New Schedule of School Committee Meetings For May

The School Committee has altered their schedule of meetings for the month of May.  Originally, meetings were scheduled for May 14 and May 28.  Due to some unforeseen circumstances, those meetings are cancelled and there will be one meeting on Thursday, May 21st.  The meeting on June 11th will go on as scheduled.

Thank you.

Canton Annual Town Meeting (ATM)- Monday, May 11 @ 7 PM

Good morning.  I wanted to take a minute to update you on the upcoming Annual Town Meeting and articles that are related to the Canton Public Schools.

First of all, the Annual Town Meeting begins next Monday, May 11^th.  Most of the first night will be spent in a “special town meeting” that will discuss and deliberate primarily on the proposed use of the Plymouth Rubber site on Revere Street.  Once that matter concludes, they will move back to the regular town meeting and handle the articles that are proposed in the warrant (link to Warrant information http://town.canton.ma.us/510/2015-Annual-Town-Meeting).

Matters on the ATM warrant that have been brought forth by the School Committee are:

Article 12: “Omnibus” Capital Outlay Program- There are two parts of the Capital Outlay Program that impact the schools. The first is in “Cash Capital” section, under Motion 3 of Article 12.  The town has allocated $550,000 for the school department to use for items that fall under the following categories:  Building Repairs/Improvements, Technology, Program Improvements, Furniture & Fixtures and Extraordinary Maintenance.  The Cash Capital requests have been supported by the Capital Planning Committee and the Finance Committee.

In addition, under the Capital Outlay Program are items that fall under the category of “Long Term Debt”.  These are for larger projects, typically in access of $100,000.  The first item under this category is Article 12, Motion 5 which would provide $300,000 for the Classroom Interactive Projector Project.  We have been working on this project throughout the year and have raised close to $115,000 to offset the costs of the projector setups.  If approved, the remaining costs of the project would be covered.  This project has been supported by the Capital Planning Committee and the Finance Committee.

The School Committee will also be presenting a motion, under Long Term Debt, at Town Meeting to allow for the purchase of six (6) school buses.  The cost of this proposal is $540,000 and again, would be taken from Long Term Debt Capital (not the operating budget).  With these additional buses, the District would be able to go forward with the later start time for the High School, a matter that is of great importance to the District and one that has been evaluated over the past few years. This motion has the support of the Capital Planning Committee. 

Information on the Capital Budgets can be found at the following site: http://www.cantonma.org/files/_AdLHV_/dd667642f0cd59073745a49013852ec4/FY16_Capital_Summary_Prioritized_-_as_of_01-29-2015.pdf

Article 20:  Transfer Of A Portion Of Special Education Stabilization Fund To Supplement Special Education Budget Deficit-  This will move $80,000 from the School Special Education Stabilization Fund for use by the School Committee to offset the special education deficit in the FY 15 operating budget.  This has been supported by the Finance Committee.

Article 35:  Improvements To The Lt. Peter M. Hansen Elementary School- This would appropriate $4.1 million to replace the current modular classrooms by constructing and equipping eight (8) new classrooms at the Lt. Peter M. Hansen Elementary School.  In addition this would help alleviate current and future class size concerns.  If approved at Annual Town Meeting, this would go before the Town, in a Special Election, as a Debt Exclusion Referendum Question sometime later in the Spring.  The estimated impact on the average tax bill in Canton, if this project were approved, would be $26.31 per year.  This matter has the support of the Finance Committee.

Article 42: Appropriate Funds To Meet Expenses For Next Fiscal Year (FY16)- Article 42 is the Operating Budget article and would be the last one presented at Annual Town Meeting.  Currently, the town has set $36,259,994 as the budget target for the school department.  The School Committee’s last vote on the Operating Budget provided for $36,455,794.  The School Committee’s budget request allows for 12.8 additional Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employees.  This additional staffing will go a long way towards addressing class size concerns that have been identified by the School Committee as a top priority in this budget cycle.  The School Committee is continuing to communicate with town officials on coming to a resolution on the final budget number.

***

This update is informational in nature.  The Annual Town Meeting is a very special event in every town across the Commonwealth and affords residents of the town the opportunity to speak on matters of importance to them.  We hope that you can attend town meeting.

Annual Town Meeting begins on Monday, May 11^th at 7 PM in the Canton High School Auditorium.  The other nights scheduled for ATM (if needed) are Wednesday, May 13, Monday, May 18^th and Wednesday, May 20^th.

Thank you.

Canton's FPS State Bowl Results

I wanted to pass on this wonderful news that was shared by our Future Problem Solver advisers, Ms. Crespi and Ms. Bronstein.  Congratulations to our students and coaches.

On Saturday, April 11, eleven extremely excited Canton Global Issues Problem Solving Teams and two courageous Individuals competed at State Bowl at Mass Maritime Academy in Buzzard Bay. The results of our teams are as follows: 


Community Problem Solving

Senior Division

   First Place - Canton High School grade 10 team (Sean Hanscom, Christine Lee, Dasol Lee, Meryl Prendergast, Forest Schmid; coached by parent Renee Hanscom), Project: Team C.S.I. (Community Service, Inc.) *Will be representing Massachusetts at International Conference in Iowa this June.

Action Plan Presentations

Junior Division

   Second Place - Hansen School grade 5 team (Carolyn Clougher, Jordana Hersh, Emily Lynch, Grace Sweetland; coached by parent Michelle Lynch)

   Third Place - Galvin Middle School grade 6 team (Valerie Casimir, Olivia Chinsen, Jacqueline Morrissey, Elizabeth Truong; coached by parent Susan Crespi)


Global Issues Problem Solving Team Competition

Middle Division

   Third Place - Galvin Middle School grade 7 team (Sohil Apte, Mary Kelley, Anna Mak, David Walker; coached by parent Sameer Apte}

Global Issues Problem Solving Individual Competition

Junior Division

   First Place - Luce School grade 4 individual (Alex Smith; coached by parent Jenny Smith} *Will be representing Massachusetts at International Conference in Iowa this June.

CFED Orange Leaf Fundraiser- May 6th

Canton Families Embracing Diversity (CFED) is having a spring fundraiser event on Wednesday, 5/6/15 from 4PM-9PM at Orange Leaf in Cobbs Corner.


Mention "CFED Fundraiser" when paying for your order and a portion of the sale will help fund CFED programs and activities.


Thanks in advance for your support!

CPACSS Painting Fundraiser-May 13th

You are invited to attend a very special event.  The Canton Parent Advisory Council for
Student Services (CPACSS) hopes you can come out and enjoy a night out PAINTING with the CPACSS team and members.

The event takes place on Wednesday, May 13th from 7:00pm - 9:00pm. at the Canton Sports Junction (399 Neponset Street, Canton)..

The tickets are $45 with PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED

Please email cpacss@gmail.com to register and for information regarding where payment can
be sent.

Thank you.

Boston Mutual Life Insurance Donation

We want to thank Mr. Paul Quaranto, President & CEO of Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company, along Senior Vice President, Mr. Howard Neff, for delivering a $30,000 check to the School Committee on Thursday Night.  The money donated will go towards the Interactive Projector Project that began last summer.  Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company has been a friend and supporter of the Canton Public Schools for decades and this is just one more example of their tremendous support for the students and staff of Canton.

To date, the district has received $114,390 in donations to go towards this project from a variety of sources.  That number outfits 37 classrooms with the projector setup.  The remaining $253,995 needed to complete the district wide project will be part of the district's Debt Capital request at the upcoming Annual Town Meeting next week.

Thank you once again to our friends at the Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Jennifer Henderson Named Interim Superintendent for 2015-16

I am pleased to announce that last night, at the School Committee meeting, Jennifer Henderson was appointed to the position of Interim Superintendent effective July 1.  This follows a vote taken by the School Committee two weeks ago to move the search for the new superintendent to the fall.  This unanimous decision of the School Committee allows for Ms. Henderson to act in this interim role for a one-year period as the district completes its search and hire of the new superintendent.  In addition, the School Committee voted to change her current role to Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction effective immediately.  While the opportunity to apply for the permanent superintendent’s position is open to Ms. Henderson, after completing the Interim superintendent role, she will move back into her Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction role. 

Ms. Henderson has been an integral part of the leadership team in the district for the past eight years and has honed her skills as an educator in a variety of settings over her career.  She received her BA in Communications from Ohio Wesleyan University and her MS from the University of Michigan.  During the first half of her career, she was a speech-language pathologist specializing in cognitive rehabilitation of adolescents and adults who suffered traumatic head injuries.  During that time, she co-authored the book Cognitive Rehabilitation of the Head Injured Patient as well as the assessment The Scales of Cognitive Ability of the Traumatic Brain Injured (SCATBI), published by Pro-Ed and still widely sold today.  As part of her research and treatment of head injured adolescents, she traveled nationally to provide education and training to rehabilitation professionals.  She was the Director of the Speech, Hearing and Language Center at Morton Hospital and Medical Center from 1986 – 1996, a clinic specializing in pediatric outpatient speech , language and hearing therapies as well as inpatient treatment of closed head injured adults.

Changing careers but continuing her interest in cognitive development, she completed her post graduate work at Bridgewater State University to obtain her educators license, and she became a middle school teacher, grades 5-8 in social studies, English and reading in Taunton, MA.  She was one of two district trainers in Standards Based Education during the years 1997 to 2004 and, along with a colleague, was asked to speak on Standards Based Education and Backwards Design at the Harvard Graduate School in Education Administration.  She moved to the position of principal of the H.H. Galligan Elementary School in Taunton in 2004 and remained in that position for three years. While there, the Galligan School was the recipient of the state’s Compass School Award.

In July 2007, she was named the principal at the John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Canton where she established a strong working relationship with their talented educators as they continued setting high expectations for all students.  She moved from that position to Interim Director of Curriculum and Instruction in July 2010, followed by Director, and has been in that position in Canton since that time. During her five years as Canton’s Director for Curriculum and Instruction, she has been instrumental in aligning the curriculum both horizontally and vertically, implementing state mandated programming and providing a multi-year vision for the provision of professional development to the faculty. She also manages the Title 1 and Title II grants and assists with a variety of Human Resources responsibilities including new educator orientation, licensing and mentoring. A major focus for her during those years was support of the teachers with new curriculum implementation as well as improved PD opportunities. Much of her time has been spent on the development of an accurate student data management and analysis system.  Ms. Henderson currently holds licenses for Asst. Superintendent/Superintendent, Director/Supervisor Curriculum Non Core, Elementary and Middle School Principal and English and Reading.

In my five years as Superintendent, I have been able to work closely with Ms. Henderson and have introduced her to many of the responsibilities that come with this position.  She has played an integral part in helping develop the vision and goals for our district.  She is a tireless worker, a dedicated educator and a tremendous leader.  She immerses herself in all aspects of our educational community and has a strong working relationship with staff and families across the district.  I look forward to seeing the great work that she and Canton’s tremendous educators and administrators will be able to accomplish over the next year.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey W. Granatino

Superintendent