CHESHIRE, Mass. — Hoosac Valley Regional School District started the school year with nearly two dozen new staff and faculty changes, a new School Committee member and an assistant superintendent. 

 

Tracey Tierney was voted in as the third representative of the town of Cheshire on the committee. That seat has been open since Michael Henault stepped down earlier this year and no one stepped forward to run in the town election. 

 

Tierney is the principal of Emma Miller Elementary School in Savoy and has been a resident of Cheshire for 20 years. All four of her children have graduated from Hoosac Valley High. 

 

"I have some time and look forward to serving the community in this way," she said, adding she is interested in the regional study the district is participating in and would like to see the district better communicate on what is happening in the schools and how and why decisions are being made.  "Education, I think, is the hallmark of any community."

 

Kristen Palatt has been the director of curriculum, instruction and professional development for the past five years. Last week, the School Committee voted to change her title to assistant superintendent.

 

Superintendent Aaron Dean said he was recommending Palatt for the title because she deserves it for all the work that she has done and is doing.

 

"It really is more in line with the work that she's doing, because she she's supervising the administrators. She's supervising the teachers and really making sure everybody has what they need, and writing grants and making decisions on the grants," he said. "And I think that's important for her personally — this will open up professional development opportunities through my organization, because currently as a director, there's no organization for curriculum directors."

 

As assistant superintendent, she will belong to the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, which can provide support, networking and professional development opportunities. Dean also noted that this reinforces her authority, as she has been acting in a supervisory role over administrators related to curriculum and standards, and it sets the organizational chain of command.

 

Her contract will stay the same and she's eligible for one to two percent increases based on merit. 

 

"I will tell you that a portion of her salary is funded by grants. But in terms of her salary, she multiplied it by 20, and that's the amount of money she's pulling in in the grants alone," said Dean, adding that most districts have three people taking on the responsibilities she has. 

 

That had committee member Robert Tetlow worried they were putting too much on her, and asked if this title change would mean more duties. Dean said it would not, "it's purely a team effort. And like she's the one that's able to keep that focus on teaching and learning when I'm over here, you know, dealing with the personnel thing, or there's a situation with parents."

 

Committee member Adam Emerson said he's seen "the difference in the work that's being done, the difference that the superintendent is doing. The work that they're able to focus on, because they don't have to worry about the work that Kristen is doing. It's light years difference between what this, what Aaron's doing now, and what was happening eight years ago."

 

One of those examples was the professional development Palatt led over the summer when more than 60 teachers and administrators logged more than 600 hours individually and together.

 

"We had a full summer of professional learning, as we do every summer, we offered our sort of, what we call a Professional Learning Series, which took place to week of July 14," she said. "But that was just one that was a concentrated professional learning that extended really truly throughout the whole summer. ...

 

"Most, if not all of the professional learning was centered on improving universal instruction for multi-tiered system support, reading, university, data-driven decision making, and there were a number of us on the leadership team who did a ton of work with Leading for Change."

 

Some of that work was familiarizing math teachers with the new Reveal Math curriculum that was piloted last school year, completing the state's Inclusive Practice Course, and working toward the clean energy and innovation pathway the district's pursuing. 

 

The administrators at the middle and the high school participated in Leading Change, a Harvard Graduate School of Education course jointly facilitated with Harvard Business School. There were two book studies organized by the Reading League and training in the assessment platform and the addition of the Democratic Knowledge Project, a civics curriculum. 

 

"In a nutshell, there was a ton. Kudos to the teachers who took the time to identify areas that they would like to strengthen in their practice and learn together," said Palatt. "Everybody is coming into the school year really excited and energized to take what they learned this summer, myself included, and put it into practice."

 

Dean said the district will start the year close fully staffed, outside some teaching assistants, and explained the new faces will fill retirements, attrition and some new posts across all three schools. Ben Acquista, former owner of the Daily Grind, is taking over as food service director.  

 

"I think the crew that we're welcoming is a very strong crew in terms of experience coming our way, too," he said. "I think going into this year is probably my most optimistic year in terms of our staffing."

 

The superintendent said enrollment is also up but he will not have hard numbers until October, when the district reports to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. 

 

In other business, the committee heard an update on the athletics teams and the fall season from Athletic Director Jeff Puleri and approved some changes to the student handbook: reverting Title IX policy back to its prior language based on federal directives, updating the cell phone policy for the middle school, and adding an artificial intelligence integrity policy that notes AI tools must be approved by an instructor. 

 

• Committee member Fred Lora asked for several items to be put on the agenda: having a school resource officer, a discussion about recognizing faculty and staff on graduation night, and inviting a Hoosac alum who is a fire marshal to speak to visit the district.