Gardner MA School Committee Discusses Facilities and Academics on March 13, 2023
With a leaner School Committee meeting due to the absence of some members, the Gardner School Committee met on Monday, March 13, 2023 on the evening before the Big Storm of 2023 Listen to the meeting on any device. Click Play
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View the entire packet and agenda in PDF, CLICK HERE.
Facilities
Robert Swartz reported that they’ll have to check on the Gardner Elementary School electronic sign as it doesn’t seem to be working. Concession Stand construction is ongoing with electrical and plumbing being done. He also stated that solid waste removal figures came in higher than anticipated and will be made up from available funds at the end of the year.
Educational Programs and Academics
Superintendent Pellegrino informed the Committee about the After Dark program at Monty Tech which will offer electrical and carpentry to a total of 20 students. – PARTICIPATION IN PROGRAM APPROVED. —- He also spoke about this year’s kindergarten program and stated, “We’re pretty excited about this….we really wanted to try to do things differently to try to get more folks to sign up early.” Registration is March 15 and 16th and March 14th will be on a different day due to the storm, “probably next Tuesday.”
Chief Academic Officer Dr. Catherine Goguen spoke about progress in literacy and math across the district. She stated, “And for example, in grade 6, the percentage of students passing or meeting benchmark this year doubled from last year. So we’re really excited about those results.” In grades 3 and 4 there was a brand new curriculum in literacy implemented. Dr. Goguen spoke of other positive results and regarding the upcoming MCAS said, “So we’re very excited about MCAS, which is coming up really quickly, that we’re going to see some nice results, I think.” Also discussed were advances in math instruction in the schools.