For many people, the school year starts long before the first day of classes when students hop off the bus and file through the hallways. For Newtown Public Schools principals, teachers, custodians, and others, preparing for a new academic year begins much earlier in the summer.

Such is the case for numerous Newtown Middle School staff members including Principal Jim Ross, who said a lot of time and effort went into preparations and making sure that everything was set for 2024-25.

“As the principal at NMS, I feel very fortunate to work with a strong and collaborative administrative team,” Ross told The Newtown Bee August 23. “The principals across all schools work collaboratively to ensure that our district provides the best educational experience for all students. We could not be happier that the [Board of Education] chose Anne Uberti to lead our schools, and with her continued leadership, we are very excited with the direction of the district.”

During their summer professional development together, Ross says that they were tasked with creating a School Strategic Plan that aligns with the district’s priorities. It is this time together, Ross said, that sets the tone for the school year and the work needed to be done at a building level.

Preparing for the upcoming school year at NMS had gone “really good” according to Ross, and that they had been consistently productive. Ross met with the school’s leadership team on multiple occasions to review district priorities and build the action steps for their School Strategic Plan.

This plan goes hand in hand with what he says are the middle school’s “two big pillars”: Climate and Culture and Instructional Excellence. These pillars, which Ross says have been in place for the three years he has been leading the Queen Street school, act as core values for everyone in the middle school to work toward so as to create a strong and supportive environment that fosters academic excellence.

For Climate And Culture, Ross says they have created a detailed plan for the first few days of school, community days throughout the year, and student experiences such as field trips, NMS Pep Rally, and Spirit Weeks. Along with that, Ross and his team have also planned out systems and protocols throughout the year. The school year calendar hangs prominently on one wall just outside his office, already filled to the brim with dates and events.

“So we have all the concerts planned out, we have all the drills planned out. They’re all subject to change, but we’re really trying to get ahead of as much stuff as we can. So there’s a lot of logistical pieces that we’ve been planning out, but also just trying to think about what outcomes we want for this year and how we’re gonna get there,” Ross said.

As for Instructional Excellence, Ross says he and his team worked with their school coordinators and Director of Teaching & Learning Kara DiBartolo to implement a professional development plan that supports their School Strategic Plan and reinforces strong instructional practices in the classrooms. Working to iron out everything and make the middle school great for students and staff both, he says, is a team effort.

“I’ve had several meetings with our leadership team, working through each department and not only thinking about the school-wide goals, but also looking at each department and thinking, ‘Okay, what do we want to accomplish this year?’” Ross said.

One thing Ross says they are really going to be working on with families is attendance.

“Kids need to be here to learn, Ross continued. “It’s been a challenge statewide, and we’re not free of that challenge, unfortunately. So it’s something that I want to really work on with the families and our staff to make sure that we’re really encouraging students to come in and be here.”

According to EdSight, Connecticut’s official source for education data, 87,397 students were chronically absent across the state in 2023-24. This represents 17.7% of all K-12 students.

A student is in attendance if they spend at least half of the day participating in school activities. A student is chronically absent if they are absent for any reason for 10% or more school days.

The 2023-24 numbers declined by 2.3 percentage points, from 20% the previous year, according to The Connecticut State Department of Education. According to EdSight, Connecticut had 512,652 students in 1,551 schools and programs in 2023-24. Newtown had 3,951 students according to the organization.

Storm Challenges

In addition to the regular preparations for the school year, NMS faced some challenges from the severe storm and the historic levels of rainfall it brought with it on August 18. According to Ross, the middle school got “hit pretty hard.”

“The rugs in the lobby were flooded. The auditorium, many of the classrooms, many of the wings. Our custodians were phenomenal, coming in over the weekend and cleaning it in a timely fashion to limit some of the damage,” Ross said.

The storm also led to the first day of new teacher orientation week, which helps new teachers transition into the public school systems, being canceled. Ross said they “thankfully” only lost that one day, and were happy to help the new teachers transition into the middle school.

“We are excited to welcome five new teachers and several other staff members to our building,” he said. “We put a lot of effort into hiring the very best, and we could not be happier with the incoming group.”

Beyond that, Ross said the school’s parking lot had been “pretty active” with all the teachers coming in on their own time to set up their rooms for the school year. Even the three days before students arrived in for the first day of classes teachers spent on professional development, information sharing, and staff meetings.

One of the many teachers getting ready for the new school year was NMS science teacher Emily Neff, who moved classrooms this year. That meant that she had to spend her time cleaning, as well as mulling over boxes of school supplies and decorations, to set up a whole new classroom for her and her students.

“I want to make sure everything looks good for the kids,” Neff said. “You want them to enjoy coming into the classroom, and I want to enjoy coming into the classroom, because we all spend a lot of time here. Making sure that it’s aesthetically pleasing, that it’s a calm and welcome environment for everyone, that’s important to me.”

Meanwhile, language arts teacher Susan Lang is ecstatic that, for one of the first times in all her years teaching, she was fully prepared over a week before school started. She said she is always interested in what the new year brings, and she “couldn’t wait” to meet all her new students.

This is language arts teacher Leslie Duda’s second year teaching. She said coming back after her first year is “refreshing” knowing how much she already did last year to prepare herself for the future.

“I’m really looking forward to getting to know the kids. I’ve already heard a lot of great things about this class,” Duda said. “It’s always great going into a new year because you never know the kind of kids you’re gonna get. Sometimes you get the kids that are really chatty, sometimes you get the ones who are quiet. As a new teacher and a young teacher, it’s fun seeing every single one of those kids come out of their shell the more I get to know them. So I’m really excited.”

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.