It has been a wonderful start to the 2022-2023 school year. As October 2 is Custodian Appreciation Day, October 5 is World Teacher Day, October 6 is Coach Appreciation Day, and the month of October is National Principal month, please join me in thanking these individuals for their dedication and contributions to serve the students in our schools! Thank you!

Wednesday night, I presented the Barnstable Public Schools District Improvement Plan for the School Committee’s review and approval. The plan outlines four broad goal areas, which are continued from the 2021-2022 school year:

  • Foster a sense of belonging
  • Implement systems to monitor student understanding
  • Ensure strong grade-appropriate instruction
    • Academics
    • Social-emotional skills including positive behavior
  • Evaluate curriculum and plan for PD

Here is a presentation that we used to share the highlights of the District Improvement Plan, as well as each school’s School Improvement Plan. Detailed documents with action steps will be published to our websites soon. The following are selected areas of focus for this year. Many of these have emerged through the conversations and data I am collecting as part of my entry process as your new Superintendent:

  • Using data to attend to students’ academic, social-emotional, and behavioral learning needs 
  • Evaluating District’s services supporting students with more intensive special needs
  • Leveraging communication channels to inform, grow confidence in, and expand BPS brand awareness
  • Strengthening school safety practices in collaboration with our school resource officers
  • Completing a Facilities Conditions Assessment of our school facilities
  • Continuing to Implement recommendations from a 2019 climate study on athletics and extracurriculars
  • Continuing efforts to recruit and retain diverse faculty and staff
  • Engaging in an inclusive entry process to build a long term strategy for improvement

Regular updates on our progress will be shared with the School Committee and the community throughout the year. 

~Dr. Sara Ahern