The HUUSD Board met on Wednesday, November 17.
The Board got an update on COVID numbers in the schools. As of the meeting, the district had 27 COVID cases (cumulatively) and almost 260 students who had to quarantine at one time or another. Additional testing protocols will be in place by December that should enable us to reduce quarantine numbers in the future.
One of the greatest challenges that the district is facing right now is a severe shortage of substitute teachers. This is putting enormous additional pressure on our current staff and making the challenging endeavor of educating our kids during a pandemic even harder. If there is a chance that you could work as a sub, even one day a week, it could make a big difference to our school community of students, teachers and families. Please call Alyssa at 583-7953 if you can help or to find out more. Thank you for considering.
Most of the meeting was dedicated to the superintendent search. Last week's stakeholder meetings and survey captured almost 1000 comments about the community, the job, and questions to ask during interviews. These comments were turned into a list of job qualifications that will be used in the job posting. To see the final list of qualifications, click here: https://tinyurl.com/vf7jbpku. To see the full report on the stakeholder meetings, click here: https://huusd.org/superintendent-search .
The Board has decided not to put another bond proposal before voters this Town Meeting Day. During the budget process that is coming up, the Board will identify the most urgent repairs necessary at the high school and try to address those with the maintenance reserve fund and the annual expenses. This will allow some progress to be made on the deferred maintenance at the high school while also allowing time for the Board to determine whether the bond work needs to start over from scratch or re-prioritize earlier work.
Five of the six towns in our district will have at least one seat up for election at Town Meeting Day, and many of them will have at least one open seat. This is a great opportunity for community members to get involved in local governance and to continue the challenging work of short- and long-term planning for our schools and community. We have put together answers to frequently asked questions here: (https://tinyurl.com/7dta9jxd). Petitions to have your name on the ballot and accompanying signatures are due to town clerks in late January.
The Board will have its next regular meeting on Wednesday, December 8, at 6PM. This will be a hybrid meeting that can be attended in-person or remotely via Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/386460007), or viewed on youtube (https://tinyurl.com/2ku92ay4).
As always, the Board welcomes feedback from our community. One of the easiest ways to share your thoughts is to send an email to [email protected], which will go to every Board member. There is also time at every Board meeting for public comment. Alternately, reach out to one of your neighbors who is on the school board and share your thoughts in a personal email or phone call (see a list of Board members and contact information at https://tinyurl.com/523wtrnj).