LYNNFIELD — The School Committee received an update from Assistant Superintendent Adam Federico regarding what is currently occurring in the district.
Federico first mentioned the goal of looking into how administrators use the education evaluation system to drive classroom improvement. The district has been working with an outside trainer to help look further into the system.
He then went in-depth on a few other professional development highlights.
“One of the things that we are really trying to do is provide some of our specialists with meaningful experiences,” he said.
One of the ways the district has done this is by empowering specialists to go out and visit other districts to learn more about their crafts.
“Just looking ahead… we’re almost done with our early release days for the year, but one that I wanted to point out was through Mass Partnership for Youth. We found an opportunity to really focus on mental health leadership through the district,” he said.
Federico noted that it focuses on how they can provide mental health support from pre-k to 12th grade. He continued that they would be sending a whole team to “look top to bottom at how we support mental health needs and develop our leadership capacity there.”
He also spoke to the Committee about a pilot that the middle school and high school are beginning to examine how they teach and support students with writing and grammar.
“This is something actually that I’ve met with a few parents on… And I think sometimes parents wonder ‘What happens when you bring up concerns? Does that play into how you do business?’ And this is an example of where we did get some feedback where we heard we’d like to see some clarity and some focus on grammar in particular,” he said.
ELA directors in middle school and high school will be working with their departments to pilot multiple programs with the hope of identifying a program that works and can be integrated across the district.
Federico stated that the district is working on communication, including the use of social media. For example, the district Facebook page has become reactivated.
“We also are looking to add some things, like adding profiles of our staff just so people can get to know the people behind the district and who’s working with kids everyday,” he said.
He also highlighted a recent audit with DESE (Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education) that was just completed involving the English Language Education Program review.
“This has been going on for over a year. It just wrapped up. We complete all the monitoring tasks,” he said. “… Our ESL department is pretty small. We have two teachers and myself. I really want to highlight the two teachers that worked with me on this… I was really proud of the work that we did to make it through that audit and to get good feedback from DESE.”
After Federico’s presentation, Committee member Jamie Hayman asked what the role of AI is in how the district is looking at teaching grammar and writing along with professional development.
“It’s everywhere, and it’s in everything… The first step for us is to really understand what it does, what it doesn’t do, (and) how it affects our kids. We’ve taken some steps in that,” Federico said.
While Federico said AI will always be a tool that can check for grammar and feedback, the district thinks its important for kids to have the foundation and grammar concepts.
“We’re going to have to find the balance. It’s not something we can just ignore. It’s not something I don’t think you can just rule out,” he said.
Federico noted that it’s important to make sure kids understand when it’s appropriate to use AI and what the appropriate AI tools are.
Committee member Kate DePrizio noted that having profiles for teachers would be welcoming for the whole community, and more specifically for students with special needs who may struggle with articulating certain things.
Committee member Kim Baker Donahue asked if Federico noticed a big difference in the recommendations given by the outside trainer, and Federico stated that his hope is to see consistency with the evaluation.
Vice Chair Jim Dillon also commented on the writing and grammar portion, asking if the district is covering the basics from the state curriculum framework, and Federico said that they are doing their best to adhere to the state curriculum.
Chair Kristin Elworthy asked about Reveal Math, a program that will be rolled out next year for all grades and how the trainings are going with teachers.
Federico said that the teachers are moving in a strong direction, but the best way to get better with the curriculum is to be using it day-to-day.
