EASTHAMPTON — At its Sept. 8 meeting, the Easthampton School Committee and superintendent laid out goals for the school year and introduced two new assistant principals.
The committee also heard parental concerns about the high school’s cell phone policy.
Superintendent Michelle Balch reviewed her priorities for this school year, focusing attention on learning, equity, belonging and shared responsibility. Balch explained that these plans would ground the district for the next three years and bring everyone together to work for common goals.
Balch emphasized the importance of engagement with parents and the community, noting that a survey has been sent out asking about these four areas. She also added that these areas of focus are not just for the central office, but she wants to make sure that “Everybody sees themselves in our strategy.”
Work will also continue at Mountain View Middle School to expand the NEST values of Easthampton High School to that community. At Easthampton High School, the community focuses on the ideas of Nurture, Encourage, Support Together. Balch explained that the middle school will work this year on how those values show up at the middle school.
Balch’s work was praised as the School Committee revealed her evaluation ratings. At the start of her second year as Easthampton superintendent, Balch earned an overall proficient rating on her evaluation but an exemplary rating on management and operations. The School Committee praised her work in the spring when she had to create multiple budgets for several different financial scenarios, depending on whether the override passed. They noted her empathy in working with limited resources and the way she handled staff layoffs.
The committee also took time to introduce two new assistant principals at Mountain View School: Rachel Breton at the elementary school and Alexander Freedman at the middle school.
Breton spoke about her excitement at continuing her career in Easthampton, where she began as an educator in 2012. She said that she’s been able to be in every kindergarten through grade 4 classroom, getting to know the students as an administrator and taking part in opening day activities.
Freedman said that he was “very excited to be part of the community” and was enjoying the sense of belonging in Easthampton.
During public comment, half a dozen parents expressed concerns that the high school’s current cell phone policy, essentially off and away, was not enough to keep the students focused on their schoolwork. All of them advocated for a bell-to-bell cell phone policy that would limit student access to phones and keep them engaged and present in class and with their peers. Several discouraged the district’s desire to have student input affect any changes in the cell phone policy, noting that adults should be making those decisions.
