The Old Rochester Regional School Committee opened its December 8 meeting by recognizing high achievers, mostly in sports and concluded its meeting by addressing the much weightier topic of hazing in the wake of an out-of-season, unsupervised incident with serious ramifications for the boys ice-hockey season.
ORR Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson began by announcing that Amaya McLeod is the recipient of the 2021-22 Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents (M.A.S.S.) Award of Academic Excellence. Ranked second in her class with a 4.5 GPA, McLeod is, according to Nelson, “a true intellectual with a thirst for knowledge … simply put, she is top notch.”
The ORR girls volleyball team was honored for its achievement of capturing the first-ever state championship in girls volleyball in school history.
“Coming off a year without fans (attending games) and with all sorts of restrictions, we needed this, so thank you!” said ORR Principal Mike Devoll to the students who have risen to the extraordinary challenges of 2020 and 2021, including in sports.
Devoll named the entire varsity roster, beginning with junior varsity freshman call-ups Caroline Brogioli and Cami Van Ness and worked his way through the entire lineup: senior captains Maggie Brogioli, Sally Butler and Kenna Soucy, seniors Emma Thorell, Tavish Nunes and Sydnee Pires, juniors Ella Soutter, Emma Van Ness, Emma Peterson, Failenn Fitzpatrick, Charlotte Sisson and Reagan Rock, sophomore Kamryn Rodrigues, and freshmen Molly Sisson and Aubrie Letourneau.
Coach Jimmy Oliveira, who was assisted by Ryan Grace and Allyson Collette, appeared on the ORR School Committee Zoom meeting to offer his thanks for the support that the team received all along the way to its historic championship.
All Fall 2021 ORR teams made the state tournament and won at least one postseason match, advancing to deeper rounds.
There were individual achievements celebrated during the meeting, as four ORR student-athletes were voted league Most Valuable Player awards in their respective sports by South Coast Conference coaches: Maggie Brogioli in girls volleyball, Maggie Nailor in field hockey, Markus Pierre in golf and Hannah Whalley in girls cross-country.
Late in the meeting lasting over two hours, Devoll addressed the out-of-season hazing incident that occurred within the boys ice-hockey program and resulted in the full-season suspension of several players.
“I think it’s important that we follow up,” said Devoll, explaining that ORR immediately contracted the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA,) the National Federation and the Hazing Prevention Association. Since then, he said, 216 current winter-sport athletes have completed an authorized Hazing 101 online course, and the school attorney is assisting in creating professional development opportunities for all coaches and team advisors.
Crediting committee member Frances Kearns’ slogan of disrupting business as usual and taking the opportunity to make a change, ORR School Committee Chairperson Heather Burke said she expects all coaches and team advisors to be open, active participants in training opportunities.
“I think that it’s a blind spot that we’ve had,” she said, saying that it needs to go beyond an outcome and to be a process with daily interactions between adults and students. “It’s not going to be a one-shot deal.”
Devoll called it “a condition of employment. … We all have to be on board with this.”
Committee member Jason Chisholm suggested the training be built into the schedule for review, adding structure to build out a model because he considers the behavior repeatable. Devoll said he plans to meet weekly with winter-sports captains to hold such discussions. Burke agreed on the necessity of touch points and said it’s up to the adults to solve the situations that arise.
Noting that the hazing incident occurred during an out-of-season activity, committee member Matthew Monteiro asked how the school can prevent such occurrences. Devoll said that given MIAA regulations confining the seasons when supervision is allowed each sport, it comes down to education.
“Our coach didn’t know about it, our athletic director didn’t know about it, but it was done within the team dynamic. Even in this case, you are responsible. Your conduct does impact the community,” he said.
Nelson said the staff member who reported the situation to administration should be commended.
Several votes were taken in the meeting.
Senior Class Vice President John Kassabian appeared to propose the ORR Senior Prom for Tuesday, May 31, 2022, at the Belle Mer on Goat Island off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island, and the committee voted to approve. Devoll told the committee that the venue has been used by ORR before. Kassabian said the price range being sought is $90 to $100 per ticket per student, the same price range as last year.
Burke advised Kassabian to be mindful of the contract so that should Covid-related restrictions arise via government order, the students would not lose out on their investment.
The committee also voted to approve field trips to the DECA club for the SCDC competition March 10-12 in Boston and ICDC competition April 23-26 in Atlanta.
Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Howie Barber brought to the committee’s attention a FY22 credit of $29,577 that lessens the overall debt figure and reduces the overall assessment that was approved at town meetings. The old figure of $16,341,970 excluded the $29,577 reduction, and the committee voted to approve the amended assessment of $16,312,393. Barber said that all three town administrators verified his finding.
With all votes out of the way, Nelson introduced the MCAS scoring summary to the committee, just as the principals of the tri-town elementary schools had done with their individual school committees in recent days.
As was the case in the elementary schools, the high school and junior high both showed a decline in MCAS scores for 2021.
In their respective reports, both Burke and Nelson referenced the towns’ input into the ORR regional school agreement, the first amendment since 1986. Both also credited the ORR Drama Club for its first in-person performance in two years, “You Can’t Take It with You.”
Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Jannell Pearson-Campbell summarized professional development programs and a virtual parent-information night, and Student Services Director Craig Davidson said that 11 families learned about transitional skills for high school and after, and he also reported on a three-day site visit by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) in which special education was reviewed.
ORR Junior High Principal Silas Coellner discussed Project 351, an ambassador program and the selection of a student from each of the tri-towns.
Devoll also highlighted the ORR Drama Club and the daily Bulldog Block in which college representatives visit the high school and a partnership with Junior Achievement.
Eddie Gonet reported on the statewide Student Advisory Council two weeks prior to the School Committee meeting. There, he said he found interesting a new, portfolio approach toward student testing. He admitted frustration in the regional Student Advisory Council meeting over the failure to distribute pamphlets that were created by the council to speak to important issues. He also noted that each ORR class will raise $200 for the Neediest Families Fund.
Burke encouraged Gonet to continue speaking up and asking questions at such meetings.
A planned executive session was postponed upon discovery that the new quorum rules would not allow for one after the departure of a member from the meeting.
The next meeting of the ORR School Committee was not scheduled at adjournment.
ORR School Committee
By Mick Colageo