Dear Medfield Families,
We are excited to welcome our students back for the 2023-2024 school year! The teachers, staff, and administrators have been busy all summer in preparation for the start of school. Our schools are clean, bright, and ready to go! We want to extend a special welcome to the 77 students (55 families) in PreK-12 who are new to the Medfield Public Schools and this wonderful community. Over the past two months, we have completed many facility upgrades. Unless noted, these projects were supported by the generosity of the Town of Medfield through the capital budget process at the Annual Town Meeting. The projects include:
Memorial School: New flooring in caféteria and replacement of two split units
Wheelock School: New flooring outside the gym/one classroom, new carpet in the library, and new carpet in the main office
Dale Street School: Faculty Room renovation (flooring, cabinets, new sink- Thank you PTO!), stage curtain removed in gym, ceiling tile replacement, lighting replaced in three classrooms, new flooring in the hallway of the modular units, and main stairway repair
Blake Middle School: HVAC work in four rooms, new AC in two rooms, new flooring in two rooms, new carpet in the guidance area, and new flooring, paint, and seats in the auditorium (almost complete- Thank you MCPE!)
Medfield High School: New roof over the gymnasium and new fire alarm system
The summer is also an important time for research and development for our teaching staff. This summer, 25 projects took place involving 74 teachers. Some highlights include early literacy strategies, culturally responsive practices, middle school assessment practices, robotics/engineering, and Social Emotional Learning strategies/curriculum. In addition, all of our elementary teachers participated in mathematics professional development to assist with the implementation of our new program. Utilizing the summer for staff development and collaboration is essential as we continue to focus on continuous growth and innovation.
At the end of the 2022-2023 school year, the Strategic Plan Steering Committee completed our new five-year strategic plan. On July 24th the new plan was presented and approved by the Medfield School Committee. The document is currently at a graphic design firm with an anticipated rollout of the finished strategic plan document in a few weeks.
We are so thrilled to begin the 2023-2024 school year and we can't wait to see our Grades 1-12 students tomorrow morning and then our Pre-K and Kindergarten children next week. There has been great energy over the past two days of meetings and we are ready for an amazing year! As always, please contact your child's teacher, principal, or me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Jeff Marsden