District Information

The following report was presented at School Committee on 11/15/23 as indicated by the date of the report. For any questions, please contact Superintendent Lamarche at slamarche@dcrsd.org. 

Click here to view or print a copy of the latest Superintendent's Report.

DUDLEY-CHARLTON REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

School Committee - Superintendent’s Report

11.15.2023

This evening I share our deepest sympathies to the Arnold family for the loss of their daughter Sarah. This is extremely painful and fills family, friends and our school community with deep sorrow. Grief and the challenge of emotions is real and experienced differently. We are here for the Arnold family and will do everything we can to provide support and access to support for the Arnold family, friends, and members of the Dudley-Charlton RSD. Again, this is truly tragic and we express our deepest sympathies.

Tonight, I report to you and the community that a Dudley-Charlton leader of significance, Mr. Richard Mathieu has accepted a position in another district and will be leaving the Dudley-Charlton RSD as the Director of Finance and Operations.

Mr. Mathieu has served the Dudley-Charlton RSD for more than eight years and under three superintendents. Mr. Mathieu's professional contributions to the Dudley-Charlton RSD are pivotal and monumental for the ongoing success of our school district. Of particular note, Mr. Mathieu has a remarkable, unique skill set that spans both municipal and school finance. The District benefited from this vast knowledge time and time again. Mr. Mathieu was the leader and stalwart that established the Massachusetts Strategic Health Group (MSHG). Not only has MSHG proven to be an innovative model for group or consortium health groups, it remains to be consumer friendly while also establishing a viable fiscal management framework. As an example, our retirees' insurance remains comparable to 2019 rates. In addition, Mr. Mathieu fiscally prepared and administered an Operational Override in 2018, Capital Plan in 2022, and an Operational Override ion 2023. For most, these are lifetime achievements, but for Mr. Mathieu, he exhaustively achieved these in a little over eight years with a pandemic sandwiched in-between.

Mr. Mathieu may never receive the public recognition he deserves, but what I can share is he is well respected in his field and internally, we are thankful for his commitment to the success of the Dudley-Charlton RSD. We are better because of Mr. Mathieu.

We know that he is not going to far as a resident of Dudley and a parent of a Dudley-Charlton RSD student. We look forward to ongoing professional dialog with Mr. Mathieu and know that he is a phone call away.

We have posted the opening and will established a search group to find the next Director of Finance and Operations for the Dudley-Charlton RSD.

As a reminder tomorrow, Thursday, November 16, 2023 is an early-release day for all students. Prekindergarten to grade 4 is holding parent conferences and with our continued commitment to school safety, all middle school and high school staff will receive an annual Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate (ALICE) refresher training tomorrow. Additionally, SHRHS students were presented with an ALICE lesson Thursday, November 9, 2023 and we are planning for age-appropriate lessons in all other schools. I would like to publicly acknowledge Principal Peter Olson for leading our District in this critical safety protocol and trainings.

This week, the Dudley-Charlton Leadership Council (DCLC) had the Co-Founder and CEO of ByDesign, Mr. Arthur Emma, attend their meeting. Mr. Emma shared his pathway through his entrepreneurial experience. As a starting point, Mr. Emma grew up in rural Wisconsin, attended Boston University as a member of their crew team and was also student body president. He shared how he was a high school history teacher who was passionate about student productivity and student goal setting. IIe left teaching to work for startups and eventually found ByDesign at Dartmouth College. He shared his knowledge about tech incubators and acceleration labs. Lastly, he presented his student-centered software ByDesign that takes the view of the student in organizing classes, planning their lives and engage in their school community in one location. The DCLC is looking at ByDesign as their pilot project for this school year.

Mr. Emma shared that he was "blown away by our students and the impact of the DCLC in general.  [He has] met with students across the country, but yesterday was a significant highlight [for him]."

Rams Read celebrated and had their 2023 Awards get-together at Point Breeze last Tuesday, November 7, 2023. Rams Read has been in place at SHRHS for years but expanded to all schools this past summer. Rams Read is a fun, summer reading initiative to get staff together. This is voluntary and culminates with a celebration in the fall. This is incredible effort to bring DCRSD staff together across all schools and full credit goes to Ms. Kristen Griffiths from SHRHS.

I write to update the Dudley PTO happenings. 

• The Dudley PTO Turkey Trot is Thursday, November 23, 2023. Registration is still open.
• The Dudley PTO wreath night is December 6, 2023 at Point Breeze and kits are still available. The attached form is due by November 22, 2023.
• Cookies with Santa at Dudley Middle School is December 1, 2023. The attached form is due by November 22, 2023.
• Once again, the Dudley PTO is planning a "Light the Night" on Saturday December 8^th and Sunday December 9^th. The attached form to submit your house is due November 30, 2023.

To learn more about Dudley PTO please go to their Facebook page or their website.

We continue to have a real need of paraprofessionals across our district.

• These full-time roles are benefit eligible
• An hourly rate from $17.88 - $24.99 based on experience and education
• Additional stipends available depending on an assigned position

As always, we continually look to build a substitute nurse pool as the daily need for this position in our schools is critical. As a District, credential, substitute school nurses earn $220 per day.

We post open positions, to include the aforementioned on our website through SchoolSpring.

If you are interested in a listed or posted position in our District, please feel free to contact a school Principal or Special Education Coordinator to inquire.

SC Agenda Item E.

1. We have a SHRHS student returning from an out of district placement
2. We have two students transition form Early Intervention to Charlton Elementary School

As a reminder, these are the School Committee fiscal year 2024 budget priorities.

• Maintain foreign language programs at the middle schools
• Restore 0.5 FTE librarian at each middle schools
• Maintain average class size of 22 for Grades K-8
• Update District website utilizing internal resources
• Retain kindergarten aides
• Add accounting/data specialist
• Explore full day pre-k programs

• Explore in-district specialized transportation rather than contracted service model
• Explore regionalization of middle schools by grade level to see if there are potential budgetary savings

• Reduce annual usage of Excess and Deficiency support to $500,000 per year, and increase contingency line item so that budget matches usage.
• Reduce reliance on School Choice by 20% ($180,000)
• Eliminate the use of Transportation Revolving Fund support or reach understanding with both communities that this is an amount which will vary year to year and should be viewed as an additional reduction to the assessment, rather than a fixed/promised budgetary offset.

Respectfully Submitted By: 

Link to report card on dese website

The Department recently made the 2022 school and district report cards available on the report cards website. The site also contains supporting documentation related to report cards, including a glossary and a sample report card cover letter, both of which are available in English and nine other languages. This helpful powerpoint explains the report card distribution requirements.

 As a reminder, the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires that districts receiving Title I funds distribute report cards to all parents or guardians of students enrolled in district schools. For more information, including details about electronic distribution, visit the website, email esea@doe.mass.edu, or call (781) 338-3550.

The Dudley-Charlton Regional School Committee has delegated the responsibility for selection and evaluation of library/media resources to educational professionals (e.g., licensed librarians) and has established reconsideration procedures to address concerns about those resources. Completion of this form is the first step in those procedures.

Form