Superintendent Entry Plan 2011-2012 Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District

1. 5/27/2012 1 Superintendent Entry Plan 2011-2012Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District Dr. Reza Namin, Superintendent Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School DistrictJuly 12, 2011

2. 5/27/2012 2 Superintendent Entry Plan 2011-2012Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District The purpose of this entry plan is to assist me in developing a comprehensive picture of the Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District, including the students, staff and community stakeholders that will help me to developing a more in-depth understanding of the school system and will lead to the creation of a report and recommendations. My plan will consist of interviews with various individuals and groups, open forums with towns of Spencer and East Brookfield, as well as a review of plans and documents, in an effort to develop a sense of the system and provide a basis for future goals, objectives, and activities. It is my plan to present a report of my findings to the Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School Committee and the community in September 2011. These findings will also include my recommendations for future actions. 

3. 5/27/2012 3 Superintendent Entry Plan 2011-2012Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District General Goals: to get to know the school district and its people as fully as possible in a brief period of time, outside the daily context of crisis and problem solving; to examine key issues in the school system's past, in order to make sense of how such issues are handled and to identify the norms which affect how the organization may; function in the future; to identify the tasks which need to be done and to rank them in order of priority; and to establish how these tasks should be accomplished.

4. 5/27/2012 4 Superintendent Entry Plan 2011-2012Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District Specific Objectives To examine the ground rules and procedures which have governed how the School Committee has conducted business in the past. To develop with the School Committee a set of ground rules and procedures that will govern how we operate in the future. To determine the issues on which the Committee believes we should concentrate in the next year and then to ask the Committee to rank these in priority order. To develop charts of the predictable tasks on which the Central Office and School Committee will work in the next year. The chart will not only list what has to be done but also describe how it is to be done. To determine the issues which District and School leadership face in their work next year. To determine the norms, procedures, and processes which govern how each of the task of the District and School leadership is accomplished.

5. 5/27/2012 5 Superintendent Entry Plan 2011-2012Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District Specific Objectives (Continue…) To develop work plans for the predictable tasks which District and School leadership will undertake next year. The work plan will describe not only what has to be done, but how (the steps in the process, the time frame, and the roles/ responsibilities). To determine what the keys issues are at the building level To clarify the role and responsibilities of Principal and how they coordinate with Central Office administration, as well as how the work of building leaders can best be supported. To examine all possible Administrative Restructuring that would best improve our students’ support, attitude and performance as well as the school climate, participation, involvement and ownership of all stakeholders. To develop a three years Strategic Plan that would address the recommendations made by this report’s findings, State Reports and NEASC. 

6. 5/27/2012 6 Superintendent Entry Plan 2011-2012Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP: The superintendent will communicate a vision to the staff and community for a world class school system, which emphasizes high expectations for student and staff performance supported by data-driven results. Goal 1: Improve academic achievement for ALL students while closing achievement gaps. Goal 2: Establish and maintain school climates and facilities that are safe, orderly, nurturing, and support quality teaching and learning. Goal 3: Provide services to enhance the management, efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the school division. Goal 4: Implement policies, procedures, and programs to promote the recruitment, professional development, and retention of a quality workforce. Goal 5: Promote strong home, school, and community relationships. 

7. 5/27/2012 7 Superintendent Entry Plan 2011-2012Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District The superintendent has established the following guiding principles: Ethical Responsibility: We have an ethical responsibility to assist all students in realizing their full potential. Educators must manage fundamental change to the core functions of teaching and learning. Community must demonstrate the will to support quality education through an appropriate and adequate investment in our children. Systems Thinking: Our approach to galvanizing all members of the organization for improved student achievement is a systems approach, where every area of the school division is interrelated and functions in unity for a singular purpose. We will have a shared vision, personal commitment to excellence, and dedication to lifelong learning. Communities Committed To Learning: We are creating “Communities Committed to Learning,” where children and adults, individually and collectively, are continually increasing their capacity to produce the results that are important to us.

8. 5/27/2012 8 Superintendent Entry Plan 2011-2012Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District Continue… High stakes accountability for the Massachusetts Standards of Excellence and the Federal No Child Left Behind legislation requiring continual learning. Our schools will be professional learning communities in which the teachers and administrators continuously seek and share learning and then act on what they learn. They will enhance their effectiveness as professionals so that students benefit. Learning communities will also extend classroom practice into the community, bringing community personnel into schools to enhance curriculum and learning opportunities for students.

9. 5/27/2012 9 Superintendent Entry Plan 2011-2012Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District New Initiatives: Subcommittee Re-Organization Implement New Emergency Communication Implement Virtual High School as a Pilot Implement an Inclusive process: School Council Superintendent Parent Advisory Council Superintendent Student Advisory Council