NHS Principal Reports On Preparations For NEASC Review

By Eliza Hallabeck

Newtown High School Principal Charles Dumais told the Board of Education during its Tuesday, October 16, meeting that preparations are underway for a planned 2015 accreditation visit by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).

It is unknown whether the planned 2015 visit will happen in the spring of the 2014-15 school year or in the fall of the 2015-16 school year, but Mr Dumais told the school board the plan is to prepare for the earliest possible visit. This is the year to start preparing, he said.

“The work is coordinated by a steering committee,” said Mr Dumais, acknowledging NHS Assistant Principal Jaime Rivera, the lead administrator on the committee, and co-chairs Leah Clark and Amy Repay, who were all present at the board meeting.

The 2015 visit will be the culmination of a self-study the high school is expected to conduct, Mr Dumais said, and “hundreds of hundreds” of work hours will need to be completed before then. The work will also include people outside of the high school, he said. As part of preparing for the self-study, Mr Dumais said members of the high school staff have been attending other NEASC school accreditation visits to further understand what will be expected at NHS.

Mr Dumais readied the school board members that he will be including in his budget request for the 2013-14 fiscal year, room to allow the steering committee members to focus on their duties for NEASC along with their other duties.

The first thing the steering committee will focus on, Mr Dumais said, will be the creation of a mission statement for the high school. While the district has a mission statement, the high school does not, and he said that is one thing that will be looked for. The mission statement will also need to be an embedded way of life at the high school before the NEASC visit, Mr Dumais said.

School board Secretary Cody McCubbin asked for a timeline to be created so the school board and members of the public could fully understand how the preparation process for the NEASC visit will be conducted.

When a 2006 NEASC report first placed NHS on warning status, it pointed to one area as a main concern: overcrowding. In March 2011, Mr Dumais received a letter from NEASC saying the warning status had been lifted, thanks in large part to the completion of the NHS expansion. In the letter, the Commission on Public Secondary Schools cited the completion of the expansion, the positive impact of the renovation work, the addition of a ninth grade mentoring program, the enhancement of the grade nine transition experience, and the implementation of monthly half-day releases in place for professional learning communities as reasons why the warning status was lifted.

The original 2006 NEASC report said, “For Newtown High School to be successful in fulfilling its potential and truly preparing all its students for a knowledge-based, technologically driven world, the community of Newtown must do much more to support the teachers’ efforts to improve learning for every student.

“The overcrowded facility, the lack of adequate numbers of teachers, the overworked staff and the limited technology are all issues that the community must address quickly.”

The report continued, “The Newtown community does not ensure an adequate and dependable source of revenue to provide and maintain appropriate school programs, personnel, services, facilities, equipment, technological support, materials and supplies for student learning. Despite the financial resources of the community and its citizens that places Newtown in the top ranks of the communities in Connecticut that are able to provide revenue, Newtown High School is ranked 139 out of the 169 school districts in Connecticut in per pupil expenditure.”

Board member John Vouros also asked for the public to be kept as knowledgeable as possible throughout the process, and Mr Dumais said he has asked the members of the steering committee to find a balance between reporting progress and completing the work.