Strategic Priorities

Rationale: With predictions of reaching over 5,000 students by the year 2030-2031, the Hopkinton Public Schools need to plan for changes in our physical plants and extracurricular spaces, which may result in changes of grade configurations and require construction projects with a commitment to environment and sustainability. Accordingly, the schools must use budgeted resources wisely to provide the highest quality, innovative education for all students, flexing programs to ensure equity and access as student profiles demand. Fortunately for our public schools, beyond our walls lies a community of invested stakeholders.

• Continue to evaluate current physical spaces and the programs that inhabit them.

• Work with the Elementary School Building Committee - 2 (ESBC-2), Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), Owner’s Project Manager (OPM), and Designer on the Elmwood School Project and its potential effects on the grade configurations throughout the district.

• Develop a Pre-K to 12 plan that addresses the impact of enrollment and outlines innovative curricular and instructional planning

• Employ creative scheduling to optimize student learning as the district addresses space constraints.

• Budget to ensure increases in FTEs, including support personnel, commensurate with student enrollment increases and departmental demands.

• Develop a three-year plan for Special Education and budget for its implementation.

Rationale: The Hopkinton Public Schools see each child as an individual learner and human being. It is imperative to acknowledge that Hopkinton’s student profiles are diversifying, resulting in broader student needs. Academically we center first on learning foundational skills within a community, gradually introducing more diverse pathways as students mature and near graduation. We pledge an investment in students’ social, emotional, behavioral, and physical wellness, and we commit to growing programs that help all students access challenging curricula, with the hope to graduate well-balanced young adults who take risks, think independently, believe in themselves, and persevere.

• Redefine Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) programming District-wide.

• Grow use of Social Emotional Learning (SEL)/mental health data across three tiers.

• Streamline student support tier work: formalize the referral process and define strategy and skill development.

• Evaluate current support programming (Empower, Bridge for Resilient Youth In transition- BRYT) to assess efficacy and/or needs for changes; employ flex block and the tutoring center at HHS to support academic growth and achievement.

• Begin to develop our administrators’ and teachers’ cultural proficiency practices and determine which rubrics will measure them.

• Implement disciplinary literacy strategies across grades 6-10.

• Expand opportunities for students’ ELA skills: Geodes K-2, writing curriculum revision K-5.

• Expand opportunities for students’ math skills: fact fluency, intervention tools K-5.

• Continue the development of the 18-22 program to offer a wider array of post-secondary opportunities.

• Maximize the use of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) to review learning and assessment data that will ultimately drive high quality instruction, ensuring that differentiation is employed in instructional planning.

Rationale: While it might be easy to focus on academic successes alone, the Hopkinton Public Schools believes in helping children develop a capacity for kindness, respect, compassion, and service to others. We believe in collaborative learning and fostering the growth of relational competencies. Students must understand how others live and build relationships across race, class, gender, and learning abilities to create caring, learning communities. Every member of our community is expected to model these behaviors. We engage in this work believing that the ends are best met when we also have strong relationships between families and schools.

• Continue to enhance and grow Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) and English Learner Parent Advisory Council (ELPAC) stakeholder groups.

• Implement family interviews with multilingual families.

• Further design and implement HHS Vision of the Graduate work.

• Support and enhance the HHS and HMS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) teams; establish an HHS Student Council Equity Committee.

• Continue work in restorative justice at HMS and HHS.

• Build, implement, and evaluate an HMS Grades 6-8 advisory curriculum over the next three years.

• Continue implementation of K-5 Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS).

• Employ professional development and expose our community to varied media to grow the cultural proficiency of faculty, staff, and students.