The School Committee heard from the cast of Shrek, National History Day & Tenacity Challenge students and teachers, and more this week in a meeting that celebrated Burlington student achievement.
It’s spring, but much of the work of the students and teachers that were celebrated has been ongoing all year.
- The cast of Shrek the Musical performed music from their play, which has three more showings this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and has been very well-received. There are still a few tickets left!
- The National History Day program, which has students create a project within a given theme (this year, Turning Points in History) sent more than 20 projects from middle school and high school teams to the state competition. Four projects from the middle school and one from the high school placed in the top 2, qualifying them for nationals, which will be held in Washington, D.C., in June. These impressive projects, including first-person research and interviews by students, tackle such topics as the history of the College Board and how their recent changes will impact today’s high school students, how school shootings have impacted our country, and more.
- The Tenacity Challenge, a scholarship competition for teens of Latino/a or African American descent to develop relationships and professional/interpersonal skills, culminated last weekend. The theme this year was “The Future of Diversity on College Campuses,” and students over the course of the contest period created artwork and an argument addressing the theme, as well as reading and responding to a novel on the topic. They also competed in a math quiz bowl this weekend. Three teams (18 students) from BHS competed, and one of them took second place overall in history and 3rd place overall in English out of 25 teams.
When the School Committee was finished celebrating Burlington student achievement with the large group of students and teachers who came to present, they had their regular meeting which included a lot of housekeeping items such as discussing the dates for end-of-year events and next year’s School Committee meetings. Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Lisa Chen, also gave a short report:
- Math and literacy curriculum review is coming to a close and the district expects reports in July.
- The hiring committee for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion focused Instructional Coach at the high school has been assembled and consists of teachers, students, parents, and administrators. There is a pool of candidates, according to Dr. Chen.
- The process of defining the principalship at Marshall Simonds Middle School is underway, as current principal Dr. Cari Perchase has accepted an offer in another district for the next school year.
Final notes:
- The design process for the Fox Hill and high schools also continues, and there will be a community meeting for the Fox Hill project this June.
- There will be a trip to Paris in the spring of 2025. School Committee member Melissa Massardo requested that the potential for scholarships be made clearly early so all families see this trip as acccessible.
- Residents spoke at Public Participation; two highlighted what they view as a problem with trash around town and specifically on high school grounds, a topic which the Buzz will soon cover in more depth, and one raised concerns with respect to the district’s compliance with her children’s educational and medical needs. School Committee Chair, Christine Monaco, assured all parties the Committee/District would respond to them either offline or at the next meeting.
The next School Committee meeting is scheduled for May 14.
