Adams-Cheshire School Committee Halts Costa Rica Fundraising
 The School Committee has stopped fundraising for a school trip because it has not yet been approved. |
ADAMS, Mass. — The Adams-Cheshire Regional School District requested that all fundraising efforts for a high school trip stop.
Committee member Stephen Vigna requested Monday night that Superintendent Kristen Gordon ask that any fundraising for the proposed high school 2017 Costa Rica trip halt because it has not yet been approved.
"If they are planning on doing things because they have to raise money that is wrong because they are giving false hope to these parents because right now this trip has not been approved," Vigna said.
Teacher Tammie Shafer came before the board last week asking for official permission for the trip. Hoosac Valley Principal Jeremiah Ames said he had yet to review the trip and could not endorse it. Shafer said some of the 25 students interested have started payments and fundraising efforts have been planned.
On Monday, Chairman Paul Butler agreed and said policy was not followed; the principal should be the one who recommends the trip to the School Committee. He said they were only given permission to gauge interest to see if the trip was viable.
The committee members agreed that they liked the trip and do not plan on disapproving it, however, they need the proper protocol to be followed.
Vigna said he feels bad for the students but funds cannot be raised for a trip not certified by the school committee.
"I feel bad because there are kids that want to go, that’s why I am torn, but I am at the point where I know there is a known process in place that was not followed to begin with," he said.
Gordon said trips were always approved in the past and teachers may have gotten into the habit of moving forward without official permission.
The committee decided to table the vote until Ames could attend a meeting.
The committee also got an update on the literacy program by Plunkett literacy coach Dawn Bishop.
Bishop said, like any coach, her job is to act as a mentor, guide, model, supporter, and motivator as well as a resource for teachers.
Her team has been using data to better inform, strengthen, and deliver instruction.
"We are accessing our children on a daily basis, and we need to use that information so that it is actually beneficial in the classroom," Bishop said.
She said another aspect of her position is to find ways to best utilize what materials the school already has to get the most "bang for their buck."
Classroom evaluation is 60 percent of the job, but instead of evaluating educators, she looks to support them.
"Teaching is a difficult profession but also a highly rewarding one," she said. "By having a nonjudgmental person in the form of a literacy coach available to the instructional staff, it invites the staff to pull together and work through the difficulties."
She said her team is working on creating a more consistent homework format that involves a student's parents. The work shows the parents how to interact with their child when reading and also provides students with work they can do independently.
Cheshire Elementary Principal Peter Bachli said the position may often go unseen but is critical to the schools.
"It is so vital. We talk a lot about what the public sees what happens in the school and this is a position I don’t think the public will see, but the benefits are amazing," Bachli said.
Plunkett Principal Michelle Colvin said all of the teachers are onboard and appreciate the support.
"I think having that person to bridge that gap, to be in the trenches with the practitioners, and actually making the difference with kids in the classroom where it counts has been huge," Colvin said.
In other business, the district will have to prepare for Business Manager David Hinkell’s retirement in March.
The Audit and Evaluation Subcommittee will decide when to post the position. Butler added the School Committee must then decide on what it will do moving forward.
Tags: ACRSD, literacy, school trips,
