Friday, March 1, 2013
The topic that has dominated discussion in Washington recently was also a part of the discussion at this week's Chelmsford School Committee meeting.
Regardless of what happens and has been happening in Washington, many school districts such as Chelmsford will feel the hit of the looming sequester. However, Chelmsford Public School business manager Kathy McWilliams, says Chelmsford's schools are still planning on the status quo. “We start with what our budget was in 2013, and what we’re allotted this year. The Town Manager (Paul Cohen) requested a level service budget and three percent increase, and that equals $1.4 million,” McWilliams said. “The money will be spent on the teachers and staff and then we have an operational cost of $600,000 that we have to mandate.” The cost of Special Education for Chelmsford students also plays a big factor into any budget increase according to …
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
We took a look, and here's what we found out.
As Chelmsford approaches Town Meeting, today we wanted to take a look at the town's per-pupil expenditures as well as how much its teachers make. We checked out the 2010-11 overall statistics from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and here's what we found. Out of the 328 districts in the state, Chelmsford ranked 289 in per-pupil expenditures, approximately three times less than #1 (Provincetown) and approximately $1,500 per-pupil more than #328 (Shirley). In terms of teachers' salaries, Chelmsford was #199, about $25,000 a year less than #1 (Dover) and about $30,000 a year more than the lowest ranked district in the state (Florida). Here's how Chelmsford fared against districts of comparable student …
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Both high schools touted near universal four-year graduation rates for its 2012 seniors according to a recently released report.
Last month, the Patrick-Murray administration announced that just over 4 in 5 high school students were graduating in four years, with students in Chelmsford graduating at a significantly higher rate. According to data released by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary of Secondary Education, 84.7 percent of the 73,479 2011-2012 senior year high school students graduated, compared to a 93.8 percent figure at Chelmsford High School and a 98.8 percent figure at Nashoba Tech. "I am proud to see more students graduating on time, because now more than ever, having a high school diploma is essential to success in our 21st Century global economy," said Governor Deval Patrick in a released statement. "But until we close the achievement gap…
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Guidance Department Coordinator Thomas Wright Jr. told the School Committee on Tuesday night the key points on what his staff is doing to help Chelmsford students.
At this past Tuesday evening's Chelmsford School Committee Meeting, Guidance Department Coordinator Thomas Wright, Jr., presented the end of year Chelmsford K-12 guidance report. In his report, Wright outlined what he called “meat and potatoes, for needs in the district. Wright highlighted the importance of meeting the Massachusetts model for school counseling and one-on-one at risk assessment, using the state and national model to guide their practice. “This is what the meat and potatoes of what counselors do. Guidance, responsive services, individual planning and system support. This is what guidance counselors do twenty-four seven days a week, including some weekends.” Wright also highlighted the district’s plans to help students, …
Friday, January 25, 2013
The Lions face off against Wellesley in Round One, here are some questions they had to answer last year.
The Chelmsford High Lions will tape their episode of WGBH's High School Quiz Show on Sunday, which will air on March 10 at 6:30 p.m. They'll face a tough test against Wellesley, but today we want to see if you have what it takes to make the team! Here are some questions from the show last year. We'll have the answers on Monday. 1) What Shakespeare title character is warned by a soothsayer, “Beware the ides of March”? 2) What is the total sum of all interior angles in a pentagon? 3) In 1901 what educator and reformer published his autobiography Up from Slavery? 4) What French Impressionist painter is well known for his Water Lilies series, depicting his flower garden at Giverny? 5) Occurring about every five years and affecting weather …
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Father, husband and entrepreneur, John O'Sullivan, creates an interactive educational product which is changing how students learn in the classroom at Chelmsford High School.
An idea has tremendous potential power if acted upon. Last September, John O’Sullivan of Framingham, MA had an idea which has exploded into an actual product that is now changing Chelmsford High School. John O’ Sullivan is a husband, father and entrepreneur who has developed over a few short months an interactive teaching and learning product called, “The Teacher’s Awesome App Guide and Resource Book”. This product allows teachers to develop and teach instructional content through the means of the iPad to their students in the classroom in a digitally interactive manner. The process of implementing this product into the classroom is “still in its pilot phase”, says Chelmsford High School Department Coordinator of Technology and Business …
Sunday, January 13, 2013
The fingerprint background checks would also apply to everyone seeking to adopt children or become foster parents.
The Associated Press is reporting Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is considering signing legislation that would require teachers, workers at child care centers, school bus drivers and others to submit fingerprints for criminal background checks. The fingerprint background checks would also apply to everyone seeking to adopt children or become foster parents, as the legislation is written. Fingerprints would be submitted to the Massachusetts State Police for a state criminal history check and forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national criminal history check, reported the Associated Press. What do you think? Tell us in the comments. ..................
Friday, January 11, 2013
Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation that would require teachers, workers at child care centers and school bus drivers to submit fingerprints for criminal background checks.
UPDATED FRIDAY, JAN. 11 at 11:55 A.M. Should school and child care employees fingerprinted before starting employment in order to check their criminal backgrounds? The Associated Press recently reported Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is considering signing legislation that would require teachers, workers at child care centers and school bus drivers to submit fingerprints for criminal background checks. On Friday, the state education office announced in a press release that Patrick signed the bill on Thursday, authorizing the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) and school districts to conduct fingerprint-supported national criminal history background checks on all teachers, school employees and early education providers in …
Their first round match against Wellesley airs on March 10.
Earlier this week, WGBH announced the schedule (posted below) for Chelmsford and the other teams competing in the year's WGBH High School Quiz Show. Today, we want to ask you: how far do you think the Lions will make it in the competition? Can they beat Wellesley? What about those other teams? Perhaps they might even make it to face the winners of the Granite State Challenge in New Hampshire? Let us know your prognostications in the comments! All episodes premiere Sundays at 6:30pm, repeating Saturdays at 6pm, on WGBH 2: For more information on the show, visit highschoolquizshow.org, or wgbh.org. · Hopkinton vs. North Quincy February 10 · Acton-Boxborough vs. Hingham February 17…
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
School Committee discusses student safety for 2013.
In its first meeting of 2013, the Chelmsford School Committee discussed a variety of topics from donations to cameras, but one stuck out: student safety. Addressing student safety issues following the wake of the recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, the board went into a more somber, but optimistic tone as Chelmsford Public School Superintendent Frank Tiano took on this concern on a local level, saying that student safety is the school system’s “number one priority.” During Tiano’s comments to the board, he noted that he’s currently working closely Chelmsford Chief of Police James Murphy on student safety issues as well as developing plans directly with school administrators to keep the school system as fortified and safe as possible…
Rob C.
11:06 pm on Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Again Tyler, some reading comprehension classes are in order for you. Yes this article is on sequester and Chelmsford Schools preparing for it. My comment about trimming some dead weight from the payroll directly goes along with sequester and Chelmsford schools preparing for it. If they need to save money due to budget cuts, I would go after dead weight on the payroll first if there is any. more ›