Ipswich School Committee Newsletter

• Comments from the Chair, Greg Stevens

• Introduction from Our Student Representative, James Borenstein

• School Safety Update

• What is the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA)? - An Introduction to the MSBA and Various Pathways to Funding.

• Listening Sessions on the Future of Our Elementary School Buildings

• Educator Snapshot Presentations

• School Committee meeting highlights

• Upcoming District Events

I hope this newsletter finds you enjoying the fall season. Our schools are bustling with activity and it is hard to believe we’re almost into November! Summer vacation is a distant memory.

As most of you are probably aware, the topic of how best to address the needs of our aging elementary schools has been at the top of the School Committee agenda lately. We recently completed our second series of listening sessions as a follow up to the first round held over the summer. The information gathered from these sessions and the results of the survey sent out in August will help guide the committee on a path forward. Listening sessions with our educators are scheduled to happen over the next week and we are discussing how to most efficiently gather feedback from the wider community about what they value in a school.

Our Elementary Building Project Working Group spent a great deal of time digging through and organizing the studies and analysis done during the last attempt at a building project. This information is available for review under the School Committee tab on the district website, www.ipsk12.net, also found here. While there are certainly unanswered questions that will be addressed by the School Committee in the future, the documents listed on the website go into a great deal of detail around sites previously considered, costs associated with different approaches to renovations, and various configuration of the schools.

The goal of our committee is to approach the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) by their Spring 2023 deadline to let them know that Ipswich has a plan and is ready to move forward. The need for new educational facilities is clearly evident. What the School Committee must do is put forth a plan with the highest likelihood of success. It is important that we all acknowledge that compromise is key here. Not everyone will get exactly what they want but we need to keep in mind that putting this off any longer simply isn’t an option.

The School Committee remains committed to a thorough and transparent process. We encourage constructive feedback from all community members as we work toward a resolution. Please feel free to email the committee with any questions or concerns. Our contact information is provided below.

Hello Ipswich, I am James Bornstein, and a Junior here at Ipswich High. I decided to run for School Committee last spring because I really wanted to have a voice, and make a difference in our community, especially at the High School. So far in my High School career I haven’t been able to participate and get as involved in clubs and extracurriculars because I spend most of my time working… However when the opportunity of being on the School Committee came up, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I feel as though, being in a small community, and being a part of a small class (in comparison to others in our area) it is very easy to get ‘cliquey’. What I mean by that is just that it's very easy to stick to your bubble and listen to the people you agree with, and are friendly with, instead of hearing all points of views. It’s especially important when they don’t align with your personal views. That is my overall outlook as being the High School Representative for Ipswich students, I find it extremely important to hear out everyone that is willing to give their opinion. That about concludes my story and my goal for spreading the students' voice to the adults that can make change happen. Thanks.

School safety continues to be on everyone’s mind these days as we hear about the latest school tragedies around the country. Here in Ipswich, we take the safety and security of our students and staff very seriously.

To that end, all of our staff participate in ALICE (Alert Lockdown Inform Counter Evacuate) training on an annual basis. ALICE training is “a civilian shooter response training that is delivered with a trauma informed approach in an age and ability appropriate way.” To learn more about ALICE Training please go to www.alicetraining.com. Grade level/age appropriate discussions are also held with students at all levels on how to respond to critical incidents.

In addition to the ALICE training, all staff have access to emergency protocol manuals for different types of emergencies. The manuals have been updated this year.

In addition to yearly training and ongoing conversations, Ipswich takes day to day precautions as well. Our school buildings remain locked during the day and visitors must be granted access by the respective main office. All staff members are required to wear ID badges on their outermost clothing, so visitors are easily identified. We also have drills of different types built into the school year (fire drills, evacuations, shelter in place).

Ipswich continues to have a strong, positive relationship with both our police and fire departments. In addition to our SRO (School Resource Officer), it is not uncommon to see police cruisers around our buildings during the day as they patrol or conduct walk-throughs of the grounds. We are fortunate that many of our police officers have children in our schools.

Any time an issue of security arises concerning our school community, Superintendent Blake is in immediate contact with our SRO or Ipswich Police Chief Nikas. Working together, they determine the best course of action based on the information they have at the time. Depending on the situation, parents/guardians are notified with as much information as they are able to share which is determined by the nature of the emergency and status of any resulting investigation. This information is updated as events unfold or as necessary.

Our high school students have voiced, through the School Committee Representative, that they would also like to be notified when there is a safety concern as information is often relayed to them on an inconsistent and unreliable basis (eg. second and third hand retellings). This request is something that is being considered for the future.

As Dr. Blake has reported in the past, the safety of our students and staff is always of utmost importance and we work closely with local authorities to ensure everyone’s safety to the greatest extent possible.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) has been around since 2004, and is a quasi-independent government authority created to reform the process of funding capital improvement projects in the Commonwealth’s public schools. They strive to work with local communities to create affordable, sustainable, and energy efficient schools. MSBA funds are targeted towards projects and districts that are ready and able to make the financial commitment and move forward in a timely manner. They accept districts into their programs based on need and urgency, as expressed by the district in a Statement of Interest (SOI) and validated by the MSBA. The paths available for school districts to obtain MSBA funding are accessed through the Core Program, and the Accelerated Repair Program.

The Core Program could be either new construction or addition/renovation of an existing building. The MSBA states that due to the volume of SOIs submitted for the Core Program, they request that each district identify a Priority SOI for consideration. This enables the district and the MSBA to focus financial and staff resources on completing a project and ensures an opportunity for a grant for as many districts as possible. Additionally, this narrows down the pool of potential projects if districts have submitted multiple schools within the district for consideration. DIstricts accepted into the Core program could also take advantage of the MSBA’s Model School Program. These model schools are efficient in design and easy to maintain, contain optimal classroom and science lab space, can easily accommodate higher or lower enrollments, incorporate sustainable, "green" design elements when possible and are flexible in educational programming spaces while encouraging community use. Goals for the Model School Program include compressed project schedules and accelerated construction start times, and shortening and streamlining the design process to reduce design fees.

The Accelerated Repair Program involves replacement of roof, windows, and/or boiler for buildings that are otherwise structurally sound. Repair projects are designed to materially extend the useful life of the school and preserve an asset that is otherwise capable of supporting the required educational program. These projects follow a shorter, more aggressive project timeline to complete projects limited to specific scope items and may allow districts to repair more than one school at a time. MSBA outlines multiple factors in which a district should not file an SOI for Accelerated Repair Program, including but not limited to:

• the school is judged by the district to be over-crowded
• the district is considering the facility for potential consolidation
• the SOI itself seeks construction beyond roofs, windows/door, or boilers
• the district plans a future construction project for MSBA participation going beyond roofs, windows/doors, and boilers for the school.

The source of this information and more details can be found at: www.massschoolbuildings.org

The School Committee plans to submit a SOI (Statement of Interest) to the MSBA (Massachusetts School Building Authority) in the Spring of 2023. In preparation for this, the Ipswich community was invited to participate in listening sessions on the future of our elementary school buildings. The Logue Group was hired by the Ipswich School Committee to facilitate these listening sessions; they previously worked with the Amherst community (after a failed school project) to help them build community consensus around a successful school building project. The first five sessions were in July and August and the second five in September and October of this year, and they were advertised around town to invite the community to attend and participate.

The first group of 5 sessions centered on identifying community values. Sixty-four community members attended the in-person sessions, 14 participated in the Zoom session, and 180 responses were received to an on-line survey. School committee members and Dr. Blake were present at all of the sessions to listen to the discussions. A full report on the findings from the first group of listening sessions is available on the Ipswich Public School website, and a link to the report is here.

Many useful themes emerged from these sessions, including the importance of providing a quality education, ease of access to the schools themselves, fiscal responsibility, environmental sustainability, the importance of a transparent process, and the desire for clarity on what the MSBA is likely to support. It was a helpful first step in the process and the School Committee members have all read the report and continue to discuss its findings and how they will shape the process going forward.

The second round of listening sessions were aimed at balancing competing values and various community wants with community practicalities/realities that were identified during round one. This round ended this past week and a full report will be produced, studied and discussed by the School Committee. This report will also be posted on the district’s website for the community to read.

The final listening sessions will be held with the staff of the Ipswich Public schools and will take place next week.

A potential timeline for the project was presented at the first round of Listening Sessions. This timeline can be found here.

This year the School Committee is excited to welcome our educators to participate in Snapshot Presentations of what they are working on in and outside of class. At the beginning of each School Committee meeting a different educator will present a snapshot of a lesson they are currently teaching, or the goals and objectives of various professional development groups they are participating this year. These presentations are short, but demonstrate the passion and dedication of our educators as they inspire our learners and each other.

Our first presenter was High School educator Michelle Barclay, who intrigued us with her snapshot entitled, What Can You Learn From An Irish Dolphin. This lesson was designed to build on Ms. Barclay’s work as a naturalist on a whale watch boat in the summer as well as her work investigating the marine life of the Aryan Islands of the west coast of Ireland. Throughout her presentation, Ms. Barclay led us through an abbreviated lesson that she used to introduce her students to marine life and cultivate their curiosity in the mysteries that can be solved by examining dolphins.

Winthrop kindergarten educator, Kerry Zagarella, conducted our second Snapshot Presentation, introducing the School Committee to the book Open Windows, Open Minds by Afrika Afeni Mills. Ms. Zagarella is continuing her professional development in the area of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion along with teacher teams from each of our four school buildings, members of the administrative office, and community and school committee representatives. Throughout her presentation Ms. Zagarella shared how the author, Ms. Mills was inspired by the work educators are doing in Ipswich to increase their own awareness to the intricacies and pitfalls of teaching issues of race in a predominately white school district - how can it be done in a way that empowers educators and the community they are a part of.

August

• Overnight Field Trip Request to Volleyball Tournament, Summer 2022

• School Reopening Inspection and Update

• Town Hall Fields Discussion

September

• Overnight Field Trip request to Model UN, Winter 2023

• Approval of Paine Grant Funding for STEAM Innovation Learning Space at IMS

• Educator Presentation - What Can This Irish Dolphin Tell Us?

• Update on Paine Grant for IMS Outdoor Recreation Space

October

• Overnight Field Trip request to Ecology School (6th Grade), Spring 2023

• Overnight Field Trip request to Washington D.C. (8th Grade), Spring 2023

• Educator Presentation - Open Windows, Open Minds

• Educator Presentation - The Poetry Stand

• Introduction to Ipswich Athletic Association (IAA)

• MCAS Presentation

• Discussion on NESDEC Presentation

• Reuse of Public Safety Buildings Discussion

• October 25, 2022 - Special Town Meeting, Dolan Performing Arts Center @ 7PM

• November 11, 2022 - Veteran’s Day NO SCHOOL

• November 23, 2022 - Early Release (IMS/HS 11:20 AM Dismissal - Elementary 11:50 AM Dismissal)

• November 24 - 25, 2022 - Happy Thanksgiving NO SCHOOL

General Email: schoolcommittee@ipswichma.gov

Greg Stevens, Chair: gstevens@ipsk12.net

Kate Eliot, Vice Chair: keliot@ipsk12.net

Emily Cannon: ecannon@ipsk12.net

Pavica Kneedler: pkneedler@ipsk12.net

Jeff Poirier: jpoirier@ipsk12.net

Jennifer Donahue: jdonahue@ipsk12.net

Dianna Freehan: dfreehan@ipsk12.net

Brian Blake, Superintendent: bblake@ipsk12.net; 978-356-2935

The Ipswich School Committee places great value on feedback from our community and welcomes the opportunity for dialogue and transparency. Per our policy, communication sent to the School Committee as a group is replied to by the School Committee Chair.

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