Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Find out when the new last day of school is.
Welcome to You Ask... Patch Answers where we answer readers questions. We recently received questions about the last day of school in Reading. Patch readers want to know when schools will be dismissed for the summer. Here's your answer. According to Superintendent John Doherty, the last day of school is June 25. Reading has already used the four snow days built into the school calendar, and then some. If the schools in town were never closed throughout the year due to inclement weather or another reason, the last day of school would be June 18. However, with the blizzard of 2013, Hurricane Sandy and smaller snow storms, the last day of school is currently June 25.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Residents want to know when school will be dismissed for the summer.
Welcome to You Ask... Patch Answers where we answer readers questions. We recently received questions about the last day of school in Reading. Patch readers want to know when schools will be dismissed for the summer. Here's your answer. According to Superintendent John Doherty, as of Feb. 13 the last day of school is June 21, but that can still change. If you checked your district calendar, you may see that the last day of school in Reading is June 24. You should know that they build four snow days in to that. If the schools in town were never closed throughout the year due to inclement weather or for another reason, the last day of school would be June 18. Due to the amount of snow days so far this year, the last day of school is Friday, …
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Due to the blizzard, there will be no school in Reading on Monday.
Due to the blizzard of '13, there will be no school in Reading on Monday, Feb. 11. According to Superintendent John Doherty, the roads and sidewalks are not safe for students. "It is primarily due to road and sidewalk conditions, particularly near the school areas. It would not be safe for students to walk to school or to get dropped off at the schools," he said.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Five things principals, educators, PTA members, parents and students need to know.
The school year is in full swing in Reading and North Reading, and Reading-North Reading Patch will be there to cover all the big news. But we can’t do it without your help. To make sure you get the most out of Patch for the rest of the school year, we invite you to get active in the news-gathering process. There are five things you can do to make sure your school and its students get all the coverage they deserve from Patch: You can also become a blogger and share your school's news directly with Patch readers on a regular basis. To find out more about using Patch this school year, just email ashley.troutman@patch.com.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
The School Committee voted 5-0 Monday night.
The School Committee voted on the middle school redistricting proposal Monday night. According to Superintendent John Doherty, the committee voted 5-0, as one member was not present, to keep the existing lines. The committee had been considering changing the district lines for the Coolidge and Parker Middle Schools since October. At first, the committee considered a two-part redistricting proposal: sending all Birch Meadow students to Coolidge, including the 7 to 13 students now districted to Parker; and increasing the number of Killam students who are assigned to Parker by between five and 15 students each year, over the next six years, based on current enrollment. That change would have reduced the percentage of Killam-to-Coolidge …
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
School Committee to decide Dec. 10 or 17.
A proposal to move the Parker and Coolidge Middle School district lines has come full circle. After developing and reviewing a total of nine redistricting options, Supterintendent John Doherty recommended Monday that the Reading School Committee either maintain the current district lines or tweak the lines for Birch Meadow and Killam students, as he had proposed last month. Eleven people spoke at Monday’s meeting, some emotionally, about the issues they said their child faces as one of a small group of students assigned to Parker or Coolidge while a larger group of their Killam or Birch Meadow peers heads to the other middle school. Parents want to know -- some even before their children enter elementary school -- where the children will …
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Superintendent recommends committee vote on Dec. 10.
It’s back to the drawing board for a proposal to change Reading middle school district lines for Killam and Birch Meadow Elementary School students. Based on feedback that the School Committee and Supterintendent John Doherty received from parents of Killam students, the committee directed Doherty to develop more redistricting options. The committee had considered a two-part redistricting proposal: sending all Birch Meadow students to the Coolidge Middle School, including the 7 to 13 students --12 to 19 percent of their class-- now districted to the Parker Middle School; and increasing the number of Killam students who are assigned to Parker by between five and 15 students each year, over the next six years, based on current enrollment. …
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Superintendent to recommend more study before School Committee vote.
A group of about 60 Killam Elementary School parents met with Superintendent John Doherty Tuesday night to discuss a proposed change to the district line for the Parker and Coolidge Middle Schools, which would send more students from Killam to Parker. Some parents are unhappy with the proposal, which would affect “many Killam families,” according to one parent. The proposal would move the Parker-Coolidge line north, from roughly Belmont Street and eastward to just south of Putnam Road (see map). Killam graduates are divided when they move to middle school. This school year, 46 of last year’s Killam fifth graders moved to Parker; 41 to Coolidge, according to figures presented by Doherty last week to the School Committee. Students from …
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
School Committee to vote on proposed new middle school district lines Nov. 5.
Parents of students at the Birch Meadow and Killam Elementary Schools, take note. The School Committee is considering changing the district lines for the Coolidge and Parker Middle Schools. That change, if approved, would affect some of you. The committee is thinking about assigning all Birch Meadow fifth grade graduates to the Coolidge Middle School and moving the Killam-to-Parker district line northward, closer to the Killam School. The School Committee plans to vote on that recommendation on Nov. 5. At the end of their fifth grade school year, a small number of Birch Meadow students - between eight to 12 a year, according to Superintendent John Doherty – are assigned to the Parker Middle School. This school year, 18 students from Birch …
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
The article would establish a school building committee.
The effort to bring full-day, free kindergarten to Reading has taken another step forward. By consensus, members of three town bodies – the School Committee, Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee -- agreed Monday to hand the issue to a school building committee. Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner recommended that he and Superintendent John Doherty; Assistant Superintendent for Finance Mary DeLai; and Town Counsel Brackett and Lucas develop the wording for a warrant article for the upcoming November Town Meeting to form a building committee. The School Committee would determine when full day kindergarten would be implemented for all students, according to several speakers. That would be unlikely to happen for the 2013-14 school year, …
Don Key
2:27 pm on Thursday, November 29, 2012
Kathleen, this is about redistricting. Of course it will have an impact on little Debbie or Dan, if they are assigned to a different school than the majority of their former peers, but this can't be about the individual. The negative impact a few students/parents encompass due to redistricting shouldn't deter the town from making the right decision to redraw the lines for the future. The object … more ›