March 1, 2010

 

We finally made it to March and spring is, hopefully, around the corner.   Currently, the last day of school is scheduled for Monday, June 14, 2010 although March has produced a snow day or two in the past.

 

Oxford High School is preparing for the accreditation visit from NEASC (New England Association of Schools and Colleges) May 2-5, 2010. There will be a meeting on Sunday May 2, 2010 at the high school (time TBA) at which time the community is invited to hear about the accreditation process, what the visit will accomplish, and the importance to the Oxford Public Schools and the entire town of Oxford. It is the goal of this visit to validate that OHS is worthy of accreditation for another ten years and that our high school is aligned with all local, state, and federal standards.

 

March is the month that the U.S. Census Bureau will send home the 2010 Census Questionnaire. This census, conducted every ten years by law, has an impact on the amount of federal grants available for schools, funding for states, and our congressional representation. The questionnaires will be sent to all known addresses across the country March 15-17; the ten questions will take less than 10 minutes to complete and must be returned by April 15^th. Oxford will be able to track online the questionnaire return rate to see how we fare against other municipalities. The goal of the U.S. Census Bureau is to minimize the door to door census taking that is more costly and time consuming.

 

The Oxford School Committee, at the February 22^nd meeting, approved school choice for Grades 9-12 for the 2010-2011 school year.  Almost every community in southern Worcester County is a school choice district and this will allow students from other towns to attend Oxford High School if they meet the requirements. Students who decide to “choice in” will help to offset the cost to the town of Oxford students who “choice out”. School choice has been a part of federal policy and part of the federal and state laws that govern public education for many years and the School Committee is to be commended for bringing school choice to Oxford.

 

We are proposing to reconfigure our elementary schools to improve teaching and learning for our Pre-K to Grade 4 students. We have posted an information page on our website that can be accessed by clicking on the left menu bar on the main page or if you click here it will take you to information on the proposed changes.  We will continually update the information as we move through the process and there is a box to communicate any questions or concerns that we can then respond to. I realize that this is a big change for our elementary students and their families and it is one that the administration, school committee, and union leadership do not make lightly; rather after careful analysis of what is best for the overall education of our students. Every town in our geographical area that has more than one elementary school has moved towards a grade level model that allows for all students in one grade to be in the same school. While the neighborhood school model has definite conveniences, the grade level model allows for educational advantages that we must embrace. As information becomes available, we will post it as an update.