HUDSON – With the announcement by Superintendent Marco Rodrigues that he will retire in June, the Hudson School Committee has set out to find a new superintendent for the next school year.
At the Feb. 14 School Committee meeting, Chair Michele Tousignant Dufour noted the Screening Committee began their work on Feb. 6 and will continue through Feb. 17. Finalists will be announced on Feb. 28 at the latest.
In-district visits for candidates will be scheduled with a goal of a date in the first week of March to ensure that visits go smoothly and do not conflict with Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) interviews later in the month.
She is aiming for Feb. 28 to schedule any visits.
“That is the plan,” Tousignant Dufour said.
A tentative schedule will be sent, she said. The goal is to get every candidate to see every facility and meet with all of the principals of the different schools, as well as students, staff and families.
District improvement plan
In his superintendent’s report, Rodrigues updated the committee on how the district improvement plan is coming along. He was “happy to report that we are in very good shape” and getting closer to goals set for the year.
One goal they are trying to achieve, he said, was improving the support services for tier two students who may need more help.
“One of the things we have started doing since last year is walks across classrooms,” Rodrigues added.
Members of the leadership team observe the work in the classroom and learn to assess how students are working with each other.
In terms of social and emotional learning, Rodrigues discussed identifying supports for students. He focused on what they have and do not have for support services and establish how to increase them with a data base.
“We are working on how to develop this platform,” he said. “It’s going to be our repository place for a number of things, plus a data collection so we have a way for us to begin creating and establishing educational practices that will allow us to create better support systems.”
Digital literacy is a topic that he has been examining to make sure library and other personnel use digital resources and utilize them in the classroom. He said there is an emphasis on how to use digital resources properly and grow with their use.
Rodrigues gave an update on the equity assessment, which they will hear news about this month. His goal to present a final report to the school committee was March 21.
“So far we are on target,” he said. “We are looking good.”
School Committee member Steven Smith asked if there were any areas where the school leadership might not achieve what was set as a goal. Rodrigues said while there are “things that are yet to be done,” there are also priorities that could go into next year.
“I’m very confident the work that I laid out for us that summer is attainable,” Rodrigues said.
“That’s awesome. That’s a lot of work,” member Molly MacKenzie said.
Director of Operations and Finance Dan Gale gave a brief report on the current fiscal year’s circuit breaker that will be carried forward to FY 2024. According to his presentation, $1.18 million of circuit breaker funds and $3.23 million in school choice funds will be carried forward to the next fiscal year.
On the expense side of things, Gale noted they are “under budget” in terms of spending.
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