By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Kevin Cyr gave an update on the District Strategy initiatives undertaken for the 2022-2023 academic year during a recent School Committee meeting.
Cyr recalled that the plan’s “strategic objectives” pertain to building leadership capacity, educator growth, curriculum, instruction and assessment, accountability, and social-emotional wellness. He noted that the objectives for the next academic year will be unveiled during a School Committee meeting in September.
Building leadership capacity
In order to continue building leadership capacity, Superintendent Kristen Vogel and Cyr formed two Superintendent’s Student Advisory Councils at the secondary schools to collect feedback from students this year.
Cyr said the middle school council consisted of a sixth-grader and an eight-grader. He said the high school council included two juniors.
“We wanted more student input because we missed working with students,” said Cyr. “They contributed along the way. They were part of the Lynnfield High School principal search process. We are going to expand this group next year. It’s only going to grow bigger and better.”
Vogel agreed.
“It allowed us to hear their voice,” said Vogel. “We didn’t go into any of the meetings with any type of an agenda. We just asked them for their thoughts and ideas. When we were doing the principal search, they blew us away when we asked them to send out a survey to students. We did surveys for staff and families, and we asked the high school students to put one together that would go out to their peers. They read their draft questions to us, and Kevin and I looked at each other and said, ‘These questions are better than ours.’ They were so thoughtful and insightful. The survey that went out to the students truly came from the students.”
Vogel also noted that the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Councils also pushed school officials to hire a new pizza company for school lunches.
“Both groups talked about how the pizza wasn’t very good,” said Vogel. “We got a new pizza company, and both groups gave it a thumbs up.”
In addition to the advisory councils, Cyr said the Administrative Leadership Team (ALT) worked to provide increased “ownership and flexibility” for professional development days at each school. He said the district-wide “Lynnfield Learns” professional development day in March was well received.
“Over 33 percent of teachers gave it a perfect 10 on a scale of 1-10,” said Cyr. “Seventy-eight percent of the teachers gave it either an 8, 9 or 10.”
Cyr also said the school system is launching a new program called Lynnfield Academy.
“We are going to be offering 15-hour courses for our teachers that are going to be flexible in terms of format,” said Cyr. “There will be some online components and some in-person components that will be led by our faculty. It’s an opportunity for our teachers to move up the salary scale as well to obtain what we are going to refer to as Lynnfield credit. We are super excited about it. We should have some offerings this summer and in the fall.”
School Committee member Phil McQueen expressed his support for the new Lynnfield Academy program.
“I think it’s great you are doing that because the way teachers get an exemplary rating on an educator evaluation is they have to be modeling teaching practices,” said McQueen.
Educator growth
As part of the educator growth strategic area, Cyr said the ALT expanded professional development opportunities for adjustment counselors, guidance counselors, nurses, psychologists, speech pathologists and preschool educators.
“For a small district, this continues to present a challenge for us,” said Cyr. “We have expanded our partnerships to really capitalize on this work.”
Nursing Coordinator Toni Rebelo said the nurses informed school officials last year that they felt professional development for them appeared “disjointed.” She discovered a program offered by Northeastern University’s School of Nursing that was provided to school nurses.
“There were days where we worked as a group on a common goal such as allergies,” said Rebelo. “There were other days where nurses picked a topic that was specific to their building’s needs. The feedback I got this year was they loved it.”
School Committee member Jamie Hayman said LHS Band Director Harry Wagg’s appointment as the district’s K-12 Fine/Performing Arts Coordinator paid dividends throughout the 2022-2023 academic year.
“We have seen a lot more alignment in just one year,” said Hayman.
Cyr also noted that the ALT scheduled and conducted learning walks that focused on “culturally responsive teaching.” According to “Education Week,” culturally responsive teaching entails using “students’ customs, characteristics, experience and perspectives as tools for better classroom instruction.”
“We put such a premium on having educators learn from one another,” said Cyr. “That has been beneficial for all of our teachers, and we will continue to foster that practice moving forward.”
Curriculum, instruction and assessment
In order to improve academic achievement, Cyr said the school system is using diagnostic assessment tools to help students get caught up academically in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cyr said educators were focused on “progress monitoring” throughout the 2022-2023 academic year.
“We are working toward implementing the multi-tiered system of support model across the district,” said Cyr. “We are not where we want to be yet, but we are getting a lot of good data. We are seeing impressive student growth as well.”
School Committee Vice Chair Stacy Dahlstedt inquired what initiatives has the district taken to expand STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) at the secondary schools.
Cyr said the district is offering STEAM courses, but said it will take “long-range planning to offer more courses” at the secondary schools.
“There are more opportunities on our radar that we can tap into for our students,” said Cyr. “Change takes time.”
Middle School Principal Stephen Ralston recalled that students take a STEM course in grades 5-8. He also noted that the middle school has expanded opportunities for 3D printing, and launched two new STEAM after-school clubs.
“We have a Girls Who Code Club and a Robotics Club,” said Ralston. “We did not have those a few years ago. We are always looking to expand our offerings.”
Cyr said the district has begun implementing the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework this academic year. He said the framework is aligned with a new teacher evaluation system that will be piloted statewide next year.
“It’s all about UDL and culturally responsive teaching practices,” said Cyr. “Teachers are going to have a leg up on this work. We are going to have a number of teachers piloting it across the district. Our administrators are operating under the draft of the new administrative rubric that goes into effect the next school year.”
Accountability
As part of the accountability strategic objective, Cyr recalled that the school system changed its vision statement to “Belong, Connect and Grow” this year.
“It screams student choice and voice,” said Cyr.
Cyr said the district has been working to address the priorities identified in the Equity Report that was released in December 2021.
“This will take time,” said Cyr.
Social and emotional wellness
In order to support students’ social-emotional needs, Cyr said school officials have been reviewing the Health and Wellness Report that was presented to the School Committee last fall.
A Healthy Lynnfield hired Lighthouse Wellness and Health Education Consulting last year, which conducted an audit of the school system’s health and physical education curriculum. The report recommended expanding both programs.
“One of the main goals was to revamp our Health and Wellness Policy,” said Cyr.
The School Committee recently approved the revised Health and Wellness Policy.
Cyr said Dr. Sarah Benes, who is a Merrimack College professor, has been working with health teachers on professional development days as well.
“The work is just getting started,” said Cyr. “The good news we are going to continue this partnership next year because we recognize the work is not done.”
Cyr also said the district has worked to expand “family engagement programming and increase participation through smaller, targeted areas of opportunity and growth in partnership with A Healthy Lynnfield.”
Dahlstedt recalled that the Administrative Leadership Team attended a number of community events this year such as A Healthy Lynnfield and the Wakefield Lynnfield Chamber of Commerce’s Healthy Living Expo and the Lynnfield Pride Celebration in May.
“That was really meaningful for students and families,” said Dahlstedt.
Cyr also noted a number of families attended A Healthy Lynnfield’s “Healthy Conversations, Healthy Kids” series this past winter and early spring.
“The beauty of A Healthy Lynnfield is they are really deliberate about being responsive to our needs,” said Cyr. “We are appreciative of their support and the work we are doing in our schools.”