While Fall Town Meeting was under way down the street, the Mattapoisett School Committee conducted a brisk meeting highlighted by community improvements, a revamped kindergarten assessment program, and budget transfers.
Among the four transfers presented by Old Rochester Regional School District Superintendent Doug White and approved by the Mattapoisett School Committee were $43,171 for an additional sixth-grade teacher and $27,815 for the reading program, taken from such accounts as transportation and supplies.
Center School Principal Rose Bowman told the committee during her report that kindergarteners will receive two progress reports and two report cards this year. As a participant in the Massachusetts Kindergarten Entry Assessment pilot program, Center School is “looking at all of the indicators,” Bowman said, noting that the new assessments will more than double the areas of growth and development.
“It’s quite an extensive process,” Bowman said. “It’s quite intense, but we’re honored to be a part of the pilot program to figure out the best assessment system for kindergarteners, how this information can be shared in the most logical way so that parents can see what their children have accomplished.”
Elsewhere on the agenda, the committee approved an Eagle Scout project to repair a shed at Old Hammondtown School, as well as a MATTREC proposal to refurbish the softball fields there. In addition, Facilities Director Gene Jones updated the committee on a new lawn tractor purchased by the town for grounds keeping. He also told members that a heating component at Center School had been repaired, while an air quality test at OHS came back with “extremely excellent results.”
The next Mattapoisett School Committee meeting is scheduled for December 8.
By Shawn Badgley
