NRPS 2025 Draft for Public Comment

 Dear North Reading Public Schools Community,

 

For the past two and a half years we have been working as a leadership team to develop the next phase of our strategic plan for district improvement: NPRS 2025. We have gathered information from all stakeholders, including students, educators, administrators, staff, families, parents, caregivers, and community members about what we value in North Reading and what we believe should be a part of our plan.

 

Last spring we held forums and collected information as a part of the “Back to the Future” visioning protocol and stakeholders shared where we are now and where we hope to be by the spring of 2025. From there our leadership team developed objectives for each school year and identified the “big rocks” that encompassed the work that we will be undertaking as a district.

 

The three areas that we identified are Student Support Services; Teaching & Learning; and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Under these larger umbrellas come the strategic objectives, focus areas, and the strategic initiatives for each school year. 

We are now prepared to share out a draft of the NRPS 2025 plan for public comment and feedback so that we can make any adjustments as we head into the 2022-23 school year.

By visiting this page on our website: https://www.north-reading.k12.ma.us/district/pages/nrps-2025 you should begin by viewing a brief video that describes the process as well as the tool that we will be using to provide feedback to our leadership team. We hope to collect all feedback on the draft by June 30, 2022 so that we can use this information to inform our work this summer at our leadership retreat.

We have created a one page interactive graphic that will allow those looking to review the plan the ability to view it in its entirety or to also see some quick snapshots of each element for the upcoming 2022-23 school year or for seeing the strategic initiatives under each focus area for each year of the plan through the spring of 2025.

In addition, last summer we also received feedback from all stakeholders on what words and phrases they wanted to see as a part of our district’s vision and mission statements. With that information we have created a “Student Experience Vision Statement” as well as a revised “Mission Statement” and we are seeking input on these items as well. 

Student Experience Vision Statement

All students in North Reading will feel welcome, safe, and valued for who they are and supported to reach their potential as global citizens. Students will feel personally connected to their learning experiences and will feel represented inside and outside of the classroom ensuring a sense of belonging.

Mission Statement

The North Reading Public Schools provide a safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environment where students develop both their social-emotional and academic skills and abilities through an exploration of a wide range of content areas, the arts, athletics, and extra-curricular opportunities. With a dedication to excellence, service, and life-long learning our students will engage collaboratively, think critically, embrace diversity, and value equity in order to become productive global citizens. 

 

We offer a sincere thank you to everyone who has been involved in this process and we look forward to the next steps in continuing this important work for the students of the North Reading Public Schools.

Thank you for your interest in providing our district feedback on this important process for continuous improvement.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

Dr. Daly

June 1, 2022 NRPS Updates

 Dear North Reading Public Schools Community,

I'm writing today with a few important announcements about upcoming events and information.

K-12 Action Team

On June 9, 2022 at 3:30 p.m. in the Distance Learning Lab at the MS/HS we will be holding a meeting for the K-12 action team. This group, which will meet 3-4 times per school year, will be the umbrella group that oversees many of the subcommittees who will focus on Bullying Prevention and Intervention; Health and Wellness; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Social Emotional Learning, and more. If you are interested in attending or learning more about any of the various subgroups please complete this form:  https://forms.gle/2YbBPzEKQ1i8sVjB7

NRPS 2025 Update

In the coming weeks we will be sharing the draft for public comment and feedback of the district's updated strategy for improvement: NRPS 2025. We plan to present this draft at the meeting of the North Reading School Committee on June 13, 2022 as well. The elements of our strategy, including the three "big rocks" of Teaching & Learning, Student Support Services, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) are all based upon stakeholder feedback and input from the visioning process from last spring.

We will also share out some additional resources and FAQs from the recent DEI forum in the very near future as well.

Recognition and Celebration of Heritage Months

As an action item under Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion our district will do more to promote and celebrate the established heritage months and share more information about holidays and events. We hope to share more information about Black History, Women's History, Disability Awareness, Irish-American, Italian-American, Latino-Hispanic, Asian-Pacific-American, Jewish-American, American Indian, and other groups.

This month we celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month and have shared information on our community bulletin board about a local event on June 12, 2022. Those seeking additional information about the history of the LGBTQ+ movement will find more articles here. 

On June 11, 1999 President Clinton issued a proclamation that designated June as Gay and Lesbian Pride month and encouraged "all Americans to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that celebrate our diversity..."

Juneteenth Celebration

On June 20, 2022 our schools will be closed in recognition of Juneteenth (short for June Nineteenth) which became a federal holiday last year and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. More information about the history of Juneteenth can be found here and it may be a helpful resource to share with your children just as we share the importance of Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, Independence Day, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day as well as other significant holidays in our calendar.

As we continue to strengthen our supportive culture of belonging I felt it was important to share this information and these resources with our parents, families, and caregivers. We look forward to having many stakeholders participate on June 9th in our subcommittee work and to also provide us feedback on our strategic plan when it is shared in the coming weeks.

Thank you,

Dr. Daly