[Superintendent's Update] Superintendent's Update

[Needham Public Schools Superintendent's Update]

Dear Needham Public Schools Families:

*(If you know longer wish to receive these updates, please follow the
"unsubscribe" directions below.)*

Allow me to share the following updates as we conclude the school year and
head into summer vacation:

*•  Portrait of a Needham Graduate  *Attached to this email is the *Portrait
of a Needham Graduate FY20 District Plan* presentation the School Committee
reviewed at its meeting on Tuesday evening, June 18th.  If approved by the
School Committee at their July 12th meeting, the plan will frame the
district's work for next school year and beyond.  I encourage you to
provide any feedback or suggestions about the plan by contacting the School
Committee via email:  schoolcommittee at needham.k12.ma.us

*• Administrative Appointments  *Several Needham staff members recently
were appointed to new roles in the district:   *Jamie Singelais*  has
accepted my offer to become the district's new Director of English Language
Learner Education (ELL).  High Rock's *Maggie Charron* and Hillside's *Raylene
Roberts* have been appointed to the position of assistant principal at
their respective schools:  Ms. Charron will serve in the permanent position
after a year as the interim AP, and Ms. Roberts will serve as the interim
AP at the new Sunita L. Williams Elementary School.  *Andrea Vargas*, who
has been serving in the role of interim assistant principal at Newman, has
been appointed to the permanent assistant principal at that school, and *Erin
Vacaro*, who has also served as interim assistant principal/special
education coordinator at Hillside, has been appointed to the position of
special education coordinator at the Sunita L. Williams Elementary School.
NHS science teacher *Mary Kay Alessi* has accepted the position of interim
assistant principal at the high school. Thanks to these dedicated and
talented educators for stepping up and into these important administrative
roles in our district!

*•  Student Accolades  *It's been over two weeks since 430 NHS grads
received their diplomas on Memorial Field under  sunny skies!  As the year
has concluded, several students throughout the district have received the
following recognitions:

*- Girls' Lacrosse Academic All-Stars* NHS Coach Paula Kelley shared the
exciting news that an unprecedented number of lacrosse players were named
as academic all stars:  *Maeve Barker, **Abby Dateo, **Chloe Newman, **Lilly
Callahan, *and *Elena Oberle.  *To put this success into perspective, the
EMASS region that Needham is included in covers 170 schools and only the
top 25 girls qualify for the US Lacrosse All Academic Team.  To have 5 of
the total 25 come from NHS is awesome and speaks to their abilities, their
parents' support, and their coach's and teachers' dedication.

- Needham High School students *John Lively, Zachary Lu, Shayan Raza,
and **Anne
Stein* earned the National Speech & Debate Academic All American Award which
recognizes academic rigor, competitive speech and debate success, and
personal excellence.

- Needham High School senior, *Ethan Lee, *was selected as one of 621
semifinalists in the nation to advance to the final round of the 2019
Presidential Scholars competition based on academic achievement, personal
characteristics, leadership, and service activities.

- *Hillside School *submitted podcasts to the National Public Radio (NPR)
Podcast Challenge and two podcasts were recognized as "two of the absolute
top submissions."   Students in *Laura Miller's* class who created the
"Clowning"
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JpmqtRhEOcgB-Cp1p2zCSkXxX4x--TD3/view>
podcast
were *Isabella Lee* and *Francesca DePaul*;* Raylene Roberts'* student
podcasters who produced "Stop Touching My Hair"
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P7KcPdpeCPZgpNKh1Vnub6Ynb4-G1ibJ/view>
 were *Engelika Perez Torres *and *Madison Swan.*

*- Pollard National History Day Team* Congratulations to the National
History Day team from Pollard: *Sylvia* *Azer, Audrey Finelli, Eve
Kirstein, and Caroline Pinti *who won first place in the Boston National
History Day Regionals for their research project on the impact of the Flu
of 1919 on Needham.

*• Superintendent's Blog *Please check out my most recent post about the
generosity and innovative spirit of the Needham Education Foundation
(NEF):  Superintendent's Blog <http://npssuperintendent.blogspot.com/>

*• Needham Schools Spotlight* Please check out the most recent Needham
Schools Spotlight cable show featuring the backgrounds and experiences of
seven of Needham's amazing teachers.  The program is available on local
access TV, the Needham Channel or online:  Needham Schools Spotlight
<http://www.needham.k12.ma.us/news/what_s_new/needham_schools_spotlight>

Now, after a long year, it's time to enjoy the summer break and have fun
with families and friends.  Please know I am proud to serve as your
superintendent and value your continued collaboration as we support the
hopes and dreams of your children.

Happy Summer!

Respectfully,

Dan Gutekanst
Superintendent
Needham Public Schools
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.needham.k12.ma.us/pipermail/superintendents_update/attachments/20190620/e41f6afc/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: PORTRAIT FY20 PLAN - School Committee presentation June 2019(v6).pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 567634 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.needham.k12.ma.us/pipermail/superintendents_update/attachments/20190620/e41f6afc/attachment-0001.pdf>