December NSBORO News

NSBORO NEWS - December 2019

The Public Schools of

Northborough and Southborough

"Ten Schools, Three Districts, One Community of Learners"

NSBORO News - December Edition

Index:

Superintendent's December Update

Strategic Planning Survey - Your feedback is essential

School Start Time Task Force Update

2020-2021 School Calendar

Quick links to important information

Superintendent's December Updates

"Every artist was at first an amateur." - Ralph W. Emerson

As 2019 comes to an end, I’m spending time reflecting on the year and thinking about personal and professional goals I want to achieve in 2020. I won’t share my personal goals; however, I will share a professional goal, which is to increase the number of opportunities for students to find joy in learning. Don’t get me wrong, many of our students enjoy learning; however, there are many students who do not. Why is this for many of our learners and what can we do to help students enjoy learning? In an article titled, Joy in School, by Steven Wolk (2008), the author speaks about educators' “responsibility to educate and inspire the whole child—mind, heart, and soul.” Furthermore, Steven Wolk focuses on essential ways to “put more joy into students' experience of going to school and get more joy out of working inside one.” Here are five of the author’s ideas: ( Click here to read the entire message )

Respectfully,

Gregory L. Martineau

Superintendent of Schools

Strategic Planning Survey - Your Feedback is Essential

Strategic Planning Survey Link

The Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough is reauthorizing the District's Strategic Plan, Vision 2020: Strategically Planning for the Future. The Plan was approved in the spring of 2013 and has served the District well. It is now time to plan for the next five to six years. This fall, a 2019-2020 Strategic Planning Advisory Committee was formed and is collecting input and feedback in a variety of methods, one being by surveying the community. The survey is a duplicate of the survey that was administered in the fall of 2012. The 2012 data will serve as a baseline. The results of the survey will assist in the identification of key goals and actions essential to include in the District's next Strategic Plan.

You are Invited to Strategic Planning Sessions - Save the Date(s):

An important step in the strategic planning process is to envision a bold and ambitious future for our students in The Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough. We are bound together by the commitment to prepare our students to be lifelong learners and positive contributors to society. Please join us for a collaborative process of defining our vision for success for our students.

In each session, we will begin by considering the landscape our students will face in the future; What will jobs, higher education and society require of them? Then we will work together to describe the habits of learning, work, and well-being that will serve our graduates well. In addition, we will describe the skills and knowledge that students need to function in a complex, changing world.

Come meet other community members, share your aspirations for our students, and finish this sentence: We won’t stop until...