News&Notes from the Superintendent

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?” – Martin Luther King Jr.

This week’s quote invites reflection on our purpose and the ways we contribute to the greater good. In the context of schools, this question challenges educators and students to adopt a service-oriented mindset, fostering empathy, collaboration, and a commitment to improving their communities. Schools have the unique responsibility of not just imparting knowledge but also cultivating character, encouraging students to see their potential as change-makers.

This theory ties directly into student choice and voice by empowering learners to take ownership of their education and use their unique talents to make a difference. When students are given meaningful choices in their learning—such as selecting projects, engaging in community service, or addressing issues they are passionate about—they begin to see themselves as active participants in their communities. Amplifying student voice ensures that they feel heard, valued, and capable of driving change, which in turn fosters a sense of responsibility and purpose.

By embedding service and empathy into the curriculum, educators can inspire students to respond to the question in the quote through real-world action. Whether it’s through peer mentoring, environmental initiatives, or addressing social justice issues, students who are equipped with both choice and voice learn to see their education not as an endpoint but as a platform to create positive impacts in the lives of others. Our goal with this approach is to prepare them not only for success beyond their K-12 experience, but also to make meaningful contributions to society.

Please find below this week’s updates & events happening in our District ~

Looking to join a dynamic and growing professional educational community?

Join us at UME, NMC, and SES, where creativity thrives, teamwork energizes, and success is celebrated—big and small!

Currently, we have the following positions open:

ESP (Education Support Professional)

PK-2 SPED Teacher

Long Term Sub - Title 1 Reading Interventionist

Submit a letter of interest/resume to Will Smith, Administrative Assistant to the Principal, at wsmith@sbrsd.org.

On January 16, 2025, the Governor delivered her annual State of the Commonwealth address and signaled some of her priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. The Governor focused on several key areas that included investing in education, affordable housing, health care, and a transportation funding plan.

In her address, Governor Healey noted that voters in November decided that the MCAS graduation requirement is not the way forward, and she stated that she believes that a high, statewide standard is important so that students, families and employers know what a diploma earned in Massachusetts represents and the importance of preventing negative impacts for the most vulnerable students. Today, she announced the creation of a “Statewide Graduation Requirement Council” made up of teachers, colleges, employers, and students, to develop recommendations for new high school standards to replace the MCAS graduation requirement.

“We have the best schools in the country. It’s a core value and it’s also our competitive edge,” said Governor Healey. “So I am committed – and we must all be committed – to excellence for every student. We are Number One for education, and we’re going to stay that way.”

Governor Healey went on to share that her administration will continue to advance programs that make sure students are trained with the skills that are in demand in today’s economy. She highlighted that the administration has expanded the Innovation Career Pathways program to 100 high schools in fields from biotechnology to clean energy and brought Early College programs to 9,000 students statewide so that high school students can take courses and earn free credits at local colleges. We are so very proud that here at SBRSD we have both a Designated Early College Program and a Designated Innovation Pathways Program!

Tomorrow, Governor Healey is expected to file her FY26 budget proposal. Several communities around the Commonwealth have already been presenting their FY26 budget proposals and it’s clear that there is a very challenging fiscal climate and that there will be many difficult decisions ahead. In her address, the Governor emphasized her strong commitment to fiscal responsibility and that the upcoming FY26 budget proposal will focus on efficiency.

Our internal budget development process is moving forward as well, and this week begins a series of meetings scheduled with Administration, Department Heads, Curriculum Leaders, and other faculty and staff members in an effort to meet future needs while being mindful of effective and efficient resource allocation. I will continue to provide the latest state and local information available to our school community as the FY26 budget development process progresses.

Here are some other important items to highlight:

Task Force Initiatives ~

Please see this week’s updates to these ongoing initiatives:

Improving Attendance Task Force – (Facilitators: Julie Steuernagle and Paul Sullivan, with support from Sandi Hubbard.)

• This Task Force meets tomorrow at 3:15 pm. Next steps are to send out a parent survey on attendance to secondary families, and getting feedback on the Wayfinder tool, which is a nationally ranked system used for advisory lessons and social emotional supports and resources, from the teachers.

Cell Phone Policy Task Force – (Facilitators: Jesse Carpenter and Charles Miller, with support from Julie Dolan.)

• The proposed policy review has been completed by the task force members and a survey was shared with faculty and staff for their feedback. This will be followed by distribution to our school community. Finally, when the Task Force has incorporated the input from all stakeholders, the proposed cell phone policy will be sent to the Policy Subcommittee for review and a vote to be recommended to the full School Committee.

To review the documentation presented at the SBRSD hearing, please see the District website at https://www.sbrsd.org/page/budget

The Superintendent Advisory Councils (SACs) will be meeting in February, where they will welcome a presentation on the Sandy Hook Promise initiative which is grant funded in partnership with the Attorney General’s Office in Massachusetts. We look forward to putting together a student-led team from SBRSD that will share their learnings with other students, participate in and facilitate activities around school culture and belonging, and help to bring assemblies to school as part of this effort. The SACs will also provide updates on the status of their fundraising efforts and brainstorm ideas for improving our schools!

This week the Core Team is putting the final touches on the preparations for the upcoming Community Team Meeting scheduled for January 28th! We recommitted to re-grounding ourselves in our “why,” getting us back to our north star, and clarifying the important role the community teams have in supporting our District goals. We deeply value the ongoing and tremendous support from our school community as we believe that this is what will sustain our work and keep educational innovation as a cornerstone of all we do in the District!

Happening soon - January 30th! The SBRSD Team will be presenting at Transcend’s next Board meeting! Preparations are underway and I will have the opportunity to share our why, how this work has transformed the District, the lessons learned, and what our school community has gained from our partnership. There will be a student panel as well with a time for questions and answers from the Board! We hope to emphasize how much value that the funding, time, and resources they have provided have added to the District, and the importance of the continuation of this investment especially in rural schools!

At a special School Committee Meeting this week on January 23rd, at 5:30 pm, the students from the inaugural BerkStudio experience will be presenting their work from the semester! We look forward to sharing in their learning and hearing their report as well as what they recommend for next steps!

The website is updated so that members of the community can interact with all the happenings from the events we hold throughout the year!

A link to the Transcend Partnership page can be found here: https://www.sbrsd.org/page/transcend-partnership

We encourage other members of our school community to join us in this work and share their thoughts and expertise as we continue our journey forward!

20th-century History students are currently delving into the post-World War I era, exploring how fields like science, literature, society, and art underwent significant transformations. Art styles and movements, including expressionism, modernism, cubism, and surrealism, emerged during this period.

Students participated in a "gallery walk" throughout the school to gain a deeper understanding. Their mission: to locate and observe painting studies created between 1900 and 1939. For each artwork, students recorded the artist, art style, and year of creation and assigned a personal rating for fun.

Upon returning to the classroom, students engaged in a lively discussion with a partner, sharing their observations and insights gleaned from the gallery walk.

Students in the Culinary class showed off their skills by baking a variety of delicious pies for their final project.

This time of year, there are wonderful things happening in our schools and we would like nothing more than to have you here to support our students alongside us!

There is always action in athletics here and the Winter sports season is in full swing, so please come out and support our athletes! We have many other events happening including the Grade 8 Field Trip to the Mahaiwe today (which was great according to my student visitors today!), Flying Cloud – Robots and Coding, Flying Cloud – Girls Science Club, College Resource Lab, Girl Scouts, Vex Robotics, and Drama Rehearsals - just to name a few!

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