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Superintendent's Weekly Update 3-18-22

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  “The Douglas Public Schools offer diverse learning experiences that meet the academic, social, physical, and emotional needs of all students. We provide a safe, supportive, and challenging learning environment in which students may achieve academic success and personal growth. Decisions are made in the best interest of students.”  It is hard to believe that it is already mid March. Today is day 124 of the school year and April vacation will be here in the blink of an eye. I was excited to see an article in the Blackstone Valley Tribune about a collaborative project between students in the Primary and Elementary Schools. Click on the link to read the article . Spring is a busy time in our schools. If you have not signed up to receive weekly newsletters from the principals I would encourage you to visit our website ( www.douglasps.net ) and sign up to receive weekly updates. Although the weekend will be a rainy one, I hope everyone can get out at some point today and enjoy a little pre
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Superintendent's Weekly Update 3-4-22

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  “The Douglas Public Schools offer diverse learning experiences that meet the academic, social, physical, and emotional needs of all students. We provide a safe, supportive, and challenging learning environment in which students may achieve academic success and personal growth. Decisions are made in the best interest of students.”  Nichols College: DHS is partnering with Nichols College to offer our students some great opportunities. A Nichols College course will be open to DHS juniors and seniors, Criminal Law and Procedure, on Wednesday nights starting March 16th. The cost is only $350 for three college credits and high school elective credit. We are joining the Nichols College Leadership Academy, a program to challenge our students to build essential leadership skills while getting to work with students from across the region. Recruiting for the 2022-2023 cohort will start among DMS 8th graders in March. And we are looking at other opportunities to award college credit for DHS Busi
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Superintendent's Weekly Update 2-18-2022

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  “The Douglas Public Schools offer diverse learning experiences that meet the academic, social, physical, and emotional needs of all students. We provide a safe, supportive, and challenging learning environment in which students may achieve academic success and personal growth. Decisions are made in the best interest of students.”  Masking: Last week, Commissioner Riley and Governor Baker announced that the mask mandate in public schools will be lifted effective Monday February 28, 2022. As a result of this, we are holding a School Committee meeting on Wednesday, February 23, 2022 at 7PM via Zoom where my recommendation to the Committee will be to rescind our mask policy and follow the Governor’s and Commissioner's recommendation. If the School Committee votes to approve my recommendation, they will rescind all of our current mask policy language. This vote is needed by the School Committee in order for us to be mask optional. If the School Committee does vote to rescind our curr
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Superintendent's Weekly Update 1-28-21

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  “The Douglas Public Schools offer diverse learning experiences that meet the academic, social, physical, and emotional needs of all students. We provide a safe, supportive, and challenging learning environment in which students may achieve academic success and personal growth. Decisions are made in the best interest of students.”  New COVID-19 Testing Program Option for K-12 Schools I n accordance with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and the Department of Public Health (DPH), our district is updating our COVID-19 Testing Program, effective January 31, 2022. We are opting into an at-home testing program that will increase testing of our participating students and staff, regardless of vaccination status. For more information about this update to the statewide testing program, please click here . The at-home testing option will begin during the week of January 31, 2022. In addition to this new at-home antigen test option, we will continue with pooled testing
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Superintendent's Weekly Update 1-14-2021

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  “The Douglas Public Schools offer diverse learning experiences that meet the academic, social, physical, and emotional needs of all students. We provide a safe, supportive, and challenging learning environment in which students may achieve academic success and personal growth. Decisions are made in the best interest of students.”  Mask Mandate Extended The mask requirement remains an important measure to keep students safe in school at this time. Consistent with the authority provided by the Board, and after consulting with medical experts and state health officials, the Commissioner is extending the mask requirement through February 28, 2022. The Department will continue to work with medical experts and state health officials to evaluate the mask requirement beyond February 28. Vaccination Clinic Thank you again to our local Board of Health for helping to set up another vaccination and booster clinic at our Elementary School. The clinic will be held on Friday 1/28,22 from 3PM-7PM.
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Superintendent's Weekly Update 1-7-22

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  “The Douglas Public Schools offer diverse learning experiences that meet the academic, social, physical, and emotional needs of all students. We provide a safe, supportive, and challenging learning environment in which students may achieve academic success and personal growth. Decisions are made in the best interest of students.”  Recharge Weekends: This year, unlike any other, there has been a tremendous amount of stress placed on our students, faculty, and staff. It is evident in talking to faculty and staff, and in meetings with the leadership team, that people are exhausted mentally, physically, and emotionally. For this reason the Douglas Public Schools will implement Recharge Weekends for the entire district to allow for all to decompress and recharge. It is my hope that these small breaks, coupled with long weekends, and school vacation weeks, will help promote the mental well being of all and help to create a better teaching and learning environment. The following weekends wi
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Superintendent's Weekly Update 12-17-21

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  “The Douglas Public Schools offer diverse learning experiences that meet the academic, social, physical, and emotional needs of all students. We provide a safe, supportive, and challenging learning environment in which students may achieve academic success and personal growth. Decisions are made in the best interest of students.”  Mental Health: Over the last 20 months we have seen across the Nation an increase in mental health issues. Schools have not been immune to this and we too have seen a significant uptick with students needing help since the start of the pandemic; unfortunately this has spiked within the Douglas Public Schools in recent months. Please know that we are here to help and support students. If you have any concerns or questions please do not hesitate to reach out to us for help and support. If there are issues that are beyond the scope of what we can handle as a school we can provide resources so that you can reach out privately through your own insurance companie
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