Dear HPS Community:
I wanted to send an update on the progress of changes to school start times. These changes are required as part of the additional instructional time included in the new teacher contract and are also in response to continued parent feedback over the past 4 years. As a reminder, in September, after passage of the override which provided funding to finalize the teacher contract and for additional buses, the HSC created an advisory committee to review and make recommendations on bussing and school start times. This advisory committee was composed of 6 parents (with representation from all schools), 4 teachers (3 Miller and 1 HHS), 1 member of the Holliston Select Board, 3 HSC members, and 2 administrators (one of which was a recent principal of RAMS and was representing the principals).
This advisory committee met 5 times over the course of 5 weeks (the recordings of 4 of these meetings are on the HSC – Start Times section of the HPS website – https://www.holliston.k12.ma.us/about/school-committee) and voted 12-1-1 on a set of recommendations to the HSC on October 29th (attached). This recommendation was presented to the HSC last night (November 14th) and the HSC had an initial discussion about the recommendations as well as pros and cons of alternative options. We also received public comment from our elementary school principals about their concerns about a specific recommendation for school start time pairings and bus ridership. I strongly encourage everyone to watch both the public comment (though HCAT did have a recording glitch which cut off some of it) as well as the HSC discussion. The public comment section can be found at the following link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAQOBKodLOk) starting at minute 17 with the recommendation and then the HSC discussion at this link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfr7IkFi434) starting at minute 26.
Additionally, as was discussed at the meeting, the elementary school principals as well as central office administrators are going to work over the next 1.5 weeks on a detailed logistical proposl to start Miller and Placentino together. This work will also include input from our RAMS and HS principals on all impacts to instructional time, after school activities, including sports, theatre, clubs and high school jobs, if the start time of those schools was moved later. Putting Placentino and Miller on the same start time had previously not been feasible. However, as Dr. Slaney details, it became feasible due to the additional instructional time in the contract, lessons learned about pick-up and drop-off during COVID, and other factors. The principals and Mr. Buday and Dr. Jordan had been discussing this idea since the passage of the override; however, it was only after additional discussions since the advisory group held its final meeting was this option really became seen as potentially feasibly. Please keep in mind, however, that this remains just one of a few options that the HSC will be considering.
The administrators will be making a detailed presentation to the HSC at a public special meeting on Tuesday, November 26th at 5:30 PM in the HHS Library. After this presentation, the HSC discussed holding a Q&A webinar in December (with the ability to submit questions in advance and during the webinar) that would be recorded and sent out to the community as well as a potential survey. This webinar and any survey would cover multiple different potential options and discuss the pros and cons of each to ensure the community fully understands the impacts of each option. More details on these next steps will be forthcoming. I want to highlight, however, that there is a tight timeline as this decision, per the new contract, must be announced by January 1st.
I want to recognize the fact that no solution will be perfect. The HSC, however, is committed to working towards a solution that is in the best interests of the students and instructional time while also ensuring the impact on teachers and staff is included in the overall deliberations. I also want to thank all of the members of the advisory committee for their time and commitment.
As always, please feel free to reach out with your thoughts, questions, or concerns.
Sincerely,
Daniel Alfred, Chair, Holliston School Committee
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