Old Saybrook Starts School Sept. 1
Many of the changes happening in Old Saybrook’s schools were obvious this summer with construction projects underway at all town schools, and there will be a few more new elements greeting students when schools open on Tuesday, Sept. 1, ranging from new faculty and staff to new curricula. Here’s what you need to know for the 2015-’16 school year.
New Faces
This fall there will be some new faces in the Old Saybrook schools. All replace staff members that departed or retired.
Meg Coleman joins the Goodwin School staff as a long-term substitute special education teacher. Also at Goodwin, Lara Stack joins as a 12-month secretary, Barbara Colvin as a literacy paraeducator, and Hannah Lewin as an intern. A health assistant opening is not yet filled.
The Old Saybrook Middle School staff changes include Amanda King as a new paraeducator, Kim Brown as an intern, Erica Williams as a paraeducator, and Sandra-Lee Boducki as long-term substitute grade 6 social studies teacher.
Starting new at the high school this fall is Jennifer Stebbins as a math teacher, Lia Cunningham as a science teacher, and Jacob Troy as a piano accompanist. Hiring continues for the open slot of a long-term substitute social studies teachers.
The Year Ahead
Enrollment in the Old Saybrook Public Schools continues to decline slightly, topping out last June at 1,424 students. The largest class this year is the senior class at 131 students, but graduating class sizes range from about 90 to 120, depending on the grade level. One of the larger classes is the district’s 1st grade.
This summer district staff has been working on updating curriculum in science and social studies to align them with new science and social studies standards now in place.
A new schedule has been introduced at the Old Saybrook Middle School starting this fall. The goal of the adjusted class times and schedules is to give students more opportunities to take elective courses over the academic year and to give teachers more flexibility to design shorter and longer projects.
Another project to log all student assessments by grade level over the course of each year and determine if the number can be reduced is nearly done. The district committee studying will present its findings and recommendations to the Board of Education this fall.
Staff will continue working with students starting in grade 6 to help them develop and refine personalized learning plans that reflect their individual learning styles, needs, and interests.
Capital Plans
This was a busy summer in the school district since there were construction projects ongoing at all three school campuses.
At the high school, the new synthetic turf field installation continued this summer. This long-delayed project was started in June 2014. As soon as the field is done, the track installation can begin.
Before the contractor leaves, a sub-contractor to Guerrera Construction has also been tasked to re-apply the new tennis courts’ surface coating, which failed in its first year.
A grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the new athletic facility improvements is planned for the third week of September.
While the athletic facilities have been the focus at the high school, at the other schools, the focus has been replacement of a roof (at the middle school) and of windows (at the elementary school).
At press time, the tasks to install the new middle school roof and replace the roof’s skylights with code-compliant ones were nearly done. Some finishing tasks like flashing work will remain. According to Superintendent of Schools Jan Perruccio, this work will occur after school and on weekends to avoid school disruption.
At Goodwin Elementary School, contractors have been working to replace the school’s original windows and the exterior walls in which they are installed. Also replaced are the original through-wall heating and ventilation units. The district asked the contractor to place high priority on getting the classrooms ready first; this final work includes installation of new millwork along the inside of the new classroom walls.
During the first month of school, contractors will work to finish tasks remaining in the school’s non-classroom areas like the main office and in the gymnasium, cafeteria, and kitchen. As with the middle school roof work, contractors will perform this work after school or on weekends to avoid disruption.
“I’ve been very pleased with the architect, the middle school roof contractor, and with the Goodwin School window replacement contractor,” said Perruccio. “They have all been very conscientious.”
Key School Dates
Students’ First Day of School: Tuesday, Sept. 1
High School Freshmen at Camp Hazen: Thursday and Friday, Sept. 3 and 4
Middle School Open House: Thursday, Sept. 3 at 5 p.m.
High School Open House: Thursday, Sept. 10 at 7 p.m.
Goodwin School Ice Cream Social/Movie Night: Friday, Sept. 11 at 6 p.m.
High School Photo Day: Tuesday, Sept. 15
Goodwin School Open Houses:
Grade 1: Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 6 p.m.
Prek-K: Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 7 p.m.
Grade 3: Thursday, Sept. 17 at 6 p.m.
Grade 2:: Thursday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.
Middle School Photo Day: Wednesday, Sept. 16
Goodwin School Photo Day: Thursday, Sept. 17
Terry Brodeur Walkathon, OSMS: Friday, Sept. 18 from 2 to 4 p.m.
High School: College Fair: Monday, Sept. 21 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Normal School Hours
Goodwin Elementary School: 9 a.m. to 3:10 p.m.
Old Saybrook Middle School: 8:05 a.m. to 2:35 p.m.
Old Saybrook High School: 7:30 a.m. to 2:10 p.m.
The calendar provides for three make-up days during the academic year to be used for school cancellations, if necessary.
School District Reveals New Website
The school district’s website www.oldsaybrookschools.org was completely redesigned over the last year, relying on a template from PowerSchool and contributions from the information technology team led by Chief Information Officer Mike Gardner, and from district Director of Operations Julie Pendleton and the Public Relations Committee. The new district website with its new website address was launched in June 2015.
Parents seeking information like bus schedules and lunch menus can go to the new website and click on the heading Parents at the top of the homepage. Under the heading Board of Education are posted the Old Saybrook Board of Education meeting agendas and minutes. Under the heading District is the academic calendar for the 2015-’16 school year, the budget, descriptions of curriculum by grade level, and other information.
The school district is also now using Twitter feeds to announce achievements to be celebrated. To access the feed OSPS@OS_RAM_PRIDE, click on the website’s Community heading and then on the Twitter heading.
The district will continue to use School Messenger to communicate emergency and urgent messages.
Food Service
School meal prices will rise this year by 25 cents for lunch over last year’s prices. All three schools in the district offer both breakfast and lunch meals for sale to students.
The Old Saybrook food service program continues to hold the Healthy Food Certification as it has over the past few years. With this certification, the district qualifies for an extra six cents per meal in federal reimbursement per meal sold. Under this program, students receive both fruit and vegetable portions at each meal; grains, carbohydrates, and fats have weekly or daily limits, and portion sizes are controlled under the program.
In June 2015, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and State of Connecticut announced that Kathleen E. Goodwin Elementary School earned a Bronze HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC) award for excellence in providing school lunches, nutrition, and physical education for students.
The district’s meal program under Food Service Director Maureen Nuzzo’s direction continues to try new ideas designed to encourage students to buy the healthy school meals the district provides.
“We are continuing our efforts to source veggies and fruit locally,” said Nuzzo.
At the end of the last school year, Food Services introduced the shaker salad, a grab ‘n go alternative to the salad bar, at the high school. The shaker salad layers all of the meal components in one cup with a lid; the student pours in the dressing and then shakes. The salad, with all of the meal components, is ready to eat.
A new lunch option called the Bento Box is this year’s Food Service innovation at Goodwin Elementary School. The bento box is a compartmentalized box with a lid. In each compartment, Food Services places one of the required meal components. A sample Bento Box meal might put diced chicken in one compartment, whole grain pretzels in another, and apple slices and baby carrots with hummus in the last two compartments.
“We’re suggesting to students that they leave their lunch boxes at home and try our new Bento Box instead,” said Nuzzo.
For students to purchase meals, parents must pre-pay by depositing funds in the student’s meal account. Parents can send a check with their student to school or to Old Saybrook Food Services, 1111 Boston Post Road, Old Saybrook, CT 06475. By signing up for low balance alerts, parents also learn when the funds in a student’s meal account are running low.
The online meal pay program called Revtrak will continue this year. Parents can use it to pre-pay for student meals online. More details about the program are posted on the school district webpage and were included in a letter to the parents.
Breakfast prices will remain the same but lunch meal prices are rising by 25 cents.
At Goodwin Elementary School, lunch is $2.75. At Old Saybrook Middle School, lunch is $3 while at Old Saybrook High School, lunch is $3.25.