PRINCIPAL’S NEWSLETTER

PINE HILL SCHOOL

March 6, 2008

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Spring at Pine Hill School is not only a time of warmer weather and later sunsets, but also marks the time of year for difficult discussions and decisions regarding the school budget. On March 13, the Sherborn School Committee will be reviewing potential reductions to the proposed school budget. Please be sure to pay close attention to the budget process and be aware of all important dates for meetings and voting over the next two months.

As we struggle with budget issues, we remain thankful for the generous support of the Community School Association and the Dover Sherborn Education Fund. Both of these organizations have been incredibly generous, providing funding this year for a variety of programs. Pine Hill School’s access committee for the Dover Sherborn Education Fund is currently grappling with many exciting grant requests from our faculty. The committee will need to make some tough decisions as the requested amount far exceeds the traditional amount funded.

Spring also heralds the time for conferences with your child’s teacher. Our teachers deserve special thanks for their extreme flexibility in scheduling to meet your needs. In many schools, teachers will only meet with parents/guardians during the release time scheduled for that purpose. As you know, that has not been the case with our faculty. During the weeks surrounding conference time, Pine Hill teachers arrive early and stay late into the evening to accommodate you. Over the last few years, a disturbing trend has developed. Teachers tell me that a large percentage of parents/guardians are forgetting to show up for conferences, or they are cancelling at the last minute. This has been frustrating to our faculty, who often have made special changes in their own schedule to be at school for your conference. Please take special care to write down your conference date and time. Please be on time as several conferences are usually scheduled in succession. If you find you are unable to make a scheduled date, I think it is reasonable to expect that the teacher will be notified 24 hours in advance. Please note that I will not expect a teacher to make up a conference which you have missed or cancelled at the last minute.

Pine Hill’s School Council is busy developing next year’s School Improvement Plan. The results of the survey which some of you participated in last January will provide very useful input. Input from Pine Hill’s Faculty Advisory Council will also be factored into the plan. Over the next few months goals concerning curriculum, professional development, and communication will be identified. Of course, the final approval of the school budget by the town’s voters in the late spring may affect the goals ultimately included in the School Improvement Plan.

Another sign of the coming of spring is MCAS tests. As I have frequently noted, the MCAS test is an imperfect way to measure the hard work of educators and students all across the state. Although the detailed information can be one helpful way for each school to strengthen teaching and learning, the ranking by the media of all the schools only tells a small piece of the story. Schools throughout this state face a variety of challenges. These long and arduous tests do not always accurately reflect all that young elementary students have learned. Also the multiple testing sessions severely compromise the time we could be teaching.

We are fortunate at Pine Hill School to have strong home support and students who come to school each day ready to learn. We are also fortunate to have an extremely skilled and dedicated faculty. Our teachers have spent a great deal of time over the last several years working as members of Pine Hill curriculum teams to develop not only strong units of teaching, but also rigorous unit assessments. The most useful and helpful information we use to perfect our curriculum and focus our teaching does not come from an annual MCAS test, but rather from our regular and on-going use of these unit assessments. Daily classroom implementation of strategies from the John Collins Writing Program provides another type of assessment as well, giving quick and informal information about teaching and learning across the curriculum. We also employ pre-testing in math prior to each unit in order to stress the concepts the students need most, and to better differentiate instruction based on needs. We will continue to use the results of the MCAS test as one measure of success with our on-going authentic assessment information in order to best plan for the needs of each child. Please be sure to look closely at the MCAS dates for grades 3, 4, and 5 which have been listed in the notes of interest and the school calendar since September. It is vital that students be present at every session unless they are ill. Scheduling make-up sessions is extremely challenging and disrupts the teaching and learning process for every Pine Hill student.

Thanks to all of you who participated in the Barn Sale fund-raising event at the Sherborn Day Spa last Sunday. Thank you to Tracy Giacchetti for her work in organizing the event and a huge thanks to Marna Orcutt for donating Sunday’s proceeds from her business to the Barn Sale. Watch for a Ladies’ Spa Evening and a possible third annual Barn Sale in June. Funds raised by the Barn Sale organization are used to enhance Pine Hill School’s technology program. This Saturday morning, March 8, our CSA is sponsoring a Pancake Breakfast here at Pine Hill School. Information is on our website.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns. Call-in times are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:00 PM until 2:30 PM. You may also leave me a voice mail anytime at extension 155 or an email at nihilld@doversherborn.org and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

David R. Nihill

Principal