Superintendent's Newsletter
September 2016
Another Amazing Year Has Just Begun!
On Wednesday we welcomed back our students to Regional School District 13. While our enrollment declines the opportunities here multiply. Our new STEM programming has begun at Strong School led by Mrs. Tina Hurlburt, former Technology Teacher from Memorial School. Students in grades K-6 are participating in Reader's Workshop and high school students continue to have incredible opportunities with new courses such as Unified Music, Electronic Music, Fantasy and Science Fiction, The Graphic Novel, and Introduction to Algebra and Geometry II. Each school will update parents on school changes and improvements and keep you informed of what is happening at your child's school.
Our staff was welcomed back at Convocation where various teachers and staff were recognized for their years of service and this year's Teacher of the Year award was presented to Valerie Swiantek Lyman School Grade 1/2 teacher. Mrs. Swiantek has been a teacher in RSD13 for 10 years. Mrs. Swiantek demonstrates daily the expression "embracing the whole child". She is warm and caring, kind and creative. Her classroom brings the art and science of teaching and learning to a new level and it is evident throughout her classroom. Her enthusiasm is contagious and her kind and respectful connection with children make them feel safe and valued; a sense of belonging. In her "acceptance" speech Mrs. Swiantek talked about the concept of fascination, "No matter what aspect of education you are involved with, we all have the remarkable charge of finding the fascination in every child. What makes each individual excited? What unique characteristic is there to appreciate about each learner? When we find and use that as a catalyst, we have an entry point for pure engagement, genuine learning and critical thinking. It could be as simple as learning that one child prefers to sit on the ground to read. Or it can be as complex as a student pursuing a self-selected project that challenges our own comfort zones. But when we’ve got kids engaged in their own fascination, the learning becomes contagious and as educators, we’re so lucky to facilitate that."
Mrs. Swiantek is among nearly 350 talented employees in Regional School District 13 who love what they do and are committed to children. We are looking forward to a year filled with fascination!
Valarie Swiantek, Teacher of the Year
John Lyman first day of school smile
Brewster students ready to start the year
Investing in Excellence: Focus on Today; Pay Attention to the Future
As always our core ethical values of respect, responsibility, honesty, kindness, and courage define who we are and can be seen and heard throughout the district. This does not happen by accident; we make deliberate decisions so that they remain a vibrant and vital part of our culture. We are continuing to use the Professional Learning Community model on teams throughout the district which means that people come together on a weekly basis to examine various forms of data, identify student learning outcomes and determine the high leverage adult actions that will help students achieve stated outcomes. Finally, we have organized our primary areas of focus across the district as student achievement, well-being and engagement. In next month's newsletter I will share our identified district-level student learning outcomes based on our most recent achievement data. We have identified student well-being as a sense of physical, emotional, and social safety and a sense of belonging. As a school community in addition to the many actions we take to maintain a sense of well-being for staff and students alike, we are being more deliberate about increasing students' sense of belonging by using all students' names. Finally, as a means of increasing students' engagement in learning we are focusing on the 21st Century 4Cs of communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. Our district is truly a learning community where we are committed to our own professional growth in order to increase students' achievement, well-being and engagement.
Korn School mosaic relocated to its new Memorial School home
Lyman kindergarten friends
Students connecting at Strong Middle School
Ready for a great year at Coginchaug
NEW Procedure for Posting Flyers and Event Information
Regional School District prides itself on being a strong community partner. We are happy to help publicize events and activities of interest to our staff and students. Flyers will be placed in a publicly-accessible Google Drive folder linked on our website and also posted prominently on the district Facebook page.
Community groups wishing to submit a flyer for review and posting should prepare an electronic version (PDF format is preferable) and send it to flyers@rsd13.org. Flyers or announcements submitted via other means may not be distributed.
Flyers will be reviewed and posted twice a month. Unfortunately, we cannot honor requests to re-distribute flyers or send out reminder notices. Also, although Dr. Veronesi approves the posting of submitted flyers, please do not email the Superintendent directly with flyer requests.
Kathryn Y. Veronesi, Ed.D.
Email: kveronesi@rsd13.org
Website: rsd13ct.org
Phone: (860) 349-7200