At their December 10 meeting, the Bedford School Committee established a hiring sub-committee in the search for a new Superintendent, heard updates on the status of ELA and literacy programs in grades K-12, and approved updated guidelines for the sizes of second-grade classes.
Superintendent Search Update/Review
The Bedford School Committee voted to establish a hiring sub-committee that will select a consultant to search for possible candidates interested in becoming Bedford’s next Superintendent of Schools.
School Committee member Ann Guay stressed support for a sub-committee composed of School Committee Chair Joann Santiago, School Committee member Daniel Brosgol, and current Superintendent Jon Sills. The narrow membership of the sub-committee is intended to limit the risk of disclosing information during the screening process and to avoid possible time conflicts that additional community members could create.
As the finalists are determined, a hiring subcommittee will be established that will include participation by community members.
ELA & Literacy Report
English Program Administrator Liz Marcotte for grades 6-12 addressed the Bedford School Committee about the state of the English Departments at JGMS and BHS.
Marcotte presented deficiencies within MCAS data in grades 6-12. Marcotte explained that comparing data between the classes of 2020 and 2021 is difficult as different tests were administered each year. One of the major areas of growth that Marcotte assessed was topic and idea development in writing.
K-5 English Language Arts Curriculum Coordinator Andrea Salipante spoke about the state of the English Department (ELA) at Lane and Davis Elementary. She spoke specifically about the lack of ELA testing at early levels to create a base for tracking progression to fluency and comprehension.
Secondary Literacy Program Administrator Jennifer Rabold addressed the Bedford School Committee over the schools’ actions to help students falling behind district and state norms on standardized testing.
School Committee member Daniel Brosgol pressed the three administrators about developing students into better readers and writers. Brosgol was assured that the district is working diligently to ameliorate any discrepancies in reading and writing skills.
Class Size Guidelines Review
In response to a 2015 guideline error, Superintendent Jon Sills addressed the School Committee over his presumptions that second-grade class size guidelines mirrored those of first graders. This presumption was due to the ubiquity of mirrored guidelines in neighboring districts.
Rather than mirror the first grade maximum of 22 first graders in a class, the second grade maximum of 24 students correlates with the third-grade guideline of the same number of students.
Sills warned that this adjustment may result in a teacher transfer from Davis to Lane Elementary. However, this would be a last resort.
The School Committee approved the revised class size for second-grade classes to reduce the maximum number of students to 22 to match the first-grade maximum.
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