The 2024-2025 school year is well underway and there are so many wonderful things to report.

WELCOME DR. BRUNO

First and foremost, over the Summer, we welcomed our new Superintendent, Dr. Geoff Bruno, to the district. Dr. Bruno has had a very busy few months developing his entry plan, meeting with staff and members of the community, and beginning to build the FY26 budget. You can read his full entry plan by clicking the link below, but a few key focus areas include building a culture of continuous improvement across the district; harnessing the resources necessary for effective student learning; cultivating a culture of belonging for all students; and strengthening the partnership with our two communities by providing information in a variety of methods that will provide access for all families and community members.

Copy of GDEntryPlanBruno

STAFF SPOTLIGHT

This year, the School Committee is excited to be starting a new staff spotlight program aimed at recognizing and celebrating all of our staff members for all the things they do, big and small, to help support our students and school district. All staff members are eligible to be nominated, and you can access the form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd_OtR2o61mn30WoiCm8VXRm_LFHeGIShGDVzUzR5j56mujwg/viewform?usp=sf_link

COMMUNICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE

In October, the School Committee unanimously voted to approve a Communications Plan (linked here: GDRSC Communications Plan) and to establish a Communications Subcommittee.

What Does the Communications Subcommittee Do, and Who Serves On It?

The purpose of the subcommittee will be to plan and oversee new ways that the School Committee can engage with the community. This includes things like in-person engagement opportunities, outreach to the local paper and newsletters, and staff and student recognitions and acknowledgments. This year, Rohit Bhasin, Christina Andriole and Lacey McCabe serve on this subcommittee. The next meeting will be on 11/19 at 7pm over zoom.

OFFICE HOURS

One of the first initiatives of the Communications Subcommittee was to establish regular monthly School Committee office hours in both towns. Office hours are an informal way to meet with members from the School Committee in order to ask questions, provide feedback, or raise concerns on any school-related issue. We want to hear feedback from the community, so we hope that everyone will feel comfortable to stop by on any of the dates to check in. We will also be providing a zoom link in case people want to discuss something, but can't come in person. The office hours will typically take place during the third week of each month, with morning hours on Tuesday and evening hours on Thursday. Below, please find the schedule and locations for the rest of this school year.

Groton Office Hours (located at the Groton Public Library)

11/19 10-11 am – Community Room

12/19 6-7 pm – Historical Room

1/21 10-11 am – Community Room

2/13 6-7 pm – Historical Room

3/18 10-11 am – Historical Room

4/17 6-7 pm – Historical Room
5/20 10-11 am – Community Room

Dunstable Office Hours (Located at the Dunstable Town Hall)

11/21 6-7pm

12/17 10-11am

1/23 6-7pm

2/11 10-11am

3/20 6-7pm

4/15 10-11am

5/22 6-7pm

At the start of each school year, the School Committee delivers budget guidance to the administration that they must consider when developing their proposed budget. Below are some highlights of what the School Committee has asked the administration to do this year:

• Provide budget scenarios that demonstrate 1. the cost of a level service budget, 2. the staffing implications of a budget without a proposition 2 1/2 override and 3. what the cost would be for a budget that captures what the district needs to support its students, meet all its required standards and accountability goals, and support all capital and operational needs

• Retain a firm to perform an operational audit

• Complete a capital planning assessment in order to develop a five-year capital plan

• Review and update our Regional Agreement, which spells out many aspects of the regional partnership between Groton and Dunstable relative to our schools, including how costs are shared between the two towns.

Read the guidance in its entirety here: https://core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/2198/GDRSD/4875218/DRAFT_GDRSD_FY26_Budget_Guidance.docx.pdf

The School Committee and the GDEA have finalized and ratified the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement, which will be in effect from September 1, 2024-August 31, 2027. You can read more about it in the official press release, linked here: GDRSC Press Release

As many are aware, last year, the school district projected a multi-year budget deficit in order to provide level services. The biggest driver in this deficit was, and continues to be, that our state Chapter 70 funding remains flat, while expenses continue to rise each year. In order to provide level services to the schools, both towns required proposition 2 1/2 overrides. The overrides were voted down at the ballot box in both towns, requiring the school district to make approximately $3 million dollars in cuts. The impacts of these cuts have been felt by students and staff at every level in our district. You can learn more about the specific cuts in the GDRSD financial forecast presentation, linked below.

This year, our projections have not changed, and without additional revenue, the school district is forecasting that we will need to make approximately $2.1 million dollars of additional reductions. The impacts of additional cuts in our schools would mean that the level of service that the district currently provides to our students would become unsustainable. The Superintendent is examining all areas of the budget to ensure that funds are allocated as efficiently as possible, but no amount of re-allocation will erase the deficit that we are facing.

This is an extremely serious issue, and all community residents and GD families are urged to stay informed and engaged over the next few months as we finalize our budget. Starting in January, we will be holding budget-related open forums and information sessions to ensure everyone in the community is informed and has the opportunity to ask questions.

On 10/23/24, the GDRSC met with the Selectboards from each town, as well as Groton's FinCom and Dunstable's Financial Advisory Board in order to consider the FY26 financial forecast from each town and the school district. The hope is that by continuing to work collaboratively, we will be able to develop a plan to address the shortfall. Please see below for the meeting recording, as well as the presentations from the school district and both towns.

How to contact your elected officials to share your opinion on the budget or ask questions:

• Dunstable Select Board: https://www.dunstable-ma.gov/user/113/contact

• Dunstable Advisory Board: https://www.dunstable-ma.gov/user/63/contact

• Groton Select Board: selectboard@grotonma.gov

• Groton Finance Committee: accountant@grotonma.gov

• School Committee:

• Fay Raynor fraynor@gdrsd.org

• Rohit Bhasin rbhasin@gdrsd.org

• Yasmeen Cheema ycheema@gdrsd.org
  

• Rosanna Casavecchia rcasavecchia@gdrsd.org

• Lacey McCabe lmccabe@gdrsd.org

• Christina Andriole candriole@gdrsd.org

• Catherine Awa cawa@gdrsd.org

The Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment and Accountability (CIAA) Subcommittee is off to a great start! We began by welcoming two new members to the committee. Christina Andriole from Dunstable and Yasmeen Cheema from Groton are both excited to engage in curriculum work with the committee. Rosanna Casavecchia serves as the team chair and along with Superintendent Dr. Bruno and Assistant Superintendent Kristin DeFrancisco, the committee has already begun to address the curriculum tasks on the District Improvement Plan. Some of these tasks include continuing to collect and understand assessment data, calibrating best instructional practices across the district, and solidifying a regular curriculum review process. During the November 13th meeting, members of the district CIAA team came to present the draft of the curriculum review process. After several months of crafting, the process is ready to go to the full committee for approval. Presenting at the CIAA subcommittee meeting helped the district CIAA team add some final touches to the process. Pending approval, the district will pilot the process in January with a small review of history/social studies.

What Does the Policy Subcommittee Do, and Who Serves On It?

The Policy Subcommittee is charged with creating and/or revising our district policies in order to maintain a comprehensive and up-to-date policy manual. For the 2024-2025 school year, the members of the subcommittee are Rohit Bhasin, Catherine Awa, and Lacey McCabe.

Policy Spotlight

In September, in conjunction with the District Wellness Committee, we revised and updated Policy ADF (the wellness policy.) This is a comprehensive policy which discusses many aspects of wellness within our district, like providing a healthy environment, social emotional and behavioral health, school nurse services, nutritious school meals, comprehensive health education, physical education, and other opportunities for physical activity throughout the school day. Please check out our updated wellness policy here:

https://z2policy.ctspublish.com/masc/browse/grotondunstableset/grotondunstable/ADF

MASC Policy Services Contract

Since September of 2023, the Policy Subcommittee has been working with MASC to review our entire policy manual. Each and every policy is reviewed to ensure that they adequately support our student, staff and community needs, align with DESE’s current guidance, and comply fully with state and federal laws. I am pleased to report that the work is almost complete, with only two sections (Section G, and Section J) remaining. These sections are expected to be completed by January 2025, at which time, the fully updated manual will be put before the School Committee to consider, discuss, and vote on. Our next two policy meeting dates are December 11, 2024, and January 8, 2025.

The current district policy manual can be found here.

Please inform your friends and neighbors of what you learned and engage them in conversation about the district to ensure all in our community are well informed . Our next issue of the School Committee newsletter will be out December 15th.