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Retaining & Attracting Staff <br />Factors affecting the district's ability to retain and attract staff include`the <br />reduction of 7.3 positions in the FYI budget (6.3 teachers), the number of <br />teachers and administrators leaving the district and the fact that our teacher <br />salaries rank in the bottom half of 30 comparable communities. Mrs. Joyce as <br />what makes it more difficult in our town. Dr. Doherty pointed out that we do <br />have a lot of middle level support across the board which puts added pressure <br />our administrators and principals. Mr. Robinson asked what we would be gett <br />if we were able to provide the resources needed. Dr. Doherty said our student <br />outcomes would improve, with supports in place teachers would have time ne( <br />to prepare. <br />Mrs. Borawski asked what was used to compare teacher salaries. Dr. Doherty <br />said we used Masters Step 1, Masters Step 8 and the top Masters step. We are <br />more competitive in the lower steps. <br />Michele Sanphy pointed out that parental pressure and expectations is greater in <br />Reading which affects moral. <br />Developing Well Balanced and Prepared Students for College and Career <br />There are several areas that the district is focusing on to prepare our students <br />including the implementation of the new science and engineering curriculum, <br />implementation of dedicated health and wellness curriculum in grades 3 — 8, <br />continuing to focus on the social emotional needs of our students, restructuring <br />the elementary, middle and high school schedules and course offerings to refle t <br />changes in curriculum and practices, increase AP and honors course offerings and <br />provide support for struggling students. The Superintendent pointed out that our <br />students are at a disadvantage because of the lack of AP offerings. The district', <br />would have to add staff including middle school health/PE teachers, the <br />restoration of 4.0 FTE teachers at the high school and 4.6 FTE elementary <br />teachers to enable the district to eliminate the half day Wednesdays. Continued <br />implementation of the science curriculum and social -emotional supports are vital <br />in preparing our students for college and career. The district continues to <br />investigate solutions to be able to offer free full day kindergarten. The district as <br />effectively restructured resources to support this goal such as the addition of the <br />BCBA. <br />Mrs. Webb would like to understand the social emotional supports at the high <br />school level. Dr. Doherty said there will be a restructuring of the high school <br />guidance department to more effectively address these needs. <br />Supporting Teachers and Administrators as We Transition to More Rigorous <br />Standard and Curriculum <br />Areas of focus in this area include maintaining and updating technology and <br />technology infrastructure, providing adequate supervision and support to teachers <br />and administrators, the ability to offer training in key areas to give teachers the, <br />tools they need to address all students in their classrooms and time for teachers to <br />work collaboratively to improve student learning. It is key to maintain the cur�ent <br />levels of time, professional development, and technology support. It is also <br />Page 1 2 <br />