BMR school district to get state visit next week
BLACKSTONE — The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will be sending a visiting team to the Blackstone-Millville Regional School District next month for a so-called Coordinated Program Review, which scrutinizes school operations every six years.
The routine review, which will cover the areas of special education, civil rights and English language learning, will be conducted during the week of Feb. 12.
School Superintendent Allen W. Himmelberger said the visits are routinely conducted by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to satisfy federal and state requirements for the periodic review of specific education programs and services in schools throughout the state.
“The department is reviewing several programs during a single visit in order to use department and school staff’s time most efficiently and to encourage strong connections among the programs,” he said.
After reviewing school district procedures for these programs, a Department team will make its onsite visit, during which it will review individual student records, interview administrators, teachers and paraprofessional staff, survey parents and observe instructional
spaces. After the onsite visit, it will prepare a report for the superintendent and School Committee with detailed findings for each program.
Using a scale of ratings ranging from “Commendable” to “Not Implemented,” the report will rate the implementation of each requirement reviewed by the department.
Where requirements are found not implemented or only partially implemented, the district must propose to the department corrective action to bring those areas into compliance with statutes and regulations. Districts and schools are encouraged to incorporate the corrective action into their district, and school improvement plans and professional development plan. The school district will be provided with technical assistance from the department in developing a corrective action plan.
Last year, a five-member visiting team with the Center for District and School Accountability (CDSA), which monitors and reviews the efforts of Massachusetts school districts to improve academic achievement, visited the Blackstone-Millville Regional School District for three days for a top-to-bottom review.
The CDSA acts as an auditor within the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to review school districts across the state and report these reviews to policymakers and the public.
Before 2008, this oversight function was done by the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (EQA), which acted as an independent sister agency of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
In August 2008, the Massachusetts Legislature created the CDSA as the successor agency to the EQA, and integrated it into the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
A state law in effect since 2000 requires all school districts in the state to undergo an accountability review every six years.
The review is essentially an audit that looks at a district’s finances, curriculum, professional development, overall student achievement, MCAS support and improvement plans, management, and governance. The process includes a three-day district visit that includes visits to individual schools and meetings with administrators, teachers, parents and union officials.
This was the Blackstone-Millville Regional School District’s first accountability review.
The Blackstone-Millville Regional School District serves the needs of students from the towns of Blackstone and Millville and is comprised of five schools: the Blackstone-Millville Regional High School, the Frederick W. Hartnett Middle School, the Millville Elementary School, the John F. Kennedy Elementary School and the Augustine F. Maloney Elementary School.