HPS Spring Newsletter
April 8, 2025
April 15, 2025
Dear Members of the Holliston School Community:
As we look ahead to Spring Break next week and prepare for the final stretch of the school year, I’m grateful for the opportunity to connect with all of you. Although this spring began with chilly and gray days, the recent sunshine and warmer weather remind us that brighter days truly are ahead.
This time of year always brings a whirlwind of activity—concerts, sporting events, performances, and celebrations that keep our calendars full. I hope, amidst the hustle, you’re able to pause now and then to enjoy these special moments. The final weeks of the 2024–2025 school year are sure to be filled with pride and joy as we celebrate our students’ many accomplishments.
While my colleagues have shared important updates below, I’d like to take a moment to offer a glimpse into some recent experiences I’ve had in my role as Superintendent.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve continued my Superintendent Roundtable discussions with students across all grade levels—always a highlight of my work. I’ve also had the unique opportunity to serve as “Principal for the Day” at Placentino, Miller, and HHS. On May 1st, I’ll be stepping into that role at RAMS. While I regularly visit all our schools, spending a full day as principal provided me with an even deeper understanding of each building’s daily rhythm and the incredible work happening behind the scenes. These experiences reaffirm my admiration for our dedicated staff and our remarkable students. It is truly an honor to be a part of the Holliston Public Schools Community.
Looking ahead, I want to share an important date for your calendars. On June 17, 2025, the Holliston Coalition Against Hate and Bias—which I am proud to co-facilitate—will be hosting a Community Forum. Please save the date; more details will be shared in the coming weeks.
Additionally, the School Committee has approved the calendar for the 2025–2026 school year, including the start and end dates for the year and other key dates to note. Please refer to the 2025–2026 HPS Calendar for planning purposes.
Wishing you a restful and enjoyable Spring Break. Let’s finish the school year strong—together.
Warmly,
Dr. Susan E. Kustka
Superintendent, Holliston Public Schools
Cybersecurity Tabletop Exercises
In a collaborative effort to strengthen cybersecurity readiness, leadership from Holliston Public Schools (HPS) and the Town of Holliston participated in recent Cyber Incident Tabletop Exercises. The project, made possible by a grant awarded to Holliston Town IT Director Chris Meo, will contribute to the development of the HPS Incident Response Plan, expected to be finalized soon.
- February 19, 2025 (Town of Holliston)
- April 8, 2025 (Holliston Public Schools)
PowerSchool Data Breach
If you have not received an email with information on how to enroll in Experian's IdentityWorks services, you may enroll directly at this link.
For additional information on the breach, including the final Crowdstrike report please visit the links below:
PowerSchool Info: https://www.powerschool.com/security/sis-incident/
Specific Holliston PS Info: https://www.holliston.k12.ma.us/district-departments/technology/powerschool-data-breach-information
Sincerely,
Dan MacLeod
Director of Technology & Digital Learning
From the Director of SEL & Equity and the Director of Student Services
From the Office of Student Services
FamilyEd Series
A friendly reminder of our Family Ed Series events calendar linked below which has all presentation recordings included for your viewing. We are excited to close out the year with our final presentation from our BCBAs on World of Behavior: Medical vs School Model in Applied Behavior Analysis, taking place on Wednesday, April 30th at 6:30 pm. Please access the flyer below for more information.
Special Olympics
We are incredibly excited to share that we will be participating in our 5-Town (Holliston, Medfield, Medway, Millis, Ashland) Special Olympics on Friday, May 9th at Medfield High School. Our participants who represent Holliston in Grades 3-12 will be picked up by school bus at each school and will receive an exciting police/fire escort parade to Medfield, where each representative town will take part in the Olympics. Students will return to school following the events with a police/fire escort and will be warmly welcomed back into school by students and staff. We look forward to an amazing day, our athletes and staff have been working very hard to prepare for the Olympic Games!!
ESY Updates
We are excited and in the process of solidifying all programming and staffing for our upcoming 2025 ESY. As a reminder, ESY services are provided through a student's IEP and are intended to be provided to those students who are deemed to significantly regress without summer services in place. ESY services are determine through the Team process and are outlined in your student's IEP should they require it.
The dates of ESY will be July 7-August 7, and all ESY services will be held at the Miller School.
This year, student ESY schedules will be created and viewable in PowerSchool and will be accessible to families upon completion. You will receive information on or about May 1st, which will provide an overview of your student’s schedule/services, and forms for both medical information, and confirmation that you will be sending your child for services. We ask that you get those forms back to us as quickly as possible.
If you have any questions regarding ESY services, please reach out to the Student Services Office to Jessica Beattie at beattiej@holliston.k12.ma.us
Community Bridge Project
We would like to share an amazing project that was launched on April 3rd, which aims to connect our community members with our students and families to provide our students with special abilities, as they “bridge” between Holliston Public Schools and community inclusion through vocational experiences, leisure activities, and sports. Through this project, our staff hope to draw in local Holliston businesses and organizations and provide them with consultation on how to support our students best including:
Education/Training directly to businesses
Tips on how you can support neurodivergent employees
On-site direct job coaching within school hours
Please take a moment to view the video recording provided by HCAT that captures our breakfast presentation and our students in action.
Starfish Awards
As a way to recognize our wonderful educators and the importance of making a difference, here are this month's "Starfish Award" recipients. We all may be familiar with the Starfish Story... it is about a child who was seen on the shoreline trying to save all of the starfish that washed ashore. A passerby told him they would never be able to save them all, and they replied, "It starts with making a difference for one". Please take a moment to celebrate the following staff who are being recognized for their tremendous efforts with ALL STUDENTS!!
Placentino: Jess Verbic, Charlotte Smith, Cathay Hoft, Catherine Harkin
Miller: Kerry Baker, Kirsten Rickis, Kara Hernon, Wendy Krauss
RAMS: Maria Downs, Alison Ditto-Kustwan, Lauren Morton, Janet Morganelli
HHS: Elisa Taylor, Tony Mazzola, Amanda Matcheson, Lacey Hale
District: Victoria Briggs, Betsy Harrahy
Sincerely,
Jess Beattie
Director of Student Services
Upcoming Community Event: SAFE. SMART. SECURE:
SAFE. SMART. SECURE:
Join us for a powerful evening designed to help caregivers navigate the digital world our children and teens are growing up in.
On May 13, 2025, from 7:00 to 8:30 PM at the Holliston High School Library, the Holliston Police Department and Holliston Public Schools, in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, will host “Safe. Smart. Secure,” a seminar promoting healthy and safe technology use.
✔️ Cyberbullying
✔️ Exchanging Images
✔️ Exploitation
✔️ Social Media Use
Please Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/safe-smart-secure-tickets-1312847053879
This event is for adults only (18+ caregivers). No children permitted.
Let’s work together to keep our kids safe online.
🌟 Safe & Supportive Schools: Mid-Year Highlights
School Committee Presentation – March 27, 2025
🎥 Watch the Presentation (Starts at 56:48)
If you want to hear about the fantastic work being led by our district's passionate educators and leaders, this presentation is a great place to start. I may be the one sharing it, but I do so on behalf of the champions behind the work.
🔗 What We Shared:
Framing the Shift: We’re aligning key efforts in mental health, SEL, equity, and leadership into one cohesive Safe & Supportive framework guided by DESE’s five essential elements.
Our Leadership Team: A cross-discipline, cross-school group is building systems that support the whole child. From logic models to integrated PD, this team is helping drive districtwide alignment.
Key Areas of Focus (“Buckets”):
✅ SEL & behavioral support alignment
✅ Tiered mental health capacity
✅ Staff wellness & morale
✅ Data systems for measuring progress
💬 A Moment That Stuck:
A team member reflected on educator morale and proposed a “Wellness Bucket” to support staff well-being. It wasn’t prompted it came from purpose and care. That’s the kind of leadership we want to nurture.
💡 Sustaining Inclusive Practices: Equity Work in Progress
As part of the presentation, I shared an update on the district’s continued progress around the Equity Audit. This work is now embedded into our long-term planning and day-to-day efforts to build a more inclusive, supportive environment for all students and staff. I highlighted both the strides we’ve made and the ongoing challenges we’re navigating, along with next steps to ensure this work remains sustainable, collaborative, and impactful across all schools.
We’re proud of the work underway and excited about the road ahead. Together, we’re creating schools where every student and adult can thrive.
🧠 Executive Skills Webinar
On Wednesday, April 2nd, Holliston Public Schools hosted a highly engaging family workshop:
“Executive Skills: How to Improve Executive Functioning Without the Frustration” with Dr. Peg Dawson, co-author of Smart but Scattered and Smart but Scattered Teens.
We were thrilled to see such strong interest over 94 families joined us live, and nearly 170 had originally registered. This incredible turnout shows how important this topic is for our community.
If you missed the session or would like to revisit it, you can access the full recording here:
▶️ Watch the Webinar – Executive Skills with Dr. Peg Dawson
📝 We’d Love Your Input!
We're always looking for ways to support our families through future workshops and resources. Please take a moment to answer one quick question to share what topics you're most interested in we truly value your voice!
👉 Click here to share your input
During the webinar, Dr. Dawson shared practical strategies to help families support key executive skills like task initiation, planning, organization, and goal-directed persistence skills that are essential for student success both in and out of the classroom. Learn more about her work at smartbutscatteredkids.com.
Thank you again for your partnership. We’re excited to continue offering meaningful learning opportunities for Holliston families in the months ahead!
Director of Social Emotional Learning & Equity
March's Professional Development Day for Teachers
Friday, March 14th was a full day professional development opportunity for our teachers. Please check out what trainings took place in the School Committee presentation.
Teaching & Learning Newsletters - Arch 1 & 3
If you have not had a chance to view the latest Teaching & Learning newsletter please do so! The newsletter is full of some of the wonderful K-12 student learning opportunities found in Holliston in STEM, Humanities, and Unified Arts classrooms.
The district curriculum team will once again be publishing a Teaching & Learning newsletter in June to further document a sampling of the amazing innovative teaching and learning that is happening in Holliston. Make sure to check it out!
