3 | ACTON-BOXBOROUGH REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT | ANNUAL REPORT 2023–2024 ANNUAL REPORT 2023–2024
SUPERINTENDENT’S WELCOME
ACTON AND BOXBOROUGH COMMUNITY,
Much of the public discussion around our schools this year was focused on the budget and appro- priately so. I want to start by expressing my sincere thanks and appreciation to Acton and Boxborough residents for the tremendous support at both Town Meetings and in the Acton Election. This was an incredibly challenging budget and the communities have made a significant investment in maintaining a top-notch school system. Thank you! That said, there was so much more our educators accomplished this year on behalf of our students
and families. We focused on three main goals: improving social-emotional and behavioral health outcomes for students, expanding access and opportunities for students, and improving our students’ and families’ sense of belonging in our schools. We did a lot to support students’ social-emotional learning. We identified a new bullying prevention curriculum for our students K-12 and continued imple- mentation of our advisory programs at the junior and senior high schools. This allowed us to focus on deepening connections among students and adults in the schools. We also focused on professional learning for our elementary educators to more deeply understand social-emotional competencies in students. We also continued to provide expanded mental health services to students through Cartwheel Cares. Academically, our elementary school focused on implementing our multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS). MTSS is a process by which educators work in teams to constantly review student assessment data and identify a variety of supports students may need to improve academic outcomes. We also began the imple- mentation of our new core literacy curriculum. This last step in the development of our literacy program brings us fully into alignment with the best research on how students learn to read. At the high school, staff finalized a plan to realign course levels and expand access to upper-level courses for students.
We also continued to work with our teacher-leaders to expand culturally responsive practices in our schools , worked with a coalition of students, families, educators, and community members to revise our protocols for responding to hate and bias incidents, and welcomed about 20 new students from Acton’s Emergency Shelter. Thanks to funding from a legislative earmark, we were able to partner with the A-B United Way to open the Acton-Boxborough Resource Center and the A-B Exchange, which has helped coordinate community services for our students and families. There was a lot for our schools to be proud of this year. I am incredibly grateful for all of the work our staff did to support our students and families! Peter Light SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
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