Fall Fun

Fall has snuck up on us all and the year has started in full force. It has been great to have the students back and the buildings filled. While I enjoyed the summer, there is something to be said about the start of the school year and the excitement of having everyone back together for the greater purpose of learning and growing.

Focus Groups:

Thank you to all that provided feedback on the special education department via in person focus groups or by emailing Dr. Martes. We will be analyzing the input to collect themes and trends that will help lead the department moving forward. As information is known, I will make it available through this blog or in person at SEPAC meetings.

Civil Rights: 

Last year the district instituted a new procedure for its Civil Right Self-Assessment. A committee of 17 individuals worked diligently over the period of 5 months to collect and analyze data that would help to inform an action plan. Moving forward, this self-assessment will start in November of each school year. I do hope to have a varied committee with staff, administrators and family members/guardians. If you are interested in this work, please email me at mbruhl@email.medfield.net. It may not be possible to involve all those that are interested but I will communicate with each person either way.

SEPAC:

The next SEPAC meeting will be on 10/15 at 7pm at the Blake LMC. They will welcome ACCEPT's Transportation Manager, Dalexis Valdez, for a question and answer session. Here is a link to the Google transportation survey where you can submit questions in advance. 

On October 30, Millis, Medway and Medfield Public Schools will be offering a joint session on Basic Rights in Special Education for all three districts. This will be Millis High School (245 Plain Street, Millis) at 6:30pm.

Enjoy these crisp, cool days of Fall,

Mary Bruhl

Beginning of the year logistics

Welcome back!

Welcome back to school! I hope that you all had a wonderful summer and had time together as a family and with friends. It was a busy summer for the Department of Student Services but I still had some meaningful time with my family. 

Staff Changes

There have been a few changes to update you on in regards to staffing within the department. 

Bridget Ryan has been hired as the learning center teacher at the high school and will be focused at the 10th grade level. Bridget formerly worked in the East Bridgewater Public Schools. 

Krystal Ortiz is the new secretary for the Department of Student Services, replacing Andrea Moores who has moved into a new role. Her email is kortiz@email.medfield.net.

Karey Curley has moved into the Secondary Special Education Coordinator position. We are currently finishing up the hiring to replace Karey as the Special Education Team Chair for grades 7-12. 

Professional Development

A number of Medfield Public School staff members completed a full day of professional development with international trainer, Catherine Wilson, to support the co-teaching practice in the district. It was a great day that provided a significant amount of information and techniques to support this endeavor. I was so excited to see the commitment and energy that staff showed and look forward to continued work in this area. 

Meet and Greets

The special education department will be hosting meet and greets at each school on Tuesday, August 27, 2019 at each building. Please come and meet the staff within the department at each building and take the updated information sheets related to each building. I will be updating these on the website as well within the next week.

Medfield High School:  11:00-11:30

Blake Middle School:  11:45-12:15

Wheelock:  1:00-1:30

Memorial/Preschool:  1:45-2:15

Dale:  2:30-3:00

All sessions will be in the library at each building. 

New Blog

As I mentioned in my last blog post, this will be the new site for the Student Services' Blog as this allows me to provide for translation. I am still working out the logistics for this but will hopefully have the translation option added by the end of the week.


Enjoy the final days of summer,


Mary Bruhl