Good Morning,
Welcome to the 2024-25 school year! For those families who are new to EWG, this will be the first time you are receiving a communication directly from me. On roughly a monthly basis, I send out district updates and highlights to all of our families so that you are kept informed of our progress and so that you stay "connected" to our district.
The start of school has been a tremendous success. The children appear happy and eager to be in school with their friends. Teachers have been in over the summer months helping to prepare for our opening and setting up their classrooms to be welcoming environments. The buildings look fantastic, and bus transportation schedules (with a little bit of tweaking) are falling into place. Of course, we can expect there might be some questions or concerns, which is typical at the start of any school year. Please communicate with teachers, office staff and/or building administrators as needed - we are all here to help!
Included below are some additional highlights:
You may be aware that there is a state-wide and nation-wide teacher shortage, particularly in certain hard to fill areas such as special education, reading specialists, world languages, mathematics and science. We started the process of filling our vacancies very early, as compared to most other RI districts, and I am pleased to report that we are fully staffed at this point. The last of our vacancies was a self-contained special education classroom at Metcalf, and we will welcome an experienced educator to our district on Wednesday to fill that important role. We are also beginning the year with a few individuals on short or long-term leaves. We have either identified qualified substitutes or we have shifted existing staff to ensure the needs of all of our students are met.
Chronic absenteeism became a national and state focus area ever since the "COVID era." In the 2022-23 school year, even a community like ours experienced a nearly 20% chronic absenteeism rate. That means that 1 of every 5 children were absent from school more than 10% of school days (18+ days absent). Research confirms the obvious - there is a strong correlation between regular and predictable attendance and positive student learning outcomes. Last year, EWG implemented several new communication tools and met with families to discuss (and address) barriers to regular and predictable attendance. Our families responded! We saw significant improvements across all grade levels and schools, and our district was recently recognized as "Top 10" in the state for one of the lowest chronic absenteeism rates. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We will continue our efforts to minimize chronic absenteeism and appreciate the ongoing support of our families in this effort.
On August 26th, EWG welcomed back our entire staff for orientation and professional development. At that time, we took a moment to look back on our 2023-24 accomplishments. Here are a few highlights:
Our SHS was approved to offer an additional CTE program – Culinary Arts. The district also received a grant to secure a food truck to enhance the culinary arts program. We have enrolled at least 55 (from 45 in 22-23) out-of-district students to our CTE approved programs…… helping us to maintain full-time positions and supplement our annual revenues, despite an in-district enrollment decline. EWG also offers programs in Child Development, Biotechnology, Visual Arts, Computer Science, Agricultural Science, Accounting/Business, and Wind/Off-Shore Energy.
Lineham will open its third full-day preschool classroom for 4-year-old students as we continue our expansion of full-day PK – a move that will definitely impact K readiness and student outcomes for years to come!
83/96 (86.5%) of AP tests are scored at college mastery level or better in 2023-24 – another strong year for EWG.
66 of our graduating seniors earned the Commissioner’s Seal for demonstrating proficiency in both ELA and Mathematics (as confirmed by external evidence). 15 students earned the seal of bi-literacy (all silver), and 50 students earned a guided pathway endorsement seal.
The EWG Unified Basketball team qualified for and won their second straight state championship game this past spring. Congratulations to the players and Coaches Spaulding, Flynn and Whitford for an outstanding season .
Our new therapy dog, Knight, was added to our staff! She continues to move through her formal training requirements and she is an available resource for our schools and students.
EWG hosted the National Wreaths Across America event, recognizing local gold star families, highlighting our work with military kids and their families, and serving a sit-down dinner for the convoy thanks to donations from local businesses, staff and families. Thanks to Anne Barbour, Gina Kilday, Leah Lozy and Karen Murray for their dedication to the success of this event!
We have now formalized the process for offering expanded extra-curricular clubs and activities at the JHS, SHS, AND Metcalf! This is something that we have heard loud and clear from our families and we are excited to respond to that request. Keep an eye out for communications from the buildings regarding offerings - and students, tell us what you want!
Congratulations to the following individuals, who were named as EWG's 2023-24 educators of the year:
Lea Jendza - EWG Teacher of the Year. Lea is a Speech and Language Pathologist who works primarily at Metcalf, but supports classrooms and teachers across the district.
Cheryl Lagergren - EWG Support Professional of the Year. Cheryl is a veteran teacher assistant who supports PK classrooms at Lineham.
Beverly Reynolds - EWG Champion of Leadership. This is an award given to a staff member from colleagues (across the district). It is awarded to an individual who demonstrates a love for our district and who goes above and beyond to make EWG a special place. Bev is a custodian at Metcalf School.
Please know that we value your feedback. Annually, the State Survey Works initiative offers an opportunity for stakeholders to share their feedback and experiences in a formal way. We need and want as many of you to respond to that survey as possible. However, your feedback is also important along the way, We want to know about concerns (and celebrations) as soon as possible so that we can respond accordingly before Survey Works is released.
Here is to a rewarding, positive, and successful 2024-25 school year! My next communication will go out around the beginning of October. If there are any topics that you would like me to address at that time (or before that time), feel free to reach out.
Sincerely,
James Erinakes
Superintendent