The Cranston Education Advisory Board (CEAB) met for the first meeting of this school year on Tuesday, Oct. 18.

The meeting was held in the Meschanticut Room at the Cranston Area Career and Technical Center (CACTC), and as has become a first-meeting tradition, guests were treated to a dinner prepared by the center’s culinary arts students.

Chairperson John McCarthy welcomed new board members for the 2016-17 school year and all guests present at the meeting, and thanked CACTC Director Gerry Auth for hosting.

Auth spoke to the group about CACTC and its 10 other college and career pathways in addition to the culinary arts program, which include aquaculture, child development, CISCO cyber security and digital forensics, computer-aided design/drafting, entrepreneurship, graphic communications, interactive digital media, medical pathways, pre-engineering/robotics, and residential repair, remodeling, and construction.

He noted that more than 88 percent of the CACTC students go on to two- or four-year post-secondary programs, and that students can enroll in classes that provide them with college credits as well as earn them industry-level certifications during their high school years.

Jim Dillon, director of SIS/data management for Cranston Public Schools, gave an update to the group regarding the district’s logo contest, a project CEAB has been instrumental in facilitating. At the conclusion of the last school year, the CEAB had solicited and reviewed hundreds of entries for a new slogan, and narrowed it down to four choices – Commitment-Performance-Success; Tradition of excellence for the leaders of tomorrow; Building Cranston’s Future One Child at a Time; and Learn Aspire Grow Achieve.

With those four choices, Dillon said a logo contest sponsored by the district’s art department is now under way and logo submissions have begun to come in. It is the hope of the district that more submissions will be entered into the contest so that final logo and slogan choices can be determined.

For more information or to submit a logo, visit cpsedn.net or goo.gl/koSy53. Students may also find information and links through their ASPEN portal page.

Ayana Crichton, Afterschool Alliance Ambassador and program director for the district’s after school programs and vacation camps, updated the group on her programs. She summarized some of the opportunities that the students involved in the programs at Hugh B. Bain Middle School and Gladstone Elementary School have had over the years, including participating in the NASA Challenge, which they will be participating in again this year.

Crichton stated that she hopes to be able to expand the programming beyond the current two schools.

Christopher McCarthy, a freshman at Cranston High School East and alumnus of Park View Middle School, spoke about the upcoming Park View Veterans Day 5K Road Race at Roger Williams Park on Nov. 11. Registration for that event – which will benefit Operation Stand Down – is currently under way, and organizers are hoping for the largest participation numbers yet.

Principal Mike Crudale said the goal is to host a community event reminiscent of the parades that used to take place in the city to honor veterans. Those wishing to register can information on the Park View website, cpsed.net/pview.

Veterans who wish to be part of the ceremony should contact Robert Hassan at rhassan@cpsed.net.

School Committee representative Jeff Gale gave his report, stating that he has received no phone calls complaining about either the sixth-grade transition to the middle school or the all-day kindergarten rollout. He will present a briefing to the CEAB about the school budget at the February 2017 meeting.

Superintendent of Schools Jeannine Nota-Masse addressed the group on a wide variety of topics, giving an in-depth look at the start of this year’s school year.

She gave an overview of the new process, which took place last year for registering students for kindergarten, utilizing a series of eight registration days, including Saturdays, rather than hosting individual days for individual elementary schools. She stated that by doing the process in this manner, the resources were in one place and questions could be answered.

She described the all-day kindergarten transition as a successful one and summarized some of the additional changes on the horizon, including a new reading program and changes in the manner in which grades are reported out at the kindergarten level from a quarterly reporting to a new trimester reporting, which will give teachers a longer instructional time in between report cards. This trimester report card schedule will eventually be extended to included both elementary and secondary schools as well.

Nota-Masse also spoke about the middle school transition, stating that it, too, had gone well and that the combined moves for kindergarten and middle school had involved multiple large construction projects and the move of several hundred teachers throughout the district. She was pleased that the schools opened without delay. She emphasized the fact that although Cranston tends to be a very traditional district, it is important to keep growing and changing in order to stay on the forefront of education.

To that end, the district has instituted a post-only Facebook page and a Twitter account in order to help facilitate the speedy and accurate distribution of important information for parents and students. The Facebook page will remain as a post-only page, due to the fact that the district does not have the available resources to oversee the page and make sure that what is being posted on it is accurate and appropriate.

Nota-Masse referenced a recent article in the Providence Journal that compared Rhode Island and Massachusetts schools, and favoring the Massachusetts schools. She addressed the fact that whereas Massachusetts chose a plan for graduation requirements and standardized testing approximately 20 years ago and stayed on that course consistently over the years, Rhode Island has had its graduation requirements and standardized testing requirements change multiple times over that same time period, which does not provide the districts with a consistent roadmap to follow, a significant issue for students, parents, and educators.

She spoke to some of the standardized testing that currently takes place in Cranston, including the PARCC tests, and noted that the district would now be offering free PSATs and SATs during the school day this year, in accordance with new state laws, which would help to engage students in the college selection process and remove some of the barriers students were up against in the past, including test fees and the ability to get to the test sites outside of the regular school day. She noted that both the SAT and PSAT tests are standardized tests which are tied to the Common Core State Standards as well, although they do not see the same pushback on those tests as is often seen with the PARCC test.

Nota-Masse encouraged families to show their support for the school budget in the coming months, noting that she is often told that the school department is the biggest and most expensive department in the city, and she often needs to remind critics that it is because of the schools that families do move to the city. She was thankful that Cranston is continuing to grow and thrive, expanding programs, while schools in similarly-sized districts in the state are having to close schools and programs.

In reference to Auth’s earlier introduction of the CACTC programs, and in keeping with her statement that Cranston needs to continue to grow and change with the times, Nota-Masse stated that those graduating from Cranston Public Schools need to be ready to meet the growing and changing needs of the workforce.

She said CACTC’s career and technical education prepares students for both college and the workforce, despite the continued challenge that the programs are still viewed by many as being the same as the "vo-tech" programs from past generations. She noted that the access to industry certifications and college credits in high school can only help students as they prepare for their post-secondary education, and she encouraged families to explore their options for a career and technical education early, as spaces in each of the programs at CACTC are limited and fill quickly.

She addressed the issue of transportation to after school programming, stating that initially busing to outside after school day care was provided as a convenience, but that ultimately the numbers grew to 400 students being bused to various day care sites, which could no longer be sustained.

Nota-Masse noted that after school programming is invaluable to students and that Cranston has increased the number of programs which are available at the elementary schools, utilizing both the ALD (Aligning the Learning Day) and they YMCA, as well as Crichton’s programs at Bain and Gladstone.

Additionally, Nota-Masse addressed some of the other challenges with transportation so far this year, including both a shortage of bus drivers, students at Western Hills Middle School who are finishing out their eighth-grade year there rather than being moved to a different middle school, and the loss of the previous head of transportation who left in July, prior to the start of the school year.

The issues stemming from those students finishing their time at Western Hills are a one-year only issue, which will be alleviated next year when those students continue on to high school and Hope Highlands expands to include the eighth-grade. She also noted that a new director of transportation, Vincent McAteer, was recently hired and came to the district as someone deeply rooted in the city of Cranston.

Nota-Masse also took the time to address the safety and security of the students across the city, in light of the recent gun incidents at Cranston High School West. She noted that ALICE training was continuing at the schools for new staff members and for students, as well as evacuation drills for bus students, and the continued training in the lockdown and evacuation procedures at the schools.

Although Nota-Masse said that she couldn’t provide any additional information other than what had been provided already, she characterized the events at West as being a wake-up call. She reminded parents that students who have critical information about a dangerous situation need to come forward and tell the school administrators.

David DiMaio, parent of a senior at West, complimented the school and said his daughter did feel safe returning to the school in the days following the event.

DiMaio is also head of the Cranston High School West Alumni Association, and has been instrumental in getting the auditorium renovation project under way at the school. Nota-Masse noted that both East and West high schools have active alumni associations and that the school department is supportive of the auditorium project and will help with any in-kind assistance, such as painting. For more information about the auditorium project, visit cranstonwestalumniassociation.org/auditorium.

The next CEAB meeting will take place on Nov. 7 in the Cranston East Media Center. Dutemple Elementary Principal Kim Magnelli will be facilitating an ASPEN training for parents.

The full schedule of meetings can be found online at cpsed.net/index.php/parent-and-community-resouces/ceab. 1