Readiness Brief

This weekly update ensures all families in Worcester and Middlesex have real-time visibility into the operational and academic reconfiguration of Doty Memorial and Rumney Memorial schools. Our primary objective is a seamless launch on August 26, 2026.

The district is entering the final phases of operationalizing transportation for the upcoming school year. Our primary goal remains establishing efficient routes that prioritize student safety and aim for a 45-minute maximum travel time where feasible.

Upcoming Transportation Milestones (originally shared Feb 4, 2026)

Using the current student enrollment and bus stops, we have a very preliminary schedule for the buses in Middlesex and Worcester; the morning routes can be accessed here, with afternoon routes running in reverse. Families who have not yet completed their transportation survey should email our transportation coordinator at sverchereau@u32.org, to ensure your child is included in the initial mapping phase ending in July. Final routes will be available according to the chart above.

Last week I had a site visit at Doty, and it was so fun meeting and getting to know the students. I also met with a community during the family session, and we had a wonderful conversation and shared ideas that will be helpful to the transition process. Thank you all so much for supporting me in this new endeavor.

~Karoline May

Classroom teachers will send their class schedule in August. All WCUUSD teachers follow the curriculum outlined on the WCUUSD Curriculum webpage. You can find our curriculum via the left-hand menu, sorted by Student Learning Outcomes or Grade Levels.

Doty

Monday: Music

Tuesday: PE and Library

Wednesday: Health/Guidance

Thursday: Art

Friday: PE

Rumney

Monday: PE/Health

Tuesday: Music

Wednesday: Art and Health/Guidance

Thursday: Library

Friday: PE

Student health and safety are prioritized regardless of the principal's physical location.

• Shared nursing- Bonne Cadwell will spend 50% of her time at Doty and 50% of her time at Rumney. She will have some days that she goes to both schools, which increases student access to a nurse, compared to the 2025-26 school year.
• Shared counseling- Sharon Spector and Maureen McDermot will team together to ensure students transitioning schools will have a familiar support system. Sharon will spend 1/2-1 day a week at Doty and Maureen will visit Rumney periodically and as needed.

Teacher Assignments

At the last community forum, there was a request to know about what the shared principal will look like between two schools and to describe the role of the principal designee.

The schedule will be flexible, and based on each week. That way regularly scheduled meetings that occur outside the school building don’t consistently land on one school more than another. It’s also important that the schedule rotates because both buildings have part-time allied arts teachers, so by missing one day each week I would never work in the same building as some teachers.

On the first day of school, I will start my day at Rumney. This is the site with the youngest students, and it’s a great time to support families as they leave their little ones for their first day. I will head to Doty mid-day to greet students and ensure day 1 goes smoothly. I will be helping with dismissal, so it goes as quickly as possible for families that are picking up at 2 sites.

Staff will have access to a calendar that outlines which building I will be in throughout the week, as well as any assigned meetings or events. The top part of the calendar with the date and site, will be part of the family newsletter, with the caveat that the schedule will change if specific needs arise. Families will always be able to contact me via email or phone, regardless of the school I’m based at for that day.

Sample Calendar ⏬

Day-to-day: This person will be the point of contact for time sensitive issues that arise throughout the day. They help ensure everything is covered when there are absences, check-in with the office staff, and make sure everything is running smoothly. Anything that comes up that has long-term implications, or requires supervision or discipline, the principal will be called and the two will problem solve together.

Safety procedures: The principal designee is someone that sits on the school safety team, so they will be familiar with all safety procedures and will have experience doing after-action reviews from past events. If the designee is a classroom teacher and there’s a situation that staff notice, then the school counselor immediately covers the teacher’s classroom. The teacher assess the situation and can follow the safety protocol.

For example: We once had a car parked in our loop during the school day. The driver remained in the car, and it was there for some time. Staff started checking it out, and grew concerned. The principal designee was informed. He went to check it out, viewed video footage of when the car arrived, and opted to call the principal to determine next steps. The steps we took were to keep students inside until the car was gone. In the end, it was someone using the school’s open WiFi and they left without incident.

If the school needed to activate Run, Hide, Fight, it requires the alarm to be sounded, and for teachers/staff to use the training that they have. Classroom teachers would be responsible for the students in their classroom. Part of the Run, Hide, Fight approach is to empower teachers to make decisions based on the information they have in the moment.. If the best approach is to Run, there are several members of the safety team that have a role in the procedure. The principal is the point of contact, until emergency services arrive. If the principal is not on site, the safety team is aware of the next point of contact and what that role entails.

• School Principal, Karoline May, kmay@u32.org, for questions about events, daily schedules and classroom assignments.

• Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, Jen Miller-Arsenault, jmillerarsenault@U32.org for academic and curriculum questions.

• Superintendent’s Office, Steven Dellinger-Pate, sdpate@u32.org, for transportation and residency questions.

• Director of Student Support Services, Julia Pritchard, jpritchard@u32.org, for special education or 504 questions.

• Community Schools Coordinator, Bec Dezan, rdezan@u32.org, for community events.

• Reconfiguration Transparency Portal: A dedicated section on the WCUUSD website will house information where families can get information and verify the completion of milestones in real-time.

• Weekly "Readiness Briefs": Every Monday, starting June 8, the district will issue a one-page update to Doty and Rumney families detailing progress on staffing, transportation, and facilities.

June 8th