Opening of School
Carol L. Daring, Ph.D., Superintendent
We opened our doors to students for the 2007-2008 school year in the Gardner Public Schools on August 29, 2007. Teachers, parents, public officials, and administrators called this a very smooth opening. Building staff at all levels did a wonderful job of preparation so that children could begin their classes and settle in to the year’s work without disruption. There are some new faces this year with several new teachers at Gardner High School replacing teachers who retired or resigned. Also, Mr. Gansis, former Assistant Principal at Gardner High School, is serving as the Interim Principal, replacing Mr. Baldassarre who moved to another district. Ms. Anne Wagner, former English teacher, is serving as Interim Dean of Students during the period while Mr. Gansis serves in his new role. I am grateful to both of them for their willingness to move quickly into these positions so that students and staff are comfortable dealing with very competent administrators they know well.
In October Mr. Berlo, Director of Curriculum, moved to a new position in the Quabbin school district. At the September School Committee meeting, the Gardner School Committee voted to accept the recommendation to re-title the Director of Curriculum position to that of Assistant Superintendent and appoint Mr. Hurd, Principal of Gardner Middle School, to that position. We have advertised for a replacement for Mr. Hurd and will begin interviews on October 17, 2007. Mr. Hurd will move to his new position when his replacement is in place. Also, Dr. McCaul, Director of Pupil Personnel Services, accepted the position of Executive Director of the CAPS Collaborative in Gardner in October. The School Committee voted to appoint Mr. Salovardos, school psychologist in the Gardner Public Schools, as his replacement. A number of the duties that formerly fell under the heading of the Pupil Personnel Services Director will become the responsibility of the Assistant Superintendent. We are fortunate that both Mr. Berlo and Dr. McCaul were here to assist with school opening, making for a smooth transition.
While we did open our doors this year faced with budget reductions, we also have some good news. We were able to add two additional full-day kindergarten programs at Waterford Street School. Mr. Guerin, Principal, indicated this week that he has been able to accept nearly all of the children whose parents/guardians expressed interest in the now three full-day programs. We have added a small number of new courses at Gardner High School, including Art History. We are very pleased that the E.G. Watkins Family Foundation donated the funds to allow us to offer freshmen sports at the high school this year and for the next two years.
We have added a paraprofessional employee to assist students who are limited English proficient. Now every building has either a professional or paraprofessional employee in the English Language Learners program. Shortly after the start of the school year we received news that our application for Foundation Reserve funding, so called “pothole money”, had been successful. Principals and others developed a list of needs that this funding will help address, especially in areas of the budget such as technology and building maintenance that were reduced dramatically. Recently we learned that our application for a COPS-Secure Our Schools grant, prepared by Ms. Hui, was successful. We will be able to add this new $55,000 grant to previous grant funding to increase school security by adding entrance access systems to all schools and an automatic door locking system at Gardner High School. In addition, we will be making a determination of where to add security cameras in the schools. We are completing the implementation of a new student database management system called the Rediker system. This will allow us to track necessary information much more efficiently.
The beginning of the school year is always busy with orientation programs, open houses, the start of the fall sports season and many other activities. On September 28th we held our first half-day professional development program. Faculty and other staff members were involved in reviewing recent results of MCAS testing and using the Performance Improvement Mapping process to help identify root causes of lower than desired student performance. This process has been utilized with much success at Gardner Middle School and will be expanded this year to include Gardner High School. Groups of teachers prepared math units on the professional development day, and this activity will lead directly to the work planned for November 5th when several neighboring districts will join together to share our second collaborative professional development day with a focus on standards based instruction. Other activities held on September 28th included training in behavior management techniques and strategies and training in the Second Step program, a social skills/conflict resolution program.
Recently the New England Association of Schools and Colleges visited Gardner High School for accreditation purposes. This takes place every ten years. The visiting team, comprised of educators from many other districts, will prepare a report outlining the school’s strengths and weaknesses and containing recommendations for future action. We expect to receive this report in January. However, our Gardner High School faculty has already done much of the very important work. Teachers and others spent many, many months preparing the self-study required as part of the accreditation process. Those involved took a close, careful look at every aspect of the school from curriculum to facilities to mission to community involvement. This type of reflection and the documents produced as a result of the many meetings and much individual work form the basis of planning for the future. The visit by NEASC was really the culmination of that work. It was also a chance for high school staff and students to highlight the many programs and student activities in which we take so much pride.
We are off to a good start this year and I believe that we have much to be proud of in our school system.