At the School Committee on Sept. 10, Superintendent David Fleishman noted that the school year began before Labor Day for the first time in years, which depressed attendance during the first two days but otherwise produced a smooth opening aided by mild weather in buildings without air conditioning.
Official enrollment figures will be reported after October 1. Kindergarten is slightly above projection and one grade at Happy Hollow is higher than expected.
Looking ahead, Fleishman said the district received a multi-year $100,000 grant from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Partnership for Reading Success initiative to support training during the literacy-curriculum pilot and to help cover up to half the cost of a new K–2 (and possibly K–3) program. He noted no unbudgeted positions were added to start the year, and quarterly financial updates will resume. The committee asked for future briefings on Bridges, math implementation and achievement data, mental health survey results, anti-discrimination protocols and AI guidance.
Attendance
Assistant Superintendent Betsy Gavron presented 2023–24 attendance results after the district made student attendance a priority. Chronic absenteeism (missing 10% or more of the school year, or at least 18 days) was recorded for 17.9% of all students in 2022–23, with much higher rates among several subgroups. The district scored zero out of four attendance points in state accountability that year.
For 2023–24, the district developed a Student Opportunity Act plan. School-based attendance teams met at least every three weeks, a district working group met five times to align legal requirements and best practices, and a district attendance team of administrators and partners, including Youth and Family Services Director Jay Verhoosky and Head Nurse Heather Yates, monitored patterns and coordinated responses.
The district and principals emphasized early messaging on why attendance matters; sent standardized notices at four and eight days absent at the high school, at five and 10 days at other schools, and at 15 days districtwide; used student and family interview tools to identify barriers; and celebrated improvements.
By March, chronic absenteeism had fallen to 10.3%, and by the end of the year to 10.2%. Gavron said subgroup rates also dropped markedly, though work continues where nearly a quarter of Black and African American students were previously chronically absent.
District budget
The committee approved the 2025–26 district budget. Fleishman said revisions since August 18 added clearer measures, including establishing baseline executive-function skills against developmental expectations and targets for improvement, and, at the committee’s request, an operations action to “develop and strengthen the partnership” between town and school facilities teams. Fleishman also proposed a yearlong slate of scheduled reports and updates for upcoming meetings.
Title IX
Members also voted to send a revised Title IX/sexual harassment policy vetted by town counsel for public comment. Director of Student Services Ronnie Kessler is the Title IX coordinator.
Maintenance requests
Director of Finance and Operations Kirsteen Patterson said a new work-order ticketing system will centralize and prioritize custodial and maintenance requests. Principals, assistant principals and Patterson will have oversight to initiate tickets and Facilities Director Michael Faia will coordinate janitorial staffing and response. Patterson said the goal is to move away from hallway interruptions and ad hoc sticky-note requests, create a common standard for emergency work and routine needs, and track completion data.
Extended School Year
Director of Student Services Ronnie Kessler reported on Extended School Year services, which are added to a student’s individualized education program when needed to prevent regression. Programs ran at Loker, in Boston and virtually, with language-based programming, Learning Academy, Milestones and Achieve, TCW and a high school program that included volunteering at Pegasus. The Pegasus and STEAM Explorers Summer Program is designed for students entering preK through grade 8.
Student participation included 14 preschoolers, 10 students in Milestones and Achieve, 12 in the language-based classroom, 10 in the Learning Academy and four in life skills, plus students receiving tutoring and itinerant therapies. Staffing included a board-certified behavior analyst, a certified occupational therapy assistant with an overseeing occupational therapist, a physical therapist contracted through Easter Seals, two speech-language pathologists, seven program teachers, three tutors and 18 assistants.
Kessler moved summer planning up by four weeks to early March, coordinated schedules with the Pegasus day program at Loker, and used parent surveys to match flexible timing and extended hours, including virtual sessions. The district also funded services for students attending METCO’s four-week Boston summer program for a second year.
Nayagara Viera, Director of Wayland Schools Community Programs, said Pegasus served 134 students in grades preK–5 and 19 middle school students, with six high school students in a counselors-in-training role. The program ran two three-week sessions over 29 days, extended dismissal time to 3:30 p.m., and held a five-to-one camper-to-staff ratio with shared ESY support.
New offerings included “STEAM Explorers” branding for middle schoolers, a daily specialty rotation, an afternoon creation lab with a “Shark Tank” project cycle, and an incentive “Pegasus Dollars” economy. Field trips included a university museum and an organic farm, and the police and fire departments visited. Viera said CITs earned community-service hours and led activities after pre-summer interviews and training.
Gavron detailed additional summer work. METCO ran a middle-school Transitions Program to build academic readiness, technology familiarity and community through daily circle practice, as well as a Boston-based Summer Enrichment Program for incoming K–5 students that served 12 children and focused on academics, confidence-building and childcare.
Administrators held a summer retreat that included training on the SCARF framework for change management. Restorative justice training expanded to a second tier, new educators completed culturally responsive teaching coursework, and 44 educators took co-teaching training. Middle school staff piloted planning with artificial intelligence.
The district funded 153 days of summer curriculum work from the operating budget and 77 days through grants, including METCO, Special Education, Hate Crimes Prevention, Innovation Career Pathways and Title III. Highlights included pre-K Bridges math planning, fifth-grade Investigating History backward design, Fundations scope and sequence alignment, updates to the sexual abuse awareness curriculum, middle-school writing and math skills courses, Writing Center redesign, Spanish immersion revisions in grades 6–7, ninth-grade ELA text review; statistics data-set modernization, unified K–12 wellness planning, and English learner scope and sequence work across WIDA levels.
