Super News

Dear Panther Families-

Happy Flag Day! 🇺🇸 Just a week or so left of what has been both a tumultuous but also a joy-filled, important year for WHRSD. We have had some struggles this year, from the financial crash impacting dozens of staff and nearly every student, to the sad loss of loved members of our Panther family, to the more common unfortunate events that happen in our schools and community (7 snow days!?). We have also had hundreds (thousands) of joyful, exciting moments from the smallest, your student learning a new skill, to the biggest, the graduation of the Class of '26. In between were concerts, sports events, plays, presentations, the writing of papers and passing of tests, and dozens of end-of-year celebrations over the last few weeks.

Upon taking over in January, I promised to work on 1) stabilizing the FY26 budget and preparing an FY27 budget that was more realistic, accurate, and transparent, 2) with colleagues, bringing back a sense of school and district pride through open, kind, respectful, energetic actions, and 3) increasing communication in both directions so the Superintendent felt more approachable and trust could begin to be restored. While we've made good progress on all three fronts, I remain committed to continuing to drive those three areas forward over the summer and into next year.

To that end, we have developed a theme for '26-'27, which captures the spirit of hard work, dedication, creativity, and growth as individuals, classrooms, schools, and a district. The Year of Engagement will be a time to connect, a focus on making learning more exciting, a commitment to growing our teaching and learning practices, and a promise to keep building our systems of communication. It's time to engage students with even more interesting, compelling work, to engage staff with meaningful PD and professional agency, to engage parents/guardians with opportunities to support children and also grow themselves, and to engage the community in supporting WHRSD in any way they can! From Panther Pride grows a stronger future for all of us! I can't wait for The Year of Engagement to begin!

Have a great week and a half, and then a wonderful summer everyone!

Dr. Marcus

REMINDER: Thursday is a Half Day (for grading). No School Friday for Juneteenth.

Office Summer Hours are roughly 8-3 M-Th and 8-12 Fri outside of holidays. Central Office should be open those hours, however, some offices may be closed for portions of the summer depending on staffing. Please call ahead. WMS will have more limited availability due to heavier construction this summer.

Central Office: 781-618-7000

WHRHS: 781-618-7020

Conley: 781-618-7050

Duval: 781-618-7055

Indian Head: 781-618-7065

HMS: 781-618-7575

WMS: 781-618-7035

Preschool: 781-618-7127

14 WHRSD Retirees will be honored this Wednesday at the School Committee Meeting. Thank you for your years of dedicated service!

Michelle Lindberg, HR Director, Patty Conover, Duval para, Michelle Hickey, HMS cafe, Rhonda Briscoe, HS cafe, Bob Davidson, HS/MS SS Coordinator, Dan Moriarty, HS Science, Rosalie Gregoli, WMS Music, Ericka Hicks, Duval 1st grade, Tina Smith, Asst Dir Food Services, Madeline Wahlberg, cafeteria, Dave Floeck, HS Asst Principal, Anne Marie Hyslip, PK para, Kathleen Meehan, HS Special Ed, Nancy Smith, Art at IH.

FY26, this year, is still on a bumpy path as we head to closeout on June 30th. Business Office team have been working on collecting all grant funding and closing out portions of purchase orders that weren't used to help with stabilization.

For next year, FY27, we have already begun looking at each budget line this year to tighten up on both spending for next year and planning ahead for FY28. Critical areas include health insurance costs, special education transportation and increased student needs, and keeping large contracts like custodial services and busing as low as possible. Updates that we provide to School Committee are posted online for more detailed information.

We have a team that will be looking at Start Times beginning in the Fall. This information gathering group will be exploring our current practices, what others are doing, and how we might make changes.

A staff committee made up of folks from various levels and subjects, the PD Team, is working to build a better, more engaging professional development series for '26-'27.

The Admin Team is working with the Barr Foundation on improving leadership for best instructional practices across the district. We are also part of the Acceleration Academy through DESE to improve academic outcomes, especially at the MS level.

PEEP, the Panther Education Enrichment Program, meant for adult learning in the evenings, is forming a team now to lead this new initiative that will provide more programming for grown-up Panthers.

The 2nd Annual Countdown to Kindergarten begins in July. If you have an incoming Kindergartner, we hope you participate in one of the welcome activities including ice cream, a "Bubble Barge," and a field day at the HS. Many thanks to Dr. Semas-Schneeweis for instituting this program, and Conley K teacher, Allie McDonough for running the program this summer! Keep an eye out for more details.

We heard from some folks that last Thursday's portal closure caught people a bit off guard. My apologies for any missed communication. Those snow days!! We'll be publishing and then sending more reminders next year to make sure everyone is informed. Thank you.

June 17- School Committee Meeting. 6:30pm

June 18th- Grading Day, HALF DAY

June 19- Juneteenth Holiday, No School

June 24- Last Day of School. Half Day

June 25- August 31st- Summer Break

July 3- Offices closed for holiday

Registration packets are available in many languages. Please contact your Principal.

The Town of Whitman and Old Colony Planning Council are developing a new Housing Production Plan (HPP) to help guide future housing decisions in the community. As part of this process, we are seeking input from Whitman residents on local housing needs, affordability, neighborhood character, and future housing priorities. Your feedback will help shape the recommendations and strategies included in the plan. We encourage all Whitman families to take a few minutes to complete the survey.

https://oldcolonyplanning.org/whitmanhpp/