Another year is upon us!

The current flurry of activity in our schools these days is clear evidence that summer is on the wane and a new school year is upon us! I often get asked what we do during the summer in schools. Here's a brief summary of what we've been up to over the past two months.

We welcomed Paula Fitzgerald as our new principal at Chestnut Hill Community on July 1, 2013. Ms. Fitzgerald comes to us with a wealth of experience from both the Holyoke and Monson Public Schools and we are looking forward to what she brings to our district. New staff members have also been hired at each of our schools and we are looking forward to their becoming part of our Belchertown Public Schools family. A new teacher orientation session is scheduled for them on Friday, August 23rd.

There is a lot of activity in our school buildings as well in order to enhance the learning environment for our students. Our custodial staff has been working hard to make sure that all our buildings are in shape for the school year. It's always exciting to see that beginning of the year shine! Teachers, administrators, and other staff members have been working to prepare classrooms and other learning spaces for the students who will enter them next week.

We are also upgrading our security systems to ensure that our staff and students are as safe as possible. In addition to the building upgrades, a School Safety Task Force was established this summer with a variety of stakeholders to update our Emergency Operations Response Plan to reflect best practices in the prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery to a variety of potential emergency situations. We hope to have a draft of the new plan to the School Committee for approval in January, 2014.

Our technology staff has been hard at work upgrading systems and bringing in new equipment that teachers can use to enhance instruction across the district. Of particular note, the CHCS library has received a major upgrade, providing the means to facilitate the infusion of technology into the library as an information literacy hub for the school.

On the academic side, the School Committee approved the purchase of new K-8 mathematics texts last spring that will help us more effectively deliver the recently revised curriculum in this area. The new texts have arrived and teachers will receive their initial training on these materials during a professional development day on Monday, August 26th. New curriculum documents in the areas of visual arts, music, history and social sciences, and physical education have been approved and teachers will be using these to shape their daily lessons this year.

The Jessica's Boundless Playground Committee has also been hard at work this summer, along with Team Jessica, to come closer to the realization of a fully accessible playground for our community on the grounds next to Chestnut Hill Community School. Please plan to join us at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, August 21st, as a sign will be unveiled to mark the site of the new playground!

On Wednesday, August 28th, we will welcome back the students as we begin anew for the 2013-2014 school year! We look forward to the opportunities the new year will bring to us.

By the way - be on the lookout for our first PeaceBuilders project of the year - Pinwheels for Peace! More details will be coming shortly.

As always, if you have any questions or comments about this blog post, please feel free to contact me at 413.323.0423 or by email at superintendent@belchertown.org.

Best regards, Dr. Judith Houle, Superintendent of Schools