First steps in long-range plans for high school

FALLS VILLAGE — The long-awaited, long-discussed Long-Range Plan for Housatonic Valley Regional High School is ready to be released. The announcement was made at the April 5 meeting of the Region One Board of Education by Cornwall representative Phil Hart.

In a two-page letter that he shared with board members, he explained what the plan is about. A planning and study committee of some 35 members (including members from all six member towns in the district), high school faculty and administrators, and members of the regional board, initially were concerned “with declining enrollment†at the high school, and hoped “to plan accordingly for budget initiatives and requirements.â€

The six towns in the region are Cornwall, North Canaan, Falls Village, Kent, Sharon and Salisbury. Each has its own elementary school but all six share Housatonic Valley Regional High School.

“We also needed to confront recommendations†from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), a private, nonprofit accreditation agency that operates independently of state education departments.

In 2007, NEASC issued a report critical of the high school, finding it to be deficient in key areas including a “school-wide rubric,†a tool to measure student progress “toward meeting the school’s academic standards.â€

The high school recently received a positive letter from NEASC, in response to recommended changes, and was taken off “warning†status.

“What we needed was a clear path to continuous improvement,†Hart said in his explanation of the long-range plan, “a plan which would expand and propagate throughout the entire curriculum any and all elements which are recognizably successful in promoting academic and career preparation outcomes.â€

The Long-Range Plan is centered around four main goals:

• To agree on a set of core values and beliefs as well as common academic, civic and social expectations for all learners, based on measureable 21st-century skills

• To engage all students in relevant and vigorous work across all disciplines and courses

• To align major systems — human resources, financial resources, policy development, curriculum, instructional, professional development, teacher evaluation, data and assessment, leadership, communications, and faculty management — with long-term school goals

• To align resource allocation with core values and beliefs as well as common academic, civic and social expectations for all learners.

“The resulting plan is more than a philosophical and pedagogical vision. It is a detailed working plan with timelines, actions to be carried out and assignments of responsibilities.

“Our hope is that this plan is a clear window into the next few years.â€

Hart chaired the committee that produced the plan.

The plan will be available soon on both the high school and Region One Web sites: hvrhs.org and region1schools.org. Hard copies will be available in both offices.