Also on tonight's agenda... the Strategic Plan

Our Committee will hear the Strategic Plan tonight at the School Committee meeting - in person and on zoom.

As is our protocol, I will save my debate for the meeting.

What is the Strategic Plan?

It is a foundational document housed on our transparency center on the NPS website: click here to see it in detail. The slides for tonight's meeting are here.

It is Natick Public School's articulation of the guiding principles for our students. It is the statement of goals by which we want to reach those principles and the strategic action steps that the administration will use to do so.

There are 5 areas with roughly 67 items of importance in the document.

Once approved, the Strategic Plan is the document by which the budget is built around and about which the policies for our district are set.

Statement on Recusal

Here are the remarks I gave last night when letting my committee know my decision to recuse: After the School Committee meeting on October 15th, several individuals wrote into the SpeakUp Natick portal requesting that I recuse myself from voting on the possible closure of Johnson. The substance of these messages, sent to the full committee, carried a familiar refrain. The messages - often using the same language – said some version of the following: Catherine Brunell should recuse herself from deliberating and voting on the closure of Johnson because she lacks objectivity, as her children go to school there and she is from that neighborhood. I asked myself the question if there was any merit to the request for me to recuse myself and started to do some research about why people recuse From what I can tell from the minutes, in Natick, It’s never happened before - not with the Kennedy, Wilson or the High School - not even for members whose children were to attend t...

Evaluation Time

The School Committees of every community are charged with oversight for the budget, the policies and the evaluation of the superintendent for the districts they serve. Tonight, in Natick, we begin the Superintendent evaluation process. Virtual Meeting Link - 6:00 p.m. Background: Page 2 of DESE Model system guide for Superintendent Evaluation These videos and this PDF explain the 5 step Superintendent Evaluation Process that Natick is piloting with other communities. It was developed in partnership with Superintendents, School Committees and the Dept. of Ed. While Natick has adjusted some of the evaluation to be in-line with the process outlined in the above resources, we are continuing to develop the full pilot program. Also, for a point of reference and a reminder that every superintendent goes through a similar process, here is a slide deck from one of the initial meetings for the City of Boston's Superintendent evaluatio...

Quick Summary of Key things for the Natick School Committee this week

Quick Links for current items: Natick School Committee begins Coffee Hours - Take a moment to speak to one of your elected officials about the district’s strategic plan in the coming months! Policy Questions? Click here to see the Natick School Committee Policy Manual . Every year it is accepted by the Natick School Committee as our guiding principles for our work. It sets expectations for communication, procedures and processes for most everything related to our schools. While specific policies are updated every year, the last major revision/ reconsideration of policies was in the early 2000’s. One goal of the current policy subcommittee is to begin to look at each section of our policy manual once a year for a more sustainable updating of these key policies. Policy Subcommittee’s next meeting is Thursday, Feb 17th from 1- 3 p.m. on the 3rd floor of the Natick Town Hall. Budget Season! Not a financial person? Rea...

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