FINAL SC Mtg Minutesw att 2017-06-13.pdf

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DHorton Comments June 13, 2017 - This evening reminds me a bit of the weeks that followed the vote that has become known as Brexit in that, while acknowledging and marking the exit of six towns from the Minuteman District that will be pursuing new pathways to educate their students, all 16 of the towns in the current Minuteman District will continue to reach out to one another and care about the future of one another's students. Would you believe! The first regional agreement was signed on June 8, 1970! The signatories included the six towns that have decided to pursue those new pathways. - This evening also reminds me of Commencement in that we celebrate what Minuteman has meant and will mean to generations of students, parents, and staff and what all of them have brought to Minuteman, our remarkable and singular school. Among them is Bill Blake, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment who is retiring this year. A "shout out" for Bill! (Applause) It is also a time to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of all of our predecessors who served on this school committee during these past 47 years, representing the students from our towns and their parents. These evening, we pay tribute to them and thank them and their worthy successors: Vince Amoroso, Christine Lear, Sharon Antia, Dave Manjarrez, Mary Ellen Costagno, and Doug Gillespie. (Applause) - (Read "The New Squirrel" from Ellen's Lion, by Crockett Johnson.) The book was given to me by Laurie Weisman who I taught in second grade. She asked me to read the book to the class and then gifted me with it. When I became principal of the school, I typically read one of the "short stories" in it at "Moving Up Day" when we bade farewell to our fifth graders. Each short story has a message and "The New Squirrel" was one way of telling the fifth graders that no matter who succeeded them at the school, they would always remain in our hearts and thoughts. Ellen, by the way, is a sharp little girl, and the lion is her alter ego. Forego CliffsNotes! - (Read) - While we do not have any replicas of Ellen or her lion to give to our departing members this evening, we do have a flowering plant (begonia) for each of you and for Bill Blake. For each of you, may it symbolize the new experiences ahead for you and the students from your towns and to help you look back with satisfaction to the education our school provided them and to how you helped to forge it. - (End)