NPS Community Newsletter

Werlcome to our latest edition of the Nauset Community Newsletter!

In this edition of our newsletter, you’ll notice the incredible, ongoing development of the high school project! It continues to change daily, and it has been a very smooth project - that as of this writing, continues to be on time and on budget. The lines of communication throughout this project have been outstanding and the various groupings and teams who continue to be highly involved in this progress, continue to show outstanding commitment and dedication.

Our schools continue to shine in Nauset Public Schools - with so many exciting things happening. Congratulations to our NRHS Robotics teams for their great showing in competition in CT. Be sure to check out the pictures below!

Our athletic teams at the high school have had an excellent season - kudos to our teams and their families for excellent showings this season. Our athletes continue to represent our schools and district well locally, regionally and beyond. Congratulations to all of our coaches as well, for their hard work and dedication.

NRMS also continues to be a busy building! Be sure to check out the Focus on Arts Section included in today's Newsletter. Congratulations to all of the students involved in the music and arts competitions!

Be on the lookout for a new NPS website to be online soon! We have been diligently working on this website, and we are grateful to our staff and schools, as well as Julia Colby, for her incredible efforts to move this website to the point of being close to going live. So many of our staff have played a key role in helping to support our efforts with this project, and the final product is looking amazing - we hope that you’ll like it as much as we do.

We are working through our process of selecting a new Assistant Superintendent. Early screeners have taken place, and a full-fledged interview process will be underway as of next week. Our administrators, Principal Clark and Principal Guditus, have been working closely with our HR Coordinator, Deirdre d’Italien, to work through the initial stack of resumes and establish a thorough process.

Our budget season is wrapping up for all of our schools and departments. Thank you to our administrators and support staff for the herculean efforts necessary to get us across the finish lines with these. We will begin the process of meeting with our communities’ Select Boards and Finance Committees as part of our next steps, after each school committee has approved their individual budget.

Finally, with sadness this week, I accepted the resignation of Joanna Hughes, who served in the role as Interim Assistant Superintendent this year. Joanna has been an integral Nauset administrator for many years, having served as Principal of the Eddy Elementary School in Brewster prior to joining us at Central Office as the Director of Human Resources. Her ability to lead as well as be an amazing team member has served our district well. Her constant optimism and positive approach to absolutely everything was infectious. Her experience is broad and deep, and she has been an asset to Nauset for 11 years. As she looks forward to the next step in her life journey, we thank her for all that she has given to Nauset Public Schools.

As we step outside our doors, we sense that Spring is around the corner, and the worst of Winter is behind us. I hope that you are enjoying longer days, and much more sunshine!

Yours in partnership,

Sueprintendent Brooke Clenchy

Two teams from Nauset High School’s Vex Robotics teams competed in the Southern New England Regional Championship Tournament on February 26th and 27th in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Team 94802F, “Frostbyte Terry” won the Energy Award. This team is made up of Alex Maldacker, Asher Woods, Anthony Zou, and Tim Naas. This is an impressive distinction since there were 98 teams in attendance.

Also deserving of acknowledgment is team 94802 A “Fiddlebots” consisting of Jonah Libby, Justin Capello, and Will Crowell. This is their first year in robotics, and they not only qualified for the regional tournament, but they ranked 58 out of 98, which is a fantastic accomplishment considering the amount of successful and established teams from southern New England. Advisors Jess Mullen and Lisa Orlandella, along with mentor Harry Terkanian, are excited to see how our students will grow from this experience.

The High School Building Project continued to make good progress through the winter. The exterior siding consists of a mix of Cambia wood, Precast Stone, and Metal Panels. The siding is complete on some buildings, and is being installed on the remaining buildings in Phase 1. The interior of the buildings is also well underway, with paint, cabinets, and ceilings already installed in some buildings. Plans are being made with the transition from Phase 1 to Phase 2 this summer. Barring any equipment delivery delays, the contractor is on schedule to turn the Phase 1 buildings over to the school in time for the September 2024 start of school.

Wellfleet School Nurse Claudia Cope and NPS Nurse Leader Mary Ellen Reed are invited to do a conference presentation showcasing the district’s Healthy Meals Incentive innovative grant project initiatives at the National Healthy Meals Spring 2024 Summit. This national conference, hosted by Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK), takes place in St. Louis, Missouri, April 8-10, 2024. This significant nationwide event is a joint initiative with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). The summit serves as an exciting platform for HMI grantees, acknowledging their well-earned grant accolades and showcasing inventive approaches to integrate school nutrition education and enhance the nutritional standards of school meals. Led by NPS Food Services Director Susan Murray, the collaborative endeavors of the Nauset food service team will be spotlighted, emphasizing their collective journey in advancing the nutritional quality of school meals.

The budget process continues to be a collaborative effort between the Finance Office, the Superintendent, Interim Assistant Superintendent, Human Resources and Principal Administrators. We started the process in October with October 1st being a key date not only for the enrollment data for the District but the start of the budget process for fiscal 2025. The budget calendar and enrollment data have been distributed and presented to all the School Committees and Town Administrators and the detailed work commenced. Joanna Hughes, Interim Superintendent along with the Deirdre L’Italien, Coordinator of Human Resources both ensure that all the staffing for the current year and fiscal 2025 is in order since staffing is such a large percentage of the overall budgets. It is imperative that the staffing listing and applicable payroll costs are as accurate as possible. This year even more challenging due to contract negotiations with the Collective Bargaining Units throughout the District.

The Administrative Team comprised of: the Finance Director Giovanna Venditti, Superintendent Brooke Clenchy, Joanna Hughes, Interim Assistant Superintendent, Deirdre L’Italien, Coordinator of Human Resources and the building principals met several times to review their budgets. During our meetings we reviewed the needs of each building, ensuring that the budgets not only meet the Towns’ budget guidelines, but also keep the current excellent programming in place while meeting the student needs for the next school year. In addition, the Central Office Budget Subcommittee has had several meetings to review and vet the Central Office Budget. The Central Office Budget is an integral budget impacting all the elementary schools and the Region operating budgets. As the FY25 Budget Season comes to a close, our next steps will be to attend various meetings with Town Finance Committees and Town Board of Selectmen to present the Region Operating Budget and the individual school budgets. The final phase of the budget process is the annual Town Meetings.

We continue to concentrate our efforts on the High School building project and on completing capital projects for the Region as well as the elementary schools; and ensuring that the procurement and contract documents follow State Laws. Lori Newcomb ensures that all our procurement processes are followed correctly. Also, the Assistant Director of Finance and Operations, Jim Nowack and our Facilities Director Bob Capurso have been working on capital plans for the upcoming 2025 school year and five year capital plans with all the principals and Head Custodians. Jim continues to be the lead with submissions of Statement of Interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority for major capital projects for the District while Bob is concentrating on the Region buildings with an emphasis on the High School Building Project.

The Finance Office has welcomed new staff this year to our work family! Rashida Jamieson, Accounts Payable Administrative Assistant, and Erin Peterson, Accounts Payable Administrative Assistant.

MUSIC

The following Nauset students auditioned in December against students in grades 7-9 from schools across Southeastern Massachusetts. They were selected to represent NRMS in the following honor ensembles at the Southeastern District Junior Music Festival. These students will participate in two days of intense rehearsal and will perform a concert at the end of the second day. They will be performing on Friday, March 8, and Saturday, March 9. The festival will be held at New Bedford High School.

Middle School:

Treble Choir

Hazel Yingling (7)

Mixed Choir

Daniela Chianciola (7)

Neveah O'Connor Alves (7)

Andrew Tobin (8)

Concert Band

Robert Loewen (8) - Trumpet

Orchestra

James Silvernail (8) - Violin

Malia Washington (8) - String Bass

HIgh School:

Orchestra

Caroline Kennally - Violin

Josh Hagopian - Cello

Jazz Band

Zoe Simmons - Guitar

ART

NRMS students were named winners of the Repurposed Book Contest and Exhibit at the Eastham Library. The exhibit was on display at the library throughout the month of February. What tremendous book art entries we had this year from schools across the district!

The judges have made their determinations and we are pleased to announce these winners in the 2024 Repurposed Book Art Contest:

Grand Prize Blue Ribbons:

Aether Souza Post Apocalyptic Living

Ayana Par Dress of Roses

2nd Place Ribbon:

Graysen Foster The Leaping Fish

3rd Place Ribbon:

Malia James Untitled

Honorable Mention Ribbon:

Bridgette Tesson Veggie Tales Photo Album

Jessica Tesson Buzz Lightyear and Archie the Scare Pig

We have two NRMS Grand Prize winners this year. In addition to ribbons, Grand Prize winners will receive an additional prize from the Eastham Library.

Both of our Ice Hockey teams have advanced to the Round of 16 in the MIAA State Tournament. #1 Nauset Boys will host #17 Marlboro this Saturday, March 2nd @ 6:00pm at Charles Moore Arena. #4 Nauset Girls will host #13 Sandwich this Sunday, March 3rd @ 4:30pm at Charles Moore Arena. Per MIAA state tournament rules, tickets for these games must be purchased exclusively online through GoFan. Best of luck to both teams! Go Warriors!

Brooke Clenchy

Superintendent of Schools

Nauset Public Schools

78 Eldredge Park Way

Orleans, MA 02653

Email: clenchyb@nausetschools.org

Phone: (508) 255-8800 ext. 7002