News&Notes from the Superintendent

“A new school year means new beginnings, new adventures, new friendships, and new challenges. The slate is clean and anything can happen." ~ Denise Whitmer

I can't believe we are just a week away from welcoming our Faculty & Staff back for opening day Convocation, and our first few days of Professional Development together. And in just over a week, on Wednesday, August 28th, we will be welcoming our students back for a half day to begin our 2024 - 2025 school year! We can't wait!

The Administrative Team has been working hard all summer, and tomorrow will have our last full day retreat together to wrap up our summer work which included three other full-day sessions, participation in professional development conferences, and an intensive review and refinement of the District's Strategy for Continuous Improvement! We look forward to sharing our draft for this upcoming 2024-2025 school year, and hope to garner feedback from our school community on our plan!

I am not sure why, but it seems that this year in particular, the summer months flew by faster than ever! Please enjoy every remaining moment of your summer, but if you need us we are here! The District and School Offices are open to the public Monday through Friday, and beginning today, all offices went back to regular school hours!

Please find below updates & events happening in our District ~

On July 29, Governor Healey signed into law a $58 billion state budget that included substantial investments in public education. The FY25 budget increases Chapter 70 funding by $319 million over FY24’s funding, and maintained the commitment to fully fund the Student Opportunity Act (SOA) by FY27.

Other budget highlights identified by the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy in their Local Education Policy News update included:

• The authorization of free community college for every Massachusetts resident, funded by the Fair Share Amendment (the so-called “millionaire’s tax"). Building on the state's MassReconnect program launched last year, this year's budget extends this opportunity to all residents across the Commonwealth. Additionally, it includes income-based stipends for books and supplies.
• Higher education received several significant investments in the budget, including $14.7 million for the SUCCESS program, which currently provides wraparound services like personalized coaching, academic support, and resources for vulnerable students at Massachusetts' 15 community colleges. An additional $14 million was invested this year to expand the SUCCESS program to state universities, while $2.5 million was added to the budget for "persistence grants" to support low-income students with unforeseen costs in higher education.
  

• The budget also makes considerable investments in Massachusetts’ youngest learners by permanently establishing Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) grants with $475 million in sustained funding. Additionally, it allocates $22.5 million to support the expansion of universal pre-kindergarten, $65 million for early education and care provider rate increases to boost early educator salaries, and $20 million for early literacy initiatives.
  

• Attention is now turning to debates over the MCAS graduation requirement. As voters prepare to decide on a November ballot question that seeks to eliminate MCAS as a high school graduation requirement, public discussions about the role of standardized assessments have intensified.

As always, I will continue to update our school community with any information available for review or consideration as well as all opportunities to advocate on behalf of our students, staff, and families!

We are also hoping to get two new Task Force Initiatives off the ground this year. We would like to establish a Task Force to discuss the development of a cell phone policy for SBRSD, and a second Task Force on strengthening attendance. If you are interested in participating on either one of these Task Force Teams please send my Executive Assistant, Michelle Castellano, at mcastellano@sbrsd.org, a message expressing which group you would like to join. We would like to get these teams up and running early in the school year, and we thank you in advance for your interest!

To review the 2024-2025 Budget Information, please see the District website at https://www.sbrsd.org/documents/district/budgets/fy25-budget/567699 .

I am so looking forward to this year's Superintendent Student Advisory Council meetings which will begin again in September!

I was recently asked by someone doing an article on attendance about what we are doing to increase attendance which has been down across the state and nationally since the pandemic. We have seen slight improvement in attendance over this last year, but of course we want it to be better and to eventually surpass where it was pre-pandemic! My response, was that I believe we are making strides in this area by raising and valuing the importance of student choice and voice in everything we do. We strive to design programming that gets students excited to come to school and that they find value in. The surveys that we did during and after the pandemic clearly indicated that students wanted to be in school, as it was a place that they felt safe and cared for. The District has tried to have a holistic approach to education and want our schools to be a place of support for students, staff, and families both from an academic and social emotional perspective. These councils have been a wealth of student perspective and have generated lots of ideas and energy!

A special thank you to faculty members, Andrew Rapport and Courtney English, for helping us plan our opening day sessions! We will be reaching out this week to our students to help us with the planning as well as participation in our opening days as we welcome the faculty and staff back for the new school year!

Year two of our partnership with Transcend continues as we work to build the BerkStudio Programming!

The four sub-committees have met several times to tackle the areas of Student Voice and Interest, BerkStudio Program Development & Innovation, Eagle Education & Advisory Board, and Funding and Resource Management. We continue to be grateful to all the participants and for their endless ideas, energy, and dedication to this work, as we strive to develop relevant and engaging innovative educational experiences for our students!

In next week's edition, I will share more of what the teams have come up with and will encourage other members of our school community to join us and share their thoughts and expertise as we continue our journey forward!

To learn or become a part of this incredible community focused initiative please find the link here at https://www.sbrsd.org/page/transcend-partnership.

We are excited to share that Superintendent Regulbuto is now a finalist for the National Association of School Superintendents 2024 Excellence in Small School District Leadership Award!

Don't forget to mark the first day of school on your calendars. We can't wait to see you on August 28th!

Please check the event calendar regularly as it will keep you up to date as will the weekly notes from the Principals.

Take a look at our Early College course offerings below! Do you see a class that interests you? Talk with our Early College Coordinator, Lindy Marcel, and enroll now!

Interested in learning more about our Early College program? Visit our website!

Innovation Pathways offers opportunities for students to explore cutting-edge technology and in-demand fields! The program emphasizes real-world skills through career-focused experiential learning. Participants connect with industry mentors, go on field trips, get set up with internships in their areas of interest, and more!

Mount Everett currently offers two technical pathways in Advanced Manufacturing and Information Technology.

To learn more about our Innovation Career Pathways please use the links below! To express interest in learning more about Innovation Pathways please use our form - Expression of Interest Form

Please feel free to reach out with questions or concerns as I welcome the opportunity to hear from you.

Best,

~ Dr. Beth Regulbuto, Superintendent of Schools