” said ORR Principal Michael Devoll regarding his discussions with staff about converting Good Friday into a regular school day. “I think we’ll have good staff attendance,” said Devoll, adding, “But I don’t have the data to back that up.”
“We don’t give other holidays off for other religions,” stated Rochester School Committee Member Tim Scholz.
Cusolito said this was her concern as well, coming from an ethical standpoint.
“We’re long past the day when we should be giving religious holidays off,” said Rochester School Committee Member Robin Rounseville.
Also adjusted in the school calendar, ORR will add two half days to their calendar year, after Devoll expressed concern over losing “extremely valuable” half-days.
Superintendent Doug White had been making adjustments to the school calendar in order to address committee members’ concerns over half-days being unproductive instructional days and a waste of time. Initially, the idea was: The less interruptions in the school week, the better the learning.
White had adjusted the calendar to move one professional development early release day from January to August, and he eliminated the September and March half-days to create more uninterrupted weeks with uninterrupted learning.
However, Devoll said the half-days provided the staff with valuable time for staff development, and asked White and the committees to consider reinstating the half days.
White suggested “piggy-backing” on the April half days already set for the Mattapoisett and Rochester schools for parent/teacher conferences, which the committees adopted.
The committees also adopted two full weeks off for winter vacation.
In other news, Frangos and other coordinators of the project introduced the finalized Strategic Plan for the ORR School District, which encompasses four main goals with sub-goals and action plans for executing the goals.
Frangos called the plan “concrete and practical,” and many repeatedly referred to the plan as “rigorous.” She added that the district’s mission is to “help all of the students learn, achieve, and to care.”
Goal One, titled “Meeting the Needs of All Students,” is a three-pronged goal, as Frangos described it. It consists of a curriculum goal, including adopting the “Responsive Classroom” model; a personalization goal establishing an advisory program to address social and emotional development; and a community goal establishing public outreach on the Social Emotional Learning curriculum.
Goal One reads, “By June 2018 we will have embraced a broad and challenging curriculum that fosters the social, emotional, and academic growth of all students.”
Devoll, presenting the first goal, said it considers “whole child needs” and provides greater personalization for each student by establishing personal relationships between teachers and students.
Goal Two, presented by Rochester Memorial Principal Derek Medeiros, addresses relationships, pledging “positive, productive, and collegial relationships … across the Tri-Town Districts,” and addresses capital improvement, communication and transparency, and regional outreach.
Goal Three, presented by Director of Technology Ryan McGee, is the technology goal to bring ORR students a 21st century education, including 1:1 tablets for each student.
Goal Four tackles the organizational structure and “targets areas for implementing efficiencies,” as presenter Charles West, assistant principal of Rochester Memorial, put it.
“We’ll have power and traction through building relationships,” said Frangos.
Rochester School Committee Member Sharon Hartley said, “We want it to be a living document.” She said past plans like this one fell by the wayside and just never evolved. Cusolito suggested an annual report about the progress of each goal.
The next joint meeting of the school committees will be May 8 at 6:30 pm at the ORR Superintendent’s Conference Room.
By Jean Perry
