Saturday, July 26 ~ 4:00-8:00 p.m.
Open Mic Night
Join us for an unforgettable evening of music, poetry, and comedy under the stars at the Winchendon Community Park Amphitheater!
Whether you're performing or just here to enjoy the vibes, it's a night you won't want to miss.
Open Mic Performers Welcome
Food Available On-Site Featuring Heavy's House
Free Entry
Bring a blanket, some friends, and your love for local talent. Let's light up the night with creativity and community!
20 minute sets or 4 songs per performer.
If the response warrants we may cut the length of the sets down to 3 songs.
Sets will start at 4:15pm and go until 8:00pm
Be polite and supportive to your fellow performers. Have fun and spread the word.
Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/2719542448241519 and leave a comment on the event with your preferred start time.
This Week's Winchendon News
In First School Committee Meeting of FY26, Residents and Members Voice Concerns About Superintendent Changes
Former Assistant Superintendent Charlotte King Appointed Interim Superintendent
From left, School Committee members Greg Vine, Tara Teixeira, Mike Barbaro (Chair), David Iannacone and Karen Kast
Photo copyright Town of Winchendon
On Thursday, July 17, the Winchendon School Committee held its first meeting of FY26, and the first meeting following the departure of Superintendent Dr. Marc Gosselin from the district. Charlotte King, previously Assistant Superintendent, was listed on the school website as "Acting Superintendent," and Item 7-a of the July 17 meeting agenda was "Approval of Appointment of Acting Superintendent." These items, along with School Committee Chair Mike Barbaro's brief statement posted to the district website and on Facebook on July 8, comprised everything that the school district and School Committee had officially communicated to the public about the change in administration.
At the public comment period at the beginning of the meeting, two residents rose to express concerns.
Renee Eldredge began, "I live in town. I've lived here for quite some time. My children have gone through the school system here. I'm very vested in our community. I sit on quite a few committees, and want to thank each of you for doing this role. It's not easy, and I appreciate your efforts." Pointing out the agenda item about the Acting Superintendent, she continued, "In the short time that I have been helping out with Superintendent searches that I've done, I'm flabbergasted, and I sit before you asking if the Committee would please have discussions around why is it that we cannot seem to keep a superintendent in our district? I was very disheartened to see that Dr Gosselin is not with us any longer, and the memo that went out did not really share a whole lot, and I address that to you, Chair, it didn't say what was happening. It didn't say next steps, it didn't share, it was just 'he's no longer with us.' That's really not transparent, and it's not addressing the community and sharing information, even if you don't know, 'we are in the works of doing a, b and c,' something so that we can, as a community feel comfortable in knowing that the Committee as a whole is doing their job." She added, "We're looking at, and correct me if I'm wrong, at least four, if not five, superintendents in the last six years. That's too much for our community."
Following Ms. Eldredge, resident Yvonne Senecal came forward. Saying that she was also a long-time Winchendon resident, Ms. Senecal said, "I was on the last superintendent search, we put forth three good candidates, and the process was stopped precipitously on behalf of selection of Marc Gosselin, which having been on the committee and having looked at all this, the candidates that we had put forth, I didn't feel he was the strongest candidate. But it was a done deal. And I wish if it was a done deal, that you would have been up front with people and said, This is who we want. This is who we're going to pick, instead of letting everybody spin their wheels, go through the process and then, oh, wait, no, we're not going to do that anymore. We're going to stop right now."
Ms. Senecal went on to say that "not only is inconsistency in the school system an issue, it's also an issue" compared to the costs of doing a full search for a new superintendent. Ms. Senecal said they had been told it cost "anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000," but School Committee member Karen Kast challenged this, saying the cost was $10,500. Ms. Senecal conceded, but said it was still a lot of money, and "the dollars are not going to a good place." She said that the state website said the student-teacher ratio at the high school last year was 11 to 1. [The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education [DESE] gives the actual ratio as 11.2 to 1. For comparison, the student-teacher ratio at Oakmont Regional High School is 13.5 to 1, and at Narragansett Regional High School it is 13.2 to 1.]
When agenda item 7-a was brought to the table, Mr. Barbaro began by saying, "As you know, Superintendent Gosselin has left the district and as Assistant Superintendent, Charlotte moves up automatically to run the district. This is just a formal presentation to work out the salary for her as she does the job right now. She did this for us last year over the summer while we were in the process of a search."
School Committee member Greg Vine said that rather than have Ms. King serve as "Acting Superintendent" while the Committee did a search for an Interim Superintendent, he would make a motion to appoint Charlotte King Interim Superintendent. Committee member Tara Teixeira seconded the motion.
Mr. Barbaro said, "So my feelings on the matter of this is that Charlotte has worked for this district for many years, and she's worked through the ranks. Anything we've asked her to do, she's done for us. She is passionate about the school district. She cares about our children, and she works very hard to keep moving the district forward. And working with the administrative team throughout this whole year, they have formed a great bond. To me, it makes no sense to continue to bring in strangers who come in with different philosophies and trying to rock the world, when we have someone that knows the district, understands what goes on here and is fully invested here. So I am fully in favor of that motion."
Ms. Kast disputed Mr. Barbaro's statement that an assistant superintendent "automatically" moves up to the superintendent role. She went on, "I like Charlotte, she's fine, but she has very little experience in any administrative role, and she's a very nice person, but she doesn't have the experience that this district needs. And the fact of matter is that what this district actually needs is a superintendent that actually has experience, and we've now had two very experienced superintendents run out of this district, and we need to question why... They weren't run out by the people of the district, but by the actions taken by others. And the fact of the matter is, you started this process today by saying that we were automatically moving her up, and that was just to have her pay approved, and it just says on our agenda that we're approving her as Acting Superintendent. So I understand the motion was changed to appoint her as Interim...if you want to discuss pay, I really would like to know what that amount is, because there's no automatic pay increase involved in this."
Mr. Barbaro said that Ms. King's pay would be negotiated "with the blessing of the Committee" and would "tag off of" the arrangement made with Ms. King last year.
Ms. Kast stated that Ms. King's budgeted salary [in her previous role] was $143,000. Mr. Barbaro said that in discussions "last year," the Committee had agreed on a salary of $165,000.
Ms. Kast then asked, "How much did we pay Marc [Gosselin] to leave?" Mr. Barbaro said that Ms. Kast knew what he was paid and this was not a topic for discussion. Ms. Kast stated that the Committee had a non-disparagement agreement with Dr. Gosselin, not a non-disclosure agreement, and she was trying to be transparent. She added, "should we go onward with this, that's going to be well over the amount that you objected to paying Marc."
Mr. Barbaro called for a vote to appoint Ms. King Interim Superintendent, which was approved 4 to 1, with Ms. Kast voting no. He requested a second motion to open negotiations with Ms. King for a salary contract, which was approved 4 to 1, with Ms. Kast voting no.
During the Closing Member Comments period at the end of the meeting, Ms. Kast said, "I think that we need to do better with transparency as a district. Unfortunately, Mr. Chair, your letter about Dr. Gosselin leaving left a lot to be desired. I would like to thank Dr. Gosselin for the hard work that he did for the district. I'm very disappointed that he left, and I think that going forward, that when we have an announcement like that, it should be shared with the other Committee members before it goes out." She referred to some highly negative Facebook comments made by people who identified themselves as educators about the tone of the letter. "It made the entire Committee appear petty and very short sighted," she said. "So I would ask that we be very careful in how we work things going forward."
Mr. Barbaro said, "The statement was one I was given by legal advice to say, which was not to say much of anything, and I know that people are not happy with that. And so you know, when you enter into agreements with people, there are sometimes the things that are said, and sometimes they tell you, don't say anything because it could put the district in some jeopardy. So that's why the statement was short. And so for that, I will take responsibility, because that was what I talked to our lawyer about, and he suggested, the shorter, the sweeter, and not to go into much detail about why the former superintendent left, and so I took that advice." He asserted that Ms. King was doing a good job getting things ready for the new school year. In the past, the Committee had felt a change was needed and brought in an "outsider" and it didn't work out. One notified the district that she was leaving a week before the school year ended.
"I am truly confident in Charlotte King and her ability to lead this district moving forward," Mr. Barbaro said. "She has been working with us through different positions, as I stated, through the ranks, she is caring. She is all in with this district, and wants to do the best job that she can, and I believe true to my heart that we will find out how good of a leader she will be for us."
Interim Superintendent Charlotte King Excited to Begin New Year in a New Role for WPS
New Interim Superintendent Charlotte King
Photo by Inanna Arthen
Following up on the Winchendon School Committee's appointment of former Assistant Superintendent Charlotte King to the position of Interim Superintendent, the Courier sat down with Ms. King between meetings to ask her about what lies ahead with the unexpected changes of the last few weeks. Ms. King began as the Dean of Toy Town Elementary School, became Director of Pupil Services and then served as Assistant Superintendent to Supt. Gosselin. She is still in the process of moving into the Superintendent's office on Grove Street.
"It was unexpected, but welcomed," Ms. King said. "I'm happy to be in this role and excited about the work. We started a lot of great work last year, and over all the time I've been here, we've been doing great work, but last year we really got some nice plans in place for the kids, and I'm looking forward to keeping that momentum going, keeping consistency. All of our administrators are returning, which is great, because we've had so much turnover. All the principals, the assistant principals, our dean at Toy Town, everybody's returning. Our Business Director, she's working remotely now, but she's still on board. Our IT director is still here. Kelsey Garcia, the Director of Student Services, is still here. Hopefully we will keep as much continuity as possible."
As for teaching staff, "we do have a few openings," people who retired, or left for different reasons. "But we were able to post earlier than we were last year," she said. "So we've been able to keep interviewing and hopefully getting some really great candidates."
With school opening on August 27, just about one month from now, the Courier asked Ms. King what her biggest challenges were right now.
"The good news is that we had already set a lot of things in place in the spring," Ms. King said. "So we had already set a retreat for the administrators. We did two days in June, so those are already hammered out. We set some plans for the fall, and then we're going to have two days in August where we all get together again, to spend the full day together, planning out the beginning of the year, planning all the professional development for the year. So I really feel confident that we're ready to move forward and just keep that momentum with our plans." She added, "We have a great team, and everybody's always here been willing to pitch in and do things outside of their role, which is great. It's one of the things that I really love about working here, is that you can go ask anybody at any time for help, and everybody's willing to jump in."
A big concern of the previous superintendent was student retention and how to improve it. The elementary and middle school grades each have 80 to 115 students, but this year's Murdock High School graduating class numbered only 52. Ms. King nodded at this question.
"We're still doing a lot of analyzing of that chronic absenteeism, and potentially why students are looking to drop out and or transfer out," she said. "We did a lot of work with that. That's actually part of our plan going forward, is how to make our instructional practices more engaging, to keep kids here, to offer more courses, to increase our dual enrollment. Those are a lot of the things that Dr Gosselin worked on and that we'll continue to work on. I actually met with the high school administration this week, just about that very same thing."
There was a high dropout rate for students with disabilities, which caused the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education [DESE] to give the district a Needs Improvement ranking, but there has been a positive change in those numbers, Ms. King said.
Ms. King said they won't have final numbers for school choice students under closer to the start of school, and it's not clear, aside from Monty Tech, why students choose other districts. "We're very small, so we can only offer a limited number of programs. So I think for a variety in programming, kids are leaving and so that's something. That's really why we've looked at that dual enrollment piece, because we offer classes for college credit, which is amazing. Students can go with a whole year under their belt of college and not have to pay that tuition which is really a huge opportunity."
The schools need to do "exit interviews" with students choicing out, Ms. King said, and find out:
"What are you going to that we can't offer you, and if we can't offer it, why? And what can we do to try to obviously change that?"
The Courier asked about how the district would be addressing bullying, since some students and parents have mentioned this as a reason for choosing alternatives. Ms. King said, "Last year, 23-24, the Office of Student Support really homed in on creating a new bullying and intervention plan. The one the district had was out of date, and so we worked with various stakeholders to create a new plan. It went out for public review and things like that, and it was approved by the School Committee about a year ago. So with that in place, we have a more streamlined procedure, a consistent response to bullying. So I think that we're moving in the right direction, that plans have been put in place for kids, whether bullying was found or not, this safety plan is being put in place. So I think we're moving in the right direction, and I think that all of the administrators have now been trained in that, and so we have consistent paperwork, we have consistent policy and procedure. So I think that is the groundwork that you need to make sure that kids feel safe, because that's our top priority."
Ms. King said, "We actually just talked about...putting out to the public more of what we do, because we do these really great things, these Art Expos and concerts and things like that, and really just kind of sharing that out, because people don't know what's going on unless you have kids in the schools and you're invited. We actually just talked about partnering with our community resources to do a Back to School event, so that people from the town can come and see what we're doing and what we're excited about."
Writing skills are going to be a huge focus this coming year, for all grade levels and across all content areas, Ms. King said. The district has developed a plan with the assistance of DESE. "So any classroom that you go in, we should see writing. We talked about partnering with the community restaurants to have kids' writing displayed. I think it's going to be really powerful. And that speaks to that engagement piece, because the kids are really involved in interesting and exciting work. They're going to want to come to school, and they're going to want to be involved."
Ms. King said the schools have different plans for outreach to the community about what's happening in the district. "We have tried to replicate most of the ParentSquare communication onto the Facebook page. So our executive assistant does a lot of that, making sure that the community is becoming more aware, because that was feedback that was given over the past couple of years. People aren't sure what's going on, or people sometimes assume some program has been dropped, when it actually hasn't."
The Courier mentioned some of the past superintendents' videos or newsletters and how informative they were, but they tended to be irregular. Ms. King said, "Last year we did Coffees with the Central Office, and it was once a month at the library on Fridays. It was spotty attendance. It would be nice to have it be more well attended. One of the suggestions that people asked us to look at was rotating locations--that maybe sometimes it could be at a school or sometimes it could be at a different time of day. So we would like to continue with those, because I think it's a nice forum for anyone in the community to come in and ask us specific questions, or just general questions, or hear what we have to say of what's going on." They might focus on different administrators talking about their specific projects and plans.
Asked what she'd really like to say to Winchendon people as we look forward to the new school year, Ms. King said, "I'm really excited. I knew four years ago--this will be my fourth year coming up--I knew when I came here I was in the right place. I immediately felt that coming through the doors at Toy Town. And that hasn't changed, even though my roles have changed every year, that hasn't changed. I'm committed to improving the educational experience for our kids. We have awesome students here, and I feel very connected to them, and want the best for them. So I'm excited and and I'm hoping to keep all our administrators and teachers here, and keep moving forward with the plans that we created, because we did some really great work last year."
Upcoming Summer Events at the Beals Memorial Library
The Beals Memorial Library in Winchendon invites the whole community to level up their summer by joining their annual Summer Reading Club from June 23 to August 16! This year's theme, "Level Up at Your Library", centers around games and play, and the library will have fun programs, activities, stories, and more for the entire family to enjoy. Here's what's going on the week of July 28 to August 2:
On Tuesday, July 29, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., join the library and the Winchendon CFCE for an interactive reading adventure out on the library lawn with the fourth and final of this summer's Storywalks! Follow the path set up throughout the library lawn to discover an exciting, new story each week. The last Storywalk of the month will feature the book, Elephant and Piggie: Are You Ready to Play Outside?, by Mo Willems. Piggie wants to play outside in the sunshine. Will some rain ruin the fun? Find out by coming to the Storywalk! Each child will receive a free copy of the book while supplies last!
On Wednesday, July 30, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., rev your engines and race to the library to decorate your own racecar! Then get your car ready, set, and watch it go! Enjoy the thrill of racing your car with other participants. This program has limited space. Registration is required.
On Thursday, July 31, at 6:00 p.m., test your knowledge of fun and challenging facts at Family Trivia Night! Does your family have what it takes to win the title of The Beals Brainiacs? Join the fun and compete with other families for the chance to earn this honor! Registration for this event is encouraged but not required.
The Winchendon CFCE is funded by a grant from the MA Dept. of Early Education & Care. The Summer Reading Club's programs and events are sponsored in partnership with the Friends of the Beals Library, the Winchendon CFCE, the Winchendon Cultural Council, the Winchendon Public Schools and the See Beyond the Spectrum Initiative.
The Beals Memorial Library is located at 50 Pleasant Street in Winchendon. For more information, contact the library at 978-297-0300 or visit their website at bealslibrary.org.
New "Welcome to Winchendon" Signs Have Been a Long Time in the Making
Photo by Inanna Arthen
Many residents have noticed the brand new signs which were recently placed at the "gateways" (as former Town Manager Justin Sultzbach would say) to town: on Rte 202/Main Street across from Lickity Splitz, Rte 2/School Street near School Square, and Rte 12/Spring Street near El Toro restaurant. Reading "Welcome to the Town of Winchendon," the signs have an artistic painting of a lake or river with trees along its far shore under a blue sky, and are supported on two granite posts. Along the bottom edge of each sign is a row of cut-outs in the shape of Clyde the Rocking Horse.
What many people in town may not know is that these signs are the final results of a project that began seven years ago.
According to the "Final Report of the Community Branding and Wayfinding Project," prepared for the town by Favermann Design, "in the late spring of 2018, the Town of Winchendon received a technical services grant from the Massachusetts Downtown Initiative (MDI) of the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The grant was for design and development of a community brand and its application in signage and wayfinding. The Town Manager and Town Planner appointed an advisory committee to work with the consultants (Favermann Design) to create a viable brand and strategic signage and wayfinding system."
The advisory committee included:
Keith Hickey, then Town Manager
David Walsh, then Chief of Police
Manuel King, Librarian at Beals Memorial Library
David Romanowski, Winchendon Community Park Director
Leston Goodrich of the Winchendon Redevelopment Authority and Winchendon Housing Authority
Arthur Amenta of the Winchendon Planning Board, Toy Town Community Partnership and Council on Aging
Dan O'Neil of the Winchendon Historic Commission and Winchendon History and Cultural Center
Tracy Murphy, Director of Planning and Development
Nicole Roberts, Land Use Coordinator
Rose Goodrich, Community member
Shirley Chodin, Community member
For several months, the committee met with Favermann Design, doing site visits, tours, presentations and "interactive descriptive discussions" to create a verbal expressive image representing the town of Winchendon. The first presentation focused on what community branding could mean and how it could be used to make a location more of a destination.
Design options aimed to capture the essence of Winchendon's history and character, and include trees and foliage, factory buildings, toys, Clyde the Rocking Horse, and landscapes with water and woodlands.
Along with the Winchendon signs, designs for a variety of "directional" signs, pole banners, light pole decorative elements and signs for the Fire and Police departments were created. The Board of Selectmen approved the plan, and the town applied for funding to the Converse fund.
Nicole Roberts, who provided this information, wasn't sure what happened after that, except that the town did not obtain the funding for all of the proposed signs. The Branding program was slated to be implemented in spring and summer of 2020--which was, of course, when the COVID state shut-down happened. Two other major projects also took precedence: the expanded Winchendon Community Park and Performing Arts Amphitheater, and the Central Street Reconstruction.
The rest of the "Branding and Wayfinding" signage is still awaiting funding.
DA Early Provides Funding for Safe Post- Prom and Graduation Celebrations at Local High Schools
Representatives from the Winchendon PD, WPS staff and students accept the grant check for Murdock HS
Photo courtesy of DA Joseph D. Early
WORCESTER--For the seventh year, District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. provided funding for safe pre-prom/post-prom and pre-graduation/post-graduation events at local high schools, including Murdock High School, thanks to his annual grant program, which is designed to keep students from driving impaired.
"We know that life can change in the blink of an eye, and we want to do everything we can to prevent a tragedy before it occurs," DA Early said. "We've been proud to help fund post-prom and post-graduation programs year after year. Prom and graduation are major milestones that deserve to be celebrated, but too often we see young people engaging in risky behavior following these events."
This year, the District Attorney's office awarded a total of $23,100 in grants to 20 different schools across Worcester County to fund events organized and overseen by adults, which offer safe drug- and alcohol-free alternatives to the high-risk activities that often follow end of the year celebrations for high school students.
The office has been providing these funds to schools for seven years. District Attorney Early felt it was vital to continue supporting these prevention programs and is utilizing his Drug Forfeiture Reinvestment Program this year. Funding to support these grants was previously provided by the Massachusetts Office of Victim Assistance Drunk Driving Trust Fund.
