Canton Public Schools: July 8 School Committee Meeting Recap: Leadership Transition, Galvin Middle School Schedule, Summer Scholars/Cant ...

Press release from Canton Public Schools:

Leah Comins

August 9, 2021

CANTON — The Canton Public Schools would like to share with the school community several notable updates and information provided at the July 8 Canton School Committee meeting.

A recording of the full meeting can be viewed here.

Additional meeting materials, including the Superintendent’s Report and all documents shared at the meeting are available here.

Dr. Fischer-Mueller submitted her resignation to the School Committee in June and is departing the District for a private sector position. During the July 8 meeting, the School Committee appointed Assistant Superintendent Derek Folan as the Interim Superintendent, effective July 30. Dr. Fischer-Mueller will remain with the District during Assistant Superintendent Folan’s transition to interim superintendent.

GMS staff have been working for several years on restructuring the GMS schedule. A key purpose in constructing a new schedule was to reach 990 hours of instruction during the academic year. This references classroom time with both teachers and students present, core and specials classes, directed study, independent study, technology-assisted learning and school-to-work programs. Time in breakfast/lunch blocks, passing time, homeroom, recess and non-directed studies are not counted toward instructional hours. Additional priorities for the schedule included longer block periods, 25-minutes lunches including recess, an “X Block,” fewer transitions for students and ample collaboration time for staff.

Whereas the old schedule was a six-day cycle, the new proposed schedule is a seven-day cycle which allows for longer blocks during the day. Of the total seven classes, one class is dropped per day and the class that is dropped will rotate each day of the seven-day cycle. Also as part of the proposed schedule, homeroom has been dropped as a separate period, passing times are shortened, each class block is 52 minutes, lunch is 25 minutes and there is a separate 26-minute X Block to end the day. The proposed schedule has 1,016.25 total hours of instructional time, compared to the 2019-2020 standard (non-COVID) schedule of 946.4 total hours of instructional time.

The proposed schedule meets all of the priorities, as well as aligns more closely with the CHS schedule which can result in an easier transition for students from middle to high school. The proposed schedule was approved by the School Committee and will be implemented for the 2021-2022 school year. The presentation of the proposed schedule can be found here.

Summer Scholars and Canton Academy Take Place

The Summer Scholars programs started in July at four locations: CHS, GMS, JFK and the Stoughton YMCA. In all, almost 200 students (194) are participating: 33 at CHS, 42 at GMS, 54 at JFK and 65 at the Stoughton YMCA.

Summer Scholars programs are helping students who have unfinished learning by providing additional academic support to reinforce concepts in each course or grade level that are important foundations for future learning in the next course/grade. An excellent team of educators and educational assistants are working this summer and the District is grateful to Rebecca Ashley (CHS), Deb Penny-Shaw (GMS) and Erin Proctor (JFK) who are the site coordinators for each of the programs.

Canton Academy also took place in July at Luce with over 100 K-8 children. The Academy offered its traditional morning programming as well as afternoon extended day programming for many children. Canton Academy is run by many dedicated teachers and offers a family-like atmosphere to make for an incredible five-week experience for all students enrolled. Photos from the first few days can be found in the Superintendent’s Report.

GMS Outdoor Classroom Project

Thanks to the continuous support and generosity of CAPE, CAPT and Cabot Fund donors, GMS was able to acquire 80 native pollinator supporting plants, mulch, a new hose, a rain barrel and furniture to add to the current outdoor seating area/classroom outside of the GMS library. This project is being led by GMS English Teacher Julie Ghostlaw as a Project Based Learning (PBL) component of a reading unit. She and her students report that they have already had hummingbirds and honey bees visiting the new pollinator garden, and once the late summer plants bloom, they look forward to butterflies. The garden is in full view of the outdoor seating area, which will now hold a full class of 25 comfortably, and the new umbrella table will be arriving before the start of school in September. Photos can be found in the Superintendent’s Report.

Canton High School State Grant for World Languages 

This press release was produced by Canton Public Schools. The views expressed here are the author’s own.