Dear North Reading Public Schools Community,
This weekend was a welcome return to the blue skies and pleasant weather that I hope you have been able to enjoy this summer. In recent weeks it has been a pleasure seeing our marching band and our student athletes returning to the fields, and witnessing the students beginning their orientation and taking part in the walkabouts and welcome-back activities.
As we look ahead to the start of the 2024-25 school year I write to offer a few reminders and important updates:
Thursday, September 5, 2024 is our first day
of school for students (grades 1-12)
PreK & Kindergarten Orientation is on September 5th and 6th
Monday, September 9, 2024 is our first day
for PreK and Kindergarten students
Throughout the year we will also be offering many opportunities for learning together through our ongoing Family University series. Our first event of the year is a Welcome for New Families and will take place on August 28, 2024 at 6 p.m. in the Distance Learning Lab/Virtual. Registration is required and a virtual link will be shared with those who register: https://forms.gle/pryQxoDkjvfYX9fM6
Our educators are busy preparing their classrooms and designing engaging lessons for the year. Last week our Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, Mr. Sean Killeen, and our leadership team, and our mentor teachers welcomed our new staff for orientation on August 21st and 22nd. We are very excited about this new group of educators and welcome them to the North Reading Public Schools.
As always, I would like to offer a sincere thank you to Mr. Sonny Campagna and our incredible Facilities team who have once again done an amazing job preparing our school buildings and grounds for the upcoming year. The Digital Learning team, under the leadership of Dr. Daniel Downs, has also worked throughout the summer to update our devices and prepare the classrooms for the return of our students and educators. We also appreciate all of the administrative staff who completed so many behind-the-scenes tasks during the summer months!
Thank you to our administration and the educators who led our extended year programs and acceleration academies for students and multilingual learners. Our Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations, Mr. Michael Connelly, and Director of Student Services, Mrs. Cynthia Conant, along with their teams, have put in many hours throughout the summer to prepare us for the upcoming year.
Our district strategy for improvement, NRPS 2025, was reviewed this summer during our leadership retreat and all of our administrative and teacher leaders looked at the goals and action steps for the 2024-25 school year related to Student Services; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging; and Teaching and Learning. We also started thinking about where we would like to be at the end of our next five year plan, in 2030, and this will lead some of our conversations with the entire school community in the upcoming year.
As you are aware, budget cuts were implemented for the 2024-25 school year that have impacted class sizes, left key positions unfilled, and eliminated some important additional supports for our students. As a district we will always find a way to move forward, despite these ongoing budget challenges, and we will continue to communicate critical financial updates to our community as we recognize the needs for the upcoming fiscal year 2026.
School Safety
As always, the primary goal of our schools is providing the safest and most supportive learning environment for all students. This year we will continue to implement several action steps in cooperation with the North Reading Police and Fire Departments.
As always, our School Resource Officer will be present in our schools and provide our students with a positive connection to law enforcement on a regular basis. In addition, we will continue to have an increased presence of patrol officers who will continue to familiarize themselves with our school buildings, staff, and students as they routinely visit our schools in coordination with the building administration in order to provide enhanced visibility, security, and accountability for our emergency operations plans.
Our school safety team, composed of members of the school, police, and fire departments, met over the summer to revisit and update our school emergency operations plans. We have developed a schedule of fire and evacuation drills, as well as ALICE training for staff and students. While this schedule does not provide the exact dates and times of each drill or training it communicates a plan for the year and the windows for when drills will occur in order to provide an opportunity for families, students, and staff to better understand our proactive approach for school safety. This will also provide all stakeholders with an opportunity to inquire with specific questions related to these drills and training in a timely manner.
ALICE Training and Drill Timeline
2024-25
ALICE Drill with Administrators and Office Staff: August/September
All Employee ALICE Training Review Sept
FIRE Drill #1 (September)
ALICE Drill planning and debrief (December/January)
FIRE Drill #2 (October)
ALICE scenario exercise with All Employees (January 2025)
ALICE scenario exercise with Students and Staff (January 29, 2025)
FIRE Drill #3 (possible additional scenario*) (Spring)
ALICE/ Health and Safety scenario with Students and Staff (Spring)
FIRE Drill #4 (possible additional scenario*) (Spring)
*Possible additional scenarios could include a tornado watch, evacuation for gas leak, chemical spill,
blocked egress etc.
As a school safety team we have reviewed the developmental appropriateness of the drills and exercises as well as concerns related to trauma. Our approach will incorporate this awareness and we will practice drills that are sensitive to these concerns.
We will communicate more information at the school level as a follow up to each individual drill so that you are able to have a dialogue with your children and students. If you have any questions about this upcoming schedule or our approaches please contact your building principal and we will be happy to discuss any questions or concerns.
Finally, as a district we are once again participating in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Cybersecurity Training program. This grant funded program, offered by the Executive Office of Technology Services & Security, provides training for all North Reading Public Schools educators and staff that has proven beneficial both professionally and personally as we work to ensure data privacy, safety, and security in the cyberworld. This year there will be additional modules available to train families and I look forward to sharing those details with our school community later this year.
We are so excited to welcome our students back on September 5, 2024 and I hope that everyone enjoys the remaining days of summer with their family and friends!
Sincerely yours,
Patrick C. Daly, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
