The Cohasset Compass

Dear Cohasset Families,

Welcome to 2025! As we start the new year, I want to welcome you into the district strategic planning process that will usher the district into our next phase. The prior CPS strategic plan concluded in June 2024. This year, our district goals were written to act as a bridge that wrapped up some of the work outlined in that strategic plan and led us into a new future. We are now ready to write that future and we want to do it together as a Cohasset school community.

We are all fortunate to be a part of a thriving school community that has achieved great successes at the student, school, and district level. Our current strategic plan makes it clear that our district puts students first and strives to empower students to improve communities. Our vision of a graduate demands that we, as a district, continue to seek purposeful growth and to engage in continuous improvement for the betterment of our community and to achieve the goals of the district. As key stakeholders in our growth and progress we are inviting each of you to be a part of the strategic planning process in a way that works best for you. As a student, parent, caregiver, or staff member, you can participate by completing a survey, attending a focus group, and/or signing up to be a part of our strategic planning committee. Each avenue to participate is important and designed to provide an accessible pathway to have your voice included in the process.

To that end, we hope that you will fill out the survey that will be sent to all stakeholders on January 24, 2025. The survey window will be open through February 3.

If you have more input to share than what the survey will allow, we invite you to join one of the following forums based on your role. If you hold more than one role in the district, please choose the forum that works best for your schedule.

• January 14 @ 6:00 pm - All families @ CMHS Library Commons

• January 22 @ 6:00 pm - All families via Zoom (This link will be provided to families closer to the date of the forum.)

If you want to participate in analyzing the data, determining the priorities, commitments and key actions, and writing the new strategic plan as part of our committee, I invite you to fill out the form linked here by Wednesday, January 15, 2025 to indicate your interest. It is important for consistency and progress of the work that if you submit interest to be on the committee that you can attend all of the dates outlined below:

• Tuesday, March 4 @ 4:30 - 7:30 pm

• Tuesday, March 11 @ 4:30 - 6:30 pm

• Tuesday, March 25 @ 4:30 - 7:30 pm

• Tuesday, April 1 @ 4:30 - 7:30 pm

• Tuesday, April 15 @ 4:30 - 7:30 pm

• Tuesday, April 29 @ 4:30 - 7:30 pm

While I recognize the level of commitment this process demands, the work will set bold goals and determine the direction of the Cohasset Public Schools for the next three to five years. Stakeholder input is valued and is essential to the success of this plan and the district. Your involvement at the survey, forum, and/or committee level is appreciated and will be represented in our new strategic plan. Thank you for your commitment to our school district.

Ever onward,

Sarah

As many of our families are aware, the district is facing a budgetary shortfall for the current, FY25, school year. This is something we became aware of early in the year and have been working with district and school administrators, School Committee, the Town Manager, and the Selectboard to be on top of. Additionally, we retained the services of Open Architects to do a financial analysis of our district to determine where our risks are and what we can do to address the identified concerns moving forward. The report from Open Architects and an update on the FY25 budget and budget shortfall will be presented at the January 22, 2025 School Committee meeting. Following that, the district will present our draft FY26 budget proposal at the February 5, 2025 School Committee meeting. We invite all families to join our School Committee meetings in person or to watch on Zoom or at the Cohasset Live Streaming Facebook page. I will continue to keep you updated on the budget in this newsletter and on our website (cohassetk12.org) as well.

On Tuesday, December 3, we held the first in a series of three community forums to share an update on the Cohasset Middle and High School Feasibility Study. We are grateful to those who attended and are providing access to the information shared by Ai3, our architects, via this link.

We are holding two more community forums this month and next. These two forums are important and will share key information about any potential CMS & CHS building project that could happen. I hope that you will consider joining us. The forum dates and topics are:

• Tuesday, January 28th @ 6:30pm - Ai3 will share several conceptual designs for a potential middle/high school project. These designs will fall into several categories: code upgrades only, addition/renovation, addition/demolition/renovation, and new construction.
• Tuesday, February 25th @ 6:30pm - Ai3 will share refined conceptual designs as well as estimated costs associated with potential projects options.

The South Shore Regional Vocational School District has secured a $111m grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority to construct a new vocational high school that would house 900 students for its 9 member communities. Cohasset was one of the 6 founding members of the high school, which opened its doors in 1962. The school is located at 476 Webster Street in Hanover.

The school would add more seats to address a growing waiting list and also house 2 new programs: Plumbing and Veterinary Science, along with the 12 vocational majors it currently offers.

After the grant, remaining $162m local share that would be split amongst the towns based on enrollment. It is projected that Cohasset’s share of the project would be around 1.5-2%. The full borrowing of the project would not roll on until FY29.

There is more detailed tax impact information on the project website. The school district projects that for the FY24 average assessed home in Cohasset, the impact would be

FY26: under $1 per year

FY27: $13 per year

FY28: $26 per year

FY29+: $64-77 per year

The next step in the process is to ask voters in all 9 towns to vote on the project. The vote is determined by total vote count in all 9 towns combined. This special district election will be held on January 25, 2025 at the Deer Hill School from 9AM-5PM.

If residents have any questions about the project, please feel free to contact Superintendent Tom Hickey at thickey@ssvotech.org or 781-766-4002.

Additional links you may find useful:

December 17 forum presentation

143TV December update

Keeping up with our Anxious Generation purposeful play and responsible risk taking challenges, I am inviting you to join in on our January activities. This month, our challenges are:

Purposeful Play Challenge

So, this challenge is weather dependent ⛄. The challenge this month is to get outside and make a snowperson, built a snow fort, have a snowball fight! Remember the joy and excitement of a fresh snowfall with your children. And, if it doesn't snow, bundle up and take a winter walk in one of our many protected areas in Cohasset. There's nothing better than a brisk walk as a family through Wampatuck, Whitney and Thayer Woods, The Whitney Spur Trail, Great Brewster Woods, or up Turkey Hill! Here are two websites to help you locate each of these sites: NSRWA.org and The Cohasset Conservation Trust.

Responsible Risk Taking Challenge

We're kicking off our new year with a challenge to talk to someone new, to make a new friend, or for those of us who may have lost touch with some folks, pick one to reach back out to and say hello. This challenge helps teach our children how to make new friends, why kindness matters, and how to step outside our comfort zones and put ourselves out there.

MPY is pleased to offer proven resources to help students' families thrive. Explore this curated collection of quick videos and informative handouts thoughtfully grouped by relevant topics. Each segment below is filled with proven, practical, and easy-to-implement video solutions on a wide range of parenting challenges.

Some offerings include:

• Inspire School Success for Elementary, Middle & High School Students

• Parenting Principles for Progress not Perfection

• Support Your Anxious Child

• Help Your Neurodiverse Child Thrive (ADHD/ASD)

Click her to learn more and see all of the offerings.

• January 14: In-person Family Strategic Planning Forum @ 6:00pm in the CMHS Learning Commons

• January 17: Professional Development: Early release

• January 20: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: No school

• January 22: School Committee Meeting

• January 22: ZOOM Family Strategic Planning Forum @ 6:15pm

• January 28: Cohasset Middle & High School Feasibility Study Community Forum @ 6:30pm