Ms. Clark presented the findings of the DESE site visit. Veritas is meeting expectations in all aspects related to Academic Program Success. It is important to note that the student body at Veritas Prep meets the criteria for representation of different populations of students that is reflective of the Springfield community overall. The area for improvement in the report is in Access and Equity, which was partially meeting. After three years, the charter school office has noted our adequate progress in reducing the number of suspensions overall and the gap between special education students and general education students in a separate line of communication outside of the report. We have been working with a safe and supportive school specialist in a professional learning network "Rethinking Discipline Professional Learning Network" for multiple years. However, in the DESE site visit report, we were partially meeting as they are comparing us to state average. We are seeking clarification from the charter school office what are the metrics they are using as their two different teams are using different metrics.

Ms. Clark reported on the strategies used this year that have contributed to suspensions being at an all time low, with a total of six out of school suspensions, with one student being identified as special education. Some of those strategies are: on-going training of staff to use the behavior management cycle and the promotion system in class,  the culture team focus on proactive strategies such as check in-check out and the break room, focused time on SEL skills on Fridays and staff attempts to keep those strategies alive in informal conversations and work with students.

 

One of the findings from the compensation study was the lack of sustainability teachers were experiencing each year due to the constant revision of the curriculum year over year. Ms. Martin has undertaken the task of looking across the curriculum within the school and across the school to look for efficiencies, prioritize subject areas over time, name the strengths and areas of opportunity for each subject area. The goal is be able to communicate back to teachers that we heard their concerns and roll out what changes we have made and what the plan will be moving forward. A main focus has been on reworking the history curriculum given the new history standards and transitioning science to integrated science curriculum each year.

Two new leadership team roles are being added for the upcoming year: (1) a full time teacher coaching role and (2) a dean of student supports (special ed). These roles were filled by internal candidates who were in our teacher leadership pipeline. One was a coaching fellow this past year and one was a grade-level leader and content area leader. Our dean of operations is moving to a more specialized role that will work with both the Executive Director and the principal around strategic projects related to enrollment, advocacy, communication. Another teacher leader, a person who has been a content leader and a coaching fellow, is moving into the dean of operations role.