Weston Public Schools Highlights · 2019-12-16 · Contact Us Ribbon School of Academic Excellence....
2
Contact Us Website: www.westonps.org Superintendent’s Blog: [email protected] Central Office: 203-291-1401 Board of Education: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Sign up for Email Updates: www.westonps.org/cf_directory/cp.cfm?news=0 Weston Public Schools Highlights Superintendent’s Message Colleen A. Palmer, Ph.D. Weston Public Schools is universally regarded as a high- performing school district, a system of distinguished quality. However, what does this mean? A district that is high-performing is not only focused on the singular dimension of academics, but incorporates all dimensions of personalized student growth neces- sary to develop future leaders. To possess great knowledge, but lack the tools to navigate within our global world, would only par- tially prepare our students for their future. Our students and schools have garnered numerous state and na- tional awards that document exceptional achievement levels not only in academics, but in visual and performing arts, as well as in areas of leadership, community service, and co-curricular activi- ties. These indicators of our success confirm the achievement of our district towards fulfilling its mission of “personal excellence” for every student. WPS Mission Statement The mission of the Weston Public Schools, as a caring and sup- portive community partnership, is to empower each student to achieve success and contribute to our global society by developing and cultivating character, knowledge and creativity through a dy- namic learning experience that challenges each student to continu- ally pursue personal excellence. In fall 2013, Weston High School was recognized as one of fifty public high schools in the country to be named as a National Blue Ribbon School of Academic Excellence. When a district receives this award for its high school, it truly is an award that indirectly encompasses all of the other schools that prepare every student for success at the high school level. The achievement of our high school students is contingent upon a solid foundation of academic readiness from grades K-8. It is affirming that our schools and district are highlighted for the outstanding success of their students and staff, but our journey is never complete. Every single day we look to continuously im- prove our work to be the most effective and efficient to meet the needs of each of our students. The ambitious goals of our district are achievable with the unwavering support for educational excel- lence of this community. We thank you for your partnership in fulfilling our mission. Mark Your Calendar Upcoming BoE Meetings: April 21, May 19, June 16 Budget Dates: BoF Public Hearing: April 2, 8:00 p.m., WMS ATBM: April 23, 8:00 p.m., WHS Spring Recess: April 14-April 18 Special Olympics: May 10, 9:00 a.m. Relay for Life: May 17, WHS Stadium Realtors’ Open House: May 21, 10:00 a.m., WHS Projected Last Day of School: June 17 First Day of School: August 25 Issue 1, Volume 1 Spring 2014 Budget Process With the commencement of spring, the budget season increases in its intensity. Even though the district has been developing a budg- et since last fall for the 2014-15 school year, it is within the next few weeks that the exact education budget becomes finalized. For the past five fiscal years, the education budgets for Weston have been some of the lowest in the state. These low budget numbers have been achieved through comprehensive cost efficiencies and reduction in the workforce associated with a period of declining enrollments. On a positive note, student enrollment for next year is predicted to be stable, after several years in which enrollment numbers have de- creased. A flurry of robust home sales last summer resulted in an unexpected increase in students last year (after a predicted decrease), and the predictions of student enrollment for the 2014-15 school year indicate our numbers will hold those gains of last summer. Through comprehensive cost efficiencies, the base of the education budget has been reduced by approximately $3M over the past few years. This, coupled with a period of time of decreasing enrollment permitted the district to leverage the savings of a reduced workforce for fewer students, so that over a period of five years leading up to 2014, the cumulative in- crease was 3.63% to the education budget. With our student enrollment numbers stabi- lized, the workforce is not being reduced. Ad- ditionally, unexpected costs of special educa- tion that began in 2013, but have now carried through year-over-year have left the district in a deficit in the current budget year, prompting a request to the Town for a supplemental appropriation for FY 2014. Funding these ongoing special education costs in 2015, concur- rently with the negotiated increases in salaries and a 10% predicted trend on medical insurance, the proposed budget for 2015 comes in at a much increased number of 4.21% increase over the current fiscal year. These three contractually-obligated or legally- mandated items of 1) salaries, 2) benefits, and 3) spe- cial education costs comprise 96% of the requested increases. The FY 2015 budget request of $47,494,856 represents a difference of $1,919,438 from the adopted FY 2014 budget, or a 4.21% increase over the adopted FY 2014 budget. A full executive summary of the proposed education budget may be found under the Current News section of our website. The executive summary is an overview of the entire education budget that succinctly provides a synopsis of the key factors that drive this budget request. For those interested in the details of every program and line item, all of that back-up documentation is provid- ed online at the district website. - Colleen A. Palmer, Ph.D. Weston Middle School Chamber Orchestra performed at the annual Conference of CT Boards of Education and Superintendents in November 2013.
Transcript of Weston Public Schools Highlights · 2019-12-16 · Contact Us Ribbon School of Academic Excellence....
Contact Us
Website: www.westonps.org
Superintendent’s Blog: [email protected]
Central Office: 203-291-1401
Board of Education: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Sign up for Email Updates: www.westonps.org/cf_directory/cp.cfm?news=0
Weston Public Schools Highlights
Superintendent’s Message Colleen A. Palmer, Ph.D.
Weston Public Schools is universally regarded as a high-performing school district, a system of distinguished quality. However, what does this mean? A district that is high-performing is not only focused on the singular dimension of academics, but incorporates all dimensions of personalized student growth neces-sary to develop future leaders. To possess great knowledge, but lack the tools to navigate within our global world, would only par-tially prepare our students for their future. Our students and schools have garnered numerous state and na-tional awards that document exceptional achievement levels not only in academics, but in visual and performing arts, as well as in areas of leadership, community service, and co-curricular activi-ties. These indicators of our success confirm the achievement of our district towards fulfilling its mission of “personal excellence” for every student.
WPS Mission Statement The mission of the Weston Public Schools, as a caring and sup-portive community partnership, is to empower each student to achieve success and contribute to our global society by developing and cultivating character, knowledge and creativity through a dy-namic learning experience that challenges each student to continu-ally pursue personal excellence. In fall 2013, Weston High School was recognized as one of fifty public high schools in the country to be named as a National Blue Ribbon School of Academic Excellence. When a district receives this award for its high school, it truly is an award that indirectly encompasses all of the other schools that prepare every student for success at the high school level. The achievement of our high school students is contingent upon a solid foundation of academic readiness from grades K-8. It is affirming that our schools and district are highlighted for the outstanding success of their students and staff, but our journey is never complete. Every single day we look to continuously im-prove our work to be the most effective and efficient to meet the needs of each of our students. The ambitious goals of our district are achievable with the unwavering support for educational excel-lence of this community. We thank you for your partnership in fulfilling our mission.
Mark Your Calendar
Upcoming BoE Meetings: April 21, May 19, June 16 Budget Dates: BoF Public Hearing: April 2, 8:00 p.m., WMS ATBM: April 23, 8:00 p.m., WHS Spring Recess: April 14-April 18 Special Olympics: May 10, 9:00 a.m. Relay for Life: May 17, WHS Stadium Realtors’ Open House: May 21, 10:00 a.m., WHS Projected Last Day of School: June 17 First Day of School: August 25
Issue 1, Volume 1 Spring 2014
Budget Process
With the commencement of spring, the budget season increases in its intensity. Even though the district has been developing a budg-et since last fall for the 2014-15 school year, it is within the next few weeks that the exact education budget becomes finalized. For the past five fiscal years, the education budgets for Weston have been some of the lowest in the state. These low budget numbers have been achieved through comprehensive cost efficiencies and reduction in the workforce associated with a period of declining enrollments. On a positive note, student enrollment for next year is predicted to be stable, after several years in which enrollment numbers have de-creased. A flurry of robust home sales last summer resulted in an unexpected increase in students last year (after a predicted decrease), and the predictions of student enrollment for the 2014-15 school year indicate our numbers will hold those gains of last summer. Through comprehensive cost efficiencies, the base of the education budget has been reduced by approximately $3M over the past few years. This, coupled with a period of time of decreasing enrollment permitted the district to leverage the savings of a reduced workforce for fewer students, so that over a period of five years leading up to 2014, the cumulative in-crease was 3.63% to the education budget. With our student enrollment numbers stabi-lized, the workforce is not being reduced. Ad-ditionally, unexpected costs of special educa-tion that began in 2013, but have now carried through year-over-year have left the district in a deficit in the current budget year, prompting a request to the Town for a supplemental appropriation for FY 2014. Funding these ongoing special education costs in 2015, concur-rently with the negotiated increases in salaries and a 10% predicted trend on medical insurance, the proposed budget for 2015 comes in at a much increased number of 4.21% increase over the current fiscal year. These three contractually-obligated or legally-mandated items of 1) salaries, 2) benefits, and 3) spe-cial education costs comprise 96% of the requested increases. The FY 2015 budget request of $47,494,856 represents a difference of $1,919,438 from the adopted FY 2014 budget, or a 4.21% increase over the adopted FY 2014 budget. A full executive summary of the proposed education budget may be found under the Current News section of our website. The executive summary is an overview of the entire education budget that succinctly provides a synopsis of the key factors that drive this budget request. For those interested in the details of every program and line item, all of that back-up documentation is provid-ed online at the district website. - Colleen A. Palmer, Ph.D.
Weston Middle School Chamber Orchestra performed at the annual Conference of CT Boards of Education and
Superintendents in November 2013.
WESTON PUBLIC SCHOOLSNoteworthy Achievements and Accomplishments
2012 – 2013
ACADEMIC KUDOS WHS was awarded the National Blue Ribbon Award
by the U.S. Department of Education for its outstand-ing programs and student achievement
WHSwasranked#1highschoolinFairfieldCountyand#2inConnecticutbyNewsweek
WPSwasincludedontheCollegeBoard’sNationalAPDistrictHonorRoll
51%ofallapplicationssubmittedbyWHSClassof2013wereacceptedby“MostCom-petitive”and“HighlyCompetitive”collegesanduniversities
CombinedSATscoreswere1792,withanaverageof597inwriting,606inmath,and589incriticalreading
WHShadfivefinalistsforthe National Merit Scholarship ProgramandonefinalistintheNational Achievement Program
89%ofthe570APexamstakeninthespringof2013werescoredata3orbetter
WHSgraduated7NationalAPScholars,50APScholarswithDistinction,11APScholarswithHonors,and15APScholars
AWHSFrenchstudentranked4thintheStateand8th nationallyontheGrand Concourswrittencontest
OneSpanishIVHonorsstudentplacedinthe96th per-centileontheNationalSpanishExam,earningnationalandstaterecognitionandagoldmedal
Over50%oftheWHSLatinstudentsparticipatingintheNational Latin Exam earnedtophonors
One6thgradestudentwon3rd place for her National History Dayessay,qualifyingforstatereview
AWMS8thgradestudentwon1stplaceintheperfor-mancecategoryontheSpanishInquisitionattheNa-tional History Dayregionals,advancingtostatereview
Afterbeingrecognizedattheregionalandstatelevel,fourWMS6thgradestudentshadtheirprojectontheCubanMissileCrisisrecognizedatthenationalleveloftheNational History Daycompetition
AWMS8thgradestudentparticipatedinthestatewideNational Geography Bee
TheScience Olympiad teamatWHSparticipatedinthestatecompetitionatUCONN
Intheir32ndyearofparticipationintheFairfield County Junior Math League,theWMSmathteamtiedfor3rd placeattheannualcompetitionandtook4th place overallforthe2012-2013schoolyear
WMSstudentswhoparticipatedinNew England Junior Math League took4thplaceoverallamongtheFairfieldCountyteams
TheWMSMath Countsteamplaced12th in thisyear’scompetition
WMShadfour8thgradestudents’storiesselectedforpublicationaspartoftheCon-necticut Student Writers ProjectatUCONN
TwoWHSstudentswereacceptedtoat-tendtheNational Youth Science Camp
AWHSseniorwaspublishedintwopoetryanthologies
FiftystudentsoftheWHSClassof2013wereselectedtoparticipateintheNational Assess-ment of Educational Progress,knownasThe Nation’s Report Card
TheWHSphysicsteamwonfirstplaceinaneventattheYale Physics Olympics
ThreeWMSstudentswonBarnes & Noble’s Favorite Teacher awards
WHShadonemocktrialteamadvancetothesemifi-nals
OneWMSstudentwontheConnecticut Student Writ-ers magazineawardandthreestudentsearnedhonor-ablementions
SERVICE TO OTHERS Two8thgradestudentswererecognizedasScholarLeadersbyConnecticutAssociationofSchoolsforstrongacademicperformance,activeparticipationincommunityservice,andpositiveinfluenceonschoolclimate
HESraisedover$1,400throughShoot for the Cure and Coins for Books
LedbyWHSstudents,over70Relay for Lifeteamsraisedover$145,000fortheAmericanCancerSociety
TheStudent Government AssociationatWMSraisedover$3,000,andmorethan500toys,donatingthemtovariouscancercharitiesandfamiliesinneedinourlocalcommunities
TheMitten ProjectdriveatWISandHESgarneredover500newhatsandmittensforchildreninneed
Weston High School - WHSWeston Middle School - WMS
Weston Intermediate School - WISHurlbutt Elementary School - HES
THE ARTS TheWHSChamberChorusperformedatthePT Bar-
num MuseuminBridgeport,andwithChanticleer,theworldfamousmen’sacappellagroup,atDarienHighSchool
SevenWMSstudentswereselectedtoperformwiththeCollegium Westchester Orchestra and Chorus
TheWMS8th-gradeorchestraparticipatedintheMusic for Youth Orchestra ExchangewiththeJulliard-trainedVoxareStringQuartet
AWHSstudioartstudentwasawardedanhonorablementionforhermulti-mediapiecetitledSquidspash fromtheScholastic Art and Writing statecompetition
NineWHSmusiciansparticipatedintheCMEAWesternRegionals
WPSmusicdepartmentrecognizedasoneofthe2013BestCommunitiesforMusicEducationbytheNational Association of Music Merchants(NAMM)
SixWHSbandstudentsandtwoWHSchoirstudentsperformedintheWesternRegionFestival
TwoWHSbandstudentswereselectedtoparticipateintheConnecticutAllStateFestival
WMShadone6thgradestudent’sartworkselectedtobefeaturedinthe2013International Children’s Art ExhibitattheMaritimeAquariuminNorwalk
TheWHS’stheatergroupCompanyhadtwosuccessfulproductions:The Crucible and Kiss Me Kate, eachplay-ingtoover500people
FourWISandeightWMSstudentswereselectedfortheConnecticutAllStateElementaryHonorChorus
Over100WISstudentsparticipatedintheschool-wideplay,A Wonderful World with Disney
86middleschoolstudentsparticipatedinthisyear’ssold-outShortWharfproductionofGrease
TheWMSJazzBands,ChamberOrchestra,andCham-berSingersreceiveda1stplacehonorwithaSuperiorratingandbestoverallattheMusic in the Parks Adju-dication FestivalinadditiontoreceivingtheEsprit de Corps Award
AWHSartstudentreceivedhonorablementionattheState of Connecticut Scholastic Art & Music Juried Exhi-bition
FourWMSchoralstudentsandthreeWMSbandstudentswereselectedtoparticipateintheWestern Regional Middle School Concert Festival
Ten6thgradebandmemberswerechosentoPlay with The Westport Community Band
ATHLETICS WHSwasthesiteofthe2013SouthwestRegionalGamesforSpecialOlympics,with“TeamWeston”competingforthesecondyearintrackandfieldandaquatics
TwoStatechampionshipsinboysswimmingandboyscrosscountry
EightSWCchampionshipsinboysskiing,girlsindoorandoutdoortrackandfield,boysindoortrack,boystennis,boysgolf,girlslacrosseandboysbaseball
WHShas48All-StateathletesandthreeAll-Americanathletes
680athletesearnedacademicawardswhileparticipat-ingwitha3.0GPAorhigher
OneWHSstudenttook1stplaceinpolevaultingattheNew England Championships Track and Field Meet
OneWHSstudentwonthe4thstraightState Open Indi-vidual Tennis Championship
WHShonoredwiththeMichaels Achievement CupbytheCIACforbestoverallathleticdepartmentintheStateofConnecticutformediumsizedschoolsforthe7thyearinarow
COMMUNICATIONS & TECHNOLOGY FiveWMSstudentsreceived2ndplacehonorsintheCablevisionEducationalAccesscompetitionfortheirdocumentaryvideosWHS’sseniorvideographyteamwon1stplacewiththeirsubmissionThe Factoryinthe84-hourchallengeattheCTStudentFilmFestivalandwasafinalistinthe2013ConnecticutDepartmentofMotorVehiclesforTeenSafeDrivingvideocontest
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING WestoncontinuedapartnershipwithTeachers College
Columbia UniversitytoimplementAIM(AcademicInnovationandMeasurement),aK-12approachtoteaching21stcenturyskills
Westonsuccessfullytransitionedtofull-daykindergar-teninthe2012-2013schoolyear
HESfullyimplementedtheMath in FocuscurriculumthisyearaspartofCCSS(CommonCoreStateStan-dards)formathematics
WMSestablishedaMandarin afterschoolenrichmentprogram,enrolling17students
WMSsuccessfullyimplementeditsfirstyearofProject Lead The Way in7th and 8th grades
WHSisnowadesignatedtestingsiteforSATadminis-tration
TheWHSEntrepreneurship Seminarresultedinthreestudentssuccessfullystartingtheirownbusinesses
AnatomyandhumanphysiologywasaddedtotheWHSscienceelectiveprogram
1308thgradestudentsvoluntarilyparticipatedinourCareer Mentorship experience
1106thgradestudentsparticipatedinanartexchangewithstudentsfromAmman,Jordan
WMS7thgrademocktrialteamadvancedtothesemifi-nalroundinthestatewidecompetition
Weston Public Schools24 School Road
Weston, Connecticut 06883 — 203.291.1401Colleen A. Palmer, Ph.D. — Superintendent of Schools
