News&Notes from the Superintendent

"Never let the fear of striking out stop you from playing the game." — Babe Ruth

Just when it seemed spring had sprung, it looks like Mother Nature has other ideas for later this week! Stay tuned!

Please find below this week’s updates & events happening in our District ~

The formal assessment letters were sent to the towns last week for verification, and to ensure timely inclusion on the town warrants in advance of their annual town meetings! The first town meeting of the season is in Monterey on Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 9:30 am.

The Community Outreach & Advocacy Subcommittee of the School Committee is working on the second newsletter of the year – affectionately referred to as the Budget Newsletter. The goal of this document is to reach every home in the District, regardless of whether there are school age students or not residing there, to share with our school community how their investment in the District is being spent, as well as highlighting the outcomes and achievements of our students and staff as a result of the incredible support received.

There are many ways to see how the District is doing as we are always striving to continuously improve. The District Report Card has been posted for your review at:

https://www.sbrsd.org/page/accountability-data

There are many other ways to see the amazing progress students are making, the initiatives our staff are leading, and how our programs are designed and implemented including opportunities like the Student Spotlight that is on the agenda at most School Committee meetings, presentations done by faculty and staff, or by reading the monthly edition of our "window to the classrooms" we call Educating Our Eagles found at:

https://www.sbrsd.org/page/curriculum-instruction-pd

We are so proud of our students and the faculty and staff, and the District strives to share all that we can with you via these newsletters, on social media, the school newspapers, by contributing to the local publications, the District app, our website, and by inviting you to come to the schools and see what’s happening!

To review our budget documentation, please see the District website at https://www.sbrsd.org/documents/district/budgets/fy25-budget/567699 or click below.

Last week we had a site visit from our partners at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) from the Offices of Early College and Innovation Pathways. As part of the visit, we had a panel of students who shared their experiences so far in our wall-to-wall Designated Early College Program from their perspective of being pioneers with us in helping build the plane as we are flying it!

Hearing our students talk about how much the program means to them, the opportunities they have, and listening to them say things like “It’s been life changing!”, “I would not be graduating on time without it!”, “This class opened up my world beyond the walls of a building!”, and “Now I know I can do it!” - truly brought tears to my eyes.

It was so important to have our colleagues from DESE hear their voices as they continue to consider the level of funding and critical supports needed to further develop and refine our programming. We believe if we advocate for the appropriate and necessary resources, our innovative programming can be a model for school District’s in the state and nationally.

A subcommittee of the Design Team is meeting tomorrow afternoon to plan our presentation at the upcoming Community Team meeting. The Community Team is scheduled to meet on April 9, where they will be charged with moving to the next phase of the design work that will include the formation and population of subcommittees.

This week, the Core Team is participating in a Virtual Convening with the other 9 Districts across the nation! We look forward to sharing our progress, giving and receiving feedback, and learning from others about innovative school redesign and ways we can engage our school community in this work.

Next week, I am looking forward to a continued conversation with the Transcend Team, to see how we might be able to grow this partnership and continue our work together next year, as this collaboration has been invaluable to our school community.

More information about this incredible community focused initiative is here at https://www.sbrsd.org/page/transcend-partnership.

Last week, we had a wonderful visit from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Some of our students and staff had the opportunity to chat with members of DESE about our Early College and Innovation Pathway programs at SBRSD.

This week there are so many great things happening in our schools, and you are always welcome to join us and check them out!

Today, our Exchange Students from Hong Kong arrived at SBRSD! There are lots of exciting activities planned and we look forward to introducing our guests to our school community! Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 2nd at 8:30 am in the TAC PAC the public is invited to the Mt. Everett and HKBUAS Cultural Exchange Program Commencement to learn about the program goal of Zero Hunger!

This week’s events include spring sports seasons getting under way, the Grade 5 Orientation to Middle School, Culinary Field Trip to the Culinary Institute of America, Berkshire Art Center After School, Poetry Workshop Grades 4 & 5, Girl Scouts, UME PTO Meeting, Flying Cloud After School Program, and the FFA Field Trip to the State Convention!

Please check the event calendar regularly as it will keep you up to date as will the weekly notes from the Principals.

EVENTS

April 2nd: Welcome Ceremony & UN SDGs Presentation - Join us for a warm welcome to our guests and a presentation about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) featuring special guest speakers.

April 10th: Community Dinner - Celebrate the program's culmination with a dinner

The Future Fair: On April 26th Mount Everett 10th-grade students are invited to attend a college field trip to Simon's Rock

Interested in learning more about our Early College program? Visit our website!

Innovation Pathways offers opportunities for students to explore cutting-edge technology and in-demand fields! The program emphasizes real-world skills through career-focused experiential learning. Participants connect with industry mentors, go on field trips, get set up with internships in their areas of interest, and more!

Mount Everett currently offers two technical pathways in Advanced Manufacturing and Information Technology.

To learn more about our Innovation Career Pathways please use the links below!

Please feel free to reach out with questions or concerns as I welcome the opportunity to hear from you.

Best,

~ Dr. Beth Regulbuto, Superintendent of Schools