Welcome to the Superintendent's Update Blog

News of the District

Welcome to this blog space, where you can read about district happenings and learn of upcoming events that are important to our entire school community. We are busy preparing for the new school year. Our administrators are at work preparing schedules, hiring new staff, and getting all the systems in place needed to continue our work to ensure that every student meets with success every day. Our custodians and secretaries are hard at work ensuring that our buildings are ready, new students are being registered, and making sure support systems are in place to welcome everyone back to school on Wednesday, August 29, 2012 - a mere 5 weeks away!

School Committee Meeting on Tuesday, July 17

The Belchertown School Committee met on Tuesday, July 17 to conduct business as we get set for the start of school. They approved a bid for HVAC maintenance to our schools, an out-of-state field trip to High Meadows in September for the Class of 2013, and approved the Superintendent's goals for evaluation for the 2012-2013 school year. There was also some preliminary discussion of some extra state revenue to the town that resulted from Governor Patrick's signature on the state budget. That discussion will continue at the next meeting on August14th.

Results of the School Safety and Discipline Report

Mr. Admussen, our Data Administrator, completed the submission of our School Safety and Discipline Report for the 2011-2012 school year. He did an analysis of the report, which shows that our bullying prevention program, Peace Builders, has had a positive impact on student discipline:

How did 2011-12 compare with the preceding year (2010-2011)?

The number of incidents was 29% lower.

The number of offenders was 30% lower.

The number of victims was 50% lower.

Days lost to suspensions was 7% lower.

Days lost to expulsions was 100% lower (no expulsions in 2011-2012).

Total days lost to suspensions and expulsions was 47% lower.

How did 2011-12 compare with the average of the preceding four years?

The number of incidents was 23% lower.

The number of offenders was 27% lower.

The number of victims was 32% lower.

Days lost to suspensions was 15% lower.

Days lost to expulsions was 100% lower (no expulsions in 2011-2012).

Total days lost to suspensions and expulsions was 67% lower.

Summary and Analysis

By all measures, the number of incidents fell significantly in 2011-2012, as did the number of student offenders.  The number of victims fell even more sharply, as fewer incidents targeted members of the school community.  In fact, the number of victims was cut in half between 2010-11 and 2011-12.  Despite the reduction in incidents, the number of school days lost to suspension fell only slightly, suggesting that while there were fewer incidents, administrators responded vigorously to the most serious disciplinary infractions.

Questions?

If you have any questions regarding the information here, please feel free to contact me at 413.323.0423. Enjoy the remaining weeks of summer!