This is a more we'll see

I think this is a positive move , however school choice who also pays taxes and funds to the school should of  been asked and added to this group .  
What happen last year was far from a little hiccup , it was a disaster ! It not only put the school in a whirlwind , but communities as well. Not to mention teachers worried about if they would have jobs or not .
 My first suggestion to this group is to watch the BUDGET. This is where you will need to make sure you are on top of your game. I warn you Miller is . This SC is clearly under her thumb and you may be  allowed to speak , but nothing states you will be heard .
We will also be watching  and reporting . As of now you have our support.

NORTHFIELD — After a rather tumultuous end to the 2015-2016 school year, residents of the Pioneer Valley Regional School District have formed a Community Committee.
The ad-hoc group was organized over the summer by Jack Killeen, 69, of Bernardston, who has had three children attend Pioneer Valley Regional School and whose wife and son are teachers there.
“This year has seen a lot of upset and it just seemed like that hurt a lot of things,” Killeen said. “I thought the best thing to do would be to move forward in a positive way.”
Killeen said he wanted to create a committee of residents to help Pioneer move forward in a positive way. Near the end of the previous school year, Superintendent Ruth Miller faced sharp criticism from parents, staff and students on several fronts, particularly over what was seen as high staff turnover.
Pioneer’s acting Principal Mike Duprey, Computer Network Manager Mike Holloway, Director of Special Education Sharon Jones and Bill Wehrli, principal of PVRS before Duprey, were all long-term staff members who resigned within the year. Outraged community members outwardly expressed their frustrations with the turnover at May and June School Committee meetings.

The mistakes made during the previous school year are all history now, Killeen said.
“Pioneer has a lot going for it,” he said. “We had a little hiccup, but people in the community thought that we wanted to accentuate the positive. It seemed to me that the best way to do that was to have representatives from all four of the towns.”
Killeen sought out residents of Northfield, Bernardston, Leyden and Warwick who would be interested in serving on what he decided to call the Pioneer Valley School District Community Committee.
“It’s a diverse kind of group that we’re trying to pull together for the greater good,” Killeen said.
It currently includes nine members: Killeen, John Lepore, Kim Willis, Martha Parker, Karen O’Neil, Jed Proujansky, Jennifer Chabott, Michele Giarusso and Sue O’Reilly-McRae. All members are former or current parents of Pioneer students, former Pioneer faculty or staff, former members of the Pioneer school committee, or members of town government.
“I think anytime you can have better communication and collaboration, it’s important,” said Giarusso, Community Committee member and chairwoman of the Leyden Finance Committee.
Killeen said the goal of the group will be to preserve Pioneer’s core values such as open communication within the school, diversity in the classroom, sound personnel practices and teamwork toward common goals. To do this, he said the group will meet several times a year to discuss topics members feel are important to be addressed at the next School Committee meeting.
“The (chairwoman) of the School Committee (Patricia Shearer) has indicated we can be a regular part of the agenda,” Killeen said. The Community Committee members introduced themselves before the School Committee at the Aug. 25 meeting.
Killeen said members of the community are welcome to contact him with concerns they might have about the school district, and are welcome to become members of the Community Committee themselves. Killeen can be reached by phone at 413-648-9703.

Speak out

OK ,lets hear what you think of this . Not only was the budget taken into consideration  but also the taxpayers  and needs of the children by Union 38.
We have Warwick, Bernardston and PVRS High School and Northfield Elem.  The different depts could be moved to another School such as Special Ed etc and Warwick is a large school with a low student count which could be used for Superintendent . Why are taxpayers footing a bill for a large  building which is a large expense , when we have other options in front of us that are more reasonable and already have the available space needed and paid for ?




WHATELY — Union 38 central school offices will likely move into converted classroom space at Frontier Regional School.
Following months of looking for a new building to house administration staff, after tests found poor air quality in the current administration building on Christian Lane, the school district has decided to use existing school space.
A report on air quality in the building found the health of employees’ has been adversely impacted. The report recommended the school district remedy the situation as soon as possible — by either moving employees or upgrading ventilation systems to ensure clean air quality.
In a statement, Superintendent Lynn M. Carey said a sub-committee formed to investigate potential locations agreed earlier this month to move the school offices from Christian Lane to other district-owned locations.
“A vote was made to pursue the Frontier Regional School as the most appropriate relocation of the central office,” the statement said, noting that the space the offices will move into is “surplus to the educational needs” of the school district.

Before deciding, the sub-committee also looked into what it would cost to repair the current building, and considered renting space in the Whately Town Office building on Sandy Lane at more than $20,000 per year — a location that is also being considered as the future home of South County EMS.
When the news first broke earlier this year, members of the sub-committee estimated it would cost the school at least $50,000 just to patch up the current building, a former elementary school. Repair costs would be in addition to the roughly $24,000 it takes to annually maintain the building.
In the end, Carey said, the school sub-committee decided based on costs and a need for more space than the town of Whately could offer.
“The space at Frontier Regional School was 4,500 square feet as opposed to 2,600 square feet at Sandy Lane,” she wrote, adding that costs to modify existing structures owned by the school is the most financially responsible path to take.
“The best use of district funds includes using the space that the taxpayers own and currently maintain,” the statement concluded.

Special shout out to Mr. Duprey

Your presence is missed and sadness fills  many of our hearts today as this year begins and you are not here to welcome us .

We wish you all the best and we thank you for all the years you gave us and what you taught us.

Those children who walk into your  building today are blessed beyond measure to have someone like you to guide them.

Be well and we hope to see you at some of our games. You are and always will be a part of PVRS.

Welcome PVRS Students and Teachers to 2016/2017

Welcome to a new year and Congrats to the new Seniors.
Lets hope not much damage has been done and we can keep a lid on things.

What we need to watch closely is the budget .. first and foremost .

Secondly, because enrollment is down we have alot of available space within the school , now would be a good time to  move back from main street to the school or fix the old Superintendents building . Way to much money is being wasted on a rental and no, we should not be buying a new building when we have available ones that can be used . This money can be used in others areas where its needed more.
 I can guarantee you that  this building and buying it  is first and foremost on Millers agenda .
 Also now  that we are also paying LESS for qualified teachers etc,( all high paying teachers were forced out or left ) we should also have a surplus and if we rid tax payers of the burden of extra expenses of the building no longer really needed , when as I stated room is available in the school , this only adds to the surplus.  Again, the warning is clear , watch the budget . 

Next Meeting is 9/22/16 @ PVRS

                                                                   We are watching ..

Whats up Mass ?

 What is going on with Mass schools?  Seems like  the Head of the Dept of ED is NOT on the job.  You can also tell who  the ones are  creating the issues they are the ones who see no issues or problems , and YES , it very much so affects the kids . This we  have seen and will see more so in a few weeks .
Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee we have a Superintendent who will fit right in for  you , gladly given.  :) For that matter a SC who is just as useless.





Suspicion, mistrust and deception on the Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee, and its continued dysfunction, are cited by Leverett representative Sarah Dolven in a resignation letter to the nine-member panel.
In the email sent to her former colleagues Aug. 19, and released by school officials to the Gazette Wednesday, Sarah Dolven wrote that “I felt I could no longer ethically continue participating in the process” after resigning following the committee’s Aug. 17 meeting.
Dolven, who rejoined the regional board in May after a year in which Kip Fonsh served as Leverett’s representative, added “I am truly heartsick at the level of dysfunction in this committee, and the level of suspicion, mistrust and deception that is apparent.”
Dolven wrote in her email that she regarded her return to the regional committee as provisional because she was not sure she could make the time commitment due to professional and family obligations. Dolven also thanked her colleagues.
“I respect each and every member of the committee and honor their commitment to serving the school district, and I hope that somehow the committee and the community can get back on track and work together to support our schools,” she wrote.

Dolven continues as a member of the Leverett School Committee.
Her resignation came a week after regional committee and the Union 26 School Committee agreed on a $309,238 payment to former superintendent Maria Geryk to leave her position. The agreement was reached following four executive sessions and the issuing of a demand letter in which Geryk is alleged to have threatened legal action against the committee and its members.
Amherst School Committee his Chairwoman Katherine Appy said in an email Wednesday that she shares Dolven’s view that there is dysfunction on the regional committee.
“In response to her comments, I agree that the committee has been dysfunctional and I too hope that the community will rally in support of the schools,” Appy said.
But Appy said that she is “very sad” Dolven chose to depart from the regional committee’s work.
“She was an intelligent voice of reason on our committee,” Appy said.
Differing views Vira Douangmany Cage, another elected Amherst representative, said she is not sure that dysfunction is the right term.
”Disagreement is not dysfunction, challenging is not dysfunction,” she said. “Part of our democracy is to have differing opinions.”
Being elected to a school committees carries more responsibilities than being on a parent-teacher group, she said.
“It’s a very serious issue, a very serious job and we should come prepared to handle a lot of pressure and stress,” Douangmany Cage said. “It’s a commitment, not a hobby.”
Rick Hood, who served six years on the Amherst School Committee, said he believes the talk about dysfunction is overblown and not a good thing, though it only has minimal impact on the day-to-day learning in the classroom.
He attributes the dysfunction to people not talking to each other to clarify and resolve issues, instead making assumptions that can inflame relationships.
Second, Hood said there is what he calls an “invisible hand” that restrains public debate in favor of support for the superintendent’s position.
“We get into a vicious circle where restraint on debate causes an angry response, which in turn clamps down more on debate, and creates more angry response,” Hood said.
Having more sense of humor about even serious matters could reduce this tension, he said.
Jean Fay, president of the Amherst-Pelham Education Association, said in an email she is confident that Geryk’s departure, and the internal dynamics on the school committee, will not have an impact on the schools, observing that staff in all school buildings in Amherst and Pelham have been working hard in recent weeks to prepare for the new school year.
“The educators of the Amherst schools have always and will continue to be focused on the students,” Fay said. “It’s who we are as educators.”
As a special education para-educator, Fay said she is excited to start the new school year and to make connections with her students that last long after they graduate.
“I’m not sure if I can put into words the joy that educators feel when we see our students grasp a concept, or when they’re able to do a task all on their own for the first time,” Fay said. “That’s what we’re focused on; everything else is just noise.”
Former Regional School Committee Chairman Lawrence O’Brien said he observed disagreements during time on the board, which ended in March 2015, but not dysfunction.
“Certainly there were differences of opinion and points of contention between members, but that is to be expected on a democratically elected governing body that represents a community with a diversity of opinion about our schools,” O’Brien said.
Like Hood and Fay, O’Brien said he is confident that high-quality instruction will continue in Amherst’s classrooms.
Previous issuesConcerns about turmoil on the regional committee have existed for several years, and the board held a retreat at Amherst College in August 2014 in which it brought in a trained mediator.
Dolven, who was on the regional committee at the retreat in 2014, expressed optimism at that time, saying, “My hope is that starting today we can really figure out a way to heal our committee, and hopefully the community can come together.”
An earlier retreat was held in July 2010, moderated by the executive directors of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and Massachusetts Association of School Committees in which the committee discussed how to engage in conversations about how members behaved toward each other and toward the administration.
At that time, John Connolly, a representative from a consultant hired by the committee, told the members that there was not a great response from Massachusetts candidates during a search for a permanent superintendent because of publicity about the “dysfunction” of the regional committee.
“A superintendent wants a School Committee that works together,” Connolly explained.
Hood said having more time for retreats, including a representative from the state association of school committees, could help members answer questions and discuss how they should go about their work.
“The retreats we have had in recent years were not long enough to do enough good, and have only been annual,” Hood said. “At the last one I attended, I felt like some really honest discussion was about to happen, but then we ran out of time.”
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.

PVRS WE ARE WATCHING

VERNON UPDATE

VERNON VOTES TO KEEP SCHOOL CHOICE.
Vernon Vermont Brattleboro Union High School District withdrawal vote 374 yes 124 no

WILL UPDATE MORE TOMORROW  

UPDATE

THURSDAY AUG 25TH @ PVRS - SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING .

MAKE SURE TO ATTEND.