"Our SIP [School Improvement Plan] is a snapshot into what we feel are the necessary steps to move Masco in the direction consistent with Vision 2025 — specifically with the Vision’s acknowledgement that: student learning is highly interdisciplinary and students are connecting learning to the real world and real-world problem solving; all classrooms and curricula are Learner-centered and adults will strive to recognize each student’s desire to find their place in the school and larger community."

— Introduction, HS School Improvement Plan

Highlights from the November 16 School Committee (SC) Meeting:

• School Improvement Plans for both High School and Middle School were presented
• Driving question for HS objectives:  Where are our "unimagined spaces" (1) intellectually, (2) emotionally, (3) physically?
• New Focus Goal Area introduced for MS, involving use of technology to achieve vision, with potential to introduce electives in coding and web-design. 
• Faculty Professional Development again put small groups of HS and MS staff from across disciplines together to create their "big picture" vision for future Masco graduates.  Mr. Dillon reported that this collaborative process has felt new and inspiring for the faculty.

School highlights: 

• GODSPELL will be performed this weekend (HS production, Thurs, Fri, Sat, & Sun shows) - Flier and Tickets Here
• Spanish exhange students are here!
• Congratulations to the sports teams that made it to states: Field Hockey, Football, Girls and Boys Soccer, Volleyball, and Golf!  State Tournament Brackets info here.  Congrats also to the Boys Cross Country Team for being named Cape Ann League Sportsmanship award winners!
• Food Drive at Middle School November 12-27 - donations welcome! 

Community programs:

• "Masconomet, an Introduction to our Highschool" - event for 8th-grade families will take place on Tues, Nov. 12th at 6:30pm in the auditorium.  
• TriTown Council hosted "Let's Talk About It" on 11/6/19 (TTC blog about it here)
  • NEXT TTC PROGRAM: "Positive Parenting in a Digital Age" on 11/13/19 - Link Here for more info

• TriTown SEPAC hosted "Understanding Dyslexia" on 10/28/19
  • NEXT SEPAC PROGRAM: "MCAS: Access & Achievement for Students with Disabilities" on 11/13/19

The Masco SC would like to make the community aware of two updates:

1. Tomorrow, Saturday, October 19^th, from 9am-12pm is the annual “ELECTRONICS (and more!) RECYCLING” fundraiser hosted by the Masco Music Parents in the Masconomet Parking Lot.

Click here to view the flier with the full list of acceptable items

2. Today, the Northeast Conference (NEC) high school principals voted to invite Masconomet High School to join the NEC. The full update about this was shared on the HS principal’s blog as follows:

“10/18/2019

The Northeast Conference (NEC) high school principals voted today to invite Masconomet High School to join the NEC following a presentation by Masconomet Superintendent Mike Harvey, High School Principal Pete Delani and Athletic John Daileanes.  Masconomet has been in discussions with the NEC over the past six months.  Daileanes presented to NEC Athletic Directors in September who voted to move Masco’s candidacy forward to be voted on by the NEC Principals, who today voted overwhelmingly to extend the invitation.

Throughout the process Masconomet has been in constant communication with Cape Ann League (CAL) Principals and Athletic Directors, as well as members of the Masconomet Community.  Members of both the CAL and the NEC recognize that over the years Masconomet has outgrown the Cape Ann League.  Masconomet has the CAL’s largest student enrollment of 1145 students, 391 more than the second largest school and more than double half the schools in the league.  Conversely Masco’s enrollment would be the fifth largest enrollment in a 12 team NEC.  All parties believe that Masconomet changing leagues will be mutually beneficial to Masconomet, the CAL and the NEC.

There are still steps to take in order to finalize Masconomet’s admission into the NEC over the next two months, but the hope is that the change of leagues will occur beginning in the Fall of 2020.”

Peter Delani, Principal

For more background on this, please view this presentation on “Interscholastic Athletics: MIAA League Realignment” that Masco’s Athletic Director John Daileanes and HS Principal Peter Delani had shared with the School Committee on April 24, 2019.

If you have questions, please contact our committee chair.

"The future is here — it's just not evenly distributed."

- Michael Hendrix
Global Director of Design, IDEO- Cambridge and Masco parent

Highlights from the October 16 School Committee (SC) meeting:

• Assistant Superintendent for Student Services Patricia Bullard gave a thorough presentation on Student Services
  • Click the image above to learn more about the trends in student needs, and support available for all our Masconomet students 
• High School Principal Peter Delani reported:
  • A thought-provoking presentation was made to students by Michael Hendrix, IDEO Global Director of Design
  • Peer Leaders, NHS, and Student Council involved in community service engagement, and guiding students on fundraising and other service work for the Ronald McDonald House
    • Freshman Walk is this Friday, Oct 18!
  • Spanish exchange students have arrived
  • For more details on these and other highschool highlights, visit the HS prinicipal's blog
• The School Committee voted in favor of nine resolutions and one bylaw change as presented by the Mass. Association of School Committees (MASC) in the MASC Resolution Report 2019
• The School Committee extends our gratitude for MEF grants toward Psychology Club field trip and Spanish Exchange trip, and also to the High School Hockey Booster donation toward a banner for the gym. Thank you!

If you have questions, please contact our committee chair, Tasha Cooper, at tcooper@masconomet.org.

“We are in the business of helping kids navigate, deal with, and overcome failure.”  - Pete Delani

This month, the school committee has been working on our goals for the year. In this transition year with our new administrative leadership, we intend to tie our actions to Vision 2025 through strategic planning, capital planning, and community engagement.

Highlights from this month's meetings include:

• Turf Field Presentation from Stantec
• Principal's report on new composting/recycling program, collaboration with Anti-Defamation League, and partnership with the Ronald McDonald House charity in Charlestown - (more details in the full Summary Notes below)
• Introduction of School Committee Blog and other community outreach methods
• Welcoming our new Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations, Jeff Sands

Click here to read full Summary Notes from the 9.04.2019 Meeting

Click here to read full Summary Notes from the 9.18.2019 Meeting

If you have questions, please contact our committee chair, Tasha Cooper, at tcooper@masconomet.org.

Subscribe Here

“It [Project-Based Learning] creates an aspect of authenticity, because we are creating something for an audience.”

- High Tech High teacher in Most Likely To Succeed 

On Wednesday, August 21 the members of our School Committee gathered together for a retreat at the Flint Library in Middleton. Guided by Superintendent Dr. Mike Harvey and Committee Chair Tasha Cooper, the purpose of the retreat was to inspire critical and creative thinking about our education system and set goals for the upcoming year.

To that end, we watched and discussed the documentary film Most Likely To Succeed, from Director Greg Whiteley and Executive Producer Ted Dintersmith. Their website says: “The film explores compelling new approaches that aim to revolutionize education as we know it, inspiring school communities to reimagine what students and teachers are capable of doing.”

We were inspired. We discussed connections between Masconomet and the featured school, High Tech High; we shared our perspectives on the history, challenges, predictions, and purpose of public education today; we touched on assessment measures, variations in time-block structures, school ranking systems, the skills that foster success, the nature of success, the path of a student’s education, and the flexibility involved in innovation.

Then we closed by working together to draft goals for this year. These drafts will evolve over the next couple meetings, and then we will share our goals with you, our community, and continue to use them as our guide.

We encourage you to check out Most Likely To Succeed, too. There will be public viewings of the film at Masconomet this year. Learn more and view the trailer here: teddintersmith.com/mltsfilm

If you have questions, please contact our committee chair, Tasha Cooper, at tcooper@masconomet.org.