Three members of the Winchendon School Committee--Shauna LaPointe, Greg Vine and Chair Lawrence Murphy--met on Wednesday, August 4 to discuss new administrative hires and COVID-related concerns as the new school year approaches its start date of Monday, August 30.

Interim Superintendent Thad King began the meeting by introducing the new Principal at Murdock High School, Meghan Weeks, and the new Principal at Toy Town Elementary, Anne Diaz. New Director of Pupil Services Nicole Heroux was unable to attend the meeting.

Supt. King introduced Ms. Weeks with a statement of her achievements. "Ms. Weeks is the new principal of Murdock High School. Prior to that, she was the assistant principal at Murdock, for two years. During that time, she has focused her efforts on building student engagement, organizing curriculum and program enhancements. She serves as the core facilitator for the ongoing North Central Massachusetts Portrait of a Graduate grant," Mr. King said. "Previous to her work in Winchendon, Ms. Weeks worked at South High Community School in Worcester for thirteen years as an English teacher and instructional coach. She also served five years on the Wachusett Regional School District School Committee." He added that "Ms. Weeks received her BA in English from Clark University, and [holds] a Masters in Urban Education, also from Clark, and has a second Masters in Administrative Leadership from Worcester State."

Stepping up to the microphone, Ms. Weeks acknowledged the congratulations of the School Committee on her new position. She told the School Committee that a new assistant principal has been hired for Murdock High School, Doug Sochovka, from Leominster High School (where Mr. Sochovka served as Dean of Students). Ms. Weeks said humorously that Mr. Sochovka's only flaw is that she has to keep telling him not to work so hard. "He's been instrumental in working with our students who have fallen behind because of COVID. He has between five and ten students in his office every day, working with them to get them back on track," she said.

"Leominster is very upset that we've stolen so many people from them at this point. So that's a good thing for Winchendon," Ms. Weeks joked.

Ms. Weeks said that the schools are working with the Superintendant's office to create a "first day curriculum" to launch the new in-person school year on a strong start. She emphasized that all the schools will be working together to align their efforts and not be "in their own silos."

Supt. King next introduced the new Principal of Toy Town Elementary. "At Toy Town, they have their new Principal, Anne Diaz, she's been an educator for over twenty-four years, serving in the roles of teacher, assistant principal and principal prior to joining us here in Winchendon. Mrs. Diaz brings tremendous energy...to complement her strong background in curriculum instruction. In addition to serving as a public school educator, Mrs. Diaz has also written and taught college level courses in teaching technology and computer science. Mrs. Diaz holds a Bachelor's degree from Becker College in Education and a Masters in Education from Cambridge College."

Coming to the microphone, Ms. Diaz told the School Committee that she had been interested in the Winchendon School District since her days as an assistant principal in Athol, because of the two towns' similarity. She went on to serve as a principal in Framingham, but immediately applied when she saw the open position in Winchendon. "I saw a lot of chances for growth" in Winchendon, she said.

Asked what her priorities are for the coming year, Ms. Diaz said, "I really believe that the data drive our instruction, so I think working with the teachers collaboratively to look at where students are right now, and see what they have for goals for the students. And then with that, sort of deep dive into what's already been happening, look and see what's working for everybody, and then how we can make it better. I believe that every day we can do something a little bit differently to make us a little better than the day before."

The School Committee also discussed several other topics.

Regarding the possibilility of "hybrid meetings" for the School Committee, which would be held in person but made accessible remotely to people at home, it was noted that remote meetings during COVID had gotten far more attendance and participation from the school community and the general public than in-person meetings ever did. According to Selectman Barbara Anderson, who was attending tonight's meeting, the Board of Selectmen has voted to move to hybrid meetings when possible. Currently, the town is still working on getting the technology in place to allow such meetings to be held effectively, as in-person meetings that also allow full participation by remote attendees are not simple to manage. The School Committee voted in favor of a motion to hold hybrid meetings as soon as this becomes practicable. The state has suspended the "open meeting" rule requiring a quorum to be physically present for public board and committee meetings until at least April 1, 2022.

On the topic of whether students should, or would be required to, wear masks while in school, the situation remains hazy. The school district is following the guidance from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Currently, masks are "strongly recommended" but not mandated for students in grades K through 6--the ages for which vaccinations are not yet available. According to federal mandates, all students must wear masks on school buses or vans (as everyone must on all public transportation) and in school health offices.

The issue of whether vaccinations can be mandated for staff, students or both is another confusing topic. It was noted that some colleges are requiring that all students be vaccinated to attend class, and that nothing in medical confidentiality law (HIPAA) prevents the school district from asking staff or students to confirm their vaccination status. Supt. King told the Committee that around the state, school districts are adopting a wide variety of individual protocols for masks and vaccination compliance. Again, DESE "strongly recommends" but does not mandate that staff and older students be vaccinated.

It was also noted that Winchendon still lags significantly behind both the state and the rest of Worcester County in vaccination rates, with approximately 45 percent of Toy Town residents fully vaccinated. Supt. King told the Committee that efforts to organize vaccine clinics for older students had gotten a disappointingly low number of responses.

The School Committee took no vote on mask or vaccine protocols, agreeing that they would follow state and DESE guidance as much as possible, and that the situation, with COVID cases rising again statewide, was impossible to predict.

Winchendon resident Debora Contois rose to speak to the mask issue, which she did very strongly. Ms. Contois argued that young children should not be wearing masks because masks would interfere with their social development, and that children were at an extremely low risk from COVID. Resident Kelly Williams also rose to speak to the mask question, urging the School Committee not to take stronger measures than DESE guidance. "My daughter did tell me that no matter what happens, as long as she can go to school like normal, she'll wear a mask, she'll wear a hat, she doesn't care what she has to do as long as school is normal." But, Ms. Williams said, she didn't want the School Committee to jump to a mask mandate before it was absolutely required.

The full meeting may be viewed online here: Video of August 4, 2021 School Committee meeting. Discussion of mask and vaccination protocols begin at approximately 00:34:40 in the video.