The update asked for

I was asked by someone to get information about Bacon  and the fact that a First Year Principal  is already  on a vacation not for two weeks like they thought  , its actually a 3 week paid vacation! It was confirmed.

Here's the  problem .A freeze was put on the budget to get thru the year . Also the master schedule was NOT done correctly . 

 Full time teachers are supposed to teach 5 blocks a day. Some have only been given 3 or 4 blocks and then they're being thrown into overseeing kids work on portfolios and "online" classes


So  our first two questions should be 
1- Why was Bacon a first year principal given a 3 week vacation with pay with a frozen budget?
2- How was the master schedule messed up ? 
3-An outside audit needs to be done so taxpayer are aware of what is really going on. It seems one thing is said but other things are being done with the teachers  and the care of the students . I also find it appalling that the teachers are working under the stress of loss employment and income.


Teacher are getting constant messages concerning job cuts . They are working under the pressure that they may not have a job  come spring . So far we know No one will be losing their jobs in the semester change but this does not in anyway relieve  concerns and stress.

I do know under good reliable information teachers are having recommendation letters  being written. Where does this leave PVRS losing yet more teachers who make PVRS a strong and proud school?

We are being  told one thing by this School Committee and Superintendent  and a whole lot of another is being done in our school. 

Now , looking back  in Millers past  she has frozen budgets before in order for the taxpayers to back her budgets  and give the money  she requests .I also know she will hit taxpayers where it hurts ( arts and sports and music) to also get her budgets passed at all cost and she will take no prisoners and destroy PVRS in the process as well as towns budgets and put burdens on taxpayers.

Right now at PVRS wasteful spending is at its highest .

1- Rental of superintendent building , when in fact we have a building that could be fixed and also  space in the schools themselves that could be utilized in order to help save money for the schools and taxpayers .

2- Overpaid Administration.  Its off the wall a school this size paying this much for Admins.Pay cuts must be made in this area . 

You can lay back and hope  for the best or  take a stand and speak up. I see the so called committee who is suppose to be  working on the behalf of Students, Teachers and taxpayers  are not only quiet  but nonexistent .

PVRS Jan 26th meeting info inside

NORTHFIELD — Pioneer Valley Regional School’s administration now has a clear vision of what the school should look like in 2021, thanks to a new five-year plan put together by the school council.
According to Principal Jean Bacon, the main goals outlined in the plan include improving seventh and eighth grade performances on Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests and giving students necessary preparation for college or careers following high school.
“We really want students to be college and career ready,” she said during a recent school committee meeting where members of the school council presented the five-year plan. “We want all Pioneer students to have workplace readiness skills … And we want them to all have the personal and social skills to support them in life.”
The school council — which includes Bacon as chairwoman, four parents, four teachers and four faculty members — has been meeting every other week since Pioneer’s open house in September to draft the plan. The final draft was completed Dec. 13.
Middle school improvement The plan explains that the academic performance of Pioneer’s seventh and eighth grade students lags behind that of 10th graders on MCAS tests, in part because of the transition to a new school and the “relative isolation of (the) middle school program from prior school improvement efforts.”

The goal, then, is to increase the proportion of seventh and eighth grade students who score proficient or advanced on MCAS tests in each subject by at least 5 percent by June 2017. This will largely be done through goal setting.
“One of the most impactful ways to raise student achievement is (to) help students develop clear achievement goals and provide frequent formative feedback so they can monitor their progress toward those goals,” the plan reads.
Additionally, the plan dictates the administration will have its seventh and eighth grade faculty hold monthly meetings to set student improvement goals and monitor their progress; train seventh and eighth grade math and science teachers in using new online assessment software to support MCAS-aligned assessment practices; design MCAS-aligned frequent assessments; and implement student-to-student tutoring and mentoring programs for struggling middle school students.
“Juniors and seniors will devote their time for those who need a little more support, during study halls,” Bacon said.
College and career ready As part of the second goal, all eighth and ninth grade students will develop individual learning plans (ILPs) that link their courses and co-curricular experiences to college and career interests by June 2017. ILPs are recommended by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
In the past, Pioneer has offered career fairs and college tours, and in the 2015-2016 school year, introduced a three-lesson career development education (CDE) curriculum for ninth graders. The school council hopes to increase students’ understanding of “the importance of the work they are doing every day in their classes and in the co-curricular activities,” the plan reads.
Going forward, the plan dictates the administration will: work with guidance staff to review the current CDE curriculum; establish a CDE team made up of administrators, faculty and students; incorporate CDE and ILP discussion into conferences led by eighth graders; designate a college and career facilitator from among existing faculty members to lead development of the curriculum and oversee internship experience; and purchase Naviance college and career readiness software. According to Bacon, the software will cost just under $10,000 in the first year because of the training involved, and just under $300 per year after that.
Other improvements Outside the two aforementioned goals, the plan states the school will offer more advanced placement and online classes in heterogeneous groups to support higher levels of student achievement.
Also toward that goal, Bacon said Pioneer hopes to have a personal computer for every student by 2021. She said the current proposal for fiscal year 2018, which is under consideration, is to start by purchasing computers for next year’s ninth graders, moving up over the next four years.
The school committee will vote on whether to approve the new five-year plan during its Jan. 26 meeting in Pioneer’s library.

Blog update

I thought I would give you an update on this blog that was started in June 2016. For such a blog to have this amount of coverage in less than a year , is a heads up we have problems.Time to pay closer attention .

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Girls’ Hoop: Panthers clip Cardinals, 59-36

By JASON BUTYNSKI
Recorder Staff

Friday, January 06, 2017

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Jess Scoville and Caroline Merkle each scored 12 points on Friday night and Pioneer Valley Regional School won its fifth consecutive game with a 59-36 victory over Pope Francis High School in an independent girls’ hoop game at Messer Gymnasium in Northfield.
The Panthers (5-3) ran their winning streak to five games after starting the season out with three consecutive losses. The wins have included victories over teams that would be considered to be on the postseason bubble, and are exactly the games coach Meg Burrington said her team needs to win if it wants to qualify.
“I think after our third loss, our team kind of pulled it together and put a little more intensity into it,” she said. “We beat ourselves in those first three games. Now, we are making layups, finishing and putting points on the board.”
The game wasn’t even as close as the final score indicated. The Panthers limited Pope Francis to 16 points through the first three quarters and led 41-16 going into the fourth quarter when the Cardinals scored 20 points.
Merkle led the team with a double-double, registering 12 points and 10 rebounds. Scoville had 5 boards to go along with her 12 points, and Briana Jobst finished with 8 points and 7 boards. Alexus Vergobbe added 1 point and a team-high 12 rebounds, Maddy Tyson netted 7 points, Olivia Rowe added 6 points, and Amelia Marchand notched 5 points. All 10 of Pioneer’s players scored at least a point.

Chelsea Velasquez led Pope Francis with 19 points, and Megan Driscoll finished with 10 points.

Great Job PVRS boys basketball

 

 Great job Guys

 

 

 

Monday, January 09, 2017

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Tucker Llewelyn scored 22 points and Pioneer Valley Regional School made a statement by knocking off previously unbeaten Turners Falls High School, 57-55, in a Hampshire League boys’ basketball game Monday night at Messer Gymnasium in Northfield.
The game featured two of the top teams in the Hampshire League and it lived up to the billing. Neither team ever mounted much of a lead, and Pioneer coach Scott Thayer said that it felt like every time he looked up, the Indians (7-1) were leading.
But it was the Panthers (6-3) who held an edge in scoring in each of the first three quarters, as Pioneer led 17-16 after the first quarter, 26-24 at halftime, and 39-36 going into the fourth quarter.
Pioneer led by the two points at halftime but Turners Falls came out in the third quarter and went on a run to take a six-point lead before the Panthers fought back.
“We kind of made the plays when we had to,” Thayer said. “Turners was undefeated and obviously there is a reason why. Gary (Mullins) does a great job with them. They play extremely hard and they keep playing hard no matter what happens.

“I thought our kids fought through mental adversity tonight. It seemed like all the forces were playing against us a little bit, but we fought through it and made enough plays to come out on top.”
The Indians had a chance to tie or win the game late. Pioneer held the 57-55 lead with 17 seconds left and the Indians came out of a timeout and attempted to spread out the Panthers’ defense and get a drive to the hoop. The Pioneer defenders stayed home and contested the shot and Brendan Emond grabbed the rebound with 1 second left and was fouled. He missed both shots but Turners Falls could only heave a full-court shot that did not find the mark and the Panthers picked up their biggest win of the young season.
Pioneer led the turnover battle, but Turners Falls had a much better night from the free-throw line. The Indians finished with 23 turnovers to just 14 for the Panthers, but Turners Falls shot 15 of 19 from the charity stripe, while Pioneer shot just 12 of 25.
Aside from Llewelyn’s 22 points, the Panthers did not have another player score more than 5. Jordan Loughman, Hunter Cote, Mike Menard and Tyler Martin each finished with 5 points, while Jacob Hill, Jake Willis and Bryce Dobosz each tossed in 3.
“We hoped that our depth could be an asset this season and tonight I think it was,” Thayer said. “Guys came off of the bench and contributed.”
Tyler Lavin led Turners Falls with 13 points. Anthony Peterson finished with 10, eight of which came on free throws. Tionne Brown netted 9 points, Josh Obuchowski added 8, and Ricky Craver tossed in 6.

Way to go Girls !!

Tuesday, January 03, 2017

It was a sister act Tuesday night at Messer Gymnasium in Northfield.
Sisters Jess and Steph Scoville scored 10 points each and Pioneer Valley Regional School evened its season record at 3-3 with a 47-27 victory over Mohawk Trail Regional High School in a Franklin County League South Division girls’ hoop game.
Jess Scoville continued to do what she has done all season, while younger sister Steph had a bust-out game, notching a career-high 10 points and also grabbing five steals.
The Panthers ran into foul trouble early and a number of players came off the bench and played well, including Steph Scoville. Maddy Tyson finished with 8 points, and Alexus Vergobbe added 6.
“We got into foul trouble early but a lot of bench players came through with some good minutes and put some points board,” Pioneer coach Meg Burrington said. “That just shows that we have different options to score every night.”

Olivia Rowe added 5 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Caroline Merkle scored 4.
Ashley Reynolds led Mohawk (0-6) with 10 points. Emma Poplawski finished with 6.
Pioneer has a big game tonight at Goodnow Gymnasium in South Deerfield, where it meets Frontier Regional School. Burrington said it’s games like this that could be the difference between her team finishing with more or less than 10 wins.
“We’ve got a few bubble games that could go either way,” she cautioned. “It’s up to the girls it they want to play hard every night and get these wins. It’s a matter of getting 13 wins or 8 wins.”

A new year begins

Well I hope your holiday and Christmas was wonderful .

I put off posting this till after the holidays  to get more information.

I have it on good sound information that we have  teachers that are planning to leave, and are having letters of recommendations written. No, I do not know which teachers are thinking of leaving , just that they cannot take anymore .

1- Bacon is making teachers  and students miserable. She does not have the ability to lead  but harass and cause friction seems to be high on her can do  list .

2-Also Concerning an incident that happen earlier this year in Jr High school 8th  grade and how it was handled , seems to concern alot of kids and teachers in the school about Bacon and the schools resource officer ) having certain racial  issues and a child being removed from the school by the parents who seemed concerned for  the child's safety.
I also found it odd that the 2 white  children had 5 day suspension's and 5 days in school suspensions
However , the African American child had 10 days outside of school, even after Bacon was told he was not involved .Did I mention he was also handcuffed ???? No the other two were not .

( Another lawsuit for Pioneer?)

3- I and others are also not liking the idea that certain student are being targeted 

Policing in schools

Zero tolerance policies increase the number of School Resource Officers (SRO) in schools, which increases the contact a student has with the criminal justice system. Students may be referred by teachers or other administrators but most often zero tolerance policies are directly enforced by police or school resource officers.^[1] The practice of increasing the number of police in schools contributes to patterns of criminalization.^[21] This increase in SROs has led to contemporary school discipline beginning to mirror approaches used in legal and law enforcement. Zero tolerance policies increase the use of profiling, a very common practice used in law enforcement. This practice is able to identify students who may engage in misbehavior.

Also a reliable resource told me that  many  students will not be returning to Pioneer next year .They feel their children are targets .

Between Bacon and Miller  they are single-handedly destroying  Pioneer .

Vernon's school choice might also be gone for good  since it was voted down to allow them out of Act46 . However  no child chose Pioneer this year from Vernon and the largest class graduates this year and others who are here might not be next year  from Vernon and than what do we as taxpayers do ?  That's a large sum to lose and its a reality we need to face. I was told by a few Vernon parent if it wasn't for the fact  this year there kids were graduating they would remove them from Pioneer .Many have voiced concerns with the new superintendent and the principal.


So we need to ask , how much longer is the PVRS School Committee gonna allow this abuse  before taking a stand?

PVRS has lot many great teachers  since the beginning of Millers presence here and more are now leaving due to Bacon . Whats to happen to PVRS ??