Superintendent's Blog
Welcome to the 2017-2018 school year!
The opening of school has been busy, but schools and teachers have handled all of the expected and unexpected details with professionalism and efficiency.
Enrollment in our district continues to rise, despite the trend of declining enrollment in our surrounding communities. Grade 2 has been relocated from Wawaloam to Metcalf, a move that was necessary based on space needs at Wawaloam. We have opened up five new elementary classrooms since the close of schools last year, including a last minute addition of a new grade six classroom to begin on Tuesday. Welcome to all of our new families!
Some things to look forward to in this school year:
Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) will be offered to all students in grades 2 through 6 for the first time in EWG. Melanie Lawhead, who has been with the district for many years, has enthusiastically accepted the responsibility of ensuring that this new experience is successful, meaningful and fun for our kids.
Students in grade 8 now have an opportunity to take full-year Spanish, full-year French, or full-year Art based on their interests. These opportunities will allow our students to enter the Senior High School with advanced skills so that they can pursue more rigorous studies in their chosen areas.
We continue to solidify our plans for a comprehensive advisory program at the Senior High School, and will be introducing our students and families to some exciting new resources that will assist with the Individual Learning Plan, goal setting, college planning, and career exploration. In addition, we will be rolling out some changes to the current graduation requirements, consistent with State Regulations, to allow for greater flexibility in student schedules to pursue advanced placement opportunities and more comprehensive and individualized studies in one of the several new and exciting pathways. Our goal is to provide students with an array of choices that will prepare them for employment and/or college studies in a chosen area of interest. There will be much more information on these new efforts as the school year progresses.
Opening Day Highlights
Congratulations to Junior High School Social Studies Teacher, Mr. Andrew Wallace, for being named the District Teacher of the Year during our opening day activities this past Monday. Noreen Dion, a Teacher Assistant at the Junior High School, was named as our Support Professional of the Year.
Also recognized were several finalists for these special honors:
Susan Meriano, Junior High School Special Educator
Steve Gardiner - Senior High School English Teacher
Lisa-Marie Titus - Wawaloam First Grade Teacher
Stacey Place - Metcalf Band and Chorus Teacher
Beverly Babcock - Treasurer's Assistant
Sandra Carter - Metcalf Teacher Assistant
Cheryl Lagergren - Lineham Teacher Assistant
All of these individuals deserve our sincere appreciation for all they do for the EWG community!
Please visit my blog, which will be updated on a monthly basis (minimally). Principals also post regular updates through their blogs and list serves as well.
Welcome back, and have an incredible school year!
