Superintendent's Weekly Update 10-29-21

 


“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.” 


Hello,


It has been a busy week here in Douglas. We survived an October nor'easter, our high school fall sports teams had a great year and are gearing up for what should be a lengthy playoff run, and school spirit was high as students and staff had some fun with Halloween. I hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe weekend. 


Family Engagement Meeting:

Thank you to those families that joined our zoom this week. We have added one more zoom meeting to try and get more participants and information from the community to help us better engage and partner with you. Below is the link to another forum. Thanks for your support with this important endeavour. 

Zoom Meeting       

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89147133392

Meeting ID: 891 4713 3392

Dial in by phone:  1 (646) 558-8656 

Meeting ID: 891 4713 3392


Safety Drills:

Earlier this week, a meeting was held that included myself, building principals, the facilities director, the fire department, police department, and building inspector to discuss several of our safety protocols within the Douglas Public Schools. As part of this meeting we discussed our plans to conduct a practice lockdown drill at all four schools. This particular drill will consist of an internal lockdown. It will not involve busing the students to an alternative location. A lockdown of this type would be conducted if a threat were determined to be a hazardous occurrence within the building that would necessitate students, faculty, and staff remaining locked down within their classrooms or other secure locations within the building. We want to ensure that everyone will be aware of what they need to do when a lockdown of this type is put in place. This drill will be helpful for us going forward in carefully reviewing our policies, procedures, and practices in our school buildings to ensure that we are doing everything possible to maximize our preparedness for emergency situations. While this drill is being practiced, there will be no access permitted to the buildings. We are grateful for the strong safety network we have in place here in Douglas, consisting of teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, psychologists, police, fire, and other community members. The safety of our students, faculty, and staff is of paramount importance. Principals will be meeting with staff over the next few weeks to review the plans with them so that they can in turn meet with students and prepare them as well. This practice drill will take place from the middle to the end of November as we want to give staff and students enough time to review our protocols and prepare. Please let any of us know if you have any questions. 



Vacancies:

Thank you to the many of you who responded to this notice and/or forwarded it to others. We have received several inquiries and have set up interviews as a result of it. If you are interested in applying or know someone who is, please forward this information to them. As of today we still have the following positions to fill across the district:


Substitute Classroom Teachers

Substitute Custodians

Substitute Cafeteria Workers

ParaProfessionals in each of the buildings

ABA’s in each of the buildings

Custodians

Long term substitute positions at the Primary School


We offer competitive salaries, benefits depending on the positions, family friendly hours, and a great work environment. If you are interested in any of these positions, please contact one of our building principals for more information.


Cindy Socha csocha@douglasps.net

Jon Bell jbell@douglasps.net

Bob O’Brien bobrien@douglasps.net

Josh Romano jromano@douglasps.net


Extension of Mask Mandate:

Earlier this week DESE extended the mask mandate in all schools through January 15, 2022. Attached is a link to the press release from the department. 


COVID Dashboard:

Attached is a link to our COVID Dashboard that will be updated weekly. Unlike last year where I sent our letters every time we had a COVID positive case, I will not do that this year. This Dashboard will provide you with weekly numbers by building. We will continue to reach out to close contacts and also to families if they have been exposed to a presumptive positive student.


Respectfully,


Paul Vieira, Ed.D.

Superintendent



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