Category Archives: Schools

Letter today from the School Committee –

SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Town of Medfield, Massachusetts 02052
November 9,2012
Dear Parents,

As you may know, at Monday’s School Committee meeting, Bob Maguire announced his intention to retire as Medfield’s Superintendent of Schools at the conclusion of this school year. Suffice it to say, there is no single individual who is more responsible for developing the Medfield school system into one of the highest performing districts in the state than Bob. His contributions on behalf of Medfield’s school
children will be sorely missed.

In our role as School Committee, it is our responsibility to hire the next Superintendent of Schools. It is our intention to do so in an open and transparent manner seeking the input of all the constituencies involved with the schools – parents, staff, community members, and students. Typical of Bob’s concern for Medfield, he has timed his announcement to provide us with the best opportunity to attract the strongest field of candidates as possible. It is our intention to hire the very best of that field.

While the details of the search process have not been finalized, we have decided to utilize a professional search firm and will commence interviews of several firms at upcoming School Committee meetings on
November 19, December 3’d and possibly December 17th.   The  interviews will be held in the TV Production classroom at the high school where the school committee meets starting at 7:30 pm. Our
goal is to complete the search firm interviews and retain a firm by December 31,2012.

We will endeavor to keep you informed of critical dates in the search process as they develop. In the meantime, we would welcome any thoughts you have about either the process or the qualities you’d
like to see in our next Superintendent. Please feel free to e-mail the committee at schoolcommittee@medfield.mec.edu. Thank you.

Debra M. Noschese – Chairperson
Tim Bonfatti – Vice Chairperson
Christopher Morrison – Recording Secretary
Maryanne Sullivan – Financial Secretary
Eileen DeSisto – Member

Letter from Bob Maguire –

November 6,2012
Dear Parents:

I am writing to you to inform you that I discussed my plan to retire from my position as superintendent of schools at the conclusion of the school year with the Medfield School Committee last evening. I have been discussing this option with my wife for some time now and have come to the conclusion that this is the right decision for us at this time. After 22 years in Medfield I am looking forward to a different pace and the opportunity to spend more time with my family. I am also excited about the chance to experience new opportunities in the time ahead.

As you may imagine this was not an easy decision for me. I have had the
opportunity to be a principal and superintendent in one of the best school systems in the nation. Over these many years I have been supported by a tremendous group of professional educators and support staff. I have also benefited from an extraordinary level of support from Medfield parents and community members to build a strong future for the children of Medfield.

Personally I would have preferred to make this announcement to you and the community next June. I have chosen to make the announcement at this time to allow the school committee maximum flexibility to schedule a process to secure my replacement. I have the utmost respect for this school committee and I have confidence they will conduct a thoughtfully structured search process in the months ahead.

Over the next months we have a number of specific initiatives including the new requirements for evaluations, world language expansion, implementing of technology tools for instruction, facility needs at Dale Street School and the ongoing challenges of achieving an acceptable school budget.

I look forward to continuing to achieve success in these and many other important areas that will support our efforts.

Sincerely,
Robert C. Maguire
Superintendent of Schools

This email this afternoon from the superintendent on how to learn of school closures – I just signed up for the alerts –

MEDFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOLS
ROBERT CMAGUIRE
Superintendent of Schools

October 26,2012
Dear Parents

With the storm currently predicted for next week as well as preparing for the upcoming winter season, I thoughtthis would be a good opportunity to remind everyone of the process we have in place for a school closing or delay.

We call the television stations – Channels 4, 5, 7 and FOX 25. Radio stations receive the information from that call as radio stations are not individually called. We also put information on our school website when school is cancelled or delayed.

Three televisions stations have notified us that they have a free feature for notifying parents of school closings and delays. Parents have an option to sign up for a text message/cell phone call/email (whichever you choose when signing up) from the following TV stations:

WCVB/ChanneI5 at:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/closingssignup !index.html

NBC/Channel 7 (includes Channel 56) at:
http://www.whdh.com click on “Snow Day Alert”

FOX 25 at:
http://www.mvfoxboston.com.llink/584423/school closings-text alerts

I hope you find this helpful as we head into another winter season.
Robert C. Maguire
Superintendent of Schools

Email 20 minutes ago from Nat Vaughn –

Good afternoon –

This afternoon (around 12:30 p.m.) our fire alarms went off due to a ‘burning smell in the art wing’ and we evacuated the building. The fire and police department investigated, and the cause of the smell was a burned out heat motor in the ventilation system. The problem has been addressed and all students have returned to their last period class for the afternoon. As a safety precaution, we are keeping the art rooms clear while the space is ventilated. We commend our students and staff for their cooperation and responsibility during our evacuation.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Take care.

Nat Vaughn

Nathaniel Vaughn

Principal

Thomas A. Blake Middle School

The Medfield High School is seeking one more host family for a Chinese student for next year, but will need to cancel this Friday if a host family cannot be located by then.  This was the email from Superintendent Robert Maguire –

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Pete,

I am reaching out to see if you have any ideas on a problem I am trying to solve and I am running out of ideas or options.

You are likely aware that we have a thriving partnership with a school district in China. The exchange and cooperation between our districts is a nationally recognized model.

As part of the program development we are looking to host students from the Chinese high school for the next school year. Back at the end of March the high school there proposed sending 3 students. They will reside with host families in Medfield. 2 boys and one girl. I began trying to recruit host families and have 2 confirmed now. Despite good effort I am striking out on locating a third family and unfortunately the clock is running out.

I am feeling that it will be disheartening to tell one of the students they cant come so I am pushing to see if I can find a family (or two if they want to split the year) to help.

This program is very simiiar to what the schools here have done for years hosting foreign students through AFS programs. The difference is that this program connects us directly with a school that we have an established partnership with and expands the cooperation between us.

Any ideas or connections that you may have would be greatly appreciated. I
think I need to give the other school the bad news by this Friday if I can’t locate an option. Richard DeSorgher has agreed to work as a liason/coordinator for the program for next year.

Thanks
Bob