District Improvement

Posted March 29, 2010: Thank you to those who were able to attend one of our community meetings in February and March, which gave parents and community members an opportunity to see what our schools are doing and what they can do to help. Call the Superintendent's Office, (203) 736-5095 for more information. We will hold similar sessions again next year!

NOTE: The following communication was sent out to Ansonia Staff on Thursday, November 5, 2009 by Assistant Superintendent of Schools Diane Conway:

Greetings Ansonia Staff,

On Wednesday, November 4, Superintendent Merlone, Board of Education President, John Lawlor and I traveled to the State Department of Education to present the 2009-2012 District Improvement Plan drafted by our District Data Team. We are excited to share that the Connecticut Board of Education unanimously accepted our plan.

Superintendent Merlone provided a comprehensive overview of the work that we have been doing in response to the recommendations of the Cambridge Review and the restructuring requirements under No Child Left Behind legislation. She received applause from the State Board of Education members when she shared her belief that our efforts will make a difference for our students. The board members also commended all of you for the accomplishments made by our district in a relatively short period of time. As a result of our collaborative efforts, we are developing and implementing new standards-based curricula to engage and challenge all students. We are creating performance tasks, rubrics, common formative assessments and benchmarks to monitor individual student progress and adjust our instruction. Our District, School and Instructional Data Teams are guiding decision-making processes throughout the district. We have begun a multi-year study of Effective Teaching Strategies to sharpen our skills in meeting the needs of diverse learners. We are providing interventions for struggling students, because we believe that with more time and individualized instruction, all students can learn. We are challenging our excelling students by providing an enrichment program at the middle school and nine advanced placement classes at the high school. Our district budget is aligned to our district improvement initiatives and all of our professional action plans this year will be aligned to our goal of improving reading achievement. There is no doubt that our bus is on the move from “good to great.”

But, this is just the beginning of our journey. We know that it will take time and continuous diligence to reach our achievement goals. Our new District Improvement Plan is the road map that will steer us over the next few years, keep us focused on student learning, and help us monitor our progress along the way. I have attached the plan, so you can have a look. It will be posted on the district website next week.

Superintendent Merlone, John Lawlor and I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your commitment to our students, your willingness to try new things, your creativity, your hard work and your professionalism.

Diane

Restructuring Information (Summer 2009)

During the week of July 13, 2009, all parents/guardians whose children are registered for Grades 1-6 received notification, by letter, of their child's school assignment for the 2009-2010 year. All efforts were made to keep siblings in Grades 1-6 in the same school; however, if an error has been made and siblings in Grades 1-6 are split between the two elementary schools, parents/guardians should contact the Superintendent's Office at (203) 736-5095. During the week of June 29, 2009, all parents/guardians who registered their children for kindergarten by May 22 received notification, by letter, of their child's school assignment and whether the class is full day or part-day morning/part-day afternoon. Superintendent of Schools Carol Merlone, who issued the letters, said students were assigned strictly by lottery. Names were put into a database, and that is how classrooms were generated.

Mrs. Merlone explained that the school district is unable to support all full-day kindergartens for the 2009-2010 year. The configuration will be five half days sessions and five full day sessions. These changes were made due to a leveled budget and limitation of space in the school buildings due to the restructuring of the district, for the 2009-2010 year.

"We realize many individuals have extenuating circumstances," she said. "However, it is unfortuante that we cannot accommodate these requests."

If any vacancies in a full-day kindergarten come up due to a child leaving the district, Mrs. Merlone said, we will resubmit all of the part day students' names into the database again to offer the vacancy to a part-day student.

This will be done at the end of August, if there are openings, with parents receiving notification by mail.

From the 2008-09 School Year:

The 2008-09 School Year has brought significant instructional changes to Ansonia Public Schools. Representatives of the Connecticut State Department of Education and Cambridge Education have been in our district since the Fall of 2008 to provide support, direction, and clear instruction on the next steps to be taken in order to implement a school and district improvement plan that will address specific deficiencies for not making "Adequate Yearly Progress" for four years or more.

On February 25, 2009, the Ansonia Board of Education held a special meeting focusing on the Quality Review Report prepared by Cambridge Education. There are five separate reports: one on the school district; and one for each of our four schools:

District

Prendergast School

Mead School

Ansonia Middle School

Ansonia High School

The Connecticut State Department of Education presented a one-page overview at the Feb. 25 meeting, detailing the partnership with the Ansona Public Schools: Partnership

The final information presented at the Feb. 25 is a summary of the review process and the Plan of Action developed by the Ansonia Public Schools to address six "Areas in Need of Improvement." They are described in the following document: Next Steps

On March 12, 2009, Superintendent of Schools Carol Merlone issued an invitation to several forums that are scheduled this month, which will provide parents and members of the community the opportunity to ask questions about the restructuring of Ansonia Public Schools before the start of the 2009-2010 school year. The forums concluded on March 30.

There is a District Data Team that met frequently during the 2008-09 year. Click here to view the members.

Ansonia participates in the CALI Initiative; for more information, click here.

The school district will be restructured as follows for the 2009-2010 year:

John G. Prendergast School: Grades K-6

John C. Mead School: Grades K-6

Ansonia Middle School: Grades 7 and 8 and relocation of Pre-K classes from Prendergast

Ansonia High School: Grades 9-12 and alternative education program

Updated: June 10, 2010