The Rochester School Committee on June 6 graciously accepted the donation of a playground whirl presented by the Harding family on behalf of their daughter, Chloe Harding.

            Chloe, a Rochester Memorial School second-grader, passed away on February 17 after a long and courageous battle with cancer.

            Chloe’s mother, Lindsay, formally presented the donation to the committee, but the plan has been in the works for some time now.

            “In February, we lost Chloe to cancer. One of her favorite things was school,” said Harding. “One of our thoughts when we asked for donations at the time of her funeral,” Harding said, was an addition to the playground.

            The whirl has come a long way, as Harding described the spinning, child-propelled ride that prior generations likely associate with fun, dizziness, and their first introduction to centrifugal force-related injury. Now, she said, the playground piece is regulated and can only reach a maximum of 14 revolutions per minute.

            The age group of the ride is 5-12, and since the younger children’s playground already offers so much, the whirl will be placed closer to the older children’s playground.

            The Harding family will fund the entire cost of the project, including the playground-grade mulch.

            Harding has already worked closely with Principal Derek Medeiros and Facilities Director Gene Jones on the logistics and regulations, and Medeiros said that since updated ADA laws now require paths leading to each piece of playground structure, Highway Department workers have volunteered to assist in creating the paths.

            “Not only was that a great addition to our playground, but it really exemplified her and the fun that she loved to have out there on that structure,” said Medeiros.

            “Chloe was such an important member of the school here,” said Rochester School Committee Chairman Sharon Hartley. “That’s a beautiful way of keeping her memory here and keeping her here. A very generous and very loving thing to do – thank you.”

            Medeiros said the whirl and the pathways should be completed by the fall.

            “What a great idea,” said School Committee member Robin Rounseville. The name of it – the whirl – if that doesn’t make you think of Chloe. … It’s so kind of you as a family to think of the school and I know this place gave Chloe a lot of pleasure.”

            The next meeting of the Rochester School Committee is scheduled for September 5 at 6:30 pm at Rochester Memorial School.

Rochester School Committee

By Jean Perry

            Superintendent Doug White gave a mid-cycle review of the Tri-Town schools’ five-year strategic plan, summarizing all that has occurred according to the plan’s timeline and what is still to come as year two starts in September.

            On June 4, White went over each of the goals of the strategic plan – 21^stcentury learning, social-emotional learning, and global citizenship, as well as the areas identified for exploration and implementation under each theme across the four school districts addressed in each school’s two-year plan to help meet those goals.

            The aim is to achieve consistency in these areas across the four districts.

            In 21^stcentury learning, the focus is on the four Cs – collaboration, creativity, communication, and critical thinking – and providing at least one opportunity for student growth within each C.

            During this first year, educators and administrators were tasked with identifying the gaps in the current state of the four Cs in each school and to find ways of implementing project-based learning opportunities to increase student engagement and rigor in all subjects.

            “This has been an opportunity for us to really focus in on these three particular areas and really make sure that we’re going to be doing them well, and it’s really going to affect the learning that’s going to take place in our schools and the development of skills that will allow our students to be 21^stcentury learners,” White said.

            Project-based learning is at the core of each goal of the strategic plan as schools strive to imbed at least two project-based learning opportunities each year.

            In social-emotional learning, the focus is on relationships and the student as an individual “as they build a sense of belonging and engagement,” said White. The Responsive Classroom approach, which focuses on the link between social-emotional learning and academic success, has been implemented in grades K through 8 and imbedded into the classroom. Training opportunities are available for new staff and ongoing monitoring of the success of the approach to identify areas where adjustments might be needed year after year.

            Under social-emotional, behavior has been an area of focus with administrative teams assessing data and looking for patterns and trends and ways to address them.

            “We want to move away from the days of suspension and detention and look more about ‘restorative justice’ and look for ways the students are going to benefit and learn from the behaviors they have done,” said White.

            Restorative justice is a behavioral approach that embraces mediation and agreement between students rather than punishment.

            Safety in school buildings is also worked on under social-emotional as administrative staff, educators, and local law enforcement work to make students feel more secure in their learning environments.

            Under global citizenship, the school districts hope to develop students’ awareness of diversity in culture and religion and open the dialog about these subjects to encourage respect and appreciation on multiculturalism both locally and abroad.

            Staff is receiving racial bias training and sensitivity training, White said, “as a result of some things that have happened at the high school.”

            The “big one” for the districts, White said, is the eventual alignment of a social studies curriculum across the board, and a civics course for high school freshmen is under development that will eventually be woven into the younger grades. Cultural proficiency, global themes, and civics will be introduced through project-based learning experiences moving forward, White said.

            “It can’t be understated how this carries through in every school … and it has been very well implemented,” said Old Rochester Regional School Committee member James Muse.

            The school committees will hold another joint meeting on September 26 at 6:30 pm in the junior high media room.

Joint meeting of the school committees

By Jean Perry